On 1 September 2013 Angela Merkel faced her challenger Peer Steinbrück in the televised debate before the federal election. During the debate she said: Sie kennen mich ja … You know me, after all. A Belgian newspaper reported that she added that Germany had had four good years. In surveys published by Statista, about 81 percent called her competent in 2013. In 2021, after eight more years in office, almost 80 percent still did.
First Suitability, Then Sympathy
Markus Bühner is a professor of psychological methods and diagnostics at LMU Munich. In a 2015 interview published by the university, he spoke about hiring. Sympathie ist zunächst etwas vermeintlich ganz Wichtiges. At first, liking a person seems very important. But choosing a likeable person who is not suited to the job will sooner or later cause high staff turnover. Liking may decide only between candidates who are all suitable. Ansonsten gilt: Erst kommt die Eignung, dann die Sympathie. Otherwise the rule is: first suitability, then liking.
Words for the Impostor
der Hochstapler — the impostor. Duden: a person who pretends to a high social position in betrügerischer Absicht, with intent to deceive. The word comes from thieves’ cant, from hoch, genteel, and stapeln, to beg.
tiefstapeln — to stack low. To understate one’s own abilities.
der Scheinriese — the apparent giant. Duden: an overrated person or thing deren Bedeutung bei näherer Betrachtung geringer erscheint, whose importance seems smaller on closer inspection. The word comes from a figure in Michael Ende’s children’s book Jim Knopf und Lukas der Lokomotivführer. Herr Tur Tur looks huge from far away and smaller the closer one comes.
gefährliches Halbwissen — dangerous half-knowledge. Said with irony of a little knowledge presented with confidence.
Disproved in Two Weeks
On April 25, 1983, the magazine Stern presented what it said were Hitler’s diaries. Its editor-in-chief Peter Koch declared: Ab sofort muß die Geschichte des Dritten Reiches in weiten Teilen neu geschrieben werden. From now on, the history of the Third Reich must be rewritten in large parts. The publisher Gruner + Jahr had paid 9.3 million marks in cash. The Federal Institute for Materials Research, the Federal Criminal Police Office and the Federal Archives examined the volumes. On May 6, 1983, the Archives announced that they were forged. The paper could not date from the Nazi period. In 1985 the forger Konrad Kujau and the reporter Gerd Heidemann were sentenced to prison. The affair is remembered as the biggest media flop in the history of the Federal Republic. In 1992 Helmut Dietl turned it into the film Schtonk!
Words for the Expert
der Sachverstand — understanding of the matter. The word for expertise is built on Sache, the matter itself.
vom Fach sein — to be of the subject, to work in the field. Er ist vom Fach carries weight in an argument.
der Fachmann, die Fachfrau — the specialist.
Fragen Sie den Fachmann. — Ask the specialist.
Da müssen Sie den Experten fragen. — You will have to ask the expert about that.
Das kann ich nicht beurteilen. — I cannot judge that.
der Fachidiot — the specialist idiot, someone with deep knowledge of a narrow field and no grasp of anything beyond it.
The Vocabulary of Expertise
Schuster, bleib bei deinem Leisten!
Shoemaker, stay with your last. The dictionary DWDS explains: do only what you understand something about.
Das Ei will klüger sein als die Henne.
The egg wants to be cleverer than the hen. It is said of a young person who wants to teach older and more experienced people.
Sind Sie vom Fach?
Are you from the field? The question asks whether someone is a trained specialist.
Er versteht sein Handwerk.
He understands his craft. It is praise for anyone who has mastered the work, not only for craftsmen.
der Quereinsteiger
The lateral entrant. Someone who enters a profession without its usual training.
The Corrected CV
In June 2021, the Greens’ candidate for chancellor, Annalena Baerbock, had to correct her CV on her website. The heading Mitgliedschaften, memberships, became Beiräte, (Förder-)Mitgliedschaften, regelmäßige Unterstützung, advisory boards, supporting memberships and regular support. “Ich habe da offensichtlich einen Fehler gemacht und das tut mir sehr, sehr leid,” she said. I obviously made a mistake there, and I am very, very sorry. The taz noted that her party’s poll numbers were falling again. It named two likely causes, the late reporting of special payments from her party and the inaccurate details in her CV.
Why Germans Trust Scientists
In November 2020, the survey Wissenschaftsbarometer asked 1,016 people in Germany about their trust in science. Sixty percent said they trusted science and research rather or fully. The survey then asked for reasons. The reason with the most agreement was “Weil Wissenschaftler Experten auf ihrem Feld sind,” because scientists are experts in their field. Seventy percent agreed. The most common reason for distrust was that scientists depend strongly on those who fund them. Forty-nine percent agreed with that.
A Health Minister From the Field
On 6 December 2021, Olaf Scholz presented the Social Democratic ministers of his new government. He named Karl Lauterbach health minister. “Viele Menschen haben sich in Deutschland gewünscht, dass der Gesundheitsminister vom Fach ist und dass der nächste Minister Karl Lauterbach heißt. Er wird es.” Many people in Germany had wished that the health minister would be someone from the field, and that the next minister would be Karl Lauterbach. He will be. Lauterbach is a physician and health economist. He had become known across the country through television talk shows during the pandemic. The medical journal Ärzteblatt called his obsession with detail his trademark. In the days before the announcement, the hashtag #wirwollenKarl, we want Karl, had spread on Twitter.
He Does Not Overstep His Competence
In April 2020, few scientists in Germany were listened to as closely as the virologist Christian Drosten. On 27 April, the news site t-online published an opinion piece listing reasons why he had become a hero against his will. Point five read: Er überschreitet seine Kompetenzen nicht. He does not overstep his competence. The author explained that, as Drosten kept saying, science makes no political decisions and has no democratic mandate. Drosten wird nicht müde, das zu betonen, und hält sich daran. Drosten never tires of stressing this, and he keeps to it. Wenn er etwas nicht beurteilen kann, dann scheut er sich nicht, das zuzugeben. When he cannot judge something, he is not afraid to say so.