Search

denglish is actually the term used by linguists, mainly based in germany, to describe incorrect english as spoken by germans whose sole contact with english is at school. it results in something that might in some case sound english but in fact is not or is used in a differnet sense than in normal english usage. modern german features an over-use of loan words, particularly from english. germans mistakenly think the expressions/words are correct as they use them.
bodybag – a new denglish word for a fashionable bag, worn over the shoulder
last, not least – an expression used by germans in the sense of “last, but not least”
walking – a sport now parcticed frequently in germany – should of course be “power walking”
combination of english and german spoken by expats in germany (mostly in berlin) and germans who keep on switching between both languages. words in one language are replaced by words from the other, that are more convinient or come to the speakers mind more quickly. usually the grammar is adapted for these words so they fit into the sentence structure.

while the phenomenon of unsophisticated people ill-using english words for the sake of their approach to coolness does exist, it is usually not referred to as “denglisch”.
denglish: “i don’t yet have an überblick of what needs to be done. kannst du mir morgen helfen to plan this out?”
in the german language itself, the word for “german” is not “german” but “deutsch.” so, “do you speak german?” is asked, “sprechen sie deutsch?” therefore, denglish is most likely a german-born influence upon the english language.

it comes from the “de” in “deutsch” and the “nglish” in “english” being combined. it doesn’t matter whether the native speaker is german or english. “denglish” is used as a name for a language, so it should be capitalized.

denglish is typically experienced as german words sprinkled into english text, like spice in stew, to make it exciting. in the usa one might say of an adopted german word, it has been americanized. in german texts one may find an english word “eingedeutscht”. there is such a market for denglish, one can even find a comedienne with a “denglish” stage act.
“omigod,” she says to the überagent.”

“death by hollywood” by steven bochco, page 39 (“über” here means “over”, as in “over agent”, therefore, “top agent”).

“ich möchte cornflakes zum frühstück.” my two-year old son declaring in german that he wishes to have cornflakes for breakfast.

in both examples, the person could be said to be speaking denglish.
the germans have adopted a huge number of (american) english words and phrase since the end of ww ii. so far, so good.

but, as the germans were kind of exorcized of being german, they felt more “cool” to replace german phrase with (american) english ones, and that translated literally. hence, denglish isn’t necessarily the pure absorbtion of (american) english.
e.g., the “translation” of “to make sense” (sinn machen), which, in german comprehension, doesn’t make sense, as nothing can “make” sense rather than to “have” sense (sinn haben, sinnvoll sein).
another example is “at the end of the day” (am ende des tages), actually meaning “finally”, but literally translated into german means the end of the business day. many germans use expressions like that without thinking it over.

another definition of denglish is, of course, influenced by advertising companies, who created slogans like “come in and find out” (for a perfumery) which suggests to escape from the shop like from a maze. “powered by emotion” (for a tv channel) is another curious example, because many people took that as “kraft durch freude”, which was a n-z- slogan for their recreation tours organized by the n-z- party.

a third and most annoying meaning is the “creation” of english-sounding words which don’t exist, at least with that meaning, in english. primarily, the germans say “handy” for their cell phones / mobile phones. just because it sounds so “kool” and because it ain’t german.
denglish:

a: wir sollten dieses statt jenem machen. (we should do this instead of that)
b: ja klar, das macht ja auch sinn! (yo man, it makes sense)

a: am ende des tages sollte es kein risiko darstellen. (at the end of the day, it should be no risk)
b: kewl, schon um fünf! (kewl, no risk after 5 pm)

a: war eben bei douglas (the perfumery advertising with “come in and find out”). hab wieder rausgefunden! (i got to douglas and, amazingly, escaped!
b: alter, so geil! (you’re so fly!)

a. ey du sack, ich hab neues handy! (yo man, i’ve got a new cell phone)
a pseudo language created by german people who think they are cool and modern, they form english-looking words. this is often used in marketing. germans can guess what it means, also it seems more new and innovative than real english/german words.
“denglish” is the combination of “d(eutsch) english”. the term is mostly used by germans who are critical about the newly invented words.
handy flatrate – tariff/plan with unlimited time for calls (=flatrate) for a mobile phone (=handy)
denglish word/combination
like “spanglish”, mixing spanish with english, denglish means mixing the german (deutsch) with the english language.
heavily used by imature wannabe hip hoppers and wannabe gangsters in germany, mainly at the age of 10 to 18.
denglish: “du bist so cool” saying “you’re so cool”. seems that germans don’t have a language of their own.
combination of dutch and (bad) english
are you talking ‘denglish’?

←