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"Tainted" German vocabulary | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| tracker465 Senior Member United States Joined 5353 days ago 355 posts - 496 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish, Dutch | Message 1 of 16 28 July 2010 at 4:31pm | IP Logged |
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Sometimes when I am writing German articles for the university newspaper at my university, I receive some comments from the German professor about avoiding the use of certain terms, due to their tainted Nazi connotations in the past. Now of course I guess someone in Germany grows up and knows these things, but in dictionaries such as Leo Dictionary, it is never marked whether a word carries such connotations. That said, I am wondering if we might compile a list of words to be avoided for such reasons, so that I can ingrain it into my head and choose alternatives.
Here are a few that I stumbled upon: Lebensraum Volk 3 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Cabaire Senior Member Germany Joined 5600 days ago 725 posts - 1352 votes | Message 2 of 16 28 July 2010 at 4:57pm | IP Logged |
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I think "Volk" is rehabilitated since the unification of Germany: "Wir sind ein Volk!" But you cannot use "völkisch", the adjective, any more.
I once was blamed, because I said "Aufmärsche zum ersten Mai" (deployments for the first of May). Another one was "Tschechei" instead of "Tschechien". An the word "Führer" is always shady, even if you only use it for a guide. If you are interested in this theme, read Lingua Tertii Imperii, written by Victor Klemperer: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LTI_%E2%80%93_Lingua_Tertii_Imp erii or "Aus dem Wörterbuch des Unmenschen", written by Dolf Sternberger. 6 persons have voted this message useful | |
| OlafP Triglot Senior Member Germany Joined 5436 days ago 261 posts - 667 votes Speaks: German*, French, English | Message 3 of 16 29 July 2010 at 1:17am | IP Logged |
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This is not as easy as it seems. The safest bet would of cause be the word "Führer", but my driving license is entitled "Führerschein". With other words it gets even more complicated. It depends on the context. "Lebensraum" seems to be fine in a biological context about the living conditions of animals. Yet you cannot be sure that nobody will take offence at something that was said or written with a completely innocent meaning. There is a tendency in German media to use such connotations and to make a big fuss just for the sake of it. On the other hand this mechanism is also exploited by people (usually unknown politicians) to get into the headlines. The feigned outrage that can go through the press in such a case (does the name Pavlov ring a bell?) may last several weeks if there isn't anything else of global interest for some time, like Britney Spears having changed her pants or the like.
It's not only words, but it can be expressions that are hard to discover for anyone but native speakers. A good example is what Sprachprofi came up with in a thread a few months ago: "Ab heute wird zurückveräppelt.", which was used in a cabaret piece and is quite funny. I had thought this would be an easy one for everybody who has come in contact with material for native speakers, but nobody could solve this riddle. So you see, it can be next to impossible to detect such subtle connotations. They can be used as cabaret jokes or end political careers. But there is even more to it. Until two decades ago there were two Germanies, even if from the outside it may not be so obvious. The use of language was quite different in both parts. Ironically, it was the Eastern part where denazification was pursued more seriously and where you would have found fewer taboo words. The word "Volk" was neutral in the DDR and not associated with the Nazi past. I can remember the sermons I heard during my childhood, where "Volk" was used very often in phrases that at the same time condemned Nazi ideology and stressed brotherhood with the Soviet Union "and all peaceloving nations". The word "Völkerfreundschaft" was used very often in this context. That's why it could be used in "Wir sind das Volk!" during the demonstrations in '89 without raising any suspicion beyond what was intended: to remind the government of the DDR that it was the people who were marching through the streets, demanding reforms like in the SU under Gorbatshov, but not "hordes of antisocial pertubators" or "counter-revolutionary elements", as it was claimed in the press. This slogen changed to "Wir sind ein Volk" only in December '89, and I'm not going to describe the details of this change, because it would take to much space. The important thing here is that "Volk" was not contaminated in East Germany before '89. If you don't know that then Cabaire's remark that the word somehow was "rehabilitated" might raise the question why it was used in this expression in the first place. This is a huge topic, and I don't really know how to get my thoughts sorted. I'd like to add that there was a similar linguistic turmoil on the topic of gender equality in Western Germany. In the DDR there was not much talk about gender equality. It was just a fact. Nouns with male gender describing persons, professions or the like were used without anyone popping up all the time reminding you of the rights of women. Everybody understood that "Arzt" could mean "Ärztin" as well if it was not mentioned explicitely. Feminine forms of nouns for persons were used here and there, but there was not such a religious zeal as in the Western part or as it is now after reunification, and yet no woman in Eastern Germany felt discriminated because of a particular quirk of the language. I mention this because the parallels between these two aspects and the linguistic consequences are striking. Western Germany was lacking any serious denazification, which was a catalyst for the student protests in '68. This rings through in Bernhard Schlink's novel "Der Vorleser", even though its subject is a rather different one. (BTW, I really recommend this book to anyone. Translations of the book to any languages should be fine.) At the same time and in the same place you find taboo words and arguments with never-ending provocations and accusations everywhere in the media. Western Germany was lacking any serious gender equality, and again there are linguistic indicators for this: you are not allowed to address "Leser" if you don't also mention "Leserinnen". One could argue that such language regulations are necessary to raise the attention to a particular problem. My opinion is rather that such rules cement differences or unsolved problems into the language instead of solving them. I can only recommend to read German newspapers like spiegel.de for a few months, and you should get an idea of what this craze is about. Okay, I'll just stop it here. This topic is far to comprehensive for a forum post. If someone reads an apology of the DDR out of this text then this person is totally on the wrong track. Things are just not always as simple as the media wants you to believe. 13 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Declan1991 Tetraglot Senior Member Ireland Joined 6440 days ago 233 posts - 359 votes Speaks: English*, German, Irish, French | Message 4 of 16 29 July 2010 at 2:41am | IP Logged |
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BTW, on the topic of feminine forms, I've always found it nonsensical to call that "sexist" for two reasons. Firstly, the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis is pretty much discredited, and also, if you said that Ärztin could only be used for Aryan doctors, and everyone else was an Arst, you'd have the opposite out-cry.
I didn't know Volk would be avoided, Lebensraum yes, as I only associate that with the second world war. I also would be very wary of Führer, but since I've seen it a number of times in German language books etc., as well as things like Führerschein, I've started to use it occasionally. This makes me wonder what words do I avoid in English. The only thing I can think of is how delicate nationalism is in Ireland. Most people would fly a county flag without hesitation, especially as teams near the finals, but only out and out nationalists would every fly an Irish flag, unless specifically supporting an Irish team, and even that's rare. Green, white and gold are not neutral colours, or colours that are common, they are too associated with trouble in the North for that. The same goes for Orangemen, the Union Jack etc. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| William Camden Hexaglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6273 days ago 1936 posts - 2333 votes Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, Russian, Turkish, French | Message 5 of 16 06 August 2010 at 3:36pm | IP Logged |
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I mentioned the Sudetenland in a writing assignment during a German history class at university, and was picked up on it by a lecturer for using a "Nazi" term. That said, I do not recall him providing an acceptable alternative term for that bit of Czechoslovakia that, pre-1945, had a largely German population.
1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Liface Triglot Senior Member United States youtube.com/user/Lif Joined 5859 days ago 150 posts - 237 votes Speaks: English*, German, Spanish Studies: Dutch, French | Message 6 of 16 07 August 2010 at 10:09pm | IP Logged |
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Sieg is another good one. I always got kind of uncomfortable at SC Freiburg footy matches when people were chanting "SIEG! SIEG!"
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| Bao Diglot Senior Member Germany tinyurl.com/pe4kqe5 Joined 5767 days ago 2256 posts - 4046 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: French, Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin | Message 7 of 16 12 August 2010 at 10:02pm | IP Logged |
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It took me a while to think about this topic. Honestly, I would not have thought of 'Lebensraum' or 'Volk' as odd words, as they have their place. I'd never have thought of using Lebensraum outside of the realms of the natural habitat of species on earth (excluding humans as they're just like rats and cockroaches) and IKEA ads; just like I'd never have had the idea to use the word kalfatern outside of a nautical context.
Many words that were used in nationalsocialist propaganda are absolutely okay as part of compound words or in certain contexts. Sprachführer, Völkerverständigung, Knapper Sieg gegen Borussia Dortmund - completely normal. The thing is that you as DAF speakers are more likely to translate an English term to German, giving it a meaning that is not just incomprehensible, or sounding awkward, but not used any more for historical reasons. Such wrong-conclusion translations concerning political or religious taboos probably exist between any pair of languages. There probably is literature on the topic; but the average German speaker wouldn't be able to tell you which words you aren't supposed in a certain context until you do it. But I just was confronted with one word that made me feel so uncomfortable that I stopped reading the book for now. The word was 'Rasse', used for humans as a species. Feminist forms are a bit of a different topic. In German, the word Arzt does not automatically mean "doctor (can be male or female)". Nor does it in English, but I digress. Liface, I always get uncomfortable at SC Freiburg matches just because. :P (I don't get passive sports.) Edited by Bao on 12 August 2010 at 10:45pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Huliganov Octoglot Senior Member Poland huliganov.tvRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5356 days ago 91 posts - 304 votes Speaks: English*, Polish, French, German, Russian, Spanish, Esperanto, Czech Studies: Romanian, Turkish, Mandarin, Japanese, Hungarian | Message 8 of 16 12 August 2010 at 10:38pm | IP Logged |
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I must admit I always chuckled at the advert in Stern which showed this woman with a big grin saying "Ich hab' es geschafft! Ich bin Heilpraktiker!". I wouldn't have thought an examination in raising one's right arm straight and shouting would have been all that hard to pass...
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