Postcards From Berlin #9:  The Disappearing German Language

By Jeff Allers

German Word of the Month: Denglisch (a mix of Deutsch and English)

Another Essen Spielmesse has come and gone.  Those in attendance from the English-speaking world have long since returned after experiencing the three S’s of the convention:  Spiele, Schnitzel, and Spaetzi (and possibly Schmerzen in their backs and/or stomachs from heavy luggage and equally heavy food).

I have lamented enough already that I have yet to make the short drive to Essen in October, but if you were lucky enough to make the trip, then you also had the opportunity to experience a rich language phonetically and grammatically very different from our own.  Of course, Mark Twain was famously not impressed, and I must admit that it can be frustrating figuring out the correct article (the language has at least 6 different words for “theâ€?), although practicing the German “râ€? by gurgling in the back of one’s throat can be quite fun, especially in a pub.  Then there is that fairly unique part of saving a bit of the verb for the end of a sometimes very long sentence—the preferred way of communicating in acedemia—like eating a dessert that finally lets one know what the main course tasted like.

When I first arrived in Berlin twelve years ago, a crash-course in German from my last year at the university under my belt, I knew that immersion was the only way for me to learn fliesend (fluent) Deutsch.  It wasn’t at all easy, and I must admit that I had only memorized key words to listen for during my first round of job interviews.  In fact, the first day I showed up to work, I was not 100% sure that I had actually been given the job. Once I settled in, however, the immersion began.  German colleagues, friends from a basketball club I joined, and unsuspecting strangers in the U-Bahn (subway) became my new teachers, my play testers in the daily party game that was my language-learning life.  Sometimes it included elements of Taboo (“I know the word I’m thinking of in English, but I don’t know how to describe it in German!â€?), sometimes Pictionary if pen and paper were handy, and Charades always played a big part, as long as my hands were free.

Whenever I apologized that I was “still learning,â€? Germans themselves often rolled their eyes and laughed at the complexity of their Muttersprache (mother tongue).  The sense of humor they have about their language is even mined by board game companies and can be seen in offerings as recent as “Der Dativ ist dem Genitiv sein Tod,â€? which apparently plays upon the hilarities of German grammatical correctness.  Nein, danke—I’m afraid I’ll have to pass on that one.

Still, after many years and countless misspoken words which often brought laughter to my German companions, I am not as intimidated as I once was.  German game rules, for example, used to seem daunting.  After my wife gave me “Die Siedler von Catanâ€? as a gift one Christmas, it sat in my closet for almost a year before I was finally taught the game by a friend.  Interpreting the German rules sheet just seemed too difficult a task, and I assumed the game was much more complex than it was.

In addition to the German, the style of games they’ve developed here also has its own “language.â€?  When I first started to meet regularly with a game group—one that rarely plays the same game twice—it was a challenge for me to understand how to play a game after hearing a rules explanation for the first time.  I had no “gamerâ€? vocabulary or precedents to work from, and each new game seemed like a foreign language.  After several years of experience, I can now see the connections and parallels between games, how they each fit into different families much like languages do.  If you’ve ever learned Spanish, understanding Italian will come easier.  I suppose “area-majorityâ€? is the English of the gaming world—it seems every designer speaks it.

Now I’m the one who is often teaching games at game groups—in my not-yet-perfect German, of course.  But as I strive to master the language here, I often feel as though I’m climbing a glacier that is slowly melting away.  The German language seems to be disappearing.

Because I work with youth now, I notice the changes more than before.  Unlike France, which imposes strict regulations, allowing only a trickle of English-language music and film into the country while subsidizing their own pop culture heavily, Germany opens its doors to Hollywood and MTV.  Teens I know mix gangsta-rap English (I realize that sounds contradictory) with “youthâ€? German to end up with a fairly eclectic and interesting way of speaking.

The English invasion is affecting the mainstream, though, as well.  Words I learned 10 years ago are now commonly discarded in favor of English equivalents.  Some people don’t even realize it.

For example, when I coached basketball during my first years in Berlin, stretching before the game was labeled “Gymnastik.â€?  When I took up coaching again a few years ago, my boys’ team, who enjoyed every chance they could get to correct my German, informed me that the proper term was “stretching.â€?  I then, of course, informed them all of the English basketball term, “suicide.â€?

Of course, mixing both languages has become second nature to my wife and me.  Sometimes, a word in the other language comes to mind more quickly, and sometimes the word just describes better what we are trying to communicate.  It’s not a problem for either of us, but it can sometimes be difficult for friends and family in the U.S. to understand us. 

This Deutsch/English mixture is commonly referred to as “Denglish.â€?  Advertisements are full of Denglish jingles and slogans, and there is even a well-known cabaretist from New York who does her entire musical comedy shows mixing the two languages as she compares the humorous sides of the two cultures.  We went to her show a few years ago, and she had a full house of Germans and American rolling in the aisles.

Probably the most bizarre examples of Denglish are English words used in ways that we would never use them.  A mobile cell phone, for example, is called a “Handy,â€? and harassment in the workplace is referred to as “Mobbing.â€?  Of course, Germans assume that these mean the same thing in English-speaking countries, and are sometimes quite stubborn to concede that they are not even used that way in Britain.

Many English words like “Babysitting� are adopted and, by adding “ge� are turned into the German past tense—gebabysittet (the word had been “gepimped,� or so my gangsta-Deutsch youth inform me).

And so, in one form or another, English keeps seeping into this fluid thing that is the modern German language.  I must admit that I feel guilty at times—the same way I feel when yet another McDonald’s opens its doors in a Berlin neighborhood.  I don’t have a strong desire to see more of America here—I have really come to enjoy my immersion in the culture and the friends I have made…
…and the games I have…well, you know...geplayed.

© 2006 Jeff Allers

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Comments:

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This is one of the best articles I have read yet on Boardgamenews.  VERY interesting. Posted by Ryan Bretsch on Nov 3, 2006 at 09:47 PM | #

Jeff, I’ve been learning German for a little over a year now(specifically to help me out when I go to Essen).  It’s nice to know that SOMEONE has been able to get a grip on the language.  I feel sometimes that my attempt at learning German is like I’m hammering a nail into concrete with a toothbrush. I will go out on a limb to say that I am the only American to buy “Der Dativ ist dem Genitiv sein Tod”.  It was actually a gift for my friend, Heidi, who is from Berlin.  When I told her I had seen this game title, she broke into hysterics.  She thought it was the funniest title she’d ever heard.  She then spent 5 minutes trying to explain the humor to me.  Of course the humor didn’t translate very well into English. My experience THIS year with mixing up words was when I asked to purchase a bag at the Queen booth.  I meant to ask for a “beutel”, but instead, my brain (rearranging the sounds) spit out “teufel”, which of course just elicited confused and pitying looks from the workers (because I had asked them if I could buy a Devil). Posted by Scott Tepper on Nov 3, 2006 at 11:07 PM | #

German is punishing to learn, particularly for English speakers - we’re just not that used to having to follow as many grammatical rules, since English tends to play fast and loose with a lot of ‘em. I’m glad I learned it at home as a child - I tried learning some Spanish in high school and the results weren’t pretty.  I’ve seriously considered moving my family to Germany for a year to give my daughter the same benefit, but it’s so very difficult to uproot… pk Posted by Patrick Korner on Nov 4, 2006 at 12:53 AM | #

I took four years of German, and it didn’t seem like a particularly annoying language.... compared to Japanese, anyways. Posted by Ava Jarvis on Nov 4, 2006 at 01:38 AM | #

Being German I can assure you, that it is virtually impossible to get a full grasp on German grammar. The whole concept of punctuation completely eludes me. The Denglish-phenomenon however is something which really bothers me. Although I have to say to Jeff that English terms in German basketball have been a staple since the mid-80s. When I started playing in 1983 everyone was already talking about “stretching” and “transition defense”. The one thing where the English linguistic invasion into Germany takes really funny but also sad turns is in the world of academia. More and more German universities are offering courses taught in English and a number of scientific conferences are held in English even if there are mostly only Germans attending. This leads to a debate on the lowest common liguistic denominator, as German teachers, students, researchers and professors struggle to get even the most basic concepts into coherent English sentences. To make sure that everyone is on the same page language-wise the debates are simplified to such an extent that it becomes quite embarassing the listen to them. A personal problem with Denglish for me is the fact that I have been living in London for three years and my job requires that I almost exclusively deal with English texts and documents. So quite often I find myself in a position to mix English phrases into my German or that I literally translate English idioms which leads to total confusion (my favourite English saying is “I wouldn’t touch that with a ten foot pole” - try translating that into German, like I often do, and you get blank stares as far as the eye can see). Especially when explaining rules of English boardgames I tend to blend the languages together completely. People who don’t know me that well have often criticised my “debasing of out mother-tongue”, when in my case it is really just a case of mentally living in two different languages. Posted by Manuel Siebert on Nov 4, 2006 at 05:20 AM | #

Manuel, the imposition of English into German academia is probably just the latest version of a longstanding practice.  When I was studying mathematics in college during the seventies, I was advised to take German, since so many papers were written in that language and were rarely translated.  (Sadly, I didn’t heed this advice--not that I had occasion to use many of these papers, but now I wish I knew the language for gaming purposes!) In grad school, I heard similar advice, except now the language was Russian, as that was where so much work was taking place.  My understanding is that prior to that, French was the lingua franca for academia.  Who knows, if things continue as they are now, maybe universities will be teaching Chinese to their academics in twenty years! Posted by Larry Levy on Nov 4, 2006 at 11:54 AM | #

Good point, Larry.  Derida’s deconstructivism made French popular in Architecture school, while German is necessary to read and understand many protestant theological texts. I really enjoy the richness of the various world cultures and would also wish to see the German language preserved, although no language is completely “pure.” Perhaps the willingness of Germans to be so accomodating to English-speakers and their great proficiency in foreign languages makes this more difficult.  Or it’s the aggresiveness of our pop culture exports to a country still struggling with its national identity and fear of appearing too nationalistic. With the youth, of course, it has more to do with what sounds cool (I still remember thinking that when I learned how to sing along with “99 Luftballons” in high school). Scott--I’m impressed that you can demo games after only a year of German!  Viele Gruesse an Heidi--Ich bin auch Berliner!) Patrick--is one of your parents German?  It will be interesting raising my twin boys here. Thanks everyone for the feedback, especially Ryan--VERY flattering:) Posted by Jeff Allers on Nov 4, 2006 at 03:03 PM | #

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