Anglicism and Pseudo Anglicism in Germany

Anglicism and Pseudo Anglicism in Germany Anglicism, Pseudo-Anglicism, and Denglisch-lass Deutsch talken, dude! Just like in many other parts of the world, the Anglo-American impact on culture and daily life can also be witnessed in Germany. Movies, games, and music are mostly of American origin, but not only  are entertainment and media influenced by it but also the language. In Germany, this influence becomes obvious in many cases. Scientists of the University of Bamberg have found out that the use of Anglicisms in Germany has increased more and more over the last twenty years; talking about substantives, it has even doubled. Of course, this is not only the fault of Coca-Cola or The Warner Brothers but also an effect of the dominance of the English language as a way to communicate with the whole world. That is why many English words have made it into everyday use in Germany and within the German language. They are not all the same; some are just lent,  and others are completely made up. Its  time to take a closer look at Anglicism, pseudo-Anglicism, and Denglisch.   Lets first face the difference between Anglicisms and Denglisch. The  first one means just those words which were adopted from the English language, most of them meaning things, phenomena, or anything else without a German expression for it - or at least with no expression that is really used. Sometimes, this can be useful,  but sometimes, it is just excessive. For example, there are plenty of German words, but people just want to sound interesting by using English ones instead. That would be called Denglisch. Digital world Examples for Anglicisms in German can easily be found in the world of computers and electronics. Whereas in the 1980s, mostly German words were commonly  used to describe digital issues, today, most people use English equivalents. An example is the word Platine, meaning (circuit) board. Another one is the rather silly sounding expression Klammeraffe, a German word for the at  sign. Besides the digital world, you could also mention Rollbrett for skateboard. By the way, nationalists or even national socialists in Germany often refuse to use English words, even if they are really common. Instead, they use German equivalents nobody would ever use like Weltnetz instead of Internet or even Weltnetz-Seite (Website). Not only  does the digital world brings many new anglicisms to Germany, but also, business-related topics are more and more likely to be described in English than in German. Because of globalization, many companies think it makes them sound more international if they use E nglish expressions instead of German ones. It is rather common in many companies today to call the Boss  the CEO - an expression that was widely unknown twenty years ago. Many use titles like that for the whole staff. By the way, staff is also an example of an English word replacing a traditional German one - Belegschaft. English assimilation While substantives are rather easy to integrate into the German language, it gets a bit more difficult and also confusing when it comes to verbs. With the German language having rather complex grammar compared to English, it becomes necessary to conjugate them in everyday use. Thats where it becomes weird. Ich habe gechillt (I chilled) is just an everyday example of an Anglicism being used just like a German verb. Especially among young people, speech  patterns like this can often be heard. The language of the youth leads us to another similar phenomenon: translating English words or phrases word by word into German, making a calque. Many German words have English origins nobody would notice at first sight. Wolkenkratzer is just the German equivalent of skyscraper (though meaning cloud-scraper). Not only single words but also whole phrases have been translated and adopted, and they sometimes even replace the correct expression that also exists in German. Saying Das macht Sinn, mean ing That makes sense, is common, but it  just doesnt make sense at all. The right expression would be Das hat Sinn or Das ergibt Sinn. Nevertheless, the first one is silently replacing the others. However, sometimes, this phenomenon is even by intention. The verb gesichtspalmieren, mainly used by young Germans, doesnt really make sense to those who dont know the meaning of face palm - it is just a word-for-word translation into German. However, as a native  English speaker, the  German  language gets confusing when it comes to pseudo-anglicisms. Many  of  them  are  in use, and they all have one thing in common: They sound English, but they were made up by Germans, mostly because somebody wanted something to sound more international. Good examples are Handy, meaning cell phone, a beamer, meaning video projector, and Oldtimer, meaning classic car. Sometimes, this can also lead to embarrassing misunderstandings, for example, if some German tells you he or she is working as a Streetworker, meaning he  or  she is dealing with homeless  people or drug  addicts and doesnt know that it originally described a street prostitute. Sometimes, it can be useful to loan words from other languages, and  sometimes it just sounds silly. German is a beautiful language that can describe almost everything precisely and doesnt need to be replaced by another one - what do you think? Are anglicisms enriching  or unnecessary?