Hi, I am actively studying German language nowadays, and this idea popped in my mind.

Is there something like this: …

[https://youtu.be/TqlTlEVcJiQ?t=180](https://youtu.be/TqlTlEVcJiQ?t=180)

… in Germany too?

It is indeed a great material for English study; there is a full, official transcript available, on the real-time, top-notch quality discussions that handles the country’s utmost points of interest, providing both language- and culture-side of resource for learning a language.

If not, I would appreciate greatly if you could recommend me with something similar 😉 Thanks!

6 comments

  3. Yes, that definitely exists, it’s called “Befragung (der Bundesregierung)”, or “Fragestunde”. You can check out the [official Bundestag youtube channel](https://www.youtube.com/c/bundestag/videos), which also provides full length videos of all debates and includes accurate subtitles. (e.g. [Regierungsbefragung Habeck](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PyOZgGENZE), questions start at 07:00)

    That being said, the discussion culture in the Bundestag is generally a bit less … colourful and more businesslike (don’t expect many calls for “ORDER!”).

  4. > top-notch quality discussions that handles the country’s utmost points of interest

    Germans are, of course, famed the world over for their mastery of deadpan irony.

  6. Besides the things mentioned already, each Fraktion (parliamentary group) is empowered to make Kleine Anfragen (small requests) or Große Anfragen (big requests), these contain questions (+ optionally a reason) about literally anything.
    Kleine Anfragen need to be answered within two weeks, while Große Anfragen don’t have an exact limit. This is also the reason why Kleine Anfragen are way more popular. (During the 2017 – 2021 legislature there have been 35 Große Anfragen compared to 11677 Kleine Anfragen)

    It is to be added that Kleine Anfragen aren’t always small. Here one from the CDU/CSU group [about the expansion of the mobile network in Germany](https://dserver.bundestag.de/btd/20/003/2000347.pdf) (40 main questions, around 6 pages just questions) and here the [answer of the Federal Government](https://dserver.bundestag.de/btd/20/004/2000463.pdf) (containing the questions, I’d say maybe 9 pages of answers)

    This is not just an important mechanism for the parlamentarians to get information for their work, but also for the media and the public. (+ parliamentarians get the answer a little bit before publication, so they can sometimes say to a media of their choice “I give you this exclusive answer a few days/weeks ahead, and you mention my name”)

    The 14 day period for an answer is obviously too low for the more complicated requests, for which the time limit may be increased. (But sometimes parlamentarians get salty and make a Kleine Anfrage about the Federal Government not answering (in a reasonable time, in depth or both) their previous Kleine Anfragen)

    At the end I’d like to draw attention to the officials working in the ministries that have to actually research these answers. They have got to do quite a job with it.

Leave a Reply