| Let me have one more go. I'm 100% not trying to trigger or upset you. This is the chain of logic I'm trying to argue for, in very clear blunt terms. 1. Germany's economy and future is threatened by its demographics, and uniquely so due to the nature of its industry, and the need for skilled workers to maintain its economy. 2. Germany will therefore need to compete to attract these skilled workers against other countries. 3. Germany has strengths but also several weaknesses relative to other countries (tax burden, bureaucracy, public infrastructure, relative cost of living (vs. some not all competitors, note), language barrier and culture around language, etc.) in attracting such skilled workers. 4. To succeed at attracting the very best of the skilled workers it needs, it could/should therefore embark on a bold plan to address all of its weaknesses and make itself the most attractive country for skilled immigrants in the world. 5. Unfortunately for Germany, the standard language of business around the world is English. (If e.g. Chinese people want to learn or work internationally, they speak English professionally, etc.). If an English-speaker has a choice of two countries, one English-speaking and one German-speaking, then if all else is equal, they'll mostly not pick Germany. And some may be put off Germany altogether due to the relative intolerance of non-German speakers. So, how best to address the language question? If it was my country at threat, and we needed to attract a large number of a specific type of worker speaking a different language, (amongst other measures) I'd be advocating for removing the language issue as a barrier: for example, starting to teach Mandarin, or Hindi, or whatever language made most sense, in schools. Offering free adult education to learn those languages. Offering direct language support to businesses most needing to attract those skilled foreigners. Etc. In Germany's case, to address this weakness, I'd advocate adopting English as a co-official language, if not the official language. Pour money and support into language training. Offer tax incentives for individuals and companies who become primarily English-speaking. Offer tax incentives and other support for English-speaking companies to part-relocate. And so on. (Side note: this isn't a pro-English argument per se. If Germany decides it can more easily recruit the immigrants it needs from China, make Mandarin the co-official language. IDC.) |