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 Language Learning Forum : Cultural Experiences in Foreign Languages |  | |
| Doitsujin Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 5320 days ago 1256 posts - 2363 votes  Speaks: German*, English | Message 1 of 5 22 September 2011 at 12:06pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I just read an interesting English article about language purism in Germany seen through the eyes of a Brit living in Germany.
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| Sunja Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 6085 days ago 2020 posts - 2295 votes 1 sounds Speaks: English*, German Studies: French, Mandarin | Message 2 of 5 22 September 2011 at 12:43pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Doitsujin how do Germans stand it when they make a new contract with a mobile phone service?
I get confused myself sometimes, like when I read adds for men and women's clothing, and I have to wonder if a "shorty" is something to be worn on the outside or the inside, then I have to trouble myself to find out what it is. I guess that's what the whole article is about! Edited by Sunja on 22 September 2011 at 12:43pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Doitsujin Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 5320 days ago 1256 posts - 2363 votes Speaks: German*, English | Message 3 of 5 22 September 2011 at 3:18pm | IP Logged | |||||
My guess it that most people will simply ignore the name of the plan and ask the sales person about the details of the different plans.
I guess many Germans were equally confused. I for one wouldn't know what a "shorty" is either. IMHO, the problem is not so much the increasing use of English terms, but the incorrect use of English terms and the creation of pseudo-English expressions. The author of the article suggests that native English speakers should simply accept the fact that many Germans say "last not least" instead of "last but not least" etc. I totally disagree with him on that point. If we must use English terms instead of established German ones, we should at least try to use them correctly. I also completely fail to see the point in coming up with confusing pseudo-English expressions just because English is considered "en vogue" by unimaginative German marketing people. For example, when I first heard that "public viewing" is used in Germany to refer to large screen presentations of movies, sports events, tv shows etc., I thought that this must have been an isolated incident of someone with poor translation skills. Unfortunately, I was wrong. And there are countless other examples such as "after-work party". 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Teango Triglot Winner TAC 2010 & 2012 Senior Member United States teango.wordpress.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5556 days ago 2210 posts - 3734 votes Speaks: English*, German, Russian Studies: Hawaiian, French, Toki Pona | Message 4 of 5 22 September 2011 at 3:29pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Even now, paying for a "Handy" still makes me giggle. To my British ears, it sounds delightfully rude... :)
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| montmorency Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4828 days ago 2371 posts - 3676 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Danish, Welsh | Message 5 of 5 22 September 2011 at 3:56pm | IP Logged | |||||
I used to laugh at that usage of the word, but I've found when on summer courses in Germany with mostly fellow-British students, we end up adopting it (even among ourselves), while we are there, and not even used ironically. More generally though, I really regret the widespread usage of English words and phrases shoehorned into German, especially in the world of business, management, and advertising and marketing in general. The jargon-infested linguistic ethos of those fields is bad enough in any case, but when it is imported into a non-English speaking environment, it is even worse. My hope is that the more horrible of them will simply die out, although I think that "handy" is there to stay. EDIT: The unworried author of the article says that this has been going on a long time. I noticed this in recent weeks as I've been reading a lot of Fontane, and he is always throwing in English words and phrases (also French). I'm not suggesting that those particular words and phrases were in common use then, and these might have just been Fontane-isms - he was, at least to some extent, an anglophile. Also his characters are sometimes shown as reading English novels - in translation almost certainly, but but at least English names and titles would have been familiar to those readers. Edited by montmorency on 22 September 2011 at 4:12pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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