Kultur 5!

The writers for this site are hilarious! They must have so much fun picking apart German culture and writing about its more, shall we say odd aspects. Germans will run over you to get on a train but apparently when it comes to flirting they are much more reserved. And yet sex shops are no big deal! If the point of the articles is to draw a diverse and unconventional picture of German culture then I would say that they succeeded. I must admit after reading the article on how to pick up women in Germany I am terrified. I think I would rather go to an Airport sex shop then attempt to pick up a German woman at a bar. But I guess this is how German men act so maybe I would fit right in! My favorite article is about the Klofrau, while American's only get bathroom attendants in the movies and at fancy restaurants, Germans get them everywhere! How cool is that, and to be honest I don't think I would mind paying some pocket change if I knew I would have a friendly German to keep the restroom spick and span! I just hope I get to Germany before they are all replaced by the way less cool automatic toilets. I found the statistics in the Women in Germany article interesting. Somethings were the same as here, women make less money, difficult to rise to positions of power etc. Some were different like the social systems in place to support German prostitutes, very cool. The more I learn about Germany the more I find that in a lot of strange ways it is a country that gets things right!

AMD5

Call me unoriginal if you must, but it was a busy weekend, so I opted to read the Denglisch article, and respond to that.
As one would expect, Denglish, or Engleutsch (my favorite variation of the term), is an informal combination of English and German syntax whilst speaking or writing. One cause for this occurrence is the usage of newer terms. For instance, diction related to computer technology, a relatively new feature in society, is often adapted straight into foreign languages. Words like “Firefox” or “Windows XP” will make their way into the German language straight from English. Even verbs like “reboot” often remain the same as their English counterparts, despite having legitimate German forms (rebooten). Some words are created to look like German, such as “Downloaden,” but are very clearly English in origin. Slang and youth usage are another contributor. An event can be “cool” in German, just as it can in English.
In an increasingly complex and globalized economic world, business and advertising often crosses borders and language barriers. Fast food, for instance, is recognized mostly in English, and for the most part goes untranslated (Double Whopper mit leckerem Bacon und Cheddar Cheese.). Movies, such as Ice Age, may have German dubs, but keep their English titles. Companies, even German ones, such as Deutsche Telekom will operate under English names such as “T-Home” or “T-Mobile.”
Occasionally, grammar can be affected as well. Words that can be left out of constructions can sneak their way in. Was passierte in 2005? (What happened in 2005?), need not be constrtucted with the word “in” or even its German equivalent, “im.” Denglisch speakers will often do so anyway. Similarly, in terms of showing ownership, a Denglisch speaker might use an apostrophe with “s” much to the disdain of a proper German speaker.

AMD 5 - Benjamin Oztalay

I also read the Wikipedia article on Denglish, but the topic was interesting, so I found a few more articles on Denglish to see what people were saying about it. I was surprised by the intensity of the opposition some people have to Denglish, but at the same time not surprised by the fact that many people simply don't really care about the "invasion" of German by English.

It's easy to see why English is making its way into German, and many other languages. Scientific papers, in order to receive the most international recognition, should be in English. Most, or all, of the terminology associated with IT is English, so it's natural to adopt the same terms in other languages. At the same time, the opposition is understandable. German and English are so closely related that it's easy to imagine the Denglish trend continuing until German is just a different dialect of English. That would be unfortunate, but I'm not sure it would happen quite like that.

Seeing the use of English terms in some German speech is comforting for me, as an English speaker learning German. It means that in my communication with German speakers, I might run into fewer unfamiliar words, which is a good thing for understanding them. I might be unhappy, though, if I put all of this time into learning German and it just transformed into English!

AMD 5 - Calen Jones

I read the Wikipedia article about Denglisch for AMD 5. My immediate reaction is that if I were to travel to Deutschland, I wouldn't have that hard of a time understanding the locals, especially if most of them understand at least a little English. The incorporation of the English language into German culture also seems surprising at first; Germany strikes me as a country that is traditional, opposed to westernization, and slow to change. The most surprising facet of the article was Germany's taking to American music on the radio and within its own pop culture.

Additional surprises included the incorporation of an apostrophe-type substance which indicates possession; the expressions "statement" and "event", and words such a "peeling" to describe products. Es ist sicher dass traditional leute auf Deutschland this language hassen, aber ich bin surprised that it's taking a hold over younger generations. I guess it aligns with common 21st-century themes of globalization and international business though, and in that sense, I understand the popularization of Denglisch.

Willkommen!!

Welcome to our class blog!

We will be using this blog throughout the semester for two kinds of assignments:

1. Once per chapter, the homework plan will direct you to post a response to the culture readings for the chapter on the blog.

2. Roughly every other week, the homework plan will direct you to post here for your Abenteuer mit Deutsch (AMD) assignment. First you do a fun activity that involves German, then you post about it. You should spend an hour total on this (maybe 45-55 minutes doing something, 5-15 minutes posting about it). See Was ist ein AMD, AMD Ideen and Beispiele for ideas. This should get you excited about the kinds of things you can do!

Whenever you post something, please include your name and the name of the assignment (e.g. AMD2, Kultur5) as labels. See "Blog: How To" for more details!