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Denglisch

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Denglisch, sometimes spelled Denglish, is a portmanteau of the words Deutsch and Englisch. Used in all German-speaking countries, Denglisch describes an influx of English, or pseudo-English vocabulary into the German language through travel and English's widespread usage in advertising and business [1]. While some feel that this influx, similar to the import of Latin and French words in the past, makes the language more expressive [2], in many sectors of society it remains controversial, notably with older generations who are often less accustomed to English terms [3].

Germanisation of English words

Due to lack of rules for proper declension and conjugation forms, English words within Denglisch will have a flexion added to them, so they often come out in some twisted form. One may hear from native German speakers:

Ich musste den Computer neu booten / rebooten, weil die Software gecrasht ist.
I had to reboot the computer because the software crashed.

or

Hast du schon die neueste Mozillaversion downgeloadet / gedownloadet?
Have you already downloaded the newest version of Mozilla?.

Such English-influenced use of language is often found in incompletely-translated US-American or English products: The German version of Microsoft Windows XP will inform the user of the fact that it is currently downloading updates with the words:

Updates werden gedownloadet: 16% [4]

The same can be expressed in standard German, without the use of any English words, as:

Aktualisierungen werden heruntergeladen

Twisting of German idioms and grammar rules

The adaptation also takes the other route, where literal translations of popular English expressions slowly but insistently swap out the correct German words and idioms. Widespread examples of this evolution are:

  • Was passierte in 2005? (What happened in 2005?)
    Formally: "Was passierte 2005?" or "Was passierte im Jahre 2005?" Although this usage is considered wrong by most native speakers and it is forbidden by the official German grammar, it can be found even in German newspapers.[citation needed]

These phrasings may have originated from English-language movies and other media translated into German, but they are also used in everyday language.

Some of those constructs will only be found in youth language, where it has become common, for example, to talk about coole Events which captures almost, but not quite, the same meaning as the respective English phrase.

Since the actual knowledge of English is rather low, those English words usually have rather specific connotations attached to them, in most cases more so than either their translation or their original: Statement [to the press, or a pledge of opinion], Event [[cool] social/cultural occasion, like a concert].

Another phenomenon is the usage of the English genitive (possessive) construction 's , often called Deppenapostroph (Idiot's apostrophe or Idiot's inverted comma), instead of the appropriate German constructions. For example, a Denglisch speaker might write Wikipedia's Aussehen (Wikipedia's design) instead of either Wikipedias Aussehen, or das Aussehen von Wikipedia.

Involuntary and voluntary blunders

Another example of Denglisch's departures from standard English usage is the German use of the word body bag (meaning, in English, a bag in which a dead body is placed) for "backpack" – a calque of German Leibsack, even though the standard German word Rucksack is etymologically equivalent to "backpack" [Ruck, "back" + sack] (and in English the same word has been officially used by the military for a long time).

A sentence which follows Denglisch grammar rules can always be built by simply combining English and German words:

You kannst not have das da 'cause it is too teuer für me.

Which means:

You cannot get that because it is too expensive for me.
Du kannst das nicht bekommen, weil es mir zu teuer ist.

Or:

I have keine Idee.

Which means:

I have no idea.
Ich habe keine Ahnung.

This is sometimes done for comic effect by adults fluent in both languages, but can also be heard from bilingual infants who have moved beyond the "babbling" stage. Children, searching for the appropriate expression, will often use the first to come to mind, regardless of language. This phenomenon is called code-switching. The distinguishing feature of such speech is its grammatical correctness—which is not ensured when adults try the same. It is often heard in bilingual schools, as students require no extra effort (which may otherwise delay fluent speech) to translate a word in their mind into the language in which they are predominantly communicating—full comprehension of the mixed vocabulary by their peers can be taken for granted. Sometimes this can lead to problems talking to those outside the school, who do not understand Denglisch, as students will be unused to having to stop and think of the translated word.

During the 1990s, younger people comfortable speaking English would sometimes replace the main word of their sentence with the English equivalent:

  • Example: "Hey, der wird ja richtig enthusiastic."
    • In English: "Hey, he's getting really enthusiastic."
    • In Standard German: "Hey, der begeistert sich ja richtig (dafür)." or "Hey, der wird ja richtig enthusiastisch."
  • Example: "Es war einfach unbelievable."
    • English: "It was simply unbelievable."
    • German: "Es war einfach unglaublich."

Since the two languages are related, German and English often use the same preposition for describing abstract actions or concepts. However, this is not always the case. For example, native English speakers are reminded of something, whereas native German speakers are reminded on something. But a Denglisch speaker may directly translate a preposition into English, even if it would not be a grammatical usage in a Standard English sentence. Thus, sentences such as

  • That reminds me on a book.

may be constructed.


List of pseudo-anglicisms in German

German word Meaning to German-speaker
Body[5] tight-fitting article of women's clothing worn during working-out, or one-piece underwear for babies
Center[6] centre
chillen[7] to relax; (gechillt: relaxed (adjective most commonly used in describing environments such as bars, parties etc.)
City[8] city centre, downtown, central business district
dissen[9] to diss someone
downloaden[10] to download (same for upload)
Dressman[11] male model
Drive-In[12] drive-through
einloggen[13] to log in (likewise ausloggen = to log out)
Evergreen[14] golden oldie
Fitnessstudio[15] gym or fitness club
Handy[16] mobile phone
Jobben[17] to do casual or short-term work, e.g. to have a summer job
Joggen[18] to jog
Mobbing[19] bullying
Oldtimer[20] vintage or classic car, or aircraft
Paper[21] rolling papers (smokers), scientific papers (scientists)
Peeling[22] facial or body scrub
Run[23] fun run, not a bank run, but innocently used for the HSH Nordbank Run held annually in Hamburg and sponsored by a bank
Shooting[24] photo shoot
Slip[25] briefs, knickers, panties
Showmaster[26] TV show host
Stepptanz[27] tap dance
Tischset, or Set[28] placemat, doily
trampen[29] hitchhiking
Wellness-Hotel[30] Closest translation would be "spa", although often used to describe hotels that simply have a pool or sauna.

Influence on grammar and spelling

Denglisch may combine words according to English rules by writing them in succession. According to the Standard German grammar rules, this is incorrect.

Reparatur Annahme instead of Reparaturannahme

Another phenomenon is the anglicised use of the apostrophe. It is often used in the English way (which in standard German is wrong) for the genitive:

Rita's Imbiss instead of Ritas Imbiss

The two may be freely combined:

Werner's Wurst Bude instead of Werners Wurstbude

Or for the plural (Greengrocer's apostrophe):

Handy's, Dessou's

This use of the apostrophe, also quite common with native English speakers, is sometimes referred to as Deppenapostroph which means moron's apostrophe. Its counterpart is the Deppenleerstelle, also called Deppenleerzeichen which means Idiot's Whitespace.

Non-translation

It is notable that some companies such as Deutsche Bank now do much of their business in English.

The major German telephone company known as Die Deutsche Telekom would be written in Standard German with a k. Its major departments are known as "T-Com", "T-Mobile", "T-Online" and "T-Systems". Nearly all of their titles in advertising and within their web pages drop the customary Germanic k in favour of an English c. (See www.telekom.de).

Many American films such as Ice Age do not translate their titles into German. Menus of many global fast-food chains also usually go untranslated.

Advertising language

Advertising agencies have such need for both languages that their want ads for new employees contain plain English such as "Join us". (Wetzlarer Neue Zeitung 26th of August 2006). KFC Germany's recruitment slogan is "I Am for Real", and their website shows very heavy use of English[31].

German commercials or—more often—written ads thus are likely to use many English terms:

Mit Jamba! können Sie Klingeltöne, Logos und Spiele direkt aufs Handy downloaden.
Wählen Sie aus Tausenden coolen Sounds, aktuellen Games und hippen Logos.

The term "downloaden" is alleged to have been coined by Microsoft, as there is a non-English and often-used German word ("herunterladen"). Microsoft Windows Update uses the phrase "Downloaden Sie die neuesten Updates" (Download the latest updates) instead of the standard "Laden Sie die neuesten Aktualisierungen herunter". The latest interface guidelines suggest that the term "herunterladen" should be used again, because many users complained.

The field of personal hygiene tends to use much English:

Double Action Waschgel
Vitalisierendes Peeling
Energy Creme Q10
Oil Control Gel Creme
Oil Control Waschgel
Neutrogena Visibly Clear Anti-Mitesser Peeling
Ariel Sproodles

The television broadcaster Pro 7 uses the slogan "We love to entertain you". The Zürich Versicherung advertises "Because change happenz" (www.zurich.de) and the Deutsche Bahn (German Rail) called their fastest trains ICE, an abbreviation of "Inter City Express". Their information booths/stands are called "ServicePoints" (also an example of the widespread semi-Germanisation of Anglicisms). The words Kundendienst (customer service) and Fahrkarte (ticket) are quickly losing out to their respective English counterparts.

Sometimes such neologisms also use CamelCase, as in the Deutsche Telekom's newest rates called "Fulltime", "Freetime", "Call Plus" and "Call Time" offering additionally such features as "CountrySelect". Travel agencies offering "last minute" bookings or manufacturers adopting "just in time" deliveries has become general use, probably required by international commerce and economic interests.

  • The popular German a capella group Wise Guys produced a song on their Radio album called Denglish, a tongue-in-cheek look at the use of English words in German language. In this song the lyrics start out mostly German with only a few English words creeping in - "Oh, Herr, bitte gib mir meine Sprache zurück!" (Oh, lord, please give me my language back). It progresses to most of the lyrics being English: "Oh, Lord, please help, denn meine Language macht mir Stress!"

Notes

  1. ^ http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2003/sep/09/worlddispatch.germany
  2. ^ http://www.zeit.de/2007/31/Deutsch-Aufmacher
  3. ^ http://www.welt.de/vermischtes/article1366422/Warum_Denglisch_Sprachmuell_ist.html
  4. ^ Gedownloadet - cold-heat.de
  5. ^ Duden Suche
  6. ^ Duden Suche
  7. ^ Duden Suche
  8. ^ Duden Suche
  9. ^ Duden Suche
  10. ^ Duden Suche
  11. ^ Duden Suche
  12. ^ Duden Suche
  13. ^ Duden Suche
  14. ^ Duden Suche
  15. ^ Duden Suche
  16. ^ Duden Suche
  17. ^ Duden Suche
  18. ^ Duden Suche
  19. ^ Duden Suche
  20. ^ Duden Suche
  21. ^ Duden Suche
  22. ^ Duden Suche
  23. ^ Duden Suche
  24. ^ Duden Suche
  25. ^ Duden Suche
  26. ^ Duden Suche
  27. ^ Duden Suche
  28. ^ Duden Suche
  29. ^ Duden Suche
  30. ^ Duden Suche
  31. ^ KFC iamforreal.de

See also

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