Denglish
Germans are getting themselves into a real mess at the moment with Anglicisms, made-up or otherwise. It just seems that the people in charge of marketing new products are incapable of thinking in German anymore. My favourite (well, I was appalled by it really) is 'Dog Service Station' as seen in Berlin. It's just a toilet area for dogs, not somewhere for dogs to drink coffee and stock up on petrol. Stadtzentrum doesn't exist anymore, instead even the smallest villages now claim to have Citycenters. Kaffee zum mitnehmen has been universally scored out and replaced with coffee to go. The best, though, has to be Public Viewing, used at the World Cup in Germany. Nobody told the Germans obviously that this means a public viewing of a corpse in many English speaking countries.
Sent by: Matt
Comments
Listen to the song in "Denglish" by the German/Spanish Band Son of a Beach, "The yellow from egg"! German literally translated into English.
I agree with Angelika (except I'm not German). If languages stop evolving, they die out because it becomes unnatural to the younger generations - imagine speaking like your great grandma in casual conversation.
And what about Engleutsch? (sorry I didn't assimilate that really well). How many English-speaking teens say stuff is 'uber' (usually not realising that there is an umlaut)? And did you know Middle English was about 85% French, despite being Germanic? I sometimes think it's a shame when languages are too insecure in their vocab to keep their own words, but it's much better than extinction.
Last point - it's also natural for meanings to change over time. For example, the root of the word 'religion' comes from the latin 'binding' (their view of religion was as a form of contract - good luck etc for worship). There are many many others but I think that's one of the more significant. Languages would die out without that kind of evolution too.
As a native German and speaker of 3 languages I see countless examples of foreign words everywhere. English is absolutely littered with Latin words, and I can just imagine the Anglo-Saxons in an uproar over those! It is absolutely normal for foreign words to be assimilated into languages and it's what makes a language alive. A big part of what is modern Geman originated in some other language. Did you know even some basics like the word Fenster (window) was orginally Latin (fenestra)? And who is complaining about that "foreign word"? So, as annoying as it is --- Stop whinging and get on with life, call things the name you choose and just enjoy watching a language develop right in front of you.
If you don't like it, why not speak Latin instead? It hasn't changed in centuries and that's why it's called a dead language!
I can only speak some German, but I hate it when people litter the language with English.
I must agree with Matt and Friederike. Unfortunately, many Germans don't show even slightest respect to their language, especially the youth. That's a thing that has always puzzled and annoyed me. As for me, I don't usually litter up my German with this abracadabra. Why not? Just because i'm not a native speaker. I value the efforts it cost me to learn the language. then why should I sell it cheap???
As a tech enthusiast, countless 'tech' words are English words pronounced like German words ... and even more handily, they are nearly always neuter (das words) eg: das Internet, das Keyboard, das Modem etc.
I recently saw some Rucksacks on sale in Germany as 'body bags' - which is of course someting entirely different in English.
Other examples for "Denglish" words:
Deutsch: Der Flug wurde gestrichen. Denglish: Der Flug wurde gecancelt. (to cancel - streichen/absagen)
Deutsch: Ich kämpfe um die Arbeitsstelle. Denglish: Ich fighte um den Job. (to fight - °ìä³¾±è´Ú±ð²Ô)
Deutsch: Der Chef bringt uns die Grundlagen bei. Denglish: Der Boss bringt uns die Basics bei. (basics - Grundlagen)
Deutsch: Er war schlau genug, seine Rückkehr zu planen. Denglish: Er war clever genug, sein Comeback zu planen.
Only a few examples. There exist hundreds of Denglish words. Using English words in the German language is really normal for young people in Germany.
I think the problem is that teenager in Germany seem to think it is cool to use English words. Unfortunately most of them don't mean the same in English and the teenagers often don't even know the meaning of the words. I am German myself and I was always annoyed by the people who *abused* English and German by mixing them together.
English is definitely seeping into German, especially in advertising and in the workplace. The local adult shop now calls itself an "Erotic Competence Center", whatever that means. New staff at an accounting company have to go to the "Newjoiner-Event" and enjoy a "Welcome-Drink".
It's not necessarily driven by the need to be understood internationally, but by wanting to sound modern and with-it.
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