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Maria Braus

Regino-Gymnasium Prüm. The Image of the United States of America in Germany. Maria Braus. Questionnaire for the German students Subject: The image of the Unites States of America in Germany. 1) What do you associate with USA? (Name 5 words!)

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Maria Braus

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  1. Regino-Gymnasium Prüm The Image of the United States of America in Germany Maria Braus

  2. Questionnaire for the German students Subject: The image of the Unites States of America in Germany 1) What do you associate with USA? (Name 5 words!) ________________________________________________________________________ 2) Who is the President of the USA? ________________________________________________________________________ 3) Would you like to visit the USA? ________________________________________________________________________ 4) Name 2 cities! What are they famous for? ________________________________________________________________________ 5) What do you know about the American school system? ________________________________________________________________________ 6) Do you know German companies that produce in the US? ________________________________________________________________________ 7) Which American products do you know? ________________________________________________________________________ 8) What do you think is the USA very good at? ________________________________________________________________________ 9) Do you know American people personally? ________________________________________________________________________

  3. Results of the questionnaire given to students of the Regino-Gymnasium Prüm http://www.regino-gym.de

  4. 40 students of the following grades were consulted • grade 8 (aged 13 to 14) • grade 10 (aged 15 – 16) and • grade 12 (18 years old) • All students of the three grades have responded willingly and accurately to the questions.

  5. First of all the students were asked about 5 terms and • definitions which they connect spontaneously to the USA: • Hollywood - mentioned 22 times • New York - 18 x • Fast food - 13 x • Obama - 10 x • nature (desert, mountains, beach) – 8 x • big buildings – 7 x • Statue of Liberty – 7 x • Golden Gate Bridge – 6 x

  6. Further things which were mentioned: • football • celebreties • White House • Independance • Police of the World • 50 states • American Dream • Stars and Stripes • Global Player • But also: • abuse of weapons • economic crisis • offensive foreign policy • earthquakes • Ground Zero

  7. All students know Barak Obama • They were also asked about further current American politicians: • Mitt Romney was mentioned 19 times • Hilary Clinton was mentioned 12 times • and Michelle Obama is well-known as First Lady

  8. Just 2 of the polled students have been to the USA • up to now • Altogether 9 students have relatives in the USA • 7 more students have acquaintances there and they • communicate regularly • 7 students have e-mail and facebook contacts • to students of the same age

  9. In contrast to the last decades of the 20th century when a lot of Americans were still on bases in Germany (especially in our region – Prüm, Bitburg, Spangdahlem, Baumholder, Ramstein …) just 2 students communicate with American citizens in their village. TV, films, internet, commercials and school teaching are the most important sources of information.

  10. 36 of 40 students ( = 90%) would be pleased to visit the USA • they are interested in: • in the big cities (New York, Los Angeles with Hollywood) – mentioned 16 times • in American culture – 10 x • in nature – 6 x • in visiting friends and relatives – 5 x • in learning the language – 2 x

  11. Cities • We asked the students to mention 5 cities with their special features: • New York with its different sights and shopping facilities (31 x) • Los Angeles with Hollywood (29 x) • San Francisco (23 x), Golden Gate Bridge • Las Vegas (22 x), casinos, desert town • Washington DC (15 x), the Nation‘s Capital, seat of government • Miami (13 x), beach, tornadoes • Chicago (10 x) cine film series, baseball, basketball • Houston (2 x), space travel • Dallas (1 x) Capital of Texas, basketball-teams • Seattle (1 x) mountains

  12. What do you know about theAmerican school system? • The students know the basic terms (from nursery to university), while the categorization of the different (school)levels is not always accurate. • Further information: • Well-known is the marking system (A – F) • sport teams are important • all-day school • canteen • school uniforms • boards in every corridor • candy vendors in school buildings • students walk together to their class room • students are allowed to make use of their notes in exams • yellow school bus • exclusion from instruction up to 10 days is possible often mentioned

  13. Presence of American companies/products in Germany • market leader Mc Donalds (25 x) • followed by Apple (18 x) • Coca-Cola (11 x) • Restaurant Chains: • Burger King (13x) • Subway (7x) • Starbucks (6x) • KFC (2x) • IT – Branch: • Google (9x) • Microsoft (6x) • Yahoo • Amazon • Fashion: • Hollister (9x) • Converse (3x) • Nike (3x) • skatebordbrands (2x) • Hilfiger (2x)

  14. Presence of American companies/products in Germany • American automobile companies: mentioned 8 times • Additional products which were mentioned: • cookies (12 x) • hot dogs (11 x) • peanut-butter (5 x) • barbecue-sauce (1 x) • energy drinks (1 x) • 1 student mentioned: military equipment

  15. Presence of American companies/products in Germany • Here you can draw the conclusion that the students‘ knowledge of American products and companies refer almost completely to consumer goods. • Please note that some fashion brands like H & M, New Yorker and Lush and especially some luxury brands like Armani, Gucci, Prada, Lacoste, Rolex … were misleadingly percepted as American brands.

  16. Presence of German companies in the USA • The presence of German companies in the USA is of course less known to the students. • They mentioned: • German automobile companies (22 x) • Adidas (11 x) • BASF (1 x) • Siemens (1 x) • SAP (1 x) • Local companies acting on the global market were also mentioned: • Streif • Stihl • Bitburger • Gerolsteiner • Grohmann

  17. What do you think is the USA very good at? • Without parameters we got the following ranking: • making movies and games (21 x) • playing American football (20 x) • celebreties (13 x) – singing, dancing, acting • other sports: baseball (10 x), basketball (7 x), rugby (5 x), golf (3 x) • developping software and hardware (8 x) • cheerleading (7 x) • handling firearms (6 x) • merchandising goods (6 x)

  18. What do you think is the USA very good at? • 9. designing fashion (2 x) • 10. building muscle cars (2 x) • 11. building great towns (2 x) • There were also on the lists: • fighting out election campaigns • excessive Christmas decorations • baking • und • 4 x American amicability and cheerfulness

  19. Other pictures of the “Regino” Cloister

  20. Questions?

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