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 At our annual W. L. Bitzer German
Language Awards Presentation, which took place at the Alpine
Club on October 21st, we had the honour and pleasure
to have Mr. Holger Raasch as our keynote speaker. For those of
our members who could not be present, we would like to give a
short summary of his speech, although it is very difficult to do
him justice on our limited space. We can only give you a few
tidbits.
Mr. Raasch presented his address to the students in both a
jovial and serious manner, calling his advice "Bitzer Rules".
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| The student awarded with the
Bitzer Award |
In Bitzer Rule 1 (Respect your Roots), he referred
to the German roots of our area, mentioning among other matters
that very recently a new Canadian Ambassador to Germany was
appointed , Peter M. Boehm, the son of post-war German-speaking
immigrants who grew up in Kitchener.
In Bitzer Rule 2 (Adapt to Reality!), he appealed to
the students to become "Weltbürger" who have to possess language
skills. "By learning a foreign language you receive the key to
the future and receive true access to our economies and
cultures".
Bitzer Rule 3 (Be Smart. Choose German!) stressed the
important role Germany plays in Europe and the World. 24% of the
residents inside the European Union speak German as their mother
tongue and 31% of the European citizens say that they can
converse in German.
In Bitzer Rule 4 (Live Rich!) he reminded us of
the great German cultural heritage, our "Dichter und Denker".
German speaking writers publish nearly 60,000 new book titles
each year.
In Bitzer Rule 5 (Have Fun!) he stressed that the
German language is fairly easy to learn. English and German
evolved from the same Germanic background. German and English
have more words in common than English has with any other
language. But unlike English, German is generally spelled
phonetically.
In his 6th and last Bitzer Rule (Be among the First),
he emphasized the role German innovators play in today’s world.
Germany ranks third in the world regarding patent applications.
This is mirrored in the fact that Germany is "Export-Weltmeister",
exporting more goods the value of which is greater than that of
any other country. And looking at this year’s winning students,
Mr. Raasch concluded his speech with these words:
"So, join these Dichter and Denker, shakers and movers,
innovators and leaders into the future. Go to Germany, learn
more about us and become an asset to Canada!"
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