The Süddeutsche Zeitung has taken 20 of the Hessen questions and made them multiple-choice. Of course, some were familiar now, but I still found them tricky.
bq. 20 Punkte
Glückwunsch! Sie sind auf jeden Fall Deutschland! Bei soviel Kenntnissen von Land und Werten klappt´s ganz sicher mit der Einbürgerung.
That’s easy for them to say, but in Bavaria they don’t want us British people. Or rather, we should be allowed to have dual nationality (a reciprocal arrangement) but that’s only the situation on paper or in other parts of Germany.
Ooops… I only got 11 out of 20 right. Serves me right for watching too much UK TV.
Shame on me
Paul
Well, there you are. Have you got a satellite dish?
As for me, I was surprised to get all twenty, but you know I spent years and years as an examiner in oral exams with an element of British, US and German background studies. I even once had to ask the German questions myself – that must have been an interpreting exam for an external candidate who had to make up some of what is done in the translators’ exam (where it was normally the other examiner who asked the German questions). So that confirms that it’s asking a lot to put these questions to would-be citizens unless they have specific preparation. (I agree that some preparation might reasonably be expected).
Btw, the Süddeutsche also has an interview with Marcel Reich-Ranicki, who thinks he would have failed.
Yes Margaret…I’m illegally filling the coffers of Sky Corporation (it’s officially not allowed to have a contract with Sky outside the UK unless you happen to be a member of the Armed Forces abroad or, I guess, a diplomat) but thousands of Brits abroad do it anyway as you are probably aware. Actually, I also last week purchased a Sky digibox for my typist for around 30 teuros from E-Bay. She can now get BBC 1,2,3,4 + ITV 1,2,3 etc + a wealth of other English channels and a lot of channels not worth seeing – all free (you don’t need a card – they are all free-to-air channels)
Please don’t tell Sky
I’ve never been much up on German current or historical affairs anyhow. Listening to mother-tongue UK TV 24/7 does help me to keep a grip on current UK language usage though (that’s my excuse anyhow)
Paul
Congratulations on 20 points! Managed only 16 (even though I’m a native with a certain level of education – so don’t worry about your 11 pts, Paul).
Was very pleased to learn about Sky (my lips are sealed) – remember an argument with Kabel Deutschland why they don’t have at least BBC World Service on offer (answer: in Bavaria people are more interested in American TV; thanks very much). Right now we get by with DVDs imported from the UK but that’s not the real thing.
And, btw, we want you British people, even here in Bavaria (not only to deal with translations of idioms like “stall”…)!
Barbara
>>Was very pleased to learn about Sky (my lips are sealed)
Barbara – this is worrying (Stall may be OK, but why I am not on top of Fachwerk and Hebetechnik?
I have been told that in this area I would need a 100 cm diameter dish to get BBC. Paul is a bit further west.
Apropos Kabel Deutschland – that is a sore point. I read somewhere that cable tv in Austria has twice as many channels. Our landlord is dropping cable for all the building at the end of March, so I am hoping to stop using Kabel Deutschland (and cancel the so-called English package) and use DBTV (?). I may as well listen to British radio on the Web.
>>100 cm diameter dish to get BBC. Paul is a bit further west.
>> I may as well listen to British radio on the Web.
Paul, the person who told me this was not referring to Sky, as far as I know, but just to getting the 5 BBC channels. Or is there no difference?
I can’t get this stuff myself as my flat isn’t conveniently oriented.
LNB is some kind of box, is it?
We recently had a satellite dish installed and with a small dish received all Sky programmes but no BBC. It was only when we had a larger dish installed (must be about 1 metre, I’m not very good at judging size)that we could view BBC/ITV.We were informed that it was because we are so far South rather than East (Kirchheim/Teck)that we need the larger dish. In northern Germany the smaller dish was fine.
>>as far as I know, but just to getting the 5 BBC channels. Or is there no difference?
I can’t get this stuff myself as my flat isn’t conveniently oriented.>We were informed that it was because we are so far South rather than East (Kirchheim/Teck)that we need the larger dish. In northern Germany the smaller dish was fine.
>>I don’t know who has been telling you this, but I guess they are more interested in selling you a massive dish than actually giving you sound advice. I know people in Switzerland who have no problem getting Sky with a standard Sky mindish.
Ann
These are a bit clearer
http://www.bigdishsat.com/fs11_size.php
>>You will need to have a current UK Bank Account in order to make the payments.
Paul, I think they would let me have one on the roof, although there are no others in the building. I have a convenient small balcony in the right place but I think it’s in a blind corner. I’m on the first floor and the whole 1906 building complex goes up to 5 floors if you include the attic. I suspect it would cost me to have it put up there. From what you say it sounds as if I wouldn’t need to keep moving the dish. But another thing is that I would probably finish up swopping attics with a neighbour as mine’s on the wrong side. So I say to myself: how long am I going to stay here and what would it cost in time, effort and money to put the thing up (the dish would face the Hinterhof).
Margaret
If you have a compass (we all do surely :-))- take a bearing on 27 degs. east of south. That’s the rough direction you’d need to have it pointing to.
The range of fixtures you can get mean that the dish can be attached to almost anything – railing, wood, wall – as long as there is nothing impeding the line of sight (especially trees in the summer). The dish is also angled up a bit – signal comes in roughly at 45 degs from horizontal meaning that the axis of the dish is about 22 degs from horizontal if you get my meaning. You do’t need to keep moving the dish unless you want to receive signals from a different satellite as well. The standard Sky mindish (adequate) is very small indeed – smaller that this one that I have
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/zone-2-60cm-sky-digital-minidish-and-lnb_W0QQitemZ5881760538QQcategoryZ29783QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
If you say the dish would face the hinterhof – there would hopefully not be any very tall buildings opposite impeding a signal coming from an angle of roughly 45 degrees…
Paul
I haven’t got a compass! Anyway, I think to get 45 degrees it would have to be on the roof. The roof is fairly long and all faces due south, and the only buildings nearby are of the same height. So the situation remains that I can’t be bothered to get permission for a dish on the roof, although I suppose I could enquire what it would cost.
As for tall buildings, there is one huge one, but it is some way away.
Dear all,
I’m overwhelmed – it’s too much for my technical understanding. But it’s good to know that there are ways to get British TV (for the time we move out of the city centre where we aren’t allowed to put up a dish due to conservational reasons).
Friends in Austria have no problem at all getting at least BBC World via cable (but I don’t know how many channels they receive). Also, I feel that the Austrian cable system is more advanced than the German one as they were able to access the internet etc. via cable ages ago whereas Kabel Deutschland only starts now.