Click here ➡ bit.ly/promovapassport2 to start your course with Promova and learn English easy and fast 🚀 How often do you use English words when you are speaking German?? And is it because you are fluent in both and sometimes English words just come faster to you? Or because you have seen it become more trendy to use specific English words rather than German translations?
I still don't understand why you use Merkel so often for your thumbnails. She isn't in office anymore, she rarely gives interviews, there are many who criticize her 16 years in office. She certainly isn't seen as the archetypical German anymore. (You wouldn't use Obama or Trump as a symbol of the typical American, either... would you?) Edit: Now the thumbnail has changed. No more Merkel 🤷♂️
Farmer-Schinken is an interesting case, since Bauernschinken is actually in use for a slightly different variant. It is used for the more expensive and higher quality bacon that is air-dried or smoked out of one piece of bacon, which is difficult to fake. Farmer-Schinken seems to be the cooked version that could very well be glued together with food glue from spare parts. The Denglish version tries to imitate the association with high quality product while circumvent fraud accusations by false labelling. Farmer-Schinken therefore is a quite parasitic use of language intended by the corporate locusts to manipulate u.
I use English words in my German as a native German speaker pretty often. And for both reasons. There are some words that I just say cuz I'm speaking too much English and I literally forgot the German one, or just cuz of the slang. English words that we use just as a kind of slang in our normal German language would be words like: cool, weird, insane, suspicious, creepy, creep, nice, bro, dude, common (ach common / instead of : ach komm schon) and I'm sure there are way more. And these were only the ones that we use for the slang. There are actually too many words to count :D
@@sessyfan791 The interesting point in "dude" is: it fits for man and woman. :-) And there is one mind-blowing word: "realisieren" which is used today in the sense of "begreifen" as in Englich while there was the German sense "verwirklichen". How do you pronounce "weird"? Or "series"? Or "dude"? IMHO all these Englisch words are raided.
Germans didn´t take the English term "handy" and just gave that randomly an other meaning for cell phones. Actually it had absolutely nothing to do with the english term "handy" The term "Handy" - but actually originally not with "y" but with "i" at the end which is typical in German for any type of shortened words or names - was a common term even - way before - cell phones existed amongst "CB Funker" (= in the German citizen band radio community) It was used for their "hand-held receivers" and that term "hand-held receiver" got just colloquial shortend into "Hand - i"...and that became then the term for cell phones as well because the very first cellphone prototypes to buy in the 80ties looked quite similar not to say almost identical like "Citizen Band Radio Hand-Held Receivers"..just in order to use a term which was already publical familiar and in common use for something which did the same thing = "Mobile Long Distance Communication" But you have to be as old as like me to actually know that. The use of the term "Oldtimer" has a quite similar backstory because it is - the shortened form - for "Oldtimer´s car" = literally translated = "Altherren Wagen" = "der Wagen eines alten Herren" = "the car of/from an old man"
Ich dachte Handy kommt von: in der Hand halten, da man das klobige Teil in der Hand hält. Von dem anderen komischen Zeug hab ich noch nie was gehört, da kommt mir nur ein walky talky in den Sinn.
@@hijiri0794 Naja "hand-held" heißt ja "in der Hand halten" wortwörtlich Und ein "CB Handheld receiver" ist der technische Profiausdruck für ein "Walky Talky". Der Walky Talky Begriff kam auch erst in den späten 70ern auf und war ursprünglich die Name eines bestimmten CB Handheld Receivers eines bestimmten Herstellers...ich weiß aber heute nicht mehr welcher Hersteller das war.
I don't think so. What he is pointing out is our creativity of creating supposedly English words. Handy, oldtimer, slip don't exist in BE either or like body bag take completely a different meaning.. This has nothing to do with British English. Most Germans speak a wild mix of different standards sparkled with invented anglocisms..
The German words Getränke and Drinks are not the same for me. You wouldn't call sparkling water or regular cola a Drink but a Getränk. Drinks require more fanciness: They contain alcohol or have an additional step in preparation. Most often they're cocktails. Beverages you drink everyday wouldn't qualify as Drinks, only as Getränke. Getränke are for hydration, Drinks are for enjoyment. Cheese-Pommes and Käsepommes have different connotations for me: Cheese-Pommes are fries that are covered in grated cheese while Käsepommes sound like they're fries-like sticks cut out of a block of cheese.
But this double meaning exists in English too. Having a drink mainly meens go to a bar and have Alcohol. Same in German actually "wir trinken was", does not mean water or coffee. The only little difference is, "the drink" exists as a noun in English, but not in German.
You can also look in the opposite direction. Numerous German words that entered the English language got a (partially) new meaning. Look at Angst, Kindergarten, Spiel, Vorlage, Blitz, Flak etc.
In my case (28 year old German) it's just that english words come to mind first. And I'm willing to bet I'm not the only one who can speak English somewhat fluently but then can't think of a German word for the life of them.
About your three examples: "Sommerdrinks"/"Sommergetränke": As others already have said, there is a slightly different meaning. Drinks require either more ingredients and/or additional preperation steps. The word is mostly used for cocktails. "Cheese-Pommes"/"Käsepommes": In this case, Käsepommes really sounds a little strange. I think this is because "cheese" implies it is some sort of cheese in (more or less) liquid form, whereas it is more ambiguous with "Käse". Personally, I would rather expect some fries with a slice of cheese on it. Also I believe another reason is if the product uses the word "Käse" it will be required by law to use a dairy product, whereas if it would use the word "cheese" some substitute for real cheese could be used. "Farmerschinken"/"Bauernschinken": Bauernschinken is actually a different kind of ham: it is salted, smoked (!) and boiled. As "farmer" is a word basically everyone would associate with "Bauer", I think they called it this way since it would imply that it is crafted and not produced in an industrial manner. Also it sounds a little bit like the expensive "Parmaschinken".
Also Käsepommes are cheese sticks like the Apfelpommes(apple sticks) McDonalds had on their menu for some time and cheesepommes are fries topped with cheese
I totally agree. Germans often take english words and use them not in a wrong or different meaning, but in a very special one. Germans tend to like special words for everything as much as possible. A common example is dealer: In Germany this always has to do with drugs or with some suspicious deals. I never would buy some drugs at the Kokain-Händler. It would always be the Kokain-Dealer. Also the term interface is a good example: In Germany this one will describe the interface between human and machine or human and software. Of course there is a german term also for this, but Bedieneroberfläche or Benutzeroberfläche is much more seldom used today. A party is definitly something different than a Feier. Whereas a Feier can be something in your family with just a few persons to celebrate someones birthday, confirmation, wedding or funeral, a party always is something with more people, more alcohol, more music and more dancing.
the funny thing for me is how Americans kind of seem to claim that they own some first claim on what 'native English' is supposed to sound like and which words and phrases sound 'normal', when if anyone can claim this than it's the British and even within GB there are so many different dialects and different ways to speak. By far not all British accents are 'posh', in fact there's just one posh British English and a comparably very small group of people really speaks it over ever spoke it for that matter. I think it's due to the power of pop music and Hollywood that for some reason Americans have started to think at some point that their English is the 'standard', to a point where many Americans are convinced they are the only native English speakers in the world who speak 'without an accent' lol. Nope, sorry guys, yours is just one variant of dozens of English variants in the world. Especially former British colonies very much still have English as official languages but their variants tend to be a wild admixture of outdated colonial English, local terms and slight grammatical adaption to local language habits. And of course pronunciation varies widely. Eg Caribbean English is a beast completely on its own, but books are literally written in it. It's a full fledged language on its own. Or let's take Indian English. Many people in India speak English as a first or second native language, but their pronunciation obviously sounds very Indian and there is a whole bunch of expressions that are unique to India. So in India you can't actually just postpone things but also 'pre-pone' them, people don't pass away, they expire, you may be asked for your 'good name' and if someone asks you to come to a 'hotel' for lunch, they're not asking for a quick roll in the hay over lunchtime, a hotel is just a restaurant. Sentences are spoken with Indian intonation and sentence melody and many Americans have no clue initially what is being said to them, even if someone speaks English to them. In return many Indians in India are unable to understand the American accent. Written down on paper they'll understand, but not if an American speaks it to them in their slurry pronunciation and their drawn out language melody. Still they are all legit variants of English, and I'd go as far to say that especially former colonies after being drained for their resources over centuries have some right to claim English their own and make it truly their own by giving it their own flavor. As for English in German, as you said it functions for the most part towards making things sound 'more modern' which kind of shows the general attitude Germany as a culture holds towards America. But that doesn't mean that English terms and pronunciation won't have to bend to cater to German linguistic needs. It's the fate of loanwords all over the world. The US btw also has a bunch of German loan words that bled into the language via Yiddish. The way Americans use and pronounce such words is just as weird to Germans as English random terms in Germans are to Americans. I'm yet to hear any American in the US pronounce the words 'kaputt', 'über', 'Rucksack', 'Gesundheit', 'Schadenfreude', 'Zeitgeist' etc correctly. But that's okay. Within an English context I'm not going to think about those words as 'German', so it's not 'wrong German' to me, but German based loan words within the English language used correctly in the English context. Words are free. They fly here and there, they can get adopted, take new meanings, take new ways to be said, they literally can undergo a process of reinvention. Once adapted and come into common usage in any language they cease to be 'wrong' anything, they become correct loanwords within that framework.
The word "farmer" is a good example that what happens with Denglish is a quite normal phenomenon in all languages since all times. English has borrowed "farmer" from French, where it primarily means "tenant farmer". French, in turn, borrowed it from Latin, where it means only "tenant". It thus also has a different meaning in English than in Latin.
@@fairphoneuser9009 That's a frequent occurence, given enough time. Even when looking at e.g. middle high German terms, it's dangerous to assume that just because there's a clear match in modern German, that term actually has the precise same meaning.
@@EHonda-ds6ve French came actually from a mix of Frankish-Germanish, and latinized Celtic Gaulish) AND Germanized medivial latin - due to the history of Germanic tribes overrunning most of Europe and created new kingdoms. Thats why France/French (= Frankish/Germanic), similar to England (Angeln etc.)... and the Normans (Northmen!) were also a later Germanish addicational influence - which then influenced older English as well... lot of mixes. The main reason why French does sound quite different to most other Romanic language AND why it even sounds that 'sexy' is actually due to being Germanized. Many are not aware about that (also not that the reason why languages now use upper and lower case latters and start sentences with upper case is due to Karl dem Grossen (Charles the Great) and his 'reforms' done in Aachen etc. etc.). apropos: if ppl talk a bout difference between German and English one in generally should always be aware that both languages are West Germanic languages (both have also influences/words from latin and greek, not just in science). AND: basically the entire planet uses different local variations of English - kind of new variations/dialects. Thats not specific German. American is like 'Hindish' or South African or Australian also ONLY a variation of the older dialects which have on the other hand a lot to do with older German dialects (like Frisian and stuff). which also means that many Germans use the American pronounciation of 'a' while not aware that there are many English variations which use it rather like the German 'a' - and the more classic ones (British for instance is much closer to the German way).
My English lecturer at university came from Chicago, studied English and German there and moved to Germany with her husband because she wanted to do her doctorate here. Somehow it was a Soccer World Cup at the time and a very nice work colleague asked her husband at work if he wanted to go to the "public viewing" after work and he was totally shocked and irritated. 😂 In Germany it describes watching a sporting event in public, often in a large square and in English the meaning is: "Ausstellung eines aufgebahrten Leichnams". She told us the story, we didn't know the real meaning of this word 🤭
Some ‘British English’ words might also be used because they exist in German (and other European languages) in similar form. The word university exists in many languages and thus it becomes more natural to use it. This applies to many Latin-derived words that exist in the Romance languages but also in German. British English being more influenced by its European neighbours likely has preserved more of these words. This can go further when continental Europeans use Latin-based English words that are uncommon in the UK; somebody used the term ‘continental English’ for that. It’s a definition that overlaps a lot with Euro-English which is associated a lot with the EU institutions and their staff. Euro-English was very much influenced by British English as the UK was a member for a long time and provided many staff members. Ireland perpetuates this mechanism, though on a smaller scale. But French also influenced EU English a lot. Both by people interacting with EU staff but also via EU rules and regulations, this form of English then spreads into the individual countries and languages. I remember an incident when an Italian used an ‘English’ word that a German speaker understood but not a British national.
Depends on the parts of Europe. In the Netherlands, Flanders part of Belgium and Nordic parts for example. People grow up with American media, that's not dubbed into the native language and written American media is available, so they naturely adapt American English not British and mix American into the native language. Even though a lot of schools try to enforce British, it only helps for a bit.
Год назад+1
"University" is even weird when you consider that a college, in the US, is part of a university. Almost all the universities over there have "university" in their name. Of the 35 "colleges and universities" in Oklahoma (according to the list on Wikipedia), only six don't. The biggest reason is that we go to "Universität" and not to a "Kolleg" (and the "Berufskolleg" has been renamed to "Duale Hochschule"… ;-)) From what I just gathered, it might be that you do your bachelor's at a college, and then go to university for a master's and a doctorate, but I'm still a bit unsure about that. Here, you go to university for both.
The example with the "Sommerdrinks" also baffles me. In Switzerland, we use the term "Drinks" usually for cocktails or fancy alcoholic beverages (like a Martini with an olive). At least where I'm from, restaurants typically have a "Getränkekarte" with a section "Drinks" or "Cocktails". But that may be specific to the region I'm from or to Switzerland. So I didn't expect Schorle or beer to be on the "Sommerdrinks" card, but instead Mojito or Caipirinha.
From germany and I must say haven't seen Sommerdrinks myself before. Mostly in germany "Drinks", "Longdrinks", "Mixed", "Cocktails" or "Mixgetränke" is used for Cocktails. ("Drinks" on it's own, is the most rare of the ones, since sometimes "Softdrinks" is used for non-alcoholic drinks, like juice, so to not mistake, the non-alcoholic drinks with the cocktails, "Drinks" on it's own is often avoided.)
RQOTW: socks are socks and we call them "Socken", if they are shorter they are called "Sneaker-Socken", if they are longer we call them "Kniestrümpfe". And i prefer proper socks. I consume a lot of English-speaking media and when I'm speaking German I sometimes fish for words. In these cases, it happens from time to time that the English word is faster to enter my word-processing unit than the German one. Especially when the conversation is about a topic that I had more exposure to in English. But generally, I try to use German words whenever possible.
Basic linguistics lesson: In general, languages do not take on two words for the exact same thing. Therefore, chances are that an English word (or term from any other language) will cover some very specific aspect of a certain spectrum of meaning and end up not meaning what it does in English (or whatever the language of origin is). In addition, there are the "Genglish" words that only SOUND English, often for marketing purposes ("Handy" etc.) that are not part of the English language at all. You get used to stumbling over them after a while. Many fashionable loan words disappear after a decade or two. A smattering remain and become the famous "false friends" that don't mean what an English speaker thinks they should. Languages are malleable!
Look at the german word "Geist", which can have multiple meanings - ghost (as in the spooky ghost haunting the old house at night) - spirit (as in free-spirited, but also in connection with alcohol) - mind (as in the mental conscience)
I think it's just natural to mix in words from all the languages you speak and for most Germans their second language happens to be English. In my "everyday German" I use english, french, romanian and russian words/expressions because for some reason for some things I have a favorite language to say them in :D
Год назад+3
There are also those words/terms/expressions that you best say in one language because the other doesn't have a good, short, and _precise_ translation for.
You also experience some topics like certain hobbies mostly in a certain language, so those terms are the first that come to your mind when trying to talk about them. I often find myself in situations where I'm thinking "how to I even express that thought process in German?", because you would often express those thoughts in surprisingly different ways in German compared to English. Meaning, it's not just the words that need to be translated, but the entire mental image is different.
The examples of German-English compound words that you showed all have a different meaning or connotation than the German translations would have: - Bauernschinken is a certain type of smoked ham, while the example of Farmerschinken you showed was cooked. There is also a Farmersalat, which consists of carrots, cabbage and a white dressing. - SommerGETRÄNKE means summer BEVERAGES, while the word drinks in SommerDRINKS implies cocktails, sitting on the beach having a drink (usually alcoholic) - what Americans mean, when they say „Let‘s go and have a few DRINKS“. They are usually NOT talking about Coca Cola in this context ;-) - Cheese Pommes implies that it is an American-style cheese-like product (like this weird „cheese“ that you can buy in a can in the US). If they called it KÄSE-Pommes, they would have to actually use REAL cheese (curdled dairy product), which the stuff in the picture clearly isn‘t…
Also if you say "Ich schaue Football" it means "I'm watching American Football", but if you say "I'm watching football" it would mean "I'm watching soccer"(at least to Donnie, if he wasn't "britishized" in this aspect 😉)...
Im neither an English native-speaker nor German native-speaker but I learned both so for me it's WAY easier. I am more fluent in English and learnt it way before. It helped me with learning German since I speak a Romance Language (Im in Western Europe). But for me vocab words are easy. "Handy" in German for me is phone and I dont even think of English when I hear it or use it. What gets hard is when some verbs like "bekommen" are nor "to become" in English cause this verbs evolved differently. That's more confusing.
So far as I've seen, leearning romance languages (especially french) is easier for english natives than learning german, mostly because of the complex grammar.
No socks (at least not in Summer). I think one of the funniest Denglish words is seen often on the side of vans, commonly used by plumbers or deliverers of bathroom equipment. They use the word design, but with the German word for bathroom: Bad design 🙂. I can't pass these vans without smiling.
There's a store by the road I drive to work. Had a sign : "Bad Design" . Took me some moments until I understood. 😂 And I am a native german in germany.
If I read "Farmer Schinken", I would assume that it is cooked/baked with honey, which it probably is. So it is simply a word for a special way of preparing ham. (or a recipe, if you may say so). It probably refers to the south of the US.
10:10 Farmer is actually a german word... It's a word that is shared by both languages. We even have the words Farmerin, Farm and farmen. We have had "Farm" since the 18th century(source: Wiktionary). English got the word from the old french word "ferme"(source: wiktionary). So I would say that it definitely is a german word at this point.
Something that drives me nuts in recent years is that young people say "safe" when they mean "sure". I German "sicher" can stand for both words but for some reason "safe" is used in exclusively the wrong context. So when you want to be cool if you say that something is sure or that you are sure - say "safe" instead. Also you can do this if you want to see me hyperventilating
This English borrowings happen a lot in most languages today. From Asian languages like Japanese or Korean to languages like Spanish, French and Italian, German, Nordic, Hindu etc... I'm also from Europe so at school we grew up with English vocab but I began learning and speaking english when I was forced by my parents to study the language abroad in the US (where I lived for a year) and Australia. So my english is a very weird mix and sometimes I have no idea which expressions are English or American or Australian.
*Hindi ;) Hindu is a person who follows Hinduism. Anyway, I feel you on the usage of localized English terms. After learning English in school I first for the most part talked to Americans as I had friends there, but for 10 years now I have been living in South Asia which has its own English variant that uses many terms dating back to colonial times, but they're still common usage here today. So my English now is the weirdest jumble of two very distant variants of the language and it's just confusing to whoever I talk to XD
i think farmer is not an english word Donni. A Farm is a kind of Bauernhof where you farm things, so a Bauer can be a farmer. I have seen the word familienfarm for a very long time
The trend to use ‘random’ English words in sentences you notice in German is actually also taken place in Dutch, only times five or so. Especially among the youth it sometimes seems that they can’t speak ‘proper’ Dutch anymore. You explained the reasons for this trend in your video, but in The Netherlands there is this additional factor that we don’t dub English TV programs but use subtitles, so Dutch consumers are way more exposed to hearing English than Germans.
My (German) kids have stopped watching regular TV a long time ago, just like most of Gen Z. Watching American shows on Netflix and the likes, they started with the original language and English subtitles when they were around 14 years old. Well, at least they all had good grades in their English classes in school.😂
Since the internet became main source for consuming movies and so on, you can say it aout Germans as well. For young Germans it is pretty normal nowadays to watch English videos, while in the 90's it was much more complicated to consume English content.
When learning English in school we learned about many words being "false friends" meaning they sound like a word you know but have a different meaning. Like the English word "become"(werden) sounds pretty similar to the German word "bekommen"(receive). Funnily building the base for an English learners joke: A German customer asks an English speaking waiter: when can I become a beefsteak? The waiter answers: I hope never sir. Replace the "false friend" with the correct word and see what the German customer wanted to ask and why he is confused by the waiters answer 😂
Sommerdrinks: To me "drinks" implies a connection to alcohol. If I read this caption, I expect the card to have cocktails or cocktail-like drinks, and not "Cola" or "Water" which would be on the "Getränke" page. Cheesepommes: If it says "cheese" I expect it to be processed cheese goop. If it says "Käse" I expect it to be a proper dutch gouda or something of similar value. Farmer-Schinken: I'm pretty sure that "Farmer" is a normal german word, not coming from english but coming from french. It's in the duden. Cheese surely isn't! ;-)
Any sock I can reclaim from my dogs is great…apparently they are the best toys ever. Handy, Wellness…life music, they all got me frowning politely and trying to work out wth?!!? But my favourite one, Donnie…I once got a phone call after an audition and my husband was cracking up listening to me repeating what the guy was saying, who I did not understand. He kept saying they wanted to invite me for the Kohlberg. Finally my husband wrote down „he means callback!“ and I was able to go, ah ja, super! 🤣 We still call them Kohlbergs to this day!😂
In Switzerland Handy is a brand for a dish washing soap 😂 We rather use the term "Natel" which stands for "Nationales Autotelephon" and is a term from the 80s, when the first generation of mobile transceivers were built into cars. Nowadays as nobody has a land line anymore we simply say "Telefon". I think the English words I use most often in German are "cool", "computer" and "mail" (only for electronic mail).
Did you know that books written in England (Great Britain) are also translated into American English because it is so different? Also, there are some words in American English that have been adopted from German. For example, "Kindergarden" comes from the German word "Kindergarten". :)
BTW, about accents: the main reason why people have accents is because they are reading and pronouncing the letters in their native language. That is why English words sound German when many Germans say it. The same is actually also true the other way round: every time I hear you pronounce a German word it doesn't sound right because you are americanizing it. Another neat trick to improve your accent is thinking in the language you are speaking: think in English when you speak English, think in German when you speak German. Socks: above the ankle bone, just below the calf muscle
That is also where listening comprehension comes into play. If you not only read the word, but also hear how natives pronounce it, it's much easier to get how the word is supposed to sound.
German native speaker here. There is an English word that is so popular in colloquial German that our language wouldn't work without it. This word is "okay" (ok). This is also the word I use most often in everyday life.
Naja ein Getränk ist der Überbegriff für alles was genießbar und zum trinken ist (z.B. Wasser, Apfelsaft, Coke, Fanta etc.). Ein Drink ist meist aufwendig zubereitet, wird ausschließlich zum Genuss konsumiert und wird deswegen häufig mit Alkohol verbunden.
Hey Donnie, my daughter recently gave me a hard time because she said that I was the only person in Germany to call a "Second Hand Shop" "Zweite Hand Laden". Checked around and found out that she was right.🙄. Of course, Germans also often listen to "life" music. There is a difference between a College and an University. A college doesn't offer advanced degrees. Took me a while to understand the "Question of the week": ankle high.
We know there's a difference between college and uni but we use college as a general term even if we went to a uni. Sort of like we say bee whether it is a wasp or hornet.
@@LythaWausW That becomes even more funny in a bilingual context since germany doesn't have the concept of college. But we have "Hochschulen", "high schools", which is a generic word for colleges and universities. And a "Gymnasium" im german is the secondary school that gets you into university. Which means the german student in 12th grade goes to gymnasium so that he can study at a high school.
Let me explayn why we use the word Handy, at least out of my observation. When Cellphones/Mobile-Phones started to become more vommon in Germany somewhere in the 1990s, there where two very diffenent types. The more cheaper ones were suitcase-shaped and -sized with an attached receiver. The more expensive ones were the bulky hand-held ones like you saw Michael Douglas use in "Wall Street". It was a very short time-span in which both were around. The suitcase-sized ones were commonly called "Portable Phones" and the smaller ones "Handphones", nicknamed Handy. The Portables died out very fast.
It's the same with german words in english. Like, when you are talking about what your "spiel" or your "shtick" (that one is supposed to be "Stück" I think?)
Generally we're adopting English words to create confusion. There's even an academic discipline tought in many institutions throughout Germany which is specialising in reinventing English for exactly that purpose. Just follow the magic combination of letters BWL.
Wait until you find out about "I believe I spider". Then you will "look silly out of your clothes". But to be fair, it's also "not the yellow from the egg". :D
Things like Sommerdrinks is an understandable use of Denglish compound words. "Getränke" (drinks) in German is an generic term and could mean a coke or juice, too. Drinks are always alcoholic and/or mixed. Denglish compound words are often used in that way. Another reason - like in the case of Farmer Schinken (Bauernschinken) is that Bauernschinken is protected. Wenn you buy a Bauernschinken you expect an special type of Schinken made in a special kind of way and not some generic Schinken named that way, a Farmerschinken is a way to get around that. Cheesepommes is just that they think it's fancy and in big companies it's a way to save money. If you make adverts in newspapers with cheese pommes you can use them in most of Europe, because everyone understands what it means.
I think, there are a number of reasons why we use Germish or Denglish. I think one "wave" of Anglicisms coming in was after WWII because the allied forces brought lots of English terms with them (referring to culture, music, food, cars... lifestyle products etc.) and people were keen to adopt them because they wanted to get rid of our nazi image and appear liberal-minded and cosmopolitan. And with English terms being perceived as modern and cosmopolitan advertising often just used random English words for stuff to make it sound better even if it didn't make a lot of sense. (Like "diet" softdrinks becoming "light" drinks in German). Another wave came in the 80s with the rapid development of technologies. They were so fast it was often easier to take on the international term than make up our own (Computer, Download, Software ...). That increased with the arrival of the internet in private households. Plus, there's another aspect because more people are connected globally when they enter special interest forums and stuff online, watch RUclips etc. and they just use the English terms because it's easier. So the younger people are the more likely they are to use Denglish. For example, I play The Sims 4, and if I encounter a bug or have a very specific gameplay question I mostly google English phrases and end up watching English tutorials because there's more English language content and I'm more likely to find an answer to my specific problem. And "proper" gamers will need to use English a lot more, too. So there's another gigantic source of influx that also has created a lot of terms that young people use ("sus","cringe","safe","random","obviously") and pepper their German with. As for me, I'm a translator and often spend a large portion of my day reading or listening to English and thinking in English, so I often have the problem that I can't think of the German word. So I use a lot of Denglish.
another massive reason besides the english internet being simply much bigger is the fact that any new technologies or trends come from the US, and combined with international business, anything new has technical terms that are english, and translating them loses the reference to the thing it is meant to reference. Im in software, and literally anything is in english, and translating the terms just introduces unnecessary confusion, and internally only english ones are used. english words are also shorter, making technical terms or even convoluted job titles shorter and easier to use. Also like you already pointed out, the german speaking internet is very limited, especially when it comes to specifics or more fringed topics. most of the things I know are completely absent in the german internet.
To be fair, a "light" drink, sort of makes sense. Not that the drink is less heavy (fun fact: a diet soda is actually less dense than the version with sugar, so it is lighter), but also because it implies that you can drink it without getting heavy yourself.
I‘m Swiss, so some words aren‘t used in Germany, but some of the „English“ words used here are: Handy (of course with the different meaning) Smartphone (same as in English) Computer (same as in English) Laptop (same as in English) Tablet (for a tablet computer) Game (computer games) Gamen (to play computer games (note: an English word, but changed so that it fits the german verb structure)) Zoomen (to zoom with a camera or a picture on a computer (also here: The word is English, but it‘s used like a german verb)) Cool (same as in English, but not in the sense of temperatur) Sh*t (as alternative to „Scheisse“) F*ck (as alternative to „Scheisse“) Homeoffice (working from home) Oldtimer (old car) Public viewing (if you watch for example a sport game with many other people) Okay (same as in English) Single (if someone doesn‘t have a boy/girl friend) E-Mail/Mail (an e-mail) Goal (a goal in sports) Goalie (a goalkeeper) Penalty (a penalty shot) Offside (a rule in some sports) Hands (a rule in sports where you are not allowed to use the hands) Topscorer (the person who shoots the most goals) Assist (a pass that leads to a goal) Cup (a tournament) Match (a sports game) Football (American Football)
I think the best examples of Denglisch are always the verbs, because it will just be some English word but with a German verb ending. Examples would be "gamen" (to game), "zoomen" (to zoom), "faken" (to fake), etc.
10:00 The English word sometimes evokes a different meaning than the German equivalent. -A "Drink" in German is normally an alcoholic drink (even though in the photo, the first section says "non-alcoholic" which is odd to me) - "Cheese" is reminiscent of "Cheeseburger" so that usage evokes different ideas of what to expect than "Käse". - "Farmer" evokes slightly different ideas than "Bauer". For example there's "Farmersalat", a premade salad on sale in many supermarkets. It's not the same as "Bauernsalat", which isn't really a word. Anyone's guess what the marketing team's idea was behind "Bauern-Schinken".
I noticed that it became very popular to say "awkward" or "random" for young people instead of using the german words - you hear that all the time. They also think that it is cool to say "bro" all the time or "mom" and "dad" instead of "Mama" and "Papa" when talking about their parents. It is also very popular to take an english word and germanize it by putting an "en" at the end. I noticed that there are more and more words taken from english in that way. Even to the extent that I sometimes have to wonder what this person is talking about because I didn't know the english word he/she is using. 😅 This is a little annoying sometimes, but it also can be funny. I was in a store recently and asked an employee if I would need to go to the "Keller" to find something. She seemed to be almost embarrassed or even outraged and lectured me that it is called "basement". Sometimes it's just too much 😂
Good video. Regarding the „American“ accent of us Germans when we speak English: In my experience it is more like a mix between American and British pronunciation. The long „o“ and the „r“ is pronounced in the American way, the rest is more British. I knew only know two people who speaks completely with an American accent and these are „Feli from Germany“ and my best friend. The latter one has friends in South Carolina and speaks with a strong Southern accent. In most cases when a German speaks English in a RUclips video, I can identify him as German native speakers. Not only due to the above mentioned accent mix but also because of an additional accent feature of the German language, what is linguistically called „Auslautverhärtung“. That is an accent feature, where the last consonant of a word is pronounced hard, no matter if it‘s actually hard or soft consonant. For example the word „good“: English native speakers pronounce the „d“ relatively soft. We Germans would pronounce the „d“ as „t“. So, „good“ would sound as „goot“ (or in German spelling „gutt“).
Yes, we call it "Auslautverhärtung" but essentially it is the loss of voice in the consonant - "d" is the voiced and "t" is the unvoiced dental/alveolar plosive.
There are also regional differences because of the German dialects/accents. Especially the R is pronounced much stronger in southern Germany, thus people from there sound very American. Someone from Hamburg usually sounds much more British. Most schools teach British RP, so vocabulary learnt there is British. But because of media and internet there are also a lot of American or even Australian terms in use.
A "handy" is sometimes very handy. Allegedly, the German word "Handy" comes from Swabia. When the first celllphones were presented 40 years ago, a Swabian trade fair visitor said: "Hän di koa Schnur?" (Don't they have a cord?")
German native here. Sometimes I use english words because of the meaning I want to express and don't have a german word for it. Like "power", "cool", "hi". Some denglish words are still weird for me like "Backshop". And maybe videos of the search term "how to sound posh" might be eyes-opening for you.
My favourite example is still that Japanese people call a "combover" "barcode". This just happens and English has LOADS of words that meant something very different in the language they come from.
Hi :) german native speaker here (like, well, most of your viewers i guess) It must be really hard to be confronted with our denglish. To be honest, some of the things in advertisement almost physicly hurt. But "Drinks" instead of "Getränke" is more or less normal nowadays. It started with the alcoholic drinks and spread to all of them. "Cheese-pommes" or using the word cheese in products like fries, chips (or crisps) etc was started by the companies selling those things. especially fast-food chains. a cheeseburger is a cheeseburger :) the "Farmer-Schinken" is something a bit different. it suggesrs similarities to "Parma-Schinken". That one is only allowed to be called so if it really comes from the province of parma in italy.(see Prosciutto di Parma)
A blender is mixer in german despite mixing isn't even german because mischen is. Nevertheless mix is as much used as mischen & a blender is called Mixer.
Even though I am now "quite" fluent in German, this blender/Mixer still gets to me! >Blender< in German is someone who pretends to be something s/he is not.
Brit-american English is soo common amongst us! Because most people learned Oxford-English at school, but were influenced by american pop-culture. so the result can be american pronounciation but Oxford vocabulary. For me "colour" is written with the "ou" and "trucks" and "lorries" are different vehicles. ;-)
It's also kind of a thing in youth language (if you want to call it that) where we use many anglicisms, but they don't actually mean that thing in English. An example I could think of would be "safe", which you'd use to mean surely. ("Tom kommt safe noch mal mit"="Tom is surely coming with us again") It's probably because the actual German word "sicher" can mean both "safe" and "surely"
soccer team: BVB ;-) As for the German term I always use the English term for is "Covid" (German: Corona). I'm working in an international company with many daily meetings with my international co-workers. Also "Handy" is my "mobile" - don't know if this is rather British English or US English.
I am 50 now and in my english study books the difference between AE and BE Was always marked. But in class we had to decide which of the two we will use.
Since I lived in Germany, Spain and Canada, I appreciate the beauty of each language. However mixing random English words into German sounds to me very strange, not cool.
When I went to school, we learned British English until 6th or 7th grade. In the higher grades we started learning American and even a bit of Australian English.
I always found it funny that one of the hardest word to pronunce in English is pronunciation. No to mention writing. But what I really hate is ticket. "Yesterday I wanted to buy a ticket, a ticket and a ticket, but unfortunately I got a ticket". But if you think German English is bad, don't look to Japan. Their "decoration English" often is some bad google translate sentence put on clothing or signs or sounds-like put down. Like "Harf sized ham". But have no angst. Bad language does not kill. Mostly.
farmer is also a german word thats definetly not simply english. also another word that exist in english but got a other meaning in german is gift. gift= poison . in english tho it means present .
In the 11th century the term "gift" switched in German from "donation" into "poison" because it was overwhelming the case that "gifts" were poisoned (in order to inherit a titel, land or just to get rid of someone for political reasons) BUT for instance in the term "Mitgift" (dowry) the meaning of "gift" is still "donation"
@@maxbarko8717 Farmer is actually from "Old French" = "fermier" and meant "lease holder" because the Normans who conquered England in 1066 were Old French speakers....and the land was then their property and they gave it to the peasants for a "lease/rent" in order to grow crops which most of those crops were then their "lease/rent" to pay
@@michaelgrabner8977 I didn’t know that, interesting. As per German etymology it was used for agricultural properties in overseas, especially USA and Australia. But it is definitely not a German word.
@@maxbarko8717 Actually it comes from the very early medi eval Latin term "firmarius" meaning "fixed payment" which developed into Old french "fermier" which then developed in English into "Farmer"
There's a joke about the source of the word "Handy" for cellphone: 🇩🇪: Ein Schwabe platzt in eine Besprechung der Führungsabteilung der obersten Mobilfunkanbieter und fragt verdutzt, mit einem Mobiltelefon in der Hand: " *Henn die* koi Schnur?" 🇬🇧: A swabian bursts into a meeting of the CEOs of the biggest mobile providers and asks stumped, with a mobile phone in his hand: "Have they no cord?" It's a pun based on the swabian accent 👍
You fell for our trapcard 😂 Farmer is also a German word. It's written exactly the same, means the same, but is pronounced differently (but not so far from the English, just a German A and a German R). So thats not actually Denglisch. I think also we never say college, because our university and school system and lifestyle is quite different to the American one. However, the British one is way closer. But don't pin me down on that.
Telefonzelle already existed as word and it means the complete opposite of a cellphone. That was impossible to use. So the official term became "mobile" before it became smartphone.
Here in Finland people also use a lot of English words but then apply Finnish grammar to them. With 15 different case endings and several other endings, those words can then become more or less unrecognisable to native speakers of English. For example, in English, people who go to gym talk about taking their training to the "next level", and in Finnish it then becomes "nextille levelille". Some of these expressions are used jokingly, but some are used seriously, too.
German does that as well. With words like "downgeloaded" or "gedownloaded". We take "download" but add the "ge-" prefix to imply it is a finished task. Like "backen" (baking) becomes "gebacken"
This has a tradition with the Germans, currently it is the Anglicisms, but in the 18th century the French language brought many loanwords. Boulette (meatball) , Portemonnaie (wallet), contenance (composure), malheur (mishap) and rendezvous , just to name a few French words in German usage. The German language is definitely not easy to learn, also because of all the foreign words that Mark Twain already knew: "My philological studies have satisfied me that a gifted person ought to learn English (barring spelling and pronouncing) in thirty hours, French in thirty days, and German in thirty years."
Du hast einen coolen look! Dein Outfit steht dir. = Du hast ein tolles Erscheinungsbild. Deine Ausstattung steht dir. Kein Mensch würde die ganz deutsche Version heutzutage so verwenden, ohne total altmodisch zu wirken. Kurze Socken!
Denglisch is quite often used in Germany. Not so much in Austria. We do have common denglisch words too, of course, such as "Handy", or some job descriptions. But some Germans apply English or denglisch words at quite high an amount, and that's rather typical German. Maybe rather typical for Middle Germans or Norther Germans. Less so in the South or in Eastern Germany. However, "sorry" is used quite often. I use it myself too, although my English teacher insisted, that we should not say "sorry", but rather "excuse me (, please)!"... There are many English words in use: Computer, keyboard, laptop, tablet. menu, drink, flat rate, flat tax, pin, ...
Since I am watching youtube content in english on a daily basis, my english skills have improved a lot. But sometimes in conversations - in german, my native language - I suddenly can't remember a word in german, but instead a have the english expression in my head ... That is kind of crazy, and now I understand why some young germans mix the two languages a lot ...
I love british englisch because It is easier to understand. The british also say oldtimer to the old cars there is a race once a year on one of their Islands. I hope that you are happy here have you ever heard of Gayle Tufts she is a comediann who comes from New York and she speaks Denglisch 😊 has a great show😊
Hello there! I'm German (born in Germany, but my mom being from Ghana and my dad from the USA) and there are actually quite a few words that I use xD: random, weird, awkward, cringe, fancy, nice and cool. I don't know if that is because of my ethnical background but it's kinda interesting to see other Germans do that as well haha
We use so many English words because we watch so many english speaking u-tubers. My son and me do it very often, but not my wife. When i speak with my son, my wife often does not know what we are talking about. Long compound words are in fact very rarely used. You read or hear them just when you watch videos like these you foreigners make. Length of socks - well that depends on which trousers you wear. Long trousers: long socks. Shorts or Bermudas: snickersocks.
"Handy" originates from "handheld cellphone". But even when I'm speaking English, I don't say "cellphone", but "mobilephone". Which might be wrong too, I don't know... 🙂
I think one of the funiest "mistakes" in English ad slogans was that of a perfume chain advertising with "Come in and find out". What they meant was "Komm herein und finde _es_ heraus" which would be better translated as "Come in and discover". The original gave me more like Halloween vibes, where you enter some place through a dodgy door and are trapped in some labyrinth where all kinds of nasty shenanigans happen. 🤣
In our area of Germany there are few English speakers so I try not to use a lot of English in my German. But I like saucool and obercool. That should be in the German dictionary by now... As for the socks it really depends on the outside temperature...
Benedict Cumberbatch :D You had me there. Having twi teenage kids here I hear "cringe" a lot. also slay and smash..I try to keep up but I often get puzzled looks and rollling eyes when I do so, because it is "cringe" for a mom to use these words which are obviously (!) only appropriate for a certain age.. I assoiciate "drinks" with alcoholic bevarages. Or mixed things like cocktails or Aperol Sprizz, Gin Tonic, Hugo. I didn't pause to see what these Sommerdrinks are. But "Drink" made it to The Duden - THE German monolingual dIctionary where you can find all the offiicial German words and their spelling, pronounciation and explanation. Some English words are "eingedeutscht" So technically speaking this is correct, although I understand that it sounds weird (also a teenager word) for a native English speaker.
I have to cringe when those kids these days SAY cringe. If they would just add a y and say "cringey", then at least it would be used correctly as an adjective. Mom can't BE "cringe", but she can be "CRINGEY". 😂
Either sandals in summer or socks based on intuition for the rest of the year. Keep in mind that Germany is the second most popular migration destination after the US. With every new generation, more foreign words enter popular slang, be it from English, Turkish or others. I notice this in my Syrian-German family. Due to my parents' divorce, I didn't learn Arabic and gravitated towards Classical and Metal music instead of "Deutsch-Rap", while my half siblings learned the language and listen to rap on the regular.
Socks and sandals has a very specific use case for me. Let's say I go to the beach, and the weather is fine. So I take my sandals. But knowing the german coastal weather, I keep something warmer with me. Socks are easier to take with you than a pair of shoes. Which then leads to the weird combination of shorts and sandals, but socks and a long-sleeved fleece shirt. Almost as if the legs are the only part of the body that doesn't get cold.
The most absurd Denglish word for me is "Weddingplaner". The English term would have a double-n. So, when you do not know that only the first half of that absurdity is English and the second one is German you think it is all English and understand it as "Hochzeitshobler".
Click here ➡ bit.ly/promovapassport2 to start your course with Promova and learn English easy and fast 🚀
How often do you use English words when you are speaking German?? And is it because you are fluent in both and sometimes English words just come faster to you? Or because you have seen it become more trendy to use specific English words rather than German translations?
I still don't understand why you use Merkel so often for your thumbnails. She isn't in office anymore, she rarely gives interviews, there are many who criticize her 16 years in office. She certainly isn't seen as the archetypical German anymore.
(You wouldn't use Obama or Trump as a symbol of the typical American, either... would you?)
Edit: Now the thumbnail has changed. No more Merkel 🤷♂️
ruclips.net/video/VnA5WG39eJ8/видео.html ( Wise Guys: "Denglish" )
Farmer-Schinken is an interesting case, since Bauernschinken is actually in use for a slightly different variant. It is used for the more expensive and higher quality bacon that is air-dried or smoked out of one piece of bacon, which is difficult to fake. Farmer-Schinken seems to be the cooked version that could very well be glued together with food glue from spare parts. The Denglish version tries to imitate the association with high quality product while circumvent fraud accusations by false labelling.
Farmer-Schinken therefore is a quite parasitic use of language intended by the corporate locusts to manipulate u.
I use English words in my German as a native German speaker pretty often. And for both reasons. There are some words that I just say cuz I'm speaking too much English and I literally forgot the German one, or just cuz of the slang.
English words that we use just as a kind of slang in our normal German language would be words like: cool, weird, insane, suspicious, creepy, creep, nice, bro, dude, common (ach common / instead of : ach komm schon) and I'm sure there are way more.
And these were only the ones that we use for the slang. There are actually too many words to count :D
@@sessyfan791 The interesting point in "dude" is: it fits for man and woman. :-) And there is one mind-blowing word: "realisieren" which is used today in the sense of "begreifen" as in Englich while there was the German sense "verwirklichen". How do you pronounce "weird"? Or "series"? Or "dude"? IMHO all these Englisch words are raided.
Germans didn´t take the English term "handy" and just gave that randomly an other meaning for cell phones. Actually it had absolutely nothing to do with the english term "handy"
The term "Handy" - but actually originally not with "y" but with "i" at the end which is typical in German for any type of shortened words or names - was a common term even - way before - cell phones existed amongst "CB Funker" (= in the German citizen band radio community) It was used for their "hand-held receivers" and that term "hand-held receiver" got just colloquial shortend into "Hand - i"...and that became then the term for cell phones as well because the very first cellphone prototypes to buy in the 80ties looked quite similar not to say almost identical like "Citizen Band Radio Hand-Held Receivers"..just in order to use a term which was already publical familiar and in common use for something which did the same thing = "Mobile Long Distance Communication"
But you have to be as old as like me to actually know that.
The use of the term "Oldtimer" has a quite similar backstory because it is - the shortened form - for "Oldtimer´s car" = literally translated = "Altherren Wagen" = "der Wagen eines alten Herren" = "the car of/from an old man"
Handy ist schwäbisch - Handy koa Schnurr.
😁
Ich dachte Handy kommt von: in der Hand halten, da man das klobige Teil in der Hand hält. Von dem anderen komischen Zeug hab ich noch nie was gehört, da kommt mir nur ein walky talky in den Sinn.
@@hijiri0794 Naja "hand-held" heißt ja "in der Hand halten" wortwörtlich
Und ein "CB Handheld receiver" ist der technische Profiausdruck für ein "Walky Talky".
Der Walky Talky Begriff kam auch erst in den späten 70ern auf und war ursprünglich die Name eines bestimmten CB Handheld Receivers eines bestimmten Herstellers...ich weiß aber heute nicht mehr welcher Hersteller das war.
@@michaelgrabner8977 Motorola hatte Ende des 2. Weltkriegs schon ein 'Handy Talkie' dessen großer Bruder dann das Walkie Talkie wurde.
@@hijiri0794 WW2 -> Motorola SCR-536 "handie talkie"
So what did we learn from this video? Donnie moved from the USA to Germany to become British. Okay … 😁
That's realy funny.^^
I don't think so. What he is pointing out is our creativity of creating supposedly English words. Handy, oldtimer, slip don't exist in BE either or like body bag take completely a different meaning.. This has nothing to do with British English. Most Germans speak a wild mix of different standards sparkled with invented anglocisms..
The German words Getränke and Drinks are not the same for me. You wouldn't call sparkling water or regular cola a Drink but a Getränk. Drinks require more fanciness: They contain alcohol or have an additional step in preparation. Most often they're cocktails. Beverages you drink everyday wouldn't qualify as Drinks, only as Getränke. Getränke are for hydration, Drinks are for enjoyment.
Cheese-Pommes and Käsepommes have different connotations for me: Cheese-Pommes are fries that are covered in grated cheese while Käsepommes sound like they're fries-like sticks cut out of a block of cheese.
Yes. I remember seeing 'Long drinks' on a German menu. Two English words and understandable to an English speaker but it is not an English usage.
But this double meaning exists in English too. Having a drink mainly meens go to a bar and have Alcohol. Same in German actually "wir trinken was", does not mean water or coffee. The only little difference is, "the drink" exists as a noun in English, but not in German.
@@holger_p Actually, it does. "Trunk".
@@Llortnerof I don't think that's part of language any more. That's from Shakespeares time.
@@holger_p Much more recent than that. Was still in active usage last century.
Trank and Umtrunk are also related and still in active usage.
You can also look in the opposite direction. Numerous German words that entered the English language got a (partially) new meaning. Look at Angst, Kindergarten, Spiel, Vorlage, Blitz, Flak etc.
In my case (28 year old German) it's just that english words come to mind first. And I'm willing to bet I'm not the only one who can speak English somewhat fluently but then can't think of a German word for the life of them.
indeed, I totally get that.
So you might use the internet quite often and on top might be a Gamer.
About your three examples:
"Sommerdrinks"/"Sommergetränke": As others already have said, there is a slightly different meaning. Drinks require either more ingredients and/or additional preperation steps. The word is mostly used for cocktails.
"Cheese-Pommes"/"Käsepommes": In this case, Käsepommes really sounds a little strange. I think this is because "cheese" implies it is some sort of cheese in (more or less) liquid form, whereas it is more ambiguous with "Käse". Personally, I would rather expect some fries with a slice of cheese on it. Also I believe another reason is if the product uses the word "Käse" it will be required by law to use a dairy product, whereas if it would use the word "cheese" some substitute for real cheese could be used.
"Farmerschinken"/"Bauernschinken": Bauernschinken is actually a different kind of ham: it is salted, smoked (!) and boiled. As "farmer" is a word basically everyone would associate with "Bauer", I think they called it this way since it would imply that it is crafted and not produced in an industrial manner. Also it sounds a little bit like the expensive "Parmaschinken".
Also Käsepommes are cheese sticks like the Apfelpommes(apple sticks) McDonalds had on their menu for some time and cheesepommes are fries topped with cheese
I totally agree. Germans often take english words and use them not in a wrong or different meaning, but in a very special one. Germans tend to like special words for everything as much as possible. A common example is dealer: In Germany this always has to do with drugs or with some suspicious deals. I never would buy some drugs at the Kokain-Händler. It would always be the Kokain-Dealer. Also the term interface is a good example: In Germany this one will describe the interface between human and machine or human and software. Of course there is a german term also for this, but Bedieneroberfläche or Benutzeroberfläche is much more seldom used today. A party is definitly something different than a Feier. Whereas a Feier can be something in your family with just a few persons to celebrate someones birthday, confirmation, wedding or funeral, a party always is something with more people, more alcohol, more music and more dancing.
@@haggihug3162 Wobei wir zumindest auch den Dealer beim Pokern haben ;)
Aber ja, ansonsten stimme ich den anderen Kommentaren auch zu.
the funny thing for me is how Americans kind of seem to claim that they own some first claim on what 'native English' is supposed to sound like and which words and phrases sound 'normal', when if anyone can claim this than it's the British and even within GB there are so many different dialects and different ways to speak. By far not all British accents are 'posh', in fact there's just one posh British English and a comparably very small group of people really speaks it over ever spoke it for that matter.
I think it's due to the power of pop music and Hollywood that for some reason Americans have started to think at some point that their English is the 'standard', to a point where many Americans are convinced they are the only native English speakers in the world who speak 'without an accent' lol. Nope, sorry guys, yours is just one variant of dozens of English variants in the world. Especially former British colonies very much still have English as official languages but their variants tend to be a wild admixture of outdated colonial English, local terms and slight grammatical adaption to local language habits. And of course pronunciation varies widely.
Eg Caribbean English is a beast completely on its own, but books are literally written in it. It's a full fledged language on its own. Or let's take Indian English. Many people in India speak English as a first or second native language, but their pronunciation obviously sounds very Indian and there is a whole bunch of expressions that are unique to India. So in India you can't actually just postpone things but also 'pre-pone' them, people don't pass away, they expire, you may be asked for your 'good name' and if someone asks you to come to a 'hotel' for lunch, they're not asking for a quick roll in the hay over lunchtime, a hotel is just a restaurant. Sentences are spoken with Indian intonation and sentence melody and many Americans have no clue initially what is being said to them, even if someone speaks English to them. In return many Indians in India are unable to understand the American accent. Written down on paper they'll understand, but not if an American speaks it to them in their slurry pronunciation and their drawn out language melody. Still they are all legit variants of English, and I'd go as far to say that especially former colonies after being drained for their resources over centuries have some right to claim English their own and make it truly their own by giving it their own flavor.
As for English in German, as you said it functions for the most part towards making things sound 'more modern' which kind of shows the general attitude Germany as a culture holds towards America. But that doesn't mean that English terms and pronunciation won't have to bend to cater to German linguistic needs. It's the fate of loanwords all over the world. The US btw also has a bunch of German loan words that bled into the language via Yiddish. The way Americans use and pronounce such words is just as weird to Germans as English random terms in Germans are to Americans. I'm yet to hear any American in the US pronounce the words 'kaputt', 'über', 'Rucksack', 'Gesundheit', 'Schadenfreude', 'Zeitgeist' etc correctly. But that's okay. Within an English context I'm not going to think about those words as 'German', so it's not 'wrong German' to me, but German based loan words within the English language used correctly in the English context.
Words are free. They fly here and there, they can get adopted, take new meanings, take new ways to be said, they literally can undergo a process of reinvention. Once adapted and come into common usage in any language they cease to be 'wrong' anything, they become correct loanwords within that framework.
That was a really nice and eloquent explanation.
The word "farmer" is a good example that what happens with Denglish is a quite normal phenomenon in all languages since all times. English has borrowed "farmer" from French, where it primarily means "tenant farmer". French, in turn, borrowed it from Latin, where it means only "tenant". It thus also has a different meaning in English than in Latin.
I wouldn´t say "French borrowed it from Latin" because French came from a Latin dialekt.
@@EHonda-ds6ve But it means something different in French and Latin as well, so there's already a difference here...
@@fairphoneuser9009 That's a frequent occurence, given enough time. Even when looking at e.g. middle high German terms, it's dangerous to assume that just because there's a clear match in modern German, that term actually has the precise same meaning.
@@EHonda-ds6ve French came actually from a mix of Frankish-Germanish, and latinized Celtic Gaulish) AND Germanized medivial latin - due to the history of Germanic tribes overrunning most of Europe and created new kingdoms. Thats why France/French (= Frankish/Germanic), similar to England (Angeln etc.)... and the Normans (Northmen!) were also a later Germanish addicational influence - which then influenced older English as well... lot of mixes. The main reason why French does sound quite different to most other Romanic language AND why it even sounds that 'sexy' is actually due to being Germanized. Many are not aware about that (also not that the reason why languages now use upper and lower case latters and start sentences with upper case is due to Karl dem Grossen (Charles the Great) and his 'reforms' done in Aachen etc. etc.). apropos: if ppl talk a bout difference between German and English one in generally should always be aware that both languages are West Germanic languages (both have also influences/words from latin and greek, not just in science). AND: basically the entire planet uses different local variations of English - kind of new variations/dialects. Thats not specific German. American is like 'Hindish' or South African or Australian also ONLY a variation of the older dialects which have on the other hand a lot to do with older German dialects (like Frisian and stuff). which also means that many Germans use the American pronounciation of 'a' while not aware that there are many English variations which use it rather like the German 'a' - and the more classic ones (British for instance is much closer to the German way).
My English lecturer at university came from Chicago, studied English and German there and moved to Germany with her husband because she wanted to do her doctorate here. Somehow it was a Soccer World Cup at the time and a very nice work colleague asked her husband at work if he wanted to go to the "public viewing" after work and he was totally shocked and irritated. 😂 In Germany it describes watching a sporting event in public, often in a large square and in English the meaning is: "Ausstellung eines aufgebahrten Leichnams". She told us the story, we didn't know the real meaning of this word 🤭
😳🤣🤣🤣🤣😍
Some ‘British English’ words might also be used because they exist in German (and other European languages) in similar form. The word university exists in many languages and thus it becomes more natural to use it. This applies to many Latin-derived words that exist in the Romance languages but also in German. British English being more influenced by its European neighbours likely has preserved more of these words.
This can go further when continental Europeans use Latin-based English words that are uncommon in the UK; somebody used the term ‘continental English’ for that. It’s a definition that overlaps a lot with Euro-English which is associated a lot with the EU institutions and their staff. Euro-English was very much influenced by British English as the UK was a member for a long time and provided many staff members. Ireland perpetuates this mechanism, though on a smaller scale. But French also influenced EU English a lot. Both by people interacting with EU staff but also via EU rules and regulations, this form of English then spreads into the individual countries and languages.
I remember an incident when an Italian used an ‘English’ word that a German speaker understood but not a British national.
Depends on the parts of Europe.
In the Netherlands, Flanders part of Belgium and Nordic parts for example.
People grow up with American media, that's not dubbed into the native language and written American media is available, so they naturely adapt American English not British and mix American into the native language.
Even though a lot of schools try to enforce British, it only helps for a bit.
"University" is even weird when you consider that a college, in the US, is part of a university. Almost all the universities over there have "university" in their name. Of the 35 "colleges and universities" in Oklahoma (according to the list on Wikipedia), only six don't.
The biggest reason is that we go to "Universität" and not to a "Kolleg" (and the "Berufskolleg" has been renamed to "Duale Hochschule"… ;-)) From what I just gathered, it might be that you do your bachelor's at a college, and then go to university for a master's and a doctorate, but I'm still a bit unsure about that. Here, you go to university for both.
Sehr cooles Video! Ganz ohne cringe. Ein paar Beispiele waren allerdings echt random.
Zum Glück ist Donnie nicht so lost wie andere Boomer. Das wär sonst echt insane.
Sag doch wenigstens "nicht cringey". Dann wäre es wenigstens richtig benutzt. 😂😉
The example with the "Sommerdrinks" also baffles me. In Switzerland, we use the term "Drinks" usually for cocktails or fancy alcoholic beverages (like a Martini with an olive). At least where I'm from, restaurants typically have a "Getränkekarte" with a section "Drinks" or "Cocktails". But that may be specific to the region I'm from or to Switzerland.
So I didn't expect Schorle or beer to be on the "Sommerdrinks" card, but instead Mojito or Caipirinha.
From germany and I must say haven't seen Sommerdrinks myself before. Mostly in germany "Drinks", "Longdrinks", "Mixed", "Cocktails" or "Mixgetränke" is used for Cocktails. ("Drinks" on it's own, is the most rare of the ones, since sometimes "Softdrinks" is used for non-alcoholic drinks, like juice, so to not mistake, the non-alcoholic drinks with the cocktails, "Drinks" on it's own is often avoided.)
I think they also have that meaning here in Germany, using it for those simple drinks also feels off to me.
I would totally use the two words that way as well.
RQOTW: socks are socks and we call them "Socken", if they are shorter they are called "Sneaker-Socken", if they are longer we call them "Kniestrümpfe". And i prefer proper socks.
I consume a lot of English-speaking media and when I'm speaking German I sometimes fish for words. In these cases, it happens from time to time that the English word is faster to enter my word-processing unit than the German one. Especially when the conversation is about a topic that I had more exposure to in English. But generally, I try to use German words whenever possible.
Basic linguistics lesson: In general, languages do not take on two words for the exact same thing. Therefore, chances are that an English word (or term from any other language) will cover some very specific aspect of a certain spectrum of meaning and end up not meaning what it does in English (or whatever the language of origin is). In addition, there are the "Genglish" words that only SOUND English, often for marketing purposes ("Handy" etc.) that are not part of the English language at all. You get used to stumbling over them after a while. Many fashionable loan words disappear after a decade or two. A smattering remain and become the famous "false friends" that don't mean what an English speaker thinks they should. Languages are malleable!
Look at the german word "Geist", which can have multiple meanings
- ghost (as in the spooky ghost haunting the old house at night)
- spirit (as in free-spirited, but also in connection with alcohol)
- mind (as in the mental conscience)
I think it's just natural to mix in words from all the languages you speak and for most Germans their second language happens to be English. In my "everyday German" I use english, french, romanian and russian words/expressions because for some reason for some things I have a favorite language to say them in :D
There are also those words/terms/expressions that you best say in one language because the other doesn't have a good, short, and _precise_ translation for.
I very often just say hello in french, even though that is my third language.
You also experience some topics like certain hobbies mostly in a certain language, so those terms are the first that come to your mind when trying to talk about them. I often find myself in situations where I'm thinking "how to I even express that thought process in German?", because you would often express those thoughts in surprisingly different ways in German compared to English. Meaning, it's not just the words that need to be translated, but the entire mental image is different.
The examples of German-English compound words that you showed all have a different meaning or connotation than the German translations would have:
- Bauernschinken is a certain type of smoked ham, while the example of Farmerschinken you showed was cooked. There is also a Farmersalat, which consists of carrots, cabbage and a white dressing.
- SommerGETRÄNKE means summer BEVERAGES, while the word drinks in SommerDRINKS implies cocktails, sitting on the beach having a drink (usually alcoholic) - what Americans mean, when they say „Let‘s go and have a few DRINKS“. They are usually NOT talking about Coca Cola in this context ;-)
- Cheese Pommes implies that it is an American-style cheese-like product (like this weird „cheese“ that you can buy in a can in the US). If they called it KÄSE-Pommes, they would have to actually use REAL cheese (curdled dairy product), which the stuff in the picture clearly isn‘t…
Also if you say "Ich schaue Football" it means "I'm watching American Football", but if you say "I'm watching football" it would mean "I'm watching soccer"(at least to Donnie, if he wasn't "britishized" in this aspect 😉)...
Im neither an English native-speaker nor German native-speaker but I learned both so for me it's WAY easier. I am more fluent in English and learnt it way before. It helped me with learning German since I speak a Romance Language (Im in Western Europe). But for me vocab words are easy. "Handy" in German for me is phone and I dont even think of English when I hear it or use it. What gets hard is when some verbs like "bekommen" are nor "to become" in English cause this verbs evolved differently. That's more confusing.
And also the mixup of who and where and wo and wer... 😁
So far as I've seen, leearning romance languages (especially french) is easier for english natives than learning german, mostly because of the complex grammar.
No socks (at least not in Summer). I think one of the funniest Denglish words is seen often on the side of vans, commonly used by plumbers or deliverers of bathroom equipment. They use the word design, but with the German word for bathroom: Bad design 🙂. I can't pass these vans without smiling.
There's a store by the road I drive to work. Had a sign : "Bad Design" . Took me some moments until I understood. 😂 And I am a native german in germany.
With the sentence "die in hell" you could ask for shoes in German... 😁
@@fairphoneuser9009 🤣
Finally subbed since I am basically your neighbor (20min drive A62) and find myself coming back to your channel. Have a great long weekend ☮
If I read "Farmer Schinken", I would assume that it is cooked/baked with honey, which it probably is. So it is simply a word for a special way of preparing ham. (or a recipe, if you may say so). It probably refers to the south of the US.
10:10 Farmer is actually a german word...
It's a word that is shared by both languages. We even have the words Farmerin, Farm and farmen. We have had "Farm" since the 18th century(source: Wiktionary). English got the word from the old french word "ferme"(source: wiktionary). So I would say that it definitely is a german word at this point.
Something that drives me nuts in recent years is that young people say "safe" when they mean "sure". I German "sicher" can stand for both words but for some reason "safe" is used in exclusively the wrong context. So when you want to be cool if you say that something is sure or that you are sure - say "safe" instead. Also you can do this if you want to see me hyperventilating
Oh no, I juuuuust saw an example of that in another video 🤣
That is is a common issue when a word in one language has more than one meaning, each of which have different words in another language.
I wouldn't say that's necessarily the "wrong way" of using a word, since it's basically just become a loanword
Technically "Handy" is not an English Word. It´s the german Word for Cellphone.
This English borrowings happen a lot in most languages today. From Asian languages like Japanese or Korean to languages like Spanish, French and Italian, German, Nordic, Hindu etc... I'm also from Europe so at school we grew up with English vocab but I began learning and speaking english when I was forced by my parents to study the language abroad in the US (where I lived for a year) and Australia. So my english is a very weird mix and sometimes I have no idea which expressions are English or American or Australian.
*Hindi ;) Hindu is a person who follows Hinduism.
Anyway, I feel you on the usage of localized English terms. After learning English in school I first for the most part talked to Americans as I had friends there, but for 10 years now I have been living in South Asia which has its own English variant that uses many terms dating back to colonial times, but they're still common usage here today. So my English now is the weirdest jumble of two very distant variants of the language and it's just confusing to whoever I talk to XD
i think farmer is not an english word Donni. A Farm is a kind of Bauernhof where you farm things, so a Bauer can be a farmer. I have seen the word familienfarm for a very long time
Farm is originally English (from French "ferme"), but it's a very common loan word in German.
The trend to use ‘random’ English words in sentences you notice in German is actually also taken place in Dutch, only times five or so. Especially among the youth it sometimes seems that they can’t speak ‘proper’ Dutch anymore. You explained the reasons for this trend in your video, but in The Netherlands there is this additional factor that we don’t dub English TV programs but use subtitles, so Dutch consumers are way more exposed to hearing English than Germans.
My (German) kids have stopped watching regular TV a long time ago, just like most of Gen Z. Watching American shows on Netflix and the likes, they started with the original language and English subtitles when they were around 14 years old. Well, at least they all had good grades in their English classes in school.😂
I feel like that dutch is even more susceptible to that. The language is already a bit closer to english.
Since the internet became main source for consuming movies and so on, you can say it aout Germans as well. For young Germans it is pretty normal nowadays to watch English videos, while in the 90's it was much more complicated to consume English content.
When learning English in school we learned about many words being "false friends" meaning they sound like a word you know but have a different meaning. Like the English word "become"(werden) sounds pretty similar to the German word "bekommen"(receive).
Funnily building the base for an English learners joke:
A German customer asks an English speaking waiter: when can I become a beefsteak?
The waiter answers: I hope never sir.
Replace the "false friend" with the correct word and see what the German customer wanted to ask and why he is confused by the waiters answer 😂
Das ist kein Witz, so war immer der Familienurlaub im Ausland, als meine Eltern noch das Essen bestellt haben :D
Sommerdrinks:
To me "drinks" implies a connection to alcohol. If I read this caption, I expect the card to have cocktails or cocktail-like drinks, and not "Cola" or "Water" which would be on the "Getränke" page.
Cheesepommes:
If it says "cheese" I expect it to be processed cheese goop. If it says "Käse" I expect it to be a proper dutch gouda or something of similar value.
Farmer-Schinken:
I'm pretty sure that "Farmer" is a normal german word, not coming from english but coming from french. It's in the duden. Cheese surely isn't! ;-)
Any sock I can reclaim from my dogs is great…apparently they are the best toys ever.
Handy, Wellness…life music, they all got me frowning politely and trying to work out wth?!!? But my favourite one, Donnie…I once got a phone call after an audition and my husband was cracking up listening to me repeating what the guy was saying, who I did not understand. He kept saying they wanted to invite me for the Kohlberg. Finally my husband wrote down „he means callback!“ and I was able to go, ah ja, super! 🤣
We still call them Kohlbergs to this day!😂
The oldtimer example is a real Klassiker.
In Switzerland Handy is a brand for a dish washing soap 😂 We rather use the term "Natel" which stands for "Nationales Autotelephon" and is a term from the 80s, when the first generation of mobile transceivers were built into cars. Nowadays as nobody has a land line anymore we simply say "Telefon". I think the English words I use most often in German are "cool", "computer" and "mail" (only for electronic mail).
Did you know that books written in England (Great Britain) are also translated into American English because it is so different?
Also, there are some words in American English that have been adopted from German. For example, "Kindergarden" comes from the German word "Kindergarten". :)
5:38 reminds me of my elementary school teacher when he explained to us that both words are dumb and what they actually mean^^...
mfg
Olli
BTW, about accents: the main reason why people have accents is because they are reading and pronouncing the letters in their native language. That is why English words sound German when many Germans say it. The same is actually also true the other way round: every time I hear you pronounce a German word it doesn't sound right because you are americanizing it. Another neat trick to improve your accent is thinking in the language you are speaking: think in English when you speak English, think in German when you speak German. Socks: above the ankle bone, just below the calf muscle
That is also where listening comprehension comes into play. If you not only read the word, but also hear how natives pronounce it, it's much easier to get how the word is supposed to sound.
German native speaker here. There is an English word that is so popular in colloquial German that our language wouldn't work without it. This word is "okay" (ok). This is also the word I use most often in everyday life.
Also k.o.
I guess the most spoken word Worldwide (in the lockale language) for the last 3 Years was Home-Office
Welp. This is my fave video ever.
I feel ALL of that! Including the way I speak English having changed since I’ve been living in Germany.
Naja ein Getränk ist der Überbegriff für alles was genießbar und zum trinken ist (z.B. Wasser, Apfelsaft, Coke, Fanta etc.). Ein Drink ist meist aufwendig zubereitet, wird ausschließlich zum Genuss konsumiert und wird deswegen häufig mit Alkohol verbunden.
Hey Donnie, my daughter recently gave me a hard time because she said that I was the only person in Germany to call a "Second Hand Shop" "Zweite Hand Laden". Checked around and found out that she was right.🙄. Of course, Germans also often listen to "life" music. There is a difference between a College and an University. A college doesn't offer advanced degrees. Took me a while to understand the "Question of the week": ankle high.
We know there's a difference between college and uni but we use college as a general term even if we went to a uni. Sort of like we say bee whether it is a wasp or hornet.
Pretty sure that she meant "Live-Musik", we just pronounce it like "life" in German.
@@dansattah Probably. Choosing the correct spelling of "life" vs. "live" is a constant struggle for most Germans.
I'm sure you all know the song "Live is Life", which everyone thinks is called "Life is Live", and which is pronounced "Life is Life".
@@LythaWausW That becomes even more funny in a bilingual context since germany doesn't have the concept of college. But we have "Hochschulen", "high schools", which is a generic word for colleges and universities.
And a "Gymnasium" im german is the secondary school that gets you into university.
Which means the german student in 12th grade goes to gymnasium so that he can study at a high school.
Let me explayn why we use the word Handy, at least out of my observation. When Cellphones/Mobile-Phones started to become more vommon in Germany somewhere in the 1990s, there where two very diffenent types. The more cheaper ones were suitcase-shaped and -sized with an attached receiver. The more expensive ones were the bulky hand-held ones like you saw Michael Douglas use in "Wall Street". It was a very short time-span in which both were around. The suitcase-sized ones were commonly called "Portable Phones" and the smaller ones "Handphones", nicknamed Handy. The Portables died out very fast.
It's the same with german words in english. Like, when you are talking about what your "spiel" or your "shtick" (that one is supposed to be "Stück" I think?)
In Switzerland a Drink is mostly alcoholic, a Getränk not
Generally we're adopting English words to create confusion. There's even an academic discipline tought in many institutions throughout Germany which is specialising in reinventing English for exactly that purpose. Just follow the magic combination of letters BWL.
Wait until you find out about "I believe I spider". Then you will "look silly out of your clothes". But to be fair, it's also "not the yellow from the egg". :D
Holla the Forest Fairy! That is under all pig!
@@HerSandiness Holla. The only forest fairy whose name we know fore sure. :D
@@Vampirzaehnchen 🤪🤣🤣
There's a book (maybe more by now) called English for Runaways. Hilarious examples.
Things like Sommerdrinks is an understandable use of Denglish compound words. "Getränke" (drinks) in German is an generic term and could mean a coke or juice, too. Drinks are always alcoholic and/or mixed. Denglish compound words are often used in that way. Another reason - like in the case of Farmer Schinken (Bauernschinken) is that Bauernschinken is protected. Wenn you buy a Bauernschinken you expect an special type of Schinken made in a special kind of way and not some generic Schinken named that way, a Farmerschinken is a way to get around that.
Cheesepommes is just that they think it's fancy and in big companies it's a way to save money. If you make adverts in newspapers with cheese pommes you can use them in most of Europe, because everyone understands what it means.
I think, there are a number of reasons why we use Germish or Denglish. I think one "wave" of Anglicisms coming in was after WWII because the allied forces brought lots of English terms with them (referring to culture, music, food, cars... lifestyle products etc.) and people were keen to adopt them because they wanted to get rid of our nazi image and appear liberal-minded and cosmopolitan. And with English terms being perceived as modern and cosmopolitan advertising often just used random English words for stuff to make it sound better even if it didn't make a lot of sense. (Like "diet" softdrinks becoming "light" drinks in German). Another wave came in the 80s with the rapid development of technologies. They were so fast it was often easier to take on the international term than make up our own (Computer, Download, Software ...). That increased with the arrival of the internet in private households. Plus, there's another aspect because more people are connected globally when they enter special interest forums and stuff online, watch RUclips etc. and they just use the English terms because it's easier. So the younger people are the more likely they are to use Denglish.
For example, I play The Sims 4, and if I encounter a bug or have a very specific gameplay question I mostly google English phrases and end up watching English tutorials because there's more English language content and I'm more likely to find an answer to my specific problem. And "proper" gamers will need to use English a lot more, too. So there's another gigantic source of influx that also has created a lot of terms that young people use ("sus","cringe","safe","random","obviously") and pepper their German with.
As for me, I'm a translator and often spend a large portion of my day reading or listening to English and thinking in English, so I often have the problem that I can't think of the German word. So I use a lot of Denglish.
another massive reason besides the english internet being simply much bigger is the fact that any new technologies or trends come from the US, and combined with international business, anything new has technical terms that are english, and translating them loses the reference to the thing it is meant to reference. Im in software, and literally anything is in english, and translating the terms just introduces unnecessary confusion, and internally only english ones are used. english words are also shorter, making technical terms or even convoluted job titles shorter and easier to use. Also like you already pointed out, the german speaking internet is very limited, especially when it comes to specifics or more fringed topics. most of the things I know are completely absent in the german internet.
To be fair, a "light" drink, sort of makes sense. Not that the drink is less heavy (fun fact: a diet soda is actually less dense than the version with sugar, so it is lighter), but also because it implies that you can drink it without getting heavy yourself.
I‘m Swiss, so some words aren‘t used in Germany, but some of the „English“ words used here are:
Handy (of course with the different meaning)
Smartphone (same as in English)
Computer (same as in English)
Laptop (same as in English)
Tablet (for a tablet computer)
Game (computer games)
Gamen (to play computer games (note: an English word, but changed so that it fits the german verb structure))
Zoomen (to zoom with a camera or a picture on a computer (also here: The word is English, but it‘s used like a german verb))
Cool (same as in English, but not in the sense of temperatur)
Sh*t (as alternative to „Scheisse“)
F*ck (as alternative to „Scheisse“)
Homeoffice (working from home)
Oldtimer (old car)
Public viewing (if you watch for example a sport game with many other people)
Okay (same as in English)
Single (if someone doesn‘t have a boy/girl friend)
E-Mail/Mail (an e-mail)
Goal (a goal in sports)
Goalie (a goalkeeper)
Penalty (a penalty shot)
Offside (a rule in some sports)
Hands (a rule in sports where you are not allowed to use the hands)
Topscorer (the person who shoots the most goals)
Assist (a pass that leads to a goal)
Cup (a tournament)
Match (a sports game)
Football (American Football)
What most people don't know is that the Handy was invented by a Swabian man. He showed it to his mother and she asked: "Hän die koi Schnuur?"
I think the best examples of Denglisch are always the verbs, because it will just be some English word but with a German verb ending. Examples would be "gamen" (to game), "zoomen" (to zoom), "faken" (to fake), etc.
10:00 The English word sometimes evokes a different meaning than the German equivalent.
-A "Drink" in German is normally an alcoholic drink (even though in the photo, the first section says "non-alcoholic" which is odd to me)
- "Cheese" is reminiscent of "Cheeseburger" so that usage evokes different ideas of what to expect than "Käse".
- "Farmer" evokes slightly different ideas than "Bauer". For example there's "Farmersalat", a premade salad on sale in many supermarkets. It's not the same as "Bauernsalat", which isn't really a word. Anyone's guess what the marketing team's idea was behind "Bauern-Schinken".
I noticed that it became very popular to say "awkward" or "random" for young people instead of using the german words - you hear that all the time. They also think that it is cool to say "bro" all the time or "mom" and "dad" instead of "Mama" and "Papa" when talking about their parents. It is also very popular to take an english word and germanize it by putting an "en" at the end. I noticed that there are more and more words taken from english in that way. Even to the extent that I sometimes have to wonder what this person is talking about because I didn't know the english word he/she is using. 😅 This is a little annoying sometimes, but it also can be funny. I was in a store recently and asked an employee if I would need to go to the "Keller" to find something. She seemed to be almost embarrassed or even outraged and lectured me that it is called "basement". Sometimes it's just too much 😂
😂
I sometimes even have trouble finding the german word with the same expression as an english one. Often becuase they only partially overlap.
2:14 there is also the story (urban legend) that „Handy” came from a Swabian asking „Han die ke Schnur?“
Good video.
Regarding the „American“ accent of us Germans when we speak English:
In my experience it is more like a mix between American and British pronunciation. The long „o“ and the „r“ is pronounced in the American way, the rest is more British. I knew only know two people who speaks completely with an American accent and these are „Feli from Germany“ and my best friend. The latter one has friends in South Carolina and speaks with a strong Southern accent.
In most cases when a German speaks English in a RUclips video, I can identify him as German native speakers. Not only due to the above mentioned accent mix but also because of an additional accent feature of the German language, what is linguistically called „Auslautverhärtung“. That is an accent feature, where the last consonant of a word is pronounced hard, no matter if it‘s actually hard or soft consonant. For example the word „good“: English native speakers pronounce the „d“ relatively soft. We Germans would pronounce the „d“ as „t“. So, „good“ would sound as „goot“ (or in German spelling „gutt“).
Yes, we call it "Auslautverhärtung" but essentially it is the loss of voice in the consonant - "d" is the voiced and "t" is the unvoiced dental/alveolar plosive.
There are also regional differences because of the German dialects/accents. Especially the R is pronounced much stronger in southern Germany, thus people from there sound very American. Someone from Hamburg usually sounds much more British.
Most schools teach British RP, so vocabulary learnt there is British. But because of media and internet there are also a lot of American or even Australian terms in use.
A "handy" is sometimes very handy.
Allegedly, the German word "Handy" comes from Swabia. When the first celllphones were presented 40 years ago, a Swabian trade fair visitor said: "Hän di koa Schnur?" (Don't they have a cord?")
😄😆🤣
German native here. Sometimes I use english words because of the meaning I want to express and don't have a german word for it. Like "power", "cool", "hi". Some denglish words are still weird for me like "Backshop". And maybe videos of the search term "how to sound posh" might be eyes-opening for you.
Sock length: for my hand knits a hand width above the ankle, though I do have (+ knit) some ankle length or sneaker socks.
My favourite example is still that Japanese people call a "combover" "barcode". This just happens and English has LOADS of words that meant something very different in the language they come from.
This happens in many languages. In Puerto Rican Spanish we use the English word “blower” to refer to a hair dryer.
Hi :)
german native speaker here (like, well, most of your viewers i guess)
It must be really hard to be confronted with our denglish. To be honest, some of the things in advertisement almost physicly hurt. But "Drinks" instead of "Getränke" is more or less normal nowadays. It started with the alcoholic drinks and spread to all of them. "Cheese-pommes" or using the word cheese in products like fries, chips (or crisps) etc was started by the companies selling those things. especially fast-food chains. a cheeseburger is a cheeseburger :)
the "Farmer-Schinken" is something a bit different. it suggesrs similarities to "Parma-Schinken". That one is only allowed to be called so if it really comes from the province of parma in italy.(see Prosciutto di Parma)
A blender is mixer in german despite mixing isn't even german because mischen is.
Nevertheless mix is as much used as mischen & a blender is called Mixer.
Same in Dutch!
Even though I am now "quite" fluent in German, this blender/Mixer still gets to me!
>Blender< in German is someone who pretends to be something s/he is not.
I am a German mathematician, I don't take selfies, but Eigenbilder.
It‘s so interesting to hear other nationalitys talking about Germany :)
Du bist ultra symphatisch, mach weiter so 🫶
Most used english word may be radio (Rundfunk), TV (Fernsehen) or computer (ähm.. Rechner?).
I use sometimes words like random, strange or weird.
We can also take Denglish to the extreme. Look for the song Du, die Wanne ist voll 😉
Yesterday, an meim Fahrrad isch der Treppel he. Und dazu war's ganze Fahrrad he. Und des war alles yesterday.
In British English "oldtimer" has the same meaning as in German afaik 😉☺️
Brit-american English is soo common amongst us! Because most people learned Oxford-English at school, but were influenced by american pop-culture. so the result can be american pronounciation but Oxford vocabulary. For me "colour" is written with the "ou" and "trucks" and "lorries" are different vehicles. ;-)
Considering the term "semi truck" I always wonder what a full truck looks like.
I think Handy came along from Hand-held phone ... shortened, because we are that efficient
Such a fun topic :D
It's also kind of a thing in youth language (if you want to call it that) where we use many anglicisms, but they don't actually mean that thing in English. An example I could think of would be "safe", which you'd use to mean surely. ("Tom kommt safe noch mal mit"="Tom is surely coming with us again") It's probably because the actual German word "sicher" can mean both "safe" and "surely"
soccer team: BVB ;-) As for the German term I always use the English term for is "Covid" (German: Corona). I'm working in an international company with many daily meetings with my international co-workers. Also "Handy" is my "mobile" - don't know if this is rather British English or US English.
I am 50 now and in my english study books the difference between AE and BE Was always marked. But in class we had to decide which of the two we will use.
Since I lived in Germany, Spain and Canada, I appreciate the beauty of each language. However mixing random English words into German sounds to me very strange, not cool.
When I went to school, we learned British English until 6th or 7th grade. In the higher grades we started learning American and even a bit of Australian English.
I always found it funny that one of the hardest word to pronunce in English is pronunciation. No to mention writing. But what I really hate is ticket. "Yesterday I wanted to buy a ticket, a ticket and a ticket, but unfortunately I got a ticket".
But if you think German English is bad, don't look to Japan. Their "decoration English" often is some bad google translate sentence put on clothing or signs or sounds-like put down. Like "Harf sized ham".
But have no angst. Bad language does not kill. Mostly.
farmer is also a german word thats definetly not simply english. also another word that exist in english but got a other meaning in german is gift. gift= poison . in english tho it means present .
Farmer is absolutely not German, it is American-Englisch.
In the 11th century the term "gift" switched in German from "donation" into "poison" because it was overwhelming the case that "gifts" were poisoned (in order to inherit a titel, land or just to get rid of someone for political reasons) BUT for instance in the term "Mitgift" (dowry) the meaning of "gift" is still "donation"
@@maxbarko8717 Farmer is actually from "Old French" = "fermier" and meant "lease holder" because the Normans who conquered England in 1066 were Old French speakers....and the land was then their property and they gave it to the peasants for a "lease/rent" in order to grow crops which most of those crops were then their "lease/rent" to pay
@@michaelgrabner8977 I didn’t know that, interesting. As per German etymology it was used for agricultural properties in overseas, especially USA and Australia. But it is definitely not a German word.
@@maxbarko8717 Actually it comes from the very early medi eval Latin term "firmarius" meaning "fixed payment" which developed into Old french "fermier" which then developed in English into "Farmer"
There's a joke about the source of the word "Handy" for cellphone:
🇩🇪: Ein Schwabe platzt in eine Besprechung der Führungsabteilung der obersten Mobilfunkanbieter und fragt verdutzt, mit einem Mobiltelefon in der Hand: " *Henn die* koi Schnur?"
🇬🇧: A swabian bursts into a meeting of the CEOs of the biggest mobile providers and asks stumped, with a mobile phone in his hand: "Have they no cord?"
It's a pun based on the swabian accent 👍
Das war ein cooles Video!
Danke 😃
You fell for our trapcard 😂 Farmer is also a German word. It's written exactly the same, means the same, but is pronounced differently (but not so far from the English, just a German A and a German R). So thats not actually Denglisch.
I think also we never say college, because our university and school system and lifestyle is quite different to the American one. However, the British one is way closer. But don't pin me down on that.
Telefonzelle already existed as word and it means the complete opposite of a cellphone. That was impossible to use. So the official term became "mobile" before it became smartphone.
A few I find funny:
- public viewing
- body bag
Here in Finland people also use a lot of English words but then apply Finnish grammar to them. With 15 different case endings and several other endings, those words can then become more or less unrecognisable to native speakers of English. For example, in English, people who go to gym talk about taking their training to the "next level", and in Finnish it then becomes "nextille levelille". Some of these expressions are used jokingly, but some are used seriously, too.
German does that as well. With words like "downgeloaded" or "gedownloaded". We take "download" but add the "ge-" prefix to imply it is a finished task. Like "backen" (baking) becomes "gebacken"
This has a tradition with the Germans, currently it is the Anglicisms, but in the 18th century the French language brought many loanwords. Boulette (meatball) , Portemonnaie (wallet), contenance (composure), malheur (mishap) and rendezvous , just to name a few French words in German usage.
The German language is definitely not easy to learn, also because of all the foreign words that Mark Twain already knew:
"My philological studies have satisfied me that a gifted person ought to learn English (barring spelling and pronouncing) in thirty hours, French in thirty days, and German in thirty years."
In Schwaben noch mehr Französisches: Trottwar, Kannapee, Waschlabor, Blafo, Oraasch
Du hast einen coolen look! Dein Outfit steht dir. = Du hast ein tolles Erscheinungsbild. Deine Ausstattung steht dir.
Kein Mensch würde die ganz deutsche Version heutzutage so verwenden, ohne total altmodisch zu wirken.
Kurze Socken!
Altmodisch ist jetzt modern.
@@MarsOhr Wenn Du das sagst, in meiner Aussage steckt keinerlei Wertung, lediglich eine Feststellung.
The English word in the German sentence that threw me recently was brunch. That word can really carry an accent.
Denglisch is quite often used in Germany. Not so much in Austria. We do have common denglisch words too, of course, such as "Handy", or some job descriptions. But some Germans apply English or denglisch words at quite high an amount, and that's rather typical German. Maybe rather typical for Middle Germans or Norther Germans. Less so in the South or in Eastern Germany.
However, "sorry" is used quite often. I use it myself too, although my English teacher insisted, that we should not say "sorry", but rather "excuse me (, please)!"...
There are many English words in use: Computer, keyboard, laptop, tablet. menu, drink, flat rate, flat tax, pin, ...
Since I am watching youtube content in english on a daily basis, my english skills have improved a lot. But sometimes in conversations - in german, my native language - I suddenly can't remember a word in german, but instead a have the english expression in my head ... That is kind of crazy, and now I understand why some young germans mix the two languages a lot ...
Which native English speakers have most problems learning German? American, British, Australian?
I love british englisch because It is easier to understand. The british also say oldtimer to the old cars there is a race once a year on one of their Islands. I hope that you are happy here have you ever heard of Gayle Tufts she is a comediann who comes from New York and she speaks Denglisch 😊 has a great show😊
11:32 and the INTERNET! Best motivator to learn English!
Hello there! I'm German (born in Germany, but my mom being from Ghana and my dad from the USA) and there are actually quite a few words that I use xD: random, weird, awkward, cringe, fancy, nice and cool. I don't know if that is because of my ethnical background but it's kinda interesting to see other Germans do that as well haha
You should listen to the song denglisch by the wise guys 😂
We use so many English words because we watch so many english speaking u-tubers. My son and me do it very often, but not my wife. When i speak with my son, my wife often does not know what we are talking about.
Long compound words are in fact very rarely used. You read or hear them just when you watch videos like these you foreigners make.
Length of socks - well that depends on which trousers you wear. Long trousers: long socks. Shorts or Bermudas: snickersocks.
"Handy" originates from "handheld cellphone". But even when I'm speaking English, I don't say "cellphone", but "mobilephone". Which might be wrong too, I don't know... 🙂
I think one of the funiest "mistakes" in English ad slogans was that of a perfume chain advertising with "Come in and find out". What they meant was "Komm herein und finde _es_ heraus" which would be better translated as "Come in and discover". The original gave me more like Halloween vibes, where you enter some place through a dodgy door and are trapped in some labyrinth where all kinds of nasty shenanigans happen. 🤣
The most common English words I use on a regular basis are definitely "what" and "shit / crap". I got the feeling I am, by far, not the only one :P
In our area of Germany there are few English speakers so I try not to use a lot of English in my German. But I like saucool and obercool. That should be in the German dictionary by now... As for the socks it really depends on the outside temperature...
Benedict Cumberbatch :D You had me there. Having twi teenage kids here I hear "cringe" a lot. also slay and smash..I try to keep up but I often get puzzled looks and rollling eyes when I do so, because it is "cringe" for a mom to use these words which are obviously (!) only appropriate for a certain age..
I assoiciate "drinks" with alcoholic bevarages. Or mixed things like cocktails or Aperol Sprizz, Gin Tonic, Hugo. I didn't pause to see what these Sommerdrinks are. But "Drink" made it to The Duden - THE German monolingual dIctionary where you can find all the offiicial German words and their spelling, pronounciation and explanation. Some English words are "eingedeutscht" So technically speaking this is correct, although I understand that it sounds weird (also a teenager word) for a native English speaker.
I have to cringe when those kids these days SAY cringe.
If they would just add a y and say "cringey", then at least it would be used correctly as an adjective. Mom can't BE "cringe", but she can be "CRINGEY". 😂
Either sandals in summer or socks based on intuition for the rest of the year.
Keep in mind that Germany is the second most popular migration destination after the US. With every new generation, more foreign words enter popular slang, be it from English, Turkish or others.
I notice this in my Syrian-German family. Due to my parents' divorce, I didn't learn Arabic and gravitated towards Classical and Metal music instead of "Deutsch-Rap", while my half siblings learned the language and listen to rap on the regular.
Socks and sandals has a very specific use case for me. Let's say I go to the beach, and the weather is fine. So I take my sandals. But knowing the german coastal weather, I keep something warmer with me. Socks are easier to take with you than a pair of shoes.
Which then leads to the weird combination of shorts and sandals, but socks and a long-sleeved fleece shirt. Almost as if the legs are the only part of the body that doesn't get cold.
The most absurd Denglish word for me is "Weddingplaner". The English term would have a double-n. So, when you do not know that only the first half of that absurdity is English and the second one is German you think it is all English and understand it as "Hochzeitshobler".