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Generation Y Life - February 2009

Germans learn foreign languages, but who's learning German?

February 21st 2009 08:46
German news webzine The Local reports that 88% of Germans over 18 speak at least one foreign language, placing them well above the world average of 58% of over 18s speaking at least one foreign language. Predictably, English is the foreign language of choice for 77% of said Germans who are bilingual, with travel and career reasons being cited as the most popular reasons for such learning endeavours. Source.


While Germans have shown a keen interest in the Mother tongue of other nations, it seems most nations do not reciprocate this.

The same article from The Local features data published by the Institute for German Economics in Cologne which shows that since 2002, the number of EU students studying German and been falling steadily everywhere except in Bulgaria and Slovenia.

So is German in danger of becoming extinct?

Well no, I mean there are at least 80 million Germans who are no doubt fluent in their Mother tongue. Furthermore, German on average is the third most leant language. True, it lags quite significantly behind English and French (in that order) but still, third is nowhere near bad.

Or is it?

While German itself is not in the firing line (yet) UNESCO has found that Northern German languages such as Saterlandic and Northern Frisian are 'severely endangered'. .Source

Without some immediate conversation work, it seems that linguicide will indeed strike again.
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Report finds we're fat because we're sick in the head

February 17th 2009 09:55
A report out of Canberra says half of all diseases in young people are mental ones. Source. How does this make us fat? Well, what do you do when you feel depressed, anxious or like you have no control over your life? You eat. And do you exercise when you feel so low? Of course not. You don't have the motivation to get out of bed, let alone go out into the crisp morning air and pump your scrummy chicken legs. Therefore, being sick in the head (pardon my crudeness), can weigh you down- literally.


A harsh reality, too harsh perhaps. And when things get to hard to handle how does the mind protect itself? Why it blanks out the cause of the pain, naturally.

Women aged between 20 and 35 are gaining weight faster than people in any other age bracket according to this article, but they insist they don't have a weight problem; that's an older person's issue.

Denial, anyone?

It seems that before the body can be treated the mind must be healed. I mean, how can you change what you do not acknowledge?

But even before that, what is causing all the mental illness? What cause in society can be found for this effect, because, even if an overweight person admits they have a problem and begin frequenting a gym, whatever it was that made food their only comfort is still lurking out there, making face-stuffing the only option of many more. A cure is good, but prevention is better.


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The terrorists are among us

February 16th 2009 13:11
When we think of terrorists, we generally think of them as being born and bred in another country- certainly not living among their intended victims and most definitely not being born in a nation they despise. This however, is no longer the case.

Jamal Zougam was one of the men who allegedly planted 10 bombs on Madrid trains on March 11, 2004. He immigrated to Spain from Morocco as a boy and seemed well integrated into Spanish culture. He spoke the language, had a social life and contributed to the economy. We may not think this is the profile of a terrorist, but a groundbreaking study into terror cells by the New York Police Department says he is a prime candidate. Link.

So what drives some immigrants (sometimes even third generation ones) to terrorise the countries they often grew up in? The aforementioned study tells us to shelve the idea that religion is behind it. Rather, these people 'are looking for an identity and a cause, which they find in radical Islam.'

The study finds 'they are not recruited from above but usually begin the process of radicalisation alone.' The reason for this is given as the wannabe terrorist being 'frustrated with his life or the politics of his home government and is looking for meaning in life.'

So what leads to this frustration?

A large chuck of it comes down to 'Muslims’ attitudes towards their host country (being) strongly influenced by the perception that Muslims in general are subjected to humiliation and oppression' writes Busso von Alvensleben of the German Foreign Ministry. Link.

What does this mean for countries that are potential targets for home-grown terrorists?

As usual, deflating the situation needs to start in the home.

Immigrants must teach their children to respect their new homeland and the cultural norms it offers. Immigrants must recognise that they emigrated for a better quality of life, therefore, they cannot be cantankerous towards a place they chose to move to because it was better in some way than their home country.

Natives of said countries must not discriminate against immigrants. Shouting abuse at them, looking down on them etc fuels the beliefs of humiliation and oppression. A sort of self-fulfilling prophecy. You treat someone like a terrorist and so you end up turning them into one.

There you go gen Yers living in Western countries, that's how we'll avoid terror attacks from within our own ranks.




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Indian women assaulted for leading Western lifestyle

February 15th 2009 11:19
On January 24, in what is know known as the 'Mangalore pub incident’ 30 members of the right-wing extremist group Sri Ram Sena burst into the Amnesia pub in Mangalore and began assaulting any women they found drinking in there for "violating traditional Indian values by drinking alcohol in public". Source. 2 of the female victims required hospitalisation, but despite footage of the savage attacks and 28 arrests over the incident, all the savages were released on bail.

Footage of this despicable act can be found here
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Young people for public transport

February 14th 2009 08:39
It's not a new organisation, it's a fact. Young people -whether out of necessity or herd mentality- are flocking to public transport.

If you ask the youth of today about automobiles, you're most likely to get an answer that goes something like this; A car? What, like a Koenigsegg CCX? It's totally something I aspire to but it's not something I own. Something cheaper? More practical? Ugh, how boring and anyway, still costs a few thousand even for a used car. I can't save up that much- I need that money for going out


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Proof that we can overcome adversity

February 13th 2009 09:07
Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, Ophelia Las has battled through trials and testing times and gone on to be a successful writer with a flare for life and a passion for helping other who are struggling with their own demons.

Ophelia Las was originally known as Faye Sari. A troubled soul, she sought help from the Reach Out and Inspire organisations which provide resources and information to people going through tough times . This encounter changed Faye/Ophelia's life. She transformed herself into 'Ophelia' and began seeing the beautiful things in her life. So profound was the impact of the Reach Out/Inspire Foundations on Ophelia that she has dedicated her latest book to the Inspire Foundation


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It's up to us to solve the Israel/Palestine conflict

February 11th 2009 07:50
Today I caught the daily in-depth report DW-TV (news from Berlin) had on the current elections in Israel and what they would mean for future Israeli-Palestinian relations. The report profiled the three leading candidates, but it also looked at what the youth think of the situation and it's this segment that I found most interesting.

The youth are disillusioned. They think the political parties merely recycle faces and ideas and they aren't optimistic that a change is on its way- at least not with the current generation in power. Our generation, I think, is about non-violent action; one of the girls who spoke said she had refused to do her military service in Gaza because she believes Israel is illegally occupying said land


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Diet Wars- it's kill or be killed.

February 10th 2009 01:16
Have you heart of fruicians? If not, they're people that only eat fruit- kind of like extreme vegetarians. Why they're won't kill veggies but have no problem lopping down and gobbling fruit I'll never know, but the fact remains that these people are out there and they represent a growing number of break away dieters, who, (I predict) are plotting to take over the world with their cult rituals. Well of course they'll deny this when asked about it; they want to keep us in the dark so their offensive can take us by surprise. There’s no point in mounting an attack if you give your enemy plenty of warning and preparation time. Duh.

As with the fanatics of religious cults, some of these dieters originally ate according to some more relaxed dieting laws, but became disillusioned with the 'tainted' practices and sought to diet in a way that was 'pure'- like the Wahhab version of Islam. Er, Wahhabism being the literal interpretation of the Quran


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Helping Others Is A Waste Of Time

February 8th 2009 23:45
Australians are quite big on mates and 'mateship'. So why then, do young people not like volunteering? Maybe I'm confusing camaraderie with charity, but whenever I volunteer at anything, I find most other young people (if there are any) have only turned up as a requirement for their course/work experience/ bail condition.

So, what's up with not lending a hand


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Festival Season and Skin Cancer

February 1st 2009 05:35
If you live in the Southern Hemisphere, you may have noticed that it's well and truly festival season.

A chance to get hot and sweaty on a dance floor or in a mosh pit, festival season also means sunburn


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