Is Britain Becoming Less British?

Following the news during the last few weeks, you could certainly be forgiven to think so. Once we'd got used to the fact that sipping "Glu-wein" on one of the many many German Christmas markets now scattered all over the UK ( I believe there's even one in Belfast) is now the thing to do, the next hammer blow was falling. Apparently "Stollen" is now more popular in Britain than the once ubiquitous mince pie. Food for thought, indeed.

Apologies to my Atheist readers but have never heard "stollen" referred to other than "Christ-Stollen". (Stollen on its own meaning a mineshaft.) But is the abbreviated version also an indication of culinary shortcomings? Christstollen is a yeasty sort of cake with plenty of dried fruit and (regionally )a dollop of marzipan in it. At its best it tastes like wonderful Italian panettone, at its worst, it could double up as a self-defense tool.

Plus, I saw a picture of a British Christmas tree. Had the description not included its origin, I would have assumed it was the real continental thing. Tastefully decked out with traditional wooden ornaments (rocking horse, trumpet, drum) and real candles, I was thoroughly perplexed. What about the plastic tree that would open up like an umbrella? What about the multi-coloured fairy lights that blink omnichromatically in 3-second intervals so that your eyesight becomes disturbed? What about the pink fluffy tinsel?

And apparently it's not just the Christmas spirit that makes Britons borrow heavily from their Continental neighbours. An article in The Guardian suggested that on top of those Christmas Markets, The UK could also benefit from a less centralised, more federal governmental structure. You can read the article here

Whatever next I wonder. No more bare legs on January evenings out? Winter coats instead of fleeces? Mixer taps in a bathroom which is no longer carpeted? It's all beginning to sound very scary.....

A Great British Interculturalist Has Died in Germany

A radio presenter has died. No, I didn't know him. But in the deepest recesses of my brain his name produced a faint echo: Chris Howland.

The interesting thing is he was a British radio journalist whose career happened exclusively (apart from one unsuccessful stint at home which only lasted a year) in Germany. He was born in London in 1928, became a professional beekeeper, and in 1946 started as a radio presenter for the British army in occupied Hamburg, working for BFBS.

Soon his radio show became the preferred listening for German youths fed up with the staid and pompous way German radio was then presented. And apparently Chris Howland's show was just what they were looking for - all the great new music (rather than some outdated operetta tunes that German radio would have served up) presented in a laid-back and funny way. Apparently once he told his audience: "Don't worry about the lyrics [of an English song] I don't understand them myself". Just the sort of witty, uplifting remark people needed in those days.

In the 60s Chris Howland got his first show with a German radio station and  again managed to turn it into a great success, thereby even saving the almost defunct broadcasting station from ruin  by being so popular. Later on, when TV became the more important mass medium, Chris Howland got a show called "Hidden Camera" which must have been hilarious, especially given the uptight, head-down German post-war era. It involved putting people in awkward or absurd social situations and filming  their reactions. Ethnographers of today, take note! So for example, traffic lights were set up in a forest (absolutely no traffic!) and the good Germans were filmed standing there obeying the red lights 'til the cows came home (or until they were being told it had been a joke.)

Without making a big song and dance about it, Chris Howland who made his strong British accent his trade mark, managed to alert Germans to their post-war weaknesses - a strong allegiance to aurhority, humourlessness, and an unquerying mind.

Chris Howland died last Saturday near Cologne. He'd made Germany his home, and did radio shows right to the end. I think he deserves to be remembered as one of the first post-war interculturalist who was not afraid of going against the grain. I wonder for example what his BFBS colleaagues made of his decision to stay on in "enemy territory"? He also calmly sailed through the storm when a German politician complained that his "Hidden Camera" was irreverent and impolite.

I think we need more Chris Howlands - unafraid, humorous and bridging cultures!

My Languages

Even the most casual reader of this blog will know that languages are my passion. Learning languages, fiding out abot diffrent gradated shades of meaning in different languages, picking up some hilarious (and inappropriate) slang in a language you already know quite well (wouldn't recommend it in an unfamiliar language as things can easily go pear-shaped), punning in all sorts of languages  - and of course being able to read literature in the original - is that not a joy? I certainly love it.

And it isn't even (sadly!) as if I was an absolute language genius, one of those people who can converse fluently in almost every European language, plus of course Mandarin...

I have three languages where I'd say I feel comfortable in. But not to the same degree, and not in the same way. My languages are English, German, and Dutch. All not so dissimilar, but still totally different in the registers they offer - and sometimes of course their very similarity can be confusing. The thousands of "false friends" in Dutch and German are known to all speakers and very real pitfalls, even for near-native speakers.

Those three are my languages because I've lived in the respective countries and picked them up there. I didn't "learn" them. Saying this reminds me that I could do with adding a massive load of Dutch vocabulary  - that would certainly do me a world of good! For being able to speak a foreign language is an ongoing and never-ending process. It's much like a sporting skill where you can get ever better, refine your technique, try different approaches, and experiment. Which again is something I love doing in a foreign language.

My love of languages is definitely not limited to those three - at the moment I feel I'd like to learn Norwegian and Italian, the latter I'm alread quite familiar with but nowhere near fluent. I also suspect that Germanic languages just suit me better. Much as I like French, I've never been very good at it. There's something about the pitch and speed which I can't quite seem to master... I think everybody develops a feeling as to which languages suit them and which don't. But of course there are all sorts of fascinating languages - Hungarian being the one that always tempts me. I really really wish I was better at it - my grandmother was Hungarian, and I feel a special obligation to master it. And wouldn't it be fantastic to be able to read and speak Russian properly, rather than just treat every Cyrillic letter like a personal challenge? I wouldn't stop anywhere actually... Navajo? Icelandic? They certainly sound intriguing! And one doesn't absolutely have to master them all, sometimes you just sort of dip in - I gave up on Japanese and Irish for example, both brilliantly challenging but somehow I got completely flummoxed by them.

I think you get the idea... I will never stop being fascinated by languages.

Good-Bye to All That (Social Media)?

I've been on twitter now for four years, and when I joined it didn't feel all that new. I was aware of it long before I decided to sign up. So as an old hand it's perhaps not surprising that I have a slightly different perspective from people who only started out on it recently.

You go through phases, and with Social Media there are always phases, and fads, and moods... just as, I suppose there are in real life. Only you can act on them faster. The wordless "Unfollow" button is something that is (fortunately? sadly?) lacking in real life relationships. But even accepting the fact that things change and have their own dynamics, I often feel that I've come to the end of the line with Social Media. I can safely say there won't be any more surprises left (other than the radical monetization of a site). It could go its merry way for another 4 or 40 years, Twitter settling into an ever more boring routine of links posted, RTs received, hashtags followed, people followed and unfollowed and so on and so on. Facebook? I left that a year ago: Cat photos, baby photos, interspersed with un-targeted ads. Old school friends, now unrecognisable, inviting you to play farm games...

So what have I learned, and why am I now less than enthusiastic about Social Media in general? I've learned that Social Media is a great enhancer of things. Suddenly you're in touch with all those people! Having conversations about...well whatever floats your boat, really. SEO? Translation? Sex in dungeons? It's all there (The last item I can't be sure about, actually). Only a month ago I remember having a conversation about Hugo von Hofmannsthal's poetry just before midnight on a Wednesday.These things don't happen all that often in real life. But "enhancement" is the operative word. There is no essence to it. No substance, no core.There is confirmation, entertainment (sometimes), there is a lot of redundancy and routine. And never anything solid, anything you can hang onto.

Social Media is inconsequential. It goes on for ever - if you let it -but nothing will ever change on account of it. Whatever you thought you might get out of it (and I'm talking about the long run, not your giddy first year) - you won't. It won't enliven your life, it won't sell you more copies of your oft-rejected and now self-published e-book, it won't put you in touch with Justin Bieber, it won't launch your model career, and if you're a company it won't sell you more products, despite what all those studies may say - they are there for a reason, after all: To get more companies in on the social media act.   

Of course there are good things happening there - speaking for myself, I backed a very worthy cause for years, and brought it to a satisfactory end, I unmasked a spy, I won books and competitions, got to know (and unknow) fabulous people and resurrected old contacts. Sure.

But Social Media (whatever your favourite site is) will carry on and on and on, like the next Sudoku puzzle, and the next crossword. And that's fine, as long as you're aware of it, and don't expect anything else.

That's Funny!

It came to me when Allison Pearson posted a tweet about how funny she thought the American pronunciation of "Putin" is: Poohtin, rather than the British "Pyootin" It obviously didn't occur to her that there is a Russian pronunciation to a Russian name.

Never mind the ins and outs of  the correct pronunciation ("Murkl", anyone?) - but why is everything that doesn't mirror the British way automatically classified as "funny"?  I've endured countless anecdotes of British people's adventures abroad: It always involves a point of "funny foreigners". Funny as in odd, and as in laughable of course.

No baked beans and wodges of fatty bacon first thing in the morning? That funny German breakfast. No leggings and voluminous t-shirts? Funny way of dressing the French have. No fleece jackets in winter? That's so funny.

And of course no British habits are ever funny. They are just, well normal, the way you do it. No funny business. Given that fewer and fewer British  people can afford to go abroad., that hardly anybody speaks a foreign language ("That sounds funny!") and  therefore information about other countries and cultures is  heavily curtailed, I envisage a veritable barrage of baffled reactions in the future. Except it isn't funny, it's sad.

Finding others funny rather than interesting smacks of provincialism to me. It is also incredibly short sighted. Just imagine what you could learn when you start thinking about doing things differently, and why cultures aren't all the same. And that your own perspective isn't necessarily the best one, and that there are many different ways of doing things without the one necessarily being better. Start thinking, and stop finding everything new "funny", and see what a multitude of perspectives you gain!

Translator-Speak. How Odd Language Affects Sales

There is currently a boom in translation - despite all the moaning you hear from translators. (They're moaning because there's too many of them and most of them haven't got access to people commissioning.) In fact, there are hundreds of websites being opened up for translation every day. Especially Germany and Eastern Europe are targeted by British and American companies eager to penetrate more affluent markets.

But when you look at those websites, (and I will be concentrating on German translations, not being fluent in any Eastern European language) it is hard to know whether to laugh or despair. Actual grammatical errors aren't they main problem, but they are there. Do these companies really have nobody who can proofread a website?

Boden.de for example  advertises "Kleider unter Knie", and God know what they mean - unter, über? Whatevs. But grammar it's not. And if the customer doesn't know what they mean - will they buy?

More importantly though, these translated websites seem to create a language of their own. It's somehow just about comprehensible - especially of course if you know the original language from which it is translated word by word.  But it certainly isn't proper German either. It's not how people speak, or how people write. It's a hybrid, a non-existant language. Something that only exists in the mind of an overworked translator, slaving away long past midnight over words (s)he's never heard of, has to look up in "Linguee" or one of those handy but treacherous online sites, and then has to link up in a catchy sentence somehow. And mostly it just doesn't work. Look at Next.de, Accessorize.de, Asos.de , Joules.de (particularly awful!) etc. etc, - and that's just sticking with the fashion brands. A true horror of never heard-of German which pretends to be right up there as marketing and fashion speak.

I would like to be able to quantify how much money gets lost every day by those retailers who are trying so hard to unlock new markets. People have to be persuaded, they need to be reassured that the brand they're buying speaks their language, is there for them. These oddball translator-speak websites will fail badly - and the retailer won't even know what it is due to!

A very sad state of affairs, but as long as companies place their trust in incompetent translators without effecting checks and double-checks, it won't change.




















http://outfit.bodendirect.de/default.aspx?styleid=WH596&colourcode=#Page%3DPageCache%26Div%3DPagePlaceholder%26Type%3DProducts%26PageNumber%3D1%26Sort%3D%26MarketId%3D3%26BrandId%3D9%26LanguageId%3D1%26DepartmentId%3D6%26CategoryId%3D3%26SubCategoryId%3D88%26i%3D0

So Different - Women in the UK and on the Continent

First you notice the hair. British women's hair tends to be cut into geometrical shapes. Even when it's long, there is a blunt, hard line at the end of it. And it will always have been through the straightening iron. Continental women's hair is much softer, it's "Just-so" hair". You never ever see a French women with "salon" hair. It's freshly washed, but definitely not styled. As with the colour - British women love blocky colour, even their highlights (which they love) are mostly blocky beaver stripes. Teased, straightened, dyed. Anything natural is anathema - it doesn't merely look "made up" - it has to look "up for it". Natural is a look absolutely confined to the elderly in Britain.

Teased  hair, teeth bleached white with a blueish tinge, spray tanned, nails with "nail art" - you do occasionally see that look on women in continental towns - but they tend to be sex workers.

So what style do continental women go for? For a start, spray tans and artificial tans aren't necessary. The summers are long, and most people tan easily. Hair is, as I mentioned, natural, straightening irons aren't very popular at all. Teeth are left as they are. Of course most women wear make-up and fake eye lashes are as popular as in the UK (if not quite as long and black) - but they tend not to be combined with glitter eye shadow and fuchsia lip gloss.

Generally there is, I think, on the Continent a horror of looking as if you tried too hard. (Which is invariably the look British women go for - they want to be seen to make an effort, thereby sending a signal to men: I'm up for it.) Clothes emphasize this - it would be totally unacceptable to wear British-style clothes in a (relatively style-conscious) town like say, Munich, Barcelona, or any French city.The cleavage, the "heels", the skirt length, the style, the "body-con"... all wrong. People would stare, and not necessarily in admiration

I'm not saying the one is better than the other. But there is definitely no overlap.

Next: Men.

Where Were You Born? How Old Are You?

I have to confess, those are questions that quite literally make my skin crawl. Questions I will never ever answer. Not because of any vanity hang-ups, I hasten to add - and I can easily prove it when I say I wouldn't even reveal the month I was born in.

I just don't like to give people the chance to stereotype me. Tell somebody your birthday, and they're bound to exclaim "Ah, that makes you an aries (libra, virgo, whatever) then, bit stubborn, are we?" And I really can't stand that sort of thing at all. Somebody once exclaimed "What?? You're from Munich and you don't like beer?!" Err, yes imagine. Except, I'm not "from" Munich, I just happen to live here at the moment. I lived in Edinburgh once, and would you believe it, I don't like whisky.

People's urge to put you in a culturally determined identity box seems to be unquenchable. Born in the 70s?  "Haha, you must like flares" 80s? "All those shoulder pads, I can see that's you". 90s? "Grunge! You like grunge then?" "Born in England? Have a cup of tea, the English like their tea!"

Why oh why does it matter where your mother happened to give birth? Does the umbilical cord tie you to that local hospital forever? Are you meant to have imbibed some tribal thinking in those first few earthly hours? Of course, loads of people are very proud of their place of birth "Yup, Kansas girl me, the Sunshine State", or whatever advertising slogan happens to be attached to that neck of the woods. "Us Yorkshiremen are strong and silent, we call a spade a spade". To which of course the only possible reply is "Oh do shut up please".

I admit, I'm pretty extreme in not wanting to be stereotyped. If possible, I'd like to prevent people from knowing my gender, too. I live in constant fear of coming across something like "Oh you females, you just love babies dont'ya". No, I don't actually - I always fear they might give me some dreadful illness, and I don't like people who only ever sleep and eat.

Also, my attitude to this whole identity and stereotype thing has disadvantages. I don't have c.v. for example, so I can't apply for jobs, and am forced to stay self-employed. Still, it's preferable to listening to some HR person kneading a stereotype dough that has nothing to do with who I am - all on the basis of some arbitrary data.

I am very happy, though, to talk about things that really were formative, and therefore matter. For example: At a young age, my family moved to Holland. A country,culture, language, experience that really had an impact on me. Much more so, than an arbitrary place on the map which happens to be my place of birth

Are British Companies Easy Prey?

They certainly seem to be when it comes to transitioning overseas. As more and more UK companies want to escape from a fairly flat home market into more attractive opportunities in the EU (notably Germany), they are in danger of becomíng victims of ruthless and low-quality service providers intent on making money.

Take translations: Very few British people outside the academic world can speak any other European languages. A British marketing manager intent on entering an EU market will be faced with the daunting task of having all the promotional literature - brochures, information material, newsletters, tags but most prominently websites - translated into a foreign language which he or she will have no clue about. It’s all gobbledygook.

And unfortunately, this is often what the translation reads like, too. If you are a German or French speaker, you can easily check yourself. Bring up any UK website and click the foreign language (flag) button. I was so shocked by one of them - Next Fashion - I actually wrote to the Marketing Manager and told them that their German website was so badly translated, it was almost incomprehensible. Fortunately, they reacted quickly and have now got a much better German website and newsletter.

A badly translated website isn't just an embarrassment. It can do serious damage to a company’s reputation - bearing in mind that it won't be as well-known as in the UK - so will be judged largely by its promotion and presentation.

Of course, the transition into another country is not just about translation. It's a step into a fairly different culture where other priorities, cultural signifiers and different tastes have to be carefully considered. Whilst not as intricate to handle as say, Japanese culture, European countries have their own sensibilities and ideas. For example, over-empasizing the money saving aspect - which is undoubtedly an important promotional tool in Britain - may come across as odd on a website designed for the continental consumer.

It's not uncommon for companies who did inadequate market observation, intelligence and research to fail. Domino's, the pizza company, just had to issue a profit warning because their German operation underperformed. A clear case of the company not having done its homework - and a costly reminder what can happen if you don't.

Here are 5 tips that companies looking to expand abroad should follow to avoid the most common pitfalls:

1. Spend time researching the market you’re looking to enter. Does it really make sense to come in as a new player who is largely unknown, when the market is already saturated?  (pizza delivery is a good case in point).

2. Talk to locals about your offering - website, products, communication collateral, before you actually do anything. Engage a transition specialist to help you negotiate this, they will be happy to improve even small details which count for a lot: Native-speaker consumers will notice anything odd

3. Invest in the highest-quality translations you can manage. This means not chosing any available translation agency but spending time finding a truly bi-lingual person - they're rare, but worth the effort.They will get the tonality, not just the wording right - so your positioning is attuned to local needs, and locals "get it" immediately. Great for business, especially when you're just starting out.

4. Start with small test markets before you go national, use them as learning grounds. Always listen and learn - engage in ongoing market research, qualitative and quantitative.

5. "Continually adjusting" is the recipe for overseas success. No one gets it right first time in foreign markets - there are too many things you might be unaware of. The trick for success is to keep listening, monitoring customer feed-back continually - and then to adjust as quickly as possible. Marks & Spencer got it horribly wrong first time in the 1990s - now they're back with better translated websites, and locally relevant ranges -all of which will translate into healthy topline growth.

Intercultural Knowledge in Marketing

How many articles have you seen enlistening "funny" marketing blunders not taking note of some local sensitivity or other? How COULD they possibly call the car Boobie, when everybody knows that in the local Thai dialect this has a double entendre...etc etc.

After all that tediousness here's a real corker, though:

Domino's Pizza, the British take away pizza franchise operation, opened in Germany and found.... that it wasn't popular. Not totally surprising, is it?


One profit warning later, the CEO maintains that stores had now got the hang of it and "understood the German consumer". Maybe they should have done a little more intercultural research before plunging into a market that - no doubt- they thought would be profitable purely on the size of its population. ("80 million Germans, Barry.. we goddagun for it!!")

FACT: In Germany, even a small village will have a local pizzeria. Well established, Italian family-run, producing top-quality pizzas of any size, description and flavour. And of course they will drive them round for free. In towns, there will be one of those every two blocks away from where you live. There is such a vast choice, such speedy reliable service, and most people will  oben very familar terms with their local pizza deliverer, having used their services for years.

Might it not have been an idea to look into this very obvious and well-known scenario before plunging in with the dubious promise of an English company offering such tantalising options as "Meateor" with a mouth watering description such as: "A slice (?) with pork meatballs, ground beef, sausage and bacon".

Appealing to the German consumer who the company claims it knows so well? Laugh out loud as they say in intercultural marketing.



FT article on the subject
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/6f25159a-e3d0-11e2-b35b-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2aQBIk0c1

Germany's Biggest problem? Sexism.

Why should this be the case, and why am I saying this? Probably because I've lived here now for some time, and in many ways, I'm the target audience. And you know what? I'm sick of it. I'm not talking about cat-calling builders, and I'm not talking about the 80-year old ticket clipper who calls you "love". In fact I'm not talking about "political correctness" at all.

I'm talking about the hard-wired, instutionalised sexism that blights the country because it is so internalised - most people take it for granted, accept it and even women take it as normal. In fact very few Germans know what "sexism" (in German: Sexismus) means. Or rather, they think it means something else altogether: Too much sex on your brain. That in itself tells you a lot.

Two scenes from recent days.

1. A new boss is being led round the company, and introduced to members of the department. He says hello, and shakes everybody's hand. Everybody's, that is, apart from the one one female team member. Why would that be? Because he naturally assumes that the males will be colleagues, but the female will be just someone who doesn't count because she probably is there to make the tea or clean the room.
Incredible?  This is exactly how things are in Germany.

2. Somebody ( a woman) speaks up in a discussion. From the name badge people can see that she has a Ph.D. (a "Doktortitel" in German, which is a big deal in Germany and will always be used when addressing a person who has got one as - typically - Herr Doktor X.
Despite the name tag, the woman gets continuously called "Frau X" rather than "Frau Doktor X" - a total faux-pas had she been male, in fact totally unthinakble.
As the discussion gets more heated, one male even challenges Frau Doktor X as to whether her doctorate which he now admits he saw on the name tag "is real".
Oh yes, this is how things work in Germany.


As a woman, people (=not just men but other women too) will automatically and unquestiongly assume that you work in some lowly position. If it is clear that you don't, they will try and put you down in an incredibly sexist way - for example Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, is unanimously referred to as "Mutti". Bringing her down to a family level, disregarding the fact that she is one of the most influential people in the world. Only as "Mutti" can she be grasped, accepted, or more likely tolerated. (Very unlikely that Germans would have referred to the previous chancellor, Gerhard Schröder, as "Vati").

In a previous post http://interculturalmusings.blogspot.de/2012/06/german-men.html I tried to explain the particular mind-set of German men. Made up of insecurity, chippiness, and an enormous compulsion to boast (mainly about technical or sporting matters). It is quite clearly an infantile disposition, that a Freudian could easily disentangle and - given the always present twist of insecurity into aggression - classify as neurosis.

Figures are not available, but a huge number of German men mary Asian or Easterrn European women. Rightly or wrongly assuming, that they will be more submissive and "know what a man needs". As I mentioned above, tragically, most German women have internalised the male attitude, and will always defer to any man, however absurd, ugly, or lowly he might be. Men possess natural authority and status in Germany, and women don't. That is one of the most internalised facts in Germany. You'll notice it in shops where sales staff automatically address the male, in (still widely bandied-about) jokes about women drivers, women and technology, in the unquestioned assumption that it is women who do the cooking at home. A male who enjoys cooking or - God forbid - baking! -  is regarded with incredulity. "What about your wife?" will be the standard response.

All of this is not limited to a certain age bracket. Try and talk shop with, say a member of the German Pirate Party as a woman who  knows about internet stuff - you will be humiliated, laughed at, and given the feeling that you're talking above your level.

I telly you one thing. I am sick to death of Germany's sexism.

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As I know from experience how vile and aggressive German males' comments are when criticised, the comments here are closed. I would, however urge you to comment via twitter: @Margit11. German men, please bear in mind though, that any comment you will make, will get RT'd. If it is a sensible comment, you will be pleased about this, if it is vile and abusive, it will deter you. Sadly, in this country, it is necessary to take such drastic measures.

The Self-Perception of Europeans. A Study by the Goethe-Institut

This is a study by the Goethe-Institute. I find the results fascinating and am surprised that it is not better known, hence my keenness to promote it via Intercultural Musings. (Copyright by Goethe-Institute)


I guess one should not be too surprised that the British press studiously ignores findings like these. Anti-Europeanism is, alas, more widely spread that UKIP voter figures suggest. So please, bear in mind that what you read in British newspapers is more often than not an edited fraction of what's going on in the world. 

Being able to read (and of course speak) foreign languages would get one out of the dilemma of having to rely on the indigenous press, but sadly fewer and fewer British people have a second language to rely on.

So here is an example of a wider truth which is being ignored in Britain.(The format is not ideal, so please also go to the original page http://www.goethe.de/ins/be/prj/eli/erg/ges/enindex.htm

The self-perception of Europeans in comparison with the perception of other countries

What are the total results from the 22,235 people who took part in answering the questions? Is the invention of the printing press overall a more important discovery than penicillin? Also, is Paris a more attractive city than Copenhagen?
3,379 Germans, 2,006 Serbs, 1,906 Italians, 1,474 Hungarians and 1,710 French took part. There were also 294 participants from Egypt.
Browse through the results and compare the views of the 16,493 participants from the EU (74.2%) with those 4,249 from non-EU countries (19.1%). 6.7% did not their nationalities.

Compare the sub-results Total results

#1What does Europe personally mean to you?

• free movement

• variety

• unity

• democracy

#1What does Europe personally mean to you?

• 1.culture
• 2.union
• 3.variety
• 4.free movement
• 5.freedom
• 6.history
• 7.Euro
• 8.peace
• 9.unity
• 10.home

#1What does Europe personally mean to you?

• 1.culture
• 2.union
• 3.history
• 4.freedom
• 5.free movement
• 6.progress
• 7.art
• 8.order
• 9.variety
• 10.beauty

#2How strongly do you feel European?

• not at all 3%
• a bit 18%
• quite a bit 37%
• full-blooded European 43%

#2How strongly do you feel European?

• not at all 8%
• a bit 15%
• quite a bit 37%
• full-blooded European 47%

#2How strongly do you feel European?

• not at all 7%
• a bit 28%
• quite a bit 36%
• full-blooded European 28%

#3How do you see Europe's future?

very good good OK bad

#3How do you see Europe's future?

very good good OK bad

#3How do you see Europe's future?

very good good OK bad

#4What is the most significant European building?

• 1.Eiffel Tower Paris, France
• 2.Collosseum Rome, Italy
• 3.Acropolis/Parthenon Athens, Greece
• 4.European Parliament Brussels, Belgium/Strassbourg, France
• 5.Brandenburg Gate Berlin, Germany
• 6.St. Peter's Rome The Vatican
• 7.Sagrada Familia Barcelona, Spain
• 8.Berlin Wall Berlin, Germany
• 9.Cologne Cathedral Cologne, Germany
• 10.Reichstag Berlin, Germany

#4What is the most significant European building?

• 1.Eiffel Tower Paris, France
• 2.Collosseum Rome, Italy
• 3.Acropolis/Parthenon Athens, Greece
• 4.European Parliament Brussels, Belgium/Starssbourg, France
• 5.Brandenburg Gate Berlin, Germany
• 6.St. Peter's, Rome The Vatican
• 7.Berlin Wall Berlin, Germany
• 8.Sagrada Familia Barcelona, Spain
• 9.Cologne Cathedral Cologne, Germany
• 10.Reichstag Berlin, Germany

#4What is the most significant European building?

• 1.Eiffel Tower Paris, France
• 2.Collosseum Rome, Italy
• 3.Acropolos/Parthenon Athens, Greece
• 4.Sagrada Familia Barcelona, Spain
• 5.Brandenburg Gate Berlin, Germany
• 6.Louvre Paris, France
• 7.Berlin Wall Berlin, Germany
• 8.Cologne Cathedral Cologne, Germany
• 9.European Parliament Brussels, Belgium/Strassbourg, France
• 10.Leaning Tower of Pisa Pisa, Italy

#5Which European country, other than your own, would you like to live in for a while?

• Germany 28%
• Italy 10%
• France 9%
• Spain 8%
• United Kingdom 7%
• Switzerland 5%
• Sweden 4%
• Austria 4%
• Netherlands 2%
• Portugal 2%

#5Which European country, other than your own, would you like to live in for a while?

• Germany 25%
• Italy 10%
• France 9%
• Spain 8%
• United Kingdom 7%
• Switzerland 5%
• Sweden 5%
• Austria 4%
• Portugal 3%
• Netherlands 2%

#5Which European country, other than your own, would you like to live in for a while?

• Germany 36%
• Spain 10%
• Italy 9%
• France 7%
• United Kingdom 6%
• Switzerland 5%
• Austria 4%
• Netherlands 3%
• Sweden 3%
• Portugal 2%

#6Who is the greatest literary figure in European literature?

• 1.Don Quijote
• 2.William Shakespeare
• 3.Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
• 4.Faust
• 5.Young Werther
• 6.Hamlet
• 7.Dante Alighieri
• 8.Anna Karenina
• 9.Sherlock Holmes
• 10.The Little Pricnce

#6Who is the greatest literary figure in European literature?

• 1.Don Quijote
• 2.Faust
• 3.Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
• 4.William Shakespeare
• 5.Young Werther
• 6.Hamlet
• 7.Dante Alighieri
• 8.The Little Prince
• 9.Odysseus
• 10.Sherlock Holmes

#6Who is the greatest literary figure in European literature?

• 1.William Shakespeare
• 2.Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
• 3.Don Quijote
• 4.Anna Karenina
• 5.Hamlet
• 6.Faust
• 7.Josef K.
• 8.Ivo Andrić
• 9.Lew Nikolajewitsch Tolstoi
• 10.Sherlock Holmes

#7Which country most embodies the future of Europe?

• Germany 49%
• Sweden 6%
• France 4%
• Switzerland 4%
• Belgium 3%
• Poland 3%
• United Kingdom 3%
• Norway 3%
• Netherlands 3%
• Greece 2%

#7Which country most embodies the future of Europe?

• Germany 47%
• Sweden 6%
• France 4%
• Belgium 4%
• Poland 4%
• Switzerland 3%
• United Kingdom 3%
• Netherlands 3%
• Norway 3%
• Denmark 3%

#7Which country most embodies the future of Europe?

• Germany 58%
• Switzerland 6%
• Sweden 5%
• France 4%
• United Kingdom 3%
• Norway 3%
• Turkey 3%
• Greece 2%
• Serbia 2%
• Netherlands 2%

#8What is the most significant European discovery?

• 1.printing press Germany
• 2.steam engine United Kingdom
• 3.car Germany
• 4.anti-biotics(Penicillin Scotland / Germany
• 5.telephone Germany
• 6.electricity variuous European countries
• 7.Euro Luxembourg / EU
• 8.Democracy Greece
• 9.America Italy / Spain
• 10.light bulb Scotland

#8What is the most significant European discovery?

• 1.printing press Germany
• 2.steam engine United Kingdom
• 3.car Germany
• 4.antibiotics/Penicillin Scotland / Germany
• 5.telephone Germany
• 6.Euro Luxembourg / EU
• 7.democracy Greece
• 8.electricity various European countries
• 9.European Union  
• 10.radio various European countries

#8What is the most significant European discovery?

• 1.printing press Germany
• 2.electricity various European countries
• 3.steam engine United Kingdom
• 4.telephone Germany
• 5.antibiotics/Pennicillin Scotland / Germany
• 6.car Germany
• 7.America Italy / Spain
• 8.democracy Greece
• 9.light bulb Scotland
• 10.trains United Kingdom

#9What is Europe's most significant contribution to world culture?

• 1.Democracy
• 2.music / classical music
• 3.printing press
• 4.literature
• 5.philosophy
• 6.art
• 7.Renaissance
• 8.enlightenment
• 9.architecture
• 10.heritage

#9What is Europe's most significant contribution to world culture?

• 1.democracy
• 2.printing press
• 3.music / classical music
• 4.literature
• 5.philosophy
• 6.art
• 7.enlightenment
• 8.Renaissance
• 9.declarationof human rights
• 10.architecture

#9What is Europe's most significant contribution to world culture?

• 1.literature
• 2.Renaissance
• 3.music / classical music
• 4.art
• 5.democracy
• 6.heritage
• 7.painting
• 8.philosophy
• 9.architecture
• 10.printing press

#10Who is the most significant European artist (from any discipline)?

• 1.Leonardo da Vinci Italy
• 2.Pablo Picasso Spain
• 3.Michelangelo Buonarroti Italy
• 4.Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Austria
• 5.Vincent van Gogh Netherlands
• 6.Salvador Dalí Spain
• 7.Ludwig van Beethoven Germany
• 8.Johann Sebastian Bach Germany
• 9.William Shakespeare United Kingdom
• 10.Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Germany

#10Who is the most significant European artist (from any discipline)?

• 1.Leonardo da Vinci Italy
• 2.Pablo Picasso Spain
• 3.Michelangelo Buonarroti Italy
• 4.Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Austria
• 5.Vincent van Gogh Netherlands
• 6.Johann Sebastian Bach Germany
• 7.Salvador Dalí Spain
• 8.Ludwig van Beethoven Germany
• 9.William Shakespeare United Kingdom
• 10.Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Germany

#10Who is the most significant European artist (from any discipline)?

• 1.Leonardo da Vinci Italy
• 2.Pablo Picasso Spain
• 3.Michelangelo Buonarroti Italy
• 4.Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Austria
• 5.Vincent van Gogh Netherlands
• 6.Salvador Dalí Spain
• 7.Ludwig van Beethoven Germany
• 8.William Shakespeare United Kingdom
• 9.Rembrandt van Rijn Netherlands
• 10.Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Germany

#11Who is the most important politician in Europe (living or from the past)?

• 1.Angela Merkel Germany
• 2.Winston Churchill United Kingdom
• 3.Willy Brandt Germany
• 4.Konrad Adenauer Germany
• 5.Charles de Gaulle France
• 6.Robert Schuman Luxembourg
• 7.Margaret Thatcher United Kingdom
• 8.Napoleon Bonaparte France
• 9.Adolf Hitler Germany
• 10.Helmut Kohl Germany

#11Who is the most important politician in Europe (living or from the past)?

• 1.Angela Merkel Germany
• 2.Winston Churchill United Kingdom
• 3.Willy Brandt Germany
• 4.Konrad Adenauer Germany
• 5.Robert Schuman France / Germany / Luxembourg
• 6.Charles de Gaulle France
• 7.Margaret Thatcher United Kingdom
• 8.Napoleon Bonaparte France
• 9.Helmut Kohl Germany
• 10.Michail Gorbatschow Russia

#11Who is the most important politician in Europe (living or from the past)?

• 1.Angela Merkel Germany
• 2.Winston Churchill United Kingdom
• 3.Josip Broz Tito Yugoslavia
• 4.Adolf Hitler Germany
• 5.Margaret Thatcher United Kingdom
• 6.Wladimir Putin Russia
• 7.Charles de Gaulle France
• 8.Napoleon Bonaparte France
• 9.Otto von Bismarck Germany
• 10.Zoran Đinđić Serbia

#12Who is the greatest European sportsperson?

• 1.Novak Đoković tennis player, Serbia
• 2.Michael Schumacher racing driver, Germany
• 3.Roger Federer tennis player, Switzerland
• 4.Rafael Nadal tennis player, Spain
• 5.Cristiano Ronaldo football player, Potugal
• 6.David Beckham football player, United Kingdom
• 7.Steffi Graf tennis player, Germany
• 8.Zinédine Zidane football player, France
• 9.Pietro Mennea athlete, Italy
• 10.Franz Beckenbauer football player, Germany

#12Who is the greatest European sportsperson?

• 1.Michael Schumacher race driver, Germany
• 2.Roger Federer tennis player, Switzerland
• 3.Rafael Nadal tennis player, Spain
• 4.Pietro Mennea athlete, Italy
• 5.Cristiano Ronaldo football player, Portugal
• 6.Steffi Graf tennis player, Germany
• 7.David Beckham football player, United Kingdom
• 8.Zinédine Zidane football player, France
• 9.Sebastian Vettel race driver, Germany
• 10.Franz Beckenbauer football player, Germany

#12Who is the greatest European sportsperson?

• 1.Novak Đoković tennis player, Serbia
• 2.Roger Federer tennis player, Switzerland
• 3.Michael Schumacher race driver, Germany
• 4.Cristiano Ronaldo football player, Portugal
• 5.Zinédine Zidane football player, France
• 6.David Beckham football player, United Kingdom
• 7.Rafael Nadal tennis player, Spain
• 8.Franz Beckenbauer football player, Germany
• 9.Lionel Messi football player, Argentina
• 10.Sergej Bubka pole vault, Ukraine

#13Which country has the best European cuisine?

• 1.Italy
• 2.France
• 3.Spain
• 4.Greece
• 5.Serbia
• 6.Hungary
• 7.Turkey
• 8.Germany
• 9.Poland
• 10.Belgium

#13Which country has the best European cuisine?

• 1.Italy
• 2.France
• 3.Spain
• 4.Greece
• 5.Hungary
• 6.Germany
• 7.Poland
• 8.Turkey
• 9.Belgium
• 10.Portugal

#13Which country has the best European cuisine?

• 1.Italy
• 2.Serbia
• 3.France
• 4.Turkey
• 5.Greece
• 6.Germany
• 7.Spain
• 8.Hungary
• 9.Bosnia and Herzegovina
• 10.Switzerland

#14In which European languages, apart from English, should a European be able to say more than "Please" and "Thank you"?

• 1.German
• 2.French
• 3.Spanish
• 4.Italian
• 5.Polish
• 6.Greek
• 7.Portugese
• 8.Rumanian
• 9.Swedish
• 10.Dutch

#14In which European languages, apart from English, should a European be able to say more than "Please" and "Thank you"?

• 1.German
• 2.French
• 3.Spanish
• 4.Italian
• 5.Polish
• 6.Greek
• 7.Portugese
• 8.Turkish
• 9.Swedish
• 10.Dutch

#14In which European languages, apart from English, should a European be able to say more than "Please" and "Thank you"?

• 1.German
• 2.French
• 3.Spanish
• 4.Italian
• 5.Serbian
• 6.Greek
• 7.Turkish
• 8.Portugese
• 9.Swedish
• 10.Dutch

#15What is the best European film?

• 1.Life is Beautiful Roberto Benigni
• 2.The Lives of Others Florian Henckel
• 3.Amelie Jean-Pierre Jeunet
• 4.Good Bye, Lenin! Wolfgang Becker
• 5.The Intouchables Olivier Nakache and Éric Toledano
• 6.Amour Michael Haneke
• 7.L'auberge espagnole Cédric Klapisch
• 8.Wings of Desire Wim Wenders
• 9.The Pianist Roman Polański
• 10.Dolce Vita Federico Fellini

#15What is the best European film?

• 1.Life is Beautiful Roberto Benigni
• 2.The Lives of Others Florian Henckel
• 3.Amelie Jean-Pierre Jeunet
• 4.Good Bye, Lenin! Wolfgang Becker
• 5.The Intouchables Olivier Nakache and Éric Toledano
• 6.L'auberge espagnole Cédric Klapisch
• 7.Wings of Desire Wim Wenders
• 8.Amour Michael Haneke
• 9.The Pianist Roman Polański
• 10.Dolce Vita Federico Fellini

#15What is the best European film?

• 1.Life is Beautiful Roberto Benigni
• 2.Amour Michael Haneke
• 3.Amelie Jean-Pierre Jeunet
• 4.The Lives of Others Florian Henckel
• 5.The Intouchables Olivier Nakache and Éric Toledano
• 6.The Pianist Roman Polański
• 7.Wings of Desire Wim Wenders
• 8.Good Bye Lenin! Wolfgang Becker
• 9.Amarcord Federico Fellini
• 10.Underground Emir Kusturica

#16Which is the most attractive city in Europe?

#16Which is the most attractive city in Europe?

• 1.Berlin
• 2.Paris
• 3.Rome
• 4.London
• 5.Barcelona
• 6.Vienna
• 7.Prague
• 8.Venice
• 9.Munich
• 10.Amsterdam

#16Which is the most attractive city in Europe?

• 1.Paris
• 2.Berlin
• 3.Barcelona
• 4.Rome
• 5.London
• 6.Vienna
• 7.Prague
• 8.Munich
• 9.Amsterdam
• 10.Madrid

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