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From: JIW2@psuvm.psu.edu (John Wagner)
Newsgroups: news.groups,soc.misc,soc.culture.misc,soc.culture.nordic
Subject: Re: CALL FOR DISCUSSION: soc.culture.german
Message-ID: <90050.124816JIW2@psuvm.psu.edu>
Date: 19 Feb 90 17:48:16 GMT
References: <241@verdix.verdix.com>
Organization: Penn State University
Lines: 39


                   Formal call for discussion
                   ==========================


 >This is the 1st call for discussion for the creation of a German
 >soc.culture newsgroup.
 >The proposed newsgroup, unmoderated soc.culture.german, is intended
 >to generally provide a medium for those interested to express and
 >share their views and feelings about *things* (normally discussed in  ure
 >soc.cult newsgroups) related to Germany and Germans.
 >The discussion period will last for 2 weeks from today.
 >Comments and discussions are welcome provided they are also posted to
 >news.groups newsgroup.

    This is a great idea!  As an American of German descent, I
 try to keep in touch with events in Germany by reading German
 magazines, and would find a German newsgroup of great interest.

    There has been some concern, I have noticed, about making
 entries bilingual, since not everyone (including me) writes German
 particularly well.  I don't think this need be a problem.  I also
 am in touch with a Mexican newsgroup in which the ground rules are:
 The language of choice is English.  If you can write in both languages,
 do so.  If you do not write English at all, Spanish-only is okay.
 As far as I can tell, this is working out very well.  If the proposed
 German newsgroup followed the same pattern, it should be able to
 accomodate the maximum number of participants.  Plus, the bilingual
 entries would help in sharpening written German skills, so that
 more of us (including me again) could eventually start submitting
 bilingual entries of our own.  Personally, I could read the German-
 only entries, but those who cannot can just skip them, as I skip the
 Spanish-only entries in the Mexican newsgroup.

                                      Gluck auf!


                                  John Wagner
                             Pennsylvania State University