A journalist from the New York Times should have been amazed when he was suddenly abused by German students on Twitter.
The reason: an article about housing.
In 2020, US author Farhad Manjoo wrote in a column for The New York Times about California's single-family house legislation.
He thought this way of living was backward because it took up too much space.
But without realizing it, this article caught up with him a year later - in a rather bizarre way.
Abitur examination in NRW: Students stumble upon difficult text analysis
Without his knowledge, Manjoo's article had been used for the
Abitur exams *
in North Rhine-Westphalia
-
in English
.
Around 90,000 test subjects could choose between three texts for their text analysis.
One of them was that same article by Manjoo.
Unfortunately, for many, his choice of words seemed too specific.
And so the frustration of the NRW high school graduates poured out on his Twitter channel.
“German students (from what I've overheard, maybe even from all over Germany ??) have apparently been asked to analyze one of my columns on a major exam, and I get a lot of messages either thanking you for helping them got to get an A, or ... ruin your life, ”the journalist posted.
Ur article fucked my final exams thank you for nothing
- ✨ (@XAylosch) April 23, 2021
Also read
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"Lots of words that are harder to understand for non-native speakers"
Above all, the negative feedback should have made one or the other smile.
"Boy, use words that are in the dictionary, you hOnd"
, wrote a high school graduate.
Another put it in a nutshell: "Your article ruined my Abitur - thanks for nothing".
In the current hour of the WDR, the author showed understanding for the emotional editors: The article actually contains "many words that are
more difficult for non-native speakers to understand
", as well as American idioms.
According to
tagesschau.de
, the journalist even apologized for causing trouble for the high school graduate - he didn't want that.
Teacher praises US journalist for his patience
Although the students seemed to have had a bad say on the US journalist, a relatively fruitful discussion arose in which students
asked
the author for
translation
help
.
Hmm ... I meant it as “fancy” or “expensive” - maybe like “posh.”
It was meant to be critical
- farhad manjoo (@fmanjoo) April 23, 2021
A German teacher finally expresses her admiration: “Thank you for being so patient with the children!
I find it fascinating that they all come here to discuss.
I am considering using this thread in our class for media.
They are becoming more famous every day! ”
(As) * Merkur.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA.
More on the topic:
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List of rubric lists: © twitter / @ fmanjoo (screenshot)
