Germanish (in German Denglisch), a portmanteau of the words German and English, also referred to as Denglish, Engleutsch, Germlish, Genglish or Ginglish describes language based on the German grammar that includes a jumble of English and pseudo-English idioms, or vice versa. Look up Portmanteau word in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Pseudo-Anglicisms are words in languages other than English which were borrowed from English but are used in a way native English speakers would not readily recognize or understand. ...

Used in all German-speaking countries, Germish owes its existence in part to the cultural predominance of English language pop music, to the international computer slang, and to the use of English as the lingua franca of politics, business, and science. For the 1979 song by M, see Pop Muzik. ... A computer is a machine capable of undergoing complex calculations. ... Slang is the non-standard or non-dialectal use of words in a language of a particular social group, and sometimes the creation of new words or importation of words from another language. ... Lingua franca, literally Frankish language in Italian, was originally a mixed language consisting largely of Italian plus a vocabulary drawn from Turkish, Persian, French, Greek and Arabic and used for communication throughout the Middle East. ... Politics is a process by which collective decisions are made within groups. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ...

Because of discrepancies in their pronunciation, syntax, grammar and word use, imported English words must adapt the German language, or German language patterns adapt the English use.

Germanization of English words

Due to lack of rules for proper declension and conjugation forms, English words within Germish will have a flexion added to them, so they often come out in some twisted form. One may hear from native German speakers: In linguistics, declension is a feature of inflected languages. ... In linguistics, conjugation is the creation of derived forms of a verb from its principal parts by inflection (regular alteration according to rules of grammar). ...

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

or ReBoot poster. ... A crash in computing is a condition where a program (either an application or part of the operating system) stops performing its expected function and also stops responding to other parts of the system. ...

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

Mozilla is a computer term that has had many different uses, though all of them have been related to Netscape Communications Corporation and its related application software. ...

Twisting of German idioms and grammar rules

The adaptation also takes the other route, where literal translations from popular English expression slowly but insistently swamp out the correct German words and idioms. Widespread examples of this evolution are: Literal translation refers to the result of translating text from one language to another; translating each word independently as opposed to translating the entire phrase. ... An idiom is an expression (ie. ...

• Das macht Sinn (That makes sense)
  Formerly: Das ergibt einen Sinn, das ist sinnvoll (roughly: That results in something sensible)
• Oh, Hölle! (Oh, hell!)
  Previously nonexistent exclamation, used tongue-in-cheek and not as a real curse
• Dieser verfickte Computer (roughly: This fucked-up computer)
  Very informal, probably a free translation influenced by verdammt (damn(ed)).
• Nicht wirklich (Not really)
  Formerly: Eigentlich nicht (roughly: Not in the proper sense). Considered mildly witty.
• Oh, mein Gott! (Oh, my God!)
  Formerly: "Ach du meine Güte". Very common today.
• Das hatte ich nicht realisiert!" (I hadn't realised that!")
  Correct form: "Das hatte ich nicht erkannt/bemerkt!" The German verb realisieren properly means "to make something real", "to implement", but the incorrect usage is spreading fast.
• Was passierte in 2005? (What happened in 2005?)
  Formerly: "Was passierte 2005, was passierte im Jahr 2005?"; recently upcoming way of making German language even more complicated by using an extra "in". Although it is considered wrong by most native speakers and German grammar doesn't allow this phrase, it is used even in German newspapers.

Those literal translations originate from translated English movies and became adopted in everyday language. Some of those constructs will only be found in youth language, where it has become common, for example, to talk about coole Events which captures almost, but not quite, the respective meaning in English.

Involuntary and voluntary blunders

Of course, a decent type of Denglisch can also result from English-speaking people trying to converse in German, discovering themselves as embarazados. The unrivalled master of to-the-point German, Kurt Tucholsky, gave a parody of possible mishaps: Embarazado is the state of embarrassment experienced by a person who causes a humourous situation, usually unintentionally, through the incorrect use of a language other than their native tongue. ... Kurt Tucholsky Kurt Tucholsky (Berlin, January 9, 1890 – December 21, 1935 in Gothenburg) was a German journalist, satirist and writer. ... In contemporary usage, parody is a form of satire that imitates another work of art in order to ridicule it. ...

Wären Sie so kindlich meine Briefmarke am Hintern anzulecken?
Literally: Would you be so childish as to lick my stamp's bottom?

whereas the intended meaning could have been: "Would you be so kind as to lick the reverse of my postage stamp?" (arguably a rather contrived example). Here, the two prominent linguistic accidents are the notorious false friend Kind/child and the Hintern/backside. It has been suggested that Embarazado be merged into this article or section. ...

The reverse also works. For instance, this can allegedly sometimes be heard from Germans in fast-food restaurants (in English speaking countries):

I become a hamburger!

It derives its humor from the fact that the English verbs "to get" or "to obtain" translate as the German verb "bekommen", which is in turn similar to the English word "become" (in German, the word for "become" is "werden"). So what the customer actually wanted to express was the wish to purchase a hamburger, not to become one.

Another example of unintended consequences in Germish is the use of the word body bag for backpacks, although the proper German word Rucksack would be perfectly acceptable in many dialects of English. A backpack A backpack (also called a rucksack [from German Rücken - back, Sack - bag] or knapsack) is, in its simplest form, a cloth sack carried on ones back and secured with two straps that go over the shoulders and below the armpits. ...

A 'correct' Germish sentence can always be built by simply combining English and German words:

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

Which actually means:

You can not get that because it is too expensive for me.

Du kannst das nicht haben, weil es mir zu teuer ist.

This is mostly done for comic effect by adults fluent in both languages, but can also be heard from bilingual infants who have moved beyond the "babbling" stage. The languages get mixed up in a way that is determined by expressions from either language that first come to mind. The distinguishing feature of such speech is its grammatical correctness - which is not ensured when adults try the same. The term bilingualism (from bi meaning two and lingua meaning language) can refer to rather different phenomena. ...

During the 1990s, younger people comfortable speaking English would sometimes replace the main word of their sentence with the English equivalent: The 1990s decade refers to the years from 1990 to 1999, inclusive, the last decade of the 20th Century. ...

• Example: "Hey, der wird ja richtig enthusiastic."
• In English: "Hey, he's getting really enthusiastic."
• In "proper" German: "Hey, der begeistert sich ja richtig (dafür)."

• Example: "Es war einfach unbelievable"
• English: "It was simply unbelievable"
• German: "Es war einfach unglaublich"

To the youth of today this sounds rather ridiculous.

German and English often use the same preposition for describing abstract actions or concepts. (English: "I am in love with you." German: "Ich bin in dich verliebt.") However, this is not always the case. For example, native English speakers are reminded of something, whereas native German speakers are reminded on something. But a Germish speaker may directly translate a preposition without respect for such subtlety. Thus, sentences such as these may be constructed:

• That reminds me on a book.
• Das erinnert mich von ein Buch.

Pseudo-anglicisms

Main article: Pseudo-Anglicism

Some German words look and sound like anglicisms, but do not actually exist in English, or have a different meaning. Examples include: Pseudo-Anglicisms are words in languages other than English which were borrowed from English but are used in a way native English speakers would not readily recognize or understand. ...

List of Pseudo-anglicisms in German

Beamer can refer to: A beamer is a type of uncommon cricket delivery. ... This article is about the vocation of a mortician and the death metal band; for the World Wrestling Entertainment superstar, see The Undertaker. ... Cellular redirects here. ... Motorola T2288 mobile phone A mobile phone is a portable electronic device which behaves as a normal telephone whilst being able to move over a wide area (compare cordless phone which acts as a telephone only within a limited range). ... Oldtimer was a make of car, but in many countries (especially continental Europe) it can refer in general, to any antique car. ... This article needs cleanup. ...

Influence on grammar and spelling

Of late there is a German trend to combine words according to English rules by writing them in succession. Following the German grammar rules this is wrong.

Reparatur Annahme instead of Reparaturannahme

Another phenomenon is the wrong use of the apostrophe. It is often used in the English way (which in German is wrong) for the genitive: An apostrophe An apostrophe (French, from the Greek αποστροφος προσωδια, the accent of elision) ( ’ ) is a punctuation and sometimes diacritic mark in languages written in the Latin alphabet. ... The genitive case is a grammatical case that indicates a relationship, primarily one of possession, between the noun in the genitive case and another noun. ...

Manuel's Tasche instead of Manuels Tasche

Or even for the plural:

Handy's, Dessou's

The false use of the apostrophe, also quite common with native English speakers, is sometimes very rudely referred to as Deppenapostroph which means moron's apostrophe. Its counterpart is the Deppenleerstelle (as in Deppen Leerstelle).

Translations

Even when the desired effect is not comical, automatic literal translations of idioms or idiomatic language like those produced by AltaVista's Babel Fish can result in language that will most probably sound hilarious. Take the sentence from the German Wikipedia for instance: This article is in need of attention. ... An idiom is an expression (ie. ... AltaVista home page, 2004 The name AltaVista refers both to an Internet search engine company and to that companys search engine product. ... Anatomy of a babel fish as explained in the BBC TV series The Babel fish is a fictional species of fish in The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. ...

Bitte beachten Sie, dass alle Beiträge zur Wikipedia automatisch unter der "GNU Freie Dokumentationslizenz" stehen. Falls Sie nicht möchten, dass Ihre Arbeit hier von anderen verändert und verbreitet wird, dann drücken Sie nicht auf "Speichern".

The German to English Babel Fish machine translation (as of 2004) of this is:

Please you note that all contributions stand automatically to the Wikipedia under the "GNU free documentation license". If you did not like that your work is changed here and spread by others, then you press not on "memory".

Instead of the (correct) English sentence:

Please note that all contributions to Wikipedia are considered to be released under the GNU Free Documentation License. If you don't want your writing to be edited mercilessly and redistributed at will, then don't submit it here.

For completeness, the English to German Babel Fish machine translation (as of 2004) is as follows:

Merken Sie bitte, daß alle Beiträge zu Wikipedia betrachtet werden, unter der GNU frei Unterlagen Lizenz freigegeben zu werden, wenn Sie Ihr Schreiben gnadenlos redigiert werden und nicht am Willen neuverteilt werden wünschen, dann einreichen ihn nicht hier.

Arbitrary Germish

Of course, this approach to a sort of interlingua can also be taken to the extremes, like in this long-famous warning sign (the German equivalent of the Blinkenlights sign) where the influence of the German tongue is now restricted to parts of the spelling and partial literal back translations which results in a faint impression of a German computer administrator trying to make himself understood: Blinkenlights is a hackers neologism for diagnostic lights on old mainframe computers and modern network hardware. ...

The experts: Attention! This room is fullfilled mit special electronishe equipment. Fingergrabbling and pressing the cnoeppkes from the Computermashine is allowed for the experts only! So all lefthanders stay away and do not disturben the brainstorming von here working intelligencies. Otherwise you will be outthrown and kicked elsewhere. Also: please keep still and only watchen astaunished the shufting operator!

The German equivalent - almost without any anglicisms at all - can also be found. It will invariably be written in a transcription of some southern German dialect (Hessian, say) for comic effect: Hessian is an English word which refers to inhabitants of the state of German state of Hessen. ...

Achtung, Kombjuderraum! Dieser Raum is full bis unner die Degg mit de modernste elegdrische un fullelegdrohnische Anlaache. Gugge und staune, des derf jeder, ewwer rumworschdele und Gnebbscher drigge uff die Kombjuder, das derffe nor mir - die Eggsberdde.

Non-translation

It is notable that some companies such as Deutsche Bank now do much of their business in English, and that even many American children's films such as Ice Age do not translate their titles into German. This is a matter of some controversy, as are the mostly untranslated menus of many global burger chains. Deutsche Bank AG NYSE: DB (German for German Bank) is a multinational bank operating worldwide and employing almost 70,000 people (2004). ... DVD cover This article is about a film. ...

Advertising language

There seems to be a common notion that English substitutes for plain German words somehow make phrases sound more engaging and technically top-notch. German commercials or - more often - written ads thus are likely to overuse English terms:

Mit <brand name deleted> können Sie Klingeltöne, Logos und Spiele direkt aufs Handy downloaden.

Wählen Sie aus Tausenden coolen Sounds, aktuellen Games und hippen Logos.

Truly marvellous inventions can be found in the field of personal hygiene: Mobile phones from various years A mobile phone or cell phone is an electronic telecommunications device with the same basic capability as a conventional fixed-line telephone, but which is also entirely portable and is not required to be connected with a wire to the telephone network. ... Hygiene is the maintenance of healthy practices. ...

Double Action Waschgel

Vitalisierendes Peeling

Energy Creme Q10

Oil Control Gel Creme

Oil Control Waschgel

Neutrogena Visibly Clear Anti-Mitesser Peeling

Even some of the traditionally conservative companies tend to adopt neologisms that they consider to sound more international than their original German counterparts. Thus, the venerable "Deutsche Bahn AG" (German Rail) did not mind calling their information booths/stands "ServicePoints" (also an example for the widespread semi-Germanization of Anglicisms). The word "Kundendienst" (customer service), in contrast, has almost completely fallen out of use now (probably because it actually sounds like more of an effort to German ears than the rather noncommittal "service"). Sometimes such neologisms also use CamelCase, as in the German Telecom's former rate "GermanCall". A neologism is word, term, or phrase which has been recently created (coined) —often to apply to new concepts, or to reshape older terms in newer language form. ... In economics and marketing, a service is the non-material equivalent of a good. ... CamelCase or Medial capitals is the practice of writing compound words or phrases where the words are joined without spaces, and each word is capitalized within the compound. ...

Some advertisements are often misunderstood or cannot be translated at all by the majority of customers:

Come in and find out (Douglas) = Come in and try to find a way out?

Drive alive (Mitsubishi Motors) = Survive driving?

One Group. Multi Utilities (RWE) = One group, ...?,

A remarkable marketing example, countering all advocates of English as the prime advertising language, was produced by Audi in their "Vorsprung durch Technik" - campaign that earned Audi international renown even though the slogan might have been untranslatable to most people outside Germany. An oddity is that in UK adverts the company name Braun is pronounced Brawn to sound like the English word which can mean muscle, rather than Brown which is not only a literal translation of the German word but also sounds similar to the German pronunciation. Douglas (also spelled Douglass) is a masculine given name. ... Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (in Japanese: 三菱自動車工業, in romaji Mitsubishi Jidosha Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha) is a Japanese automobile company, manufacturing an extensive range of cars and trucks (see Fuso). ... RWE AG, until 1990 named Rheinisch-Westfälisches Elektrizitätswerk AG, is a German public utility and electric power company based in Essen. ... Audi is an automobile maker in Germany, and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group. ... Vorsprung durch Technik (German for Advantage through Technology) was a tagline used in several advertising campaigns all over the world for Audi automobiles, a German automobile maker owned wholly by Volkswagen. ... Braun (German pronunciation BROWN) is a German electric appliance company known for its design style. ... Head cheese is in fact not a cheese, but rather a terrine made of meat taken from the head of a calf or pig (sometimes a sheep or cow) that would not otherwise be considered appealing. ...

See also

• Engrish, Franglais, Spanglish, macaronic, Dunglish, globish
• Wienerschnitzel
• List of German expressions in English
• False friends
• Pseudo-anglicism
• Fahrvergnügen
• Mock German

Sign in a toilet in Shanghai, instructing people to put used paper napkins in the wastebin Engrish on a sweatshirt in Japan Engrish is a pejorative or humorous slang term which refers to poor-quality attempts by Japanese writers to create English words and phrases, whether in mistranslation of original... Franglais, a portmanteau made by mixing the words français (French) and anglais (English), is a slang term for types of speech, although the word has different overtones in the English and French languages. ... Spanglish, a portmanteau of the words Spanish and English, is a name used to refer to a range of language-contact phenomena, primarily in the speech of the Hispanic population of the United States, which is exposed to both Spanish and English. ... Macaronic refers to text spoken or written using a mixture of languages. ... Dunglish is a combination of Dutch and English, a name for Dutch English, the Dutch speakers version of the English language. ... Globish is a neologism and a portmanteau of the words Global and English. ... Relatively new Wienerschnitzel restaurant located in Sunnyvale, California. ... Below is a list of German expressions used in English. ... False friends are pairs of words in two languages or letters in two alphabets that look or sound similar but differ in meaning. ... Pseudo-Anglicisms are words in languages other than English which were borrowed from English but are used in a way native English speakers would not readily recognize or understand. ... Fahrvergnügen was a slogan, translating as driving enjoyment (from fahren, to drive, plus Vergnügen, enjoyment), used by Volkswagen in an ad campaign that included a stick figure apparently enjoying a drive. ... Mock German is a constructed language which is formed by modifying English in ways which stereotypes various features and characteristics, both real and imagined, of the German language. ...

External links

• ‘Denglish’ is on the march, a December 2004 article from the International Herald Tribune
• Opinion: Desperately Ditching Denglish, a November 2004 article from the Deutsche Welle website
• Don't fret, it's only Denglish, a DaF student's view on the topic, from Freie Universität Berlin, 2002
• Denglish definition and citation, from a February 2001 article on a "lexpionage" (lexical espionage) website
• Wir haben ge-partied, a 2001 article from an Irish "women's web portal"
• Gayle Tufts, a Berlin-based American performer whose comedy is often based on Denglish.