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| Europe |
| Germany: Merkel attacks English word invasion |
| 2008-09-09 |
| German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday complained about the high number of English words that have been incorporated into the German language during a visit the Goethe Institute in Munich. “The language of Goethe is an attractive language,” Merkel told the central office of Germany's culture and language outreach institute. But the German language must be protected in order to continue as a “self-confident language,” she said, otherwise it will become increasingly nonsensical and students of German in other countries could think their courses are “half-English.” Merkel emphasized the importance of cultural outreach in a time of globalization, which makes the work of the Goethe Institute more important than ever, she said. It is an international “symbol of cultural exchange” for Germany, with an essential task of “breaking down barriers between countries,” she added. |
| Posted by:mrp |
| #30 Zheng, I would add that the those Anglosphere nations are 1/3 of the world economy because the culture of adapting things. European Conservative, the German tv I saw looked an awful lot like Married with Children and Hogans Heroes when I was there. They should worry about creating more of their own content and less about English words. I'd be pissed at the biggest German directors leaving to work in English because that is where the money is. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2008-09-09 23:57 |
| #29 That's what I meant. Hey who knows the word might exist Re: Merkel Politicians sometimes need to make these utterly useless complaints. Good for a speech. Language is a never ending creative process and the stupidities usually have a short shelf life. |
| Posted by: European Conservative 2008-09-09 23:08 |
| #28 Thanks for the confidence in my (right now, almost non-existent) German, but I never knew the language well enough to make that up. Maybe the German who told me did. Supposedly it meant shooting-crawling-(???)-armored-war-wagon. I bought it. ;-p |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2008-09-09 23:00 |
| #27 Barbara, it can exist if some made it up. Use it for a longer time and the Duden will decide to carry it. |
| Posted by: European Conservative 2008-09-09 22:57 |
| #26 To clarify the difference: The combination of two or three generic English words lead to a very precise and specific meaning, but you cannot "guess" it. You need to know it, having seen the combo before and the context in which it was applied. German words can become real monsters (bureaucrats love then), because the German language allows for unlimited combinations which make a new word. But while it may be long it follows a certain logic and you can usually decipher what it means. Barbara's word does not exist but she can make it up and everyone will grab what it means. |
| Posted by: European Conservative 2008-09-09 22:55 |
| #25 EC - I know a tank is called a Panzer in German, but I'm pretty sure (as I was told when I lived in Germany many years ago) that the longer version was the original name. (Which makes sense when you think about how the German language often makes a new word by describing the object, i.e., Fernsehen for television. Though the last I heard the regular people in Germany call it a TV now, and I think I remember hearing some Germans use that word even 40 years ago.) German has some very interesting words. :-D |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2008-09-09 22:53 |
| #24 Das stimmt. Yes, indeedy do. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2008-09-09 22:48 |
| #23 law of course. And I mean 2 or 3 very generic words, that in combination suddenly take on a very specific meaning. |
| Posted by: European Conservative 2008-09-09 22:36 |
| #22 Barbara That word doesn't exist. Try Panzer. What is true though that German words are often far more precise than English ones. One thing that drives translators into German crazy is the English tendency to combine 2 or 3 words. Suddenly they mean something very specific but only the best dictionaries will carry all the meanings. In kaw and economy it becomes maddening. I have one heavy law/economy dictionary that alone has more than half a million entries. To find out which exact German translation applies can take a long time and you really need to know your trade. |
| Posted by: European Conservative 2008-09-09 22:35 |
| #21 "The language of Goethe is an attractive language." Hmm. James was working at a computer terminal at CERN, with a rapid-fire conversation in German going on behind him for background noise. He says it sounded like a watermelon-seed spitting contest. |
| Posted by: mom 2008-09-09 20:13 |
| #20 Yo. |
| Posted by: lotp 2008-09-09 19:24 |
| #19 Ag, nou ja. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2008-09-09 19:13 |
| #18 #7 EU: "The English tendency is to shorten words as much as they can be shortened and still be unique." No German: der Schutzengrabenvernichtungpanzerkampfwagen English: Tank 'Nuff said. (And IIRC, that's not even the longest word in the German language.) |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2008-09-09 19:08 |
| #17 'k. :-P |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2008-09-09 19:06 |
| #16 The English tendency is to shorten words as much as they can be shortened and still be unique Ok. :) |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2008-09-09 18:59 |
| #15 I'm not a VW-ophile, Ret, but that would be "Fahrvergnügen." I haven't thought about that in years. Oy. ;-p |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2008-09-09 18:50 |
| #14 Wahrscheinlich nicht, JFM. |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2008-09-09 18:47 |
| #13 Liebe Kanzlerin Merkel Könnten Sie, bitte, solche dumme Sprüchen aufhören zu sagen und um Ihren eigenen Kram kümmern ? Ich danke Ihnen im Voraus. Sind Sie jetz glücklich damit? Mit freundlichen Grüssen Ihre JFM I suppose she will be happy now. :-) |
| Posted by: jfm 2008-09-09 18:42 |
| #12 Fact is the English language is adaptable (as is the culture) which is why the Anglosphere is dominant. Actually English is dominant because ABCA (America, Britain & Ireland, Canada, Australia & New Zealand) are about 1/3 of the world economy. That's all there is to it. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2008-09-09 18:06 |
| #11 "Make my Day" Easy to understand and almost impossible to translate. |
| Posted by: European Conservative 2008-09-09 17:21 |
| #10 If you hear a marketing guy say: "Wir müssen die Usability brainstormen und Interchangeprozesse implementieren" (you get it, don't you?) he's just producing verbal diarrhea. The English version of this sentence is *also* verbal diarrhea. Fact is that English has some great features which other languages lack. How many times have you heard a clever turn of phrase for the first time and immediately understood the meaning? Well, lots of languages have trouble with that, German in particular. I'll never forget the first year German student I met in Zürich who tried a direct translation of "Don't have a cow". Priceless. Disclaimer: I do love the way Nietzsche turns a phrase in German. |
| Posted by: Iblis 2008-09-09 17:00 |
| #9 Modern languages will always incorporate "foreign" words when it suits them. Even the French never touched the beloved "week end". What Merkel refers to is not that normal process but the excesses. Watch German TV ads and sometimes the only German words are "und" and "oder" Some people also like to "bend" English verbs into German grammar and this sounds stupid. If you hear a marketing guy say: "Wir müssen die Usability brainstormen und Interchangeprozesse implementieren" (you get it, don't you?) he's just producing verbal diarrhea. |
| Posted by: European Conservative 2008-09-09 15:46 |
| #8 To a native speaker, English seems efficient. For the outsider, however, it is a language that is chock-full of oddities and exceptions. A husband cleaving to his wife is very different than a husband taking a cleaver to his wife. And more than one house is houses, but more than one mouse is mice. |
| Posted by: Darrell 2008-09-09 15:36 |
| #7 Ever notice when you buy something with directions for use or assembly in several different languages that the number of words used for directions in English is always less than any of the other languages? What's more, the English words have fewer syllables than corresponding words in other languages. German, with its compound words and insistence on putting the verb at the end of the sentence seems particularly cumbersome. Romance languages like French, Spanish and Italian seem to roll more easily off the tongues of their speakers. But when you study them and see them written you know why those people talk so fast. They have to talk fast to get it all said before the sun sets. Their words always include a bunch of extra syllables and they go to great pains to specify the gender of inanimate objects that don't even have gender. The English tendency is to shorten words as much as they can be shortened and still be unique. We incorporate words from other languages into English without even thinking about it. There's no shame in it. It's a big language. It gets bigger and more powerful every day. Does it mean that English is more efficient and more adaptable? If so, does that efficiency and adaptability result in more efficient thought? Hmmmm. |
| Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 2008-09-09 15:25 |
| #6 Since English is a germanic language she's coming off as especially elitist. Fact is the English language is adaptable (as is the culture) which is why the Anglosphere is dominant. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2008-09-09 14:17 |
| #5 Can we send "Farfugnuvven" ( or however its spelt) back to her? any VW-ophiles please correct der schpellink, danka. |
| Posted by: USN, Ret. 2008-09-09 14:14 |
| #4 Is GC Merkel referring to "borscht eating surrender monkeys" and "Sarahcuda"? |
| Posted by: MarkZ 2008-09-09 14:07 |
| #3 Hitler did the same thing. Changed "das Telefon" to "der Fernsprecher", etc, etc, etc. The French continue to do it, and other countries as well. The problem they have is that new things come from the US, and the US speaks English (for now). |
| Posted by: Iblis 2008-09-09 12:35 |
| #2 Quagmire! |
| Posted by: anonymous5089 2008-09-09 12:31 |
| #1 I believe that 'lost' thingy in 1945 set the stage for this. Explains why there's a lot of Latin base language lingering on around Western Europe and not Celtic. And may I point out that little romance language import brought to the Anglish by some Normans. Winning is good. Ask the Carthaginians. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2008-09-09 11:59 |