Cultural Resistance Hobbles German E-Book Market

[Bluestar59]

Looks like Barnes and Noble may have a long uphill battle selling it's Nook reader in Germany...
"Compared to the booming e-book market in the US, Germany's digital book sales are dismal. A set of cultural and economic factors mean that even in a country known for its bibliophilia, the technology will take a long time to catch on."
http://www.spiegel.de/international/...826963,00.html

[cHex]

Cultural or political? From what I read, part of the problem could be that not only are book prices fixed by law, but eBooks would cost more than pBooks due to taxes.

I also find it kinda funny that scant years after eBooks sales began to accelerate anywhere on planet earth at all, this or that country is seen to "resist" eBooks. I'll bet German eBook sales aren't long in climbing up to threaten pBooks there (assuming, of course, no further political protectionism).

[SeaKing]

Originally Posted by cHex

Cultural or political? From what I read, part of the problem could be that not only are book prices fixed by law, but eBooks would cost more than pBooks due to taxes.

I also find it kinda funny that scant years after eBooks sales began to accelerate anywhere on planet earth at all, this or that country is seen to "resist" eBooks. I'll bet German eBook sales aren't long in climbing up to threaten pBooks there (assuming, of course, no further political protectionism).

The Europeans seem to be slow because they have cradle to grave laws that protect all their precious culture and these laws aren't meant to change readily. Where else do you have to get names for children approved unless you use those from a standard list?

They are figuring it out though and should be mostly lined up with the new publishing methods within the next 2 or 3 years, and certainly 5. They really don't like it when you point out that they are backwards.

[plib]

Originally Posted by SeaKing

The Europeans seem to be slow because they have cradle to grave laws that protect all their precious culture and these laws aren't meant to change readily. Where else do you have to get names for children approved unless you use those from a standard list?

They are figuring it out though and should be mostly lined up with the new publishing methods within the next 2 or 3 years, and certainly 5. They really don't like it when you point out that they are backwards.

Oh boy, I'm going to enjoy this one. Just out of interest where is it that the choice of children's names is restricted?

P.S. Anyone flying a SeaKing should be careful about how they toss around accusations of backwardness!

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by plib

Oh boy, I'm going to enjoy this one. Just out of interest where is it that the choice of children's names is restricted?

P.S. Anyone flying a SeaKing should be careful about how they toss around accusations of backwardness!

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/0...aws/index.html

The kids might approve:
http://ohnotheydidnt.livejournal.com/57365550.html

Tribalism isn't backwardness; it is inherent in the genome.
Nothing wrong with it as long as you don't think it is the *only* way to do things.

[Jaden]

Originally Posted by plib

Oh boy, I'm going to enjoy this one. Just out of interest where is it that the choice of children's names is restricted?

P.S. Anyone flying a SeaKing should be careful about how they toss around accusations of backwardness!

In Germany, there are restrictions - but not as strict as a "standard list".

What's required:

At least one of the names has to be gender specific (but that's not a law, just a departmenal note, if that's the correct term). For example if you name your child Alex which works for both genders, you have to choose a second name like Michael or Angela.

What you are not allowed to do: Name your child in a derogative way. So calling your child "Lil Slutty May" will not work in Germany. You may not name your child Poopy either... and "Miller Lite" or "Sage Moonblood" would not be allowed... (Though there's a "San Diego", which is bad enough...)

And some names are forbidden, like Satan or Lucifer.

But more and more names are allowed after parents went to court - which is often bad for the child (what kind of name is "Windsbraut" - meaning "Wind's bride"... or Emilie-Extra? Does their Emilie have an extra?). Poor kids, really...

[frahse]

Originally Posted by plib

Oh boy, I'm going to enjoy this one. Just out of interest where is it that the choice of children's names is restricted?

P.S. Anyone flying a SeaKing should be careful about how they toss around accusations of backwardness!

I believe that France restricts names too. I didn't know about Germany.

Also the Jewish faith has restrictions on the name itself and on whether it is a family name that is being used. I believe they like to keep all the family names in use. Now a good questions is whether Israel has laws about it. They have laws about many other things, so I would suspect they have laws about Naming.

[plib]

Thanks to the various responders. I wasn't previously aware of either the existence, or the extent, of name qualifications. Still mulling whether it's a good or bad idea.

The point about SeaKings still stands though.

[danskmacabre]

I lived in Denmark for some years (My wife's Danish)
I wanted to give our kids a name that wasn't on their "list", yes Denmark does have an official list of names you're allowed to choose (as of about 12 years ago anyway).
I told them I wasn't Danish and we weren't intending to stay in Denmark forever anyway so I should be able to name my kids whatever I want (within sensible limits, calling a kid "Satan" or whatever would be ridiculous).

But I contested it and got a lawyer involved. I had all my correspondence with the civil service all recorded in letters. My Lawyer then requested all documentation they had about my case.
Once they knew I got a lawyer involved, they approved whatever name I liked.

So these European countries can make whatever laws they want, but in regards to this naming limitation, it doesn't stand up to legal challenges if you can be bothered to make the effort.

[HarryT]

It's not only European countries. In New Zealand, too, courts get involved if a child is given an "inappropriate" name.

[rhadin]

Even in the United States, courts sometimes get involved. A few years ago a couple wanted to name their child Adolph Hitler (first and middle names). The state child services department took them to court and the court ordered the name changed. Granted this happens rearely in the United States, but I suspect that certain names are forbidden almost everywhere.

[danskmacabre]

Originally Posted by rhadin

Even in the United States, courts sometimes get involved. A few years ago a couple wanted to name their child Adolph Hitler (first and middle names). The state child services department took them to court and the court ordered the name changed. Granted this happens rearely in the United States, but I suspect that certain names are forbidden almost everywhere.

I read this article a while back. I think they lost custody of the child as well.
I expect there was more to it than just the name change tho.. What sort of parent would give their kid a name like that!

[Pookeysgirl]

Originally Posted by danskmacabre

I read this article a while back. I think they lost custody of the child as well.
I expect there was more to it than just the name change tho.. What sort of parent would give their kid a name like that!

They had 4 children with varying nazi related names: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...-son-Hons.html

All 4 were taken from them.

[teh603]

Originally Posted by SeaKing

The Europeans seem to be slow because they have cradle to grave laws that protect all their precious culture and these laws aren't meant to change readily. Where else do you have to get names for children approved unless you use those from a standard list?

By the same token, however, they don't have the nasty culture and subculture clashes that we have over here. Not giving examples, because if you do live here then I'm sure you can think of some.

[CommonReader]

Originally Posted by SeaKing

The Europeans seem to be slow because they have cradle to grave laws ...... Where else do you have to get names for children approved unless you use those from a standard list?

Says the guy from the country where they have speed limits on the motorways and where you have to be 21 to buy a can of beer...
See, it's simple to make some silly statements using the broad brush.

As to ebooks: German publishers and retailers were happy with the way the market worked and saw ebooks as a danger for their profit margins. Therefore they were lukewarm about ebooks and wasted precious time that could have been used to entrench themselves in that market before Amazon opened its German ebook store.