TGIF: Wie gut ist dein Deutsch February 24, 2012
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Fun stuff, TGIF.trackback
The folks on the German Language Division are in the process of making a list of all the Anglicisms that have infiltrated the German language (Denglisch), and someone shared this a wonderful sendup of all the Denglisch words to the tune of “How Deep Is Your Love.” Even if you don’t speak German, you will understand a lot of the words in this song! Enjoy!
Musings from an overworked translator 
Ah, music to my ears, so to speak.
I hope the list includes “gemanaged”, “downloaden” and the truly fantastic “geoutsourct”. Not to be forgotten is the phrase in every chairman’s vote of thanks “last but not least” – particularly useful if they then go on to make another couple of points 😉
I’m sure there must be more….
“Last not least” is what they tend to say, omitting the “but”. Mind you, they’re no more culprits than those Anglophone CEOs who say things like “Let me finish by saying a few words about…”, and suddenly 20 minutes have gone by before everybody wakes up again so that they can give a round of applause and trot off to the (AE: bathroom; BE: bar).
Funny, this “Neudeutsch” everywhere. It really killed me the other day when German academics chose the latest English word that “fills a gap in the German vocabulary that has become apparent through changes in the culture of public debate.”
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/europe/germany/120214/academics-vote-shitstorm-germans-best-english-loanword
Ah – Bastian Sick, the Lynne Truss of Germany! He does irritate me.
A lot of this Denglish is awful, but not every borrowing is as wicked as the Verein Deutsche Sprache et al would have it. See old FAZ article ‘Pedant und Besserwisser’.
http://www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/buecher/rezensionen/sachbuch/der-zwiebelfisch-stinkt-vom-kopf-her-1385626.html
It is interesting. While listing out the Denglish words, it will be better to give out the correct German word for the concerned Denglish word.
Regards,
Dondu N. Raghavan
I find this obsession with “Denglish” annoying – the same way I find it annoying when translators triumphantly trot out mistranslations and even show them off on their websites. Yes, the use of English or pseudo-English in German can sometimes be too much, but nobody is forced to mirror that in their translations. As a translator, my goal is to write correct and fluent German, and nobody forces me to use the likes of “gebinhexelt” or “geoutsourct.” On the other hand, I find many imported English terms useful. When returning graded papers, my German teacher back at the Gymnasium in Saarbrücken used to counsel us “Man muß ja nicht jeden Scheiß mitmachen.” A thoughtful approach to one’s own writing trumps the gloating over misuse or overuse of “Denglish” any day.
song made me smile, which is always appreciated! there is a balance to be found in taking on foreign words but in the end most languages contain a lot of foreign words, it’s just they were assimilated centuries ago and people have calmed down about them!