The conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) in Germany have finally had enough. Too many folks in Germany simply cannot speak German, and, worse, the German language is under attack from English, Turkish and other languages as German vocabulary is displaced with Fremdwörter. The solution? Codify German as the official language of Germany in the Basic Law (Grundgesetz):
On Tuesday, delegates to the annual Christian Democrat (CDU) party
congress, held this time around in Stuttgart, voted to support a
constitutional amendment that would enshrine German in the so-called
"Grundgesetz" -- or "Basic Law." German, says Peter Müller, who is
governor of the south-western state of Saarland, should be "rightfully
preserved" in the constitution.
And the conservative daily Die Welt has endorsed this proposal, No more "Denglish":
"There's nothing to be said against enshrining such a measure in the
constitution because it is a kind of commitment -- also one on the part
of those whose mother tongue is German. Our language is somewhat on the
defensive. You don't have to be a nationalist or an anti-American to
feel that the English advancing into German officialdom is a sign of
the neglect of our own language."
In the age of the Internet and globalization it is virtually impossible to legislate linguistic purity. The French launch initiatives every five years or so to preserve la belle langue and American conservatives keep trying to have English declared the official language of the US even as Spanish takes hold in many states. Still, there are signs that there is a conscious effort to reverse the Americanization of German, even without a constitutional amendment:
Wie die Kollegen jenseits des Atlantik zu sprechen, gilt zunehmend als out. "Es
gibt bei Verantwortungsträgern einen gewissen Überdruss an der Anglisierung",
bestätigt Roland Kaehlbrandt, Autor des Buchs "Deutsch für Eliten".
Den Grund beschreibt der Sprachkritiker so: "Das Bedürfnis, über die
Sprache krampfhaft Internationalität zu vermitteln lässt nach." (To speak like our colleagues on the other side of the Atlantic is more and more considered "out". "In the executive suite there is a certain weariness concerning the anglicizising (of German)" Roland Kaehlbrand confirms - he is the author of the book "German for Elites". The language critic sees the following reason for this development: "There is no longer the need to frantically convey an international mindset through language.")
So among the business elite, at least, German is enjoying a comeback.
Bonus: Test your knowledge of German. It's harder than you think!
Oh where is that purity we long for??
Posted by: Hattie | December 05, 2008 at 03:48 PM