The Beatles sang in German. Did you know that? I knew they’d spent time playing in Hamburg before their fame spread globally, but it hadn’t occurred to me that they would have recorded in German until this morning when RNZ National played I Wanna Hold Your Hand in that language.
I studied German briefly in the 5th form as my sixth School Certificate subject. In those days it was offered along with French and Latin, but there was no option for Māori, Japanese or Mandarin. I still like the sound of the language, but these days my knowledge is limited to being able to count to twelve. I always used to say Gesundheit when someone sneezed, but this century I’ve learned to say Tihei mauri ora instead.
In 1956 we hosted a Hungarian refugee who had a smattering of German, but no English. My brother had a similar smattering from his scientific studies, and with the help of a German dictionary they were able to communicate on a very basic level.
Hearing The Beatles this morning reminded me of other German songs from the 1960s, Elvis sang Wooden Heart, and Lolita sang Seeman (Sailor)
Languages we don’t hear much
are German, Norwegian, and Dutch