I was thinking about Brahms and his favourite hostelry, Zum roten Igel ((at the sign) of the red hedgehog),
as I drank a small coffee from one of my favourite cups. One of a set from scion living it features a cartoon hedgehog on a red ground. Why do Germans have such a short word for a hedgehog, but a longer one, where we have a shorter one, for wren? Zaunkönig, or king of the hedge, is certainly descriptive of the little bird which makes the loudest noise from the shrubbery. (Some lovely pictures here.)
Anyway, such trivia was soon swept aside by the worrying revelation on today's PM programme that only 2,200 students throughout England are to sit A-level German papers this year. (Last year's figures for 17-year-olds in Wales are equally depressing. Just 35 were recorded, in a nation which more than most should esteem polylingualism.) The figures for French and Spanish, spoken in more countries than where they originated, are slightly better, but the overall picture is one of the student population turning inward. Traditionally, German has been the language of science, clearly overtaken by English in the twentieth century, but surely still an important medium. That is on top of its continuing importance in literature, not to mention chess. It is all very sad.
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