English 'leakens' into German
Helen Pidd, Berlin, February 3, 2011
GERMANS already ''chillen'' in their downtime, ''surfen'' the internet and, when they leave a nightclub, they may go on to ''ein Afterparty''.
But the latest English word to creep into the Deutsche sprache is the verb ''leaken'', which has just been voted Anglicism of the year in Germany.
Proving the international influence of WikiLeaks, Germans have quickly shunned their old way of describing information secretly passed on to others and adapted the English verb ''to leak''. So they talk of the ''geleakte Dokumente'' as an alternative to the somewhat unwieldy ''durchgesickerte Unterlagen'' of yore.
The jury awarding the prize for Anglicism of the year was chaired by Anatol Stefanowitsch, a professor in linguistics at Hamburg University. ''The word has really established itself in the German language over the past year and has enriched our vocabulary,'' he said.
Another WikiLeaks-inspired word was third - ''whistleblowers'', a category of people for whom there was previously no precise German term.
Other contenders for the prize were technology-related. Second was ''entfreunden'', a literal translation of ''to unfriend'', which has become common on social networking sites. Further shortlisted words included ''shitstorm'' and ''scripted reality''.
The German Language Association (Verein Deutsche Sprache), aims to ''confront'' the Anglicisation of the German language and ''remind the people of Germany of the value and beauty of their native language''.
Holger Klatte, a VDS spokesman, said: ''There seems to be this attitude that English is somehow 'better' than German, that German somehow sounds old-fashioned. We believe that linguists should make more effort to develop German alternatives to new English words.''
Mr Klatte said because there was already a German alternative to leak - durchsickern, or to percolate - there was no need for the English word.
Sometimes, English words seem to get lost in translation. A mobile phone is known as ''ein Handy'', a video projector is ''ein Beamer''.
But Professor Stefanowitsch insisted German was not in mortal danger, saying: ''The borrowing of words is a natural process which takes place in every language.''
Proving the international influence of WikiLeaks, Germans have quickly shunned their old way of describing information secretly passed on to others and adapted the English verb ''to leak''. So they talk of the ''geleakte Dokumente'' as an alternative to the somewhat unwieldy ''durchgesickerte Unterlagen'' of yore.
The jury awarding the prize for Anglicism of the year was chaired by Anatol Stefanowitsch, a professor in linguistics at Hamburg University. ''The word has really established itself in the German language over the past year and has enriched our vocabulary,'' he said.
Another WikiLeaks-inspired word was third - ''whistleblowers'', a category of people for whom there was previously no precise German term.
Other contenders for the prize were technology-related. Second was ''entfreunden'', a literal translation of ''to unfriend'', which has become common on social networking sites. Further shortlisted words included ''shitstorm'' and ''scripted reality''.
The German Language Association (Verein Deutsche Sprache), aims to ''confront'' the Anglicisation of the German language and ''remind the people of Germany of the value and beauty of their native language''.
Holger Klatte, a VDS spokesman, said: ''There seems to be this attitude that English is somehow 'better' than German, that German somehow sounds old-fashioned. We believe that linguists should make more effort to develop German alternatives to new English words.''
Mr Klatte said because there was already a German alternative to leak - durchsickern, or to percolate - there was no need for the English word.
Sometimes, English words seem to get lost in translation. A mobile phone is known as ''ein Handy'', a video projector is ''ein Beamer''.
But Professor Stefanowitsch insisted German was not in mortal danger, saying: ''The borrowing of words is a natural process which takes place in every language.''
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