Speak German Part I
Ingo wanted to have this book and sure as always... since he reads on holidays only, I started it first.
I expected the author just complaining about the - really often unnecessary - mix-in of English words.
We call it Denglish, btw.
The book is a hit.
Clever, well written and with many details I just didn´t know.
If you´re interested in living languages - read along!
I´m only as far as page 41 out of nearly 180 and I have so much to share already!
Laugh your butt off or shake your head in disbelief - I make this a series (I think, maybe of 2 only) cause it is kinda a journey!
Sarah if you happen to be here... this book changes my view (hence me) on the whole debate.
So... let´s go ahead, shall we?
The author gives an ode to the German language and also reveals it´s stupid sides at times. Example...
tomato juice = Tomaten-saft
(one word, Tomatensaft, I split it up for easier reading) - a juice made from tomatoes, right?
From what is Husten-saft, hence??? Yikes?
On the other hand... you call it cough syrup. Not as near to yikes as we are, but also close, no?
There are more examples but it´d take too long to explain for being funny for you.
Apropos long... One thing people always state: German is too long, English is fast and easy. Umm... no.
Again, for many you need to know how to pronounce, so I give only the "obvious" ones.
Bahnhof - railway station
Fluchtpunkt - vanishing point
Trödler - second hand dealer
Kundendienst - after-sales service
vorgestern - the day before yesterday (!!! hello?)
Umweltschutz - environmental protection
The author collected German words used in the English language - written in newspapers, used when talking about Germany (Autobahn and such) and regularly (Gesundheit, Angst, Kindergarten...) - over 100!
Funny note... my customer, Volkswagen is using "fahrvergnügen" since 1990 in the United States - and it works!
He also points out that some words are written and mean the same, like: arm, winter, person...
Even France took over some of our words. When they lost in soccer against Germany in 1986 they wrote in the papers: "Kaputt!" - we thought it was a "joke", but no... they use this word in real life.
I think this one is typically German.
On one hand women call for equal rights - and sadly we´re far-far away from it concerning pay (amongst other).
Alice Schwarzer on the other hand insists on using the male and female address - you know how this goes on many people´s nerves?
Does the following bring any additional information to you?:
die Politikerinnen (female, ladies first, huh? Let´s stay old-fashioned in this one, being totally inconsistent) and Politiker,
Beamtinnen und Beamte,
Mitarbeiterinnen und Mitarbeiter
and-so-on.
I fought very hard and won. In our B2E-Portal we have the statement that we use the male form and adress also all women with this.
The point the author tries to make here, though is: some people have power over language.
Like also the Black Panther Party - even in Germany we have to call them Schwarze (Blacks) and get in trouble for saying Neger. Clever guys they are (in contrast to Alice Schwarzer who makes women look worse in the political sector in my pov...)
Speaking of short words, huh?
For "Negerkuss" (as it was called before, "Negro-Kiss", for ages and loved with no stupid/weird thoughts by all kids) you say (via wiki) Chocolate-coated marshmallow treats we have to say "Schaumkuss" now, referring to the (accidetially) white foam-like mass in the inside.
More to come...
Addendum Just today the news reveal the United Nations agree to the German text/statement concerning climate change, see also BBC News
munched by Iris Flavia @ 9:29 PM
5 baitBait Bites:
Thank God I will never have to say environment protection in German ;)
Kriegdienstverveigerer is probably my favourite German word.
The book reminds me of The French Song by Greg Champion which was a song consisting entirely of French words in common usage in English.
And the joke below:
THE NEW EUROPEAN LANGUAGE
The European Union commissioners have announced that agreement has been reached to adopt English as the preferred language for European communications, rather than German, which was the other possibility. As part of the negotiations, Her Majesty's Government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a five-year phased plan for what will be known as EuroEnglish (Euro for short).
In the first year, "s" will be used instead of the soft "c." Sertainly, sivil servants will resieve this news with joy. Also, the hard "c" will be replaced with "k". Not only will this klear up konfusion, but typewriters kan have one less letter.
There will be growing publik emthusiasm in the sekond year, when the troublesome "ph" will be replaced by "f". This will make words like fotograf" 20 persent shorter.
In the third year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible. Governments will enkorage the removal of double letters, which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling. Also, al wil agre that the horible mes of silent "e"s in the languag is disgrasful, and they would go.
By the fourth year, peopl wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing "th" by "z" and "w" by " v".
During ze fifz year, ze unesesary "o" kan be dropd from vords kontaining "ou", and similar changes vud of kors be aplid to ozer kombinations of leters.
After zis fifz yer, ve vil hav a reli sensibl riten styl. Zer vil be no mor trubls or difikultis and evrivun vil find it ezi tu understand ech ozer.
Ze drem vil finali kum tru.
Nikki... isn´t Umweltschutz much easier? ;-)
Hammy... LOL! Great Stuff, nearly fell off the chair, laughing! But... That last sentence.. Ummm. Most Germans would really, indeed pronounce like that.
Kam tru, that is. Who wrote that, a German?
My cousin, Patrick, btw was one of the first Kriegdienstverveigerer in Germany- he even was on the cover of a famous magazine, Stern, I think. I asked them severeal times via E-Mail if they can give it to me, no answer :-(
Haha, I hear Ingo laughing, reading your stuff :-)
mmm...that sounds like a sneeze ;) Did I mention I love those little chocolate marshmallow kisses too? I think they are negr..something in French too.
Per your question, my 83 year old grandma is visiting from Switzerland. My Mom was born and raised in Geneva and met my Dad and moved here. Still have lots of family there and love to visit! Especially for the chocolate ;)
Wow! Your Grandma takes a flight Overseas at that age? You must be awfully proud (and happy to hopefully have gotten those genes, too!)!
Wow! Lucky you!! :-)
If you ever feel like visiting Braunschweig - let me know (if not... I´ll understand, Germany is not Switzerland. At. All)
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