Justin Bieber Doesn't Know What 'German' Is (VIDEO)

We understand Justin Bieber's a busy kid. Putting your hat on backwards with perfection and hanging out with Usher takes a lot of time out of your day. But couldn't he squeeze in a few minutes to learn what "German" means?

During an interview with some guy (we could find out who it was but that would distract from the fact that the Beebs DOESN'T KNOW THAT THE WORD "GERMAN" EXISTS), he was asked if "Bieber" meant "basketball" in German. After acting like the guy was using some weird Kiwi slang, he responded: "We don't say that in America." Wow. (via Buzzfeed)

UPDATE: Faith in humanity (and the Beebs) restored. If this clip is any indication, he is well aware of the German language. Bieber, we apologize for removing your posters from the office. We'll put them back up now.


WATCH:

Comments

[ashleemjohnson]

03:13 PM on 05/31/2010

i hate him

[shortcirquet]

09:27 PM on 05/09/2010

yeah, i bet your really sorry. you cant wait for him to screw up again. carry on scoffing at kids and there "cyber bullying", you and every other media outlet arent taking part in it, thats for sure.
Just keep on making this kid feel like dirt, maybe he’ll kill himself and then you’ll REALLY have something to write about.
- Laurie

[Seanskindaokay]

11:28 PM on 05/11/2010

That would be amazing.

[jimthefireman]

12:18 AM on 05/08/2010

The update at the bottom is good to see, but leaving the original headline in place remains downright misleading. I have been simply outraged at Fox "News" distortion of reality, publishing things they know or should have known to be untrue and inability to retract openly and honestly when they are proved to have got it completely wrong.
Credibility is hard to build up and easy to destroy. This little side story has put a huge hole in the Huffington Post's credibility in my mind, and left me rather depressed at the idea that maybe American media just cannot survive without "buying in" to the Fox culture of publishing things that are perjorative but untrue and then continuing to ride the wave of controversy for the publicity value rather than simply and plainly admitting that they got it wrong.

[Seanskindaokay]

11:32 PM on 05/11/2010

It's a very, very short article. I understand why you might be upset had this been a matter of any relative importance, but it's a brief article. The one thing I could perhaps see them doing is updating the headline as well but, c'est la vie.

[jimthefireman]

05:47 AM on 05/13/2010

It is a short article, but an important one. The internet gives almost anyone the ability to quickly factcheck all manner of things, and I have encouraged people to look at the Huffington Post and I read it myself because I believe that unlike many American news sites the very fact that something appears here suggests that it meets basic standards of journalism, unlike what I see on Fox news and a growing number of the other major players. It is a strike against that credibility that the story appeared to begin with, but mistakes happen and I was prepared to give the benefit of the doubt. When that doubt is removed and the original headline is unquestionably disproved the article should be either taken down or ammended in such a way that no one is left in any doubt what the truth of the matter is, without having to read the fine print.
I will still read Huffpo regularly, but call me naive if you will, I will no longer assume that someone being allowed to blog here suggests they will adhere to journalistic standards, and that is a very great pity in my mind, not least because Americans truly deserve journalistic integrity and need it if they are going to make good decisions in a very uncertain future.

[obserwator22]

08:08 PM on 05/07/2010

us teens are dumber than a rock !!!

[diznoid69]

07:28 PM on 05/08/2010

And that means what to this article since Justin originates from Canada?

[Seanskindaokay]

11:33 PM on 05/11/2010

Maybe obserwator22 was including him or herself, as in "Us teens are dumber than a rock !!!" It wouldn't be much of a stretch. He or she doesn't appear to be especially bright.

[smiffy7777]

01:09 PM on 05/16/2010

Not only US teens. Come over to Europe Justin, you will be in good company here, there of millions of young "planks" here.

[starr xx]

07:35 PM on 05/07/2010

the interviewer is Drew Nemia, hes from New Zealand and hosts a show call Select Live on c4. Hes a pretty kwl guy

[Jeremy Boulat]

10:23 AM on 05/07/2010

take this post down... you are harassing someone under 18 and it's not cool or edgy... seriously, this isn't funny at all... this is boring.

[flufferpoodle]

07:11 PM on 05/06/2010

I think what Justin Bieber read on the cue card was the phrase "German for basketball", not simply the word "German", so... to the phrase "German for basketball" he responded "I don't know what that means".

A little backstory might be helpful here. I saw an interview with Mr. Bieber and a young Australian woman conducted the day before the interview shown here, where she was informing Mr. Bieber of all the expressions and words in Australia that are different than the words and expressions used in America, for instance, that "thongs" over there refer to our footwear "flipflops", etc.

So I think Mr. Bieber may have thought that Drew, the interviewer in this vid, was using a slang or Kiwi expression that we Americans, do not have. Like he thought "German for basketball" was a Kiwi expression, and to that he responded "We don't say that in America".

I am a fan of Justin Bieber's. I've read about him and consider him inspirational.

[Seanskindaokay]

11:35 PM on 05/11/2010

Even supposing that he mistook that, it would be really silly to believe that "German for basketball" were an expression. It's nothing like thong or fanny. It's pretty clear what the question meant if you are not remotely intellectually diminished. But he's a 16 year old. An average one, at that. One cannot hold out much hope for them.

[SpaceboySD]

06:14 PM on 05/06/2010

LOL: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lesbians-Who-Look-Like-Justin-Bieber/373851624957?v=wall

[Glen Spangler]

06:08 PM on 05/06/2010

Correct the headline!

[Glen Spangler]

06:07 PM on 05/06/2010

Bieber counting to ten in German. Can you?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ioa0X93dO8M

[SpaceboySD]

06:11 PM on 05/06/2010

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lesbians-Who-Look-Like-Justin-Bieber/373851624957?v=wall

[Glen Spangler]

05:53 PM on 05/06/2010

Maybe it isn't enough to add a little update and continue to run a headline that screams something you know not to be true.
http://www.kidglue.com/2010/05/06/justin-bieber-gets-cyber-bullied-for-german-mistake/

[SpaceboySD]

06:06 PM on 05/06/2010

WAAAAH!!!

[Justin304]

01:42 PM on 05/06/2010

Guys, I think I figured out where he got confused.

It's not that he didn't understand the word; it's that he PARSED the sentence incorrectly.

At first, he thought the guy asked, "Justin Bieber is 'germing' for basketball." - Listen to him when he repeats it. He doesn't understand what that means, but he assumes the sentence is "Justin Bieber is ______ for basketball," where the blank means something like "crazy" or "a fanatic" or something like that... as in "I'm cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs," or, "I'm nuts for basketball."

When he reads the card, he then sees that the word is "German," but it doesn't click with him that the interviewer is asking whether the *word* "Bieber" is the German *word* for "basketball." He's still thinking that he's being asked some sort of slang question: "Are you German for basketball?" As he correctly states, that's not an expression we have in America (or anywhere, for that matter), so that's why he's confused.

Listen to him again with that in mind and the conversation makes perfect sense. He just wasn't parsing the sentence correctly. It's an understandable mistake, considering he didn't understand the accent at first.

[Rock D Kim]

11:57 PM on 05/06/2010

Yes, it seems that that's exactly how he misunderstood the question.

Such a big media noise over one little misunderstanding.

[Paul Easter]

01:05 PM on 05/06/2010

This was all a big misunderstanding. He knows what German means, and he can even count to 10 in German. His grandmother is from Germany. She is the one that taught him that. He probably just didn't see what word he was pointing at and got confused. He thought he was saying "j-ewmen".

[Paul Easter]

01:08 PM on 05/06/2010

Ha, I didn't even notice the Update to the story.

[Jane Hon]

12:50 PM on 05/06/2010

Give the kid a break? It's not that he didn't know what the word German meant, clearly he was put off by the Kiwi accent, it's more like, he can't read! He was given a chance to look at the cue card, and unless I am mistaken, the cue card was written out in plain English! So someone tell me why we should give his illiteracy a break?!

[Rock D Kim]

12:56 PM on 05/06/2010

He wasn't interested in correcting himself at that point. Get it?

Maybe you don't.

We adults wouldn't ignore the printed question. But Bieber's still kind of a kid. He just didn't feel like switching gears at that point.

Get it?

And, Jane Hon, I ask you, Justin, Bieber, Is German for basketball? True?

Of false.

You answer. Please.

Go ahead. Answer.

[Jane Hon]

03:32 PM on 05/06/2010

That's not the point, he's just a kid, but he's also a kid on TV. Everyone is acting like 16 is SO young. Maybe if he were 6 or even 10 I would excuse this kind of foolishness, but 16 is high school. I remember when I was in high school preparing for debates and science fairs. Sure, it's no television interview, but I remembered making sure to be prepared for any kind of question I could think of, and if I was caught off guard, I didn't have the "Hey! I'm just a kid!" excuse. Try to think of how old 16 actually is.

[SpaceboySD]

06:12 PM on 05/06/2010

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lesbians-Who-Look-Like-Justin-Bieber/373851624957?v=wall

[Rock D Kim]

12:43 PM on 05/06/2010

Hmmm... Well, I'm not a teen. I'm not much of a JB fan. But I can see that he has his own brilliant intelligence. He's graceful. He tries to entertain. He straddles that world between hype and realness with an impressive sensibility. And at the same time he's an awkward 16-year-old boy.

By the time he read Drew's card, he'd already made up his mind not to make any sense of the question. So, he can be awkward. But is that a capital crime?? He's a teen. Teens are awkward.

This boy has heaps of intelligence, and rhythm, and cool, and charm. I think he's got a great future ahead. I think he's got plenty of smarts.

What's the point of trying to slap him for something so meaningless?

Move on, people.

[Jane Hon]

03:40 PM on 05/06/2010

It's not a crime, but it is foolish, and for observers, it's funny! He's a celebrity - which makes this kind of criticism part of the job, and I'm sure he is aware of that as well. If he's not, then he'd better learn.

[Seanskindaokay]

01:52 AM on 05/12/2010

Heaps of intelligence? Wut? Reading his Twitter is not only painful, but you're assuming something not in evidence. Talent? Maybe more fair, but intelligence? Come on. Have our standards of intelligence fallen so low?