Celebrity Germanitis für Mittwoch, den ersten September 2010!*
Komischerweise (funnily), Leonardo DiCaprio likes to speak a bit of German to amuse his German-speaking-and-learning-fanbase.
Who knew that the Italian moniker DiCaprio was a ruse to wrangle us away from believing that he has German ancestry? YouTubers, evidently:
Junger Leo über seine Mutti (ganz kurz [quite short])
Leo kann Deutsch 1
Leo kann Deutsch 2
He states that his Oma (grandmother) is from a little city 2 hours away from Düsseldorf. Und wo liegt Düsseldorf? Ja, Schüler und Studenten, Düsseldorf liegt im Westen von Deutschland…
According to the oracle that is Google / Wikipedia, DiCaprio is half German, his mother lived in Germany, and his paternal Oma, namens (by the name of) Olga Anne Jacobs, was born in Deutschland. Aber ja, sein Vater war Italiener. (His father was Italian). Read more about Leo’s early life and family here.
Also amüsant (amusing) is Keanu Reeves speaking German (ganz kurz):
,,Morgen, morgen, nur nicht heute
sagen alle faulen Leute.”
Translation: “Tomorrow, tomorrow, just not today – that’s what all lazy people say.”
Maybe he was Der Eine (The One) after all…if he can speak German so sagely. Or maybe he just has quality German language learning help.
Actually, many celebrities try to do something auf Deutsch to reach their German Publikum (audience), the most notable example for me being the Beatles recordings of “Sie liebt dich” (“She Loves You”) and “Komm gib mir deine Hand” (“I Wanna Hold Your Hand”). Es gibt zahlreiche Beispiele (There are numerous examples). Welche Beispiele kennen Sie? (What examples do you know?)
Some even had German or Austrian roots, such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mister Universum selbst. Arnold’s accent is not German, but Austrian. Sein Akzent ist nicht deutsch, sondern österreichisch.
What is your favorite case of celebrity Germanitis? Who is your favorite German celebrity? Please post below.
*The German date is written logically, in ascending order of time elements – Tag (Day), Monat (Month), Jahr (Year).
Today’s date would be written like this in German: 01.09.10.
