In our previous blog, we have been looking at German words used in English and now we would like to introduce you to English words used in the German language.
The German language uses English words because it isn’t always easy to find a suitable German equivalent. The loaning of words eases communication and makes it easier to introduce new products and services with the same name across several countries.
Consider the following German sentence: EinBundle von Incentives und ein separater Team-Building-Event an geeigneter Location sollen das Motivationslevel erhöhen und gleichzeitig helfen, eine einheitliche Corporate Culture samt Identity zu entwickeln. Almost every third word is loaned from the English language: Corporate Culture versus Unternehmenskultur, Incentive versus Anreiz, Motivationslevel versus Leistungswille – it sounds better when English loan words are used and is much easier understood. But note that nouns loaned from English are being capitalised in German.
Germans like to go shopping (shoppen), both online (online) and in shopping centres (Shopping-Center). They search the Internet and use the verb ‘to google’ (googeln); if they download something, they use downloaden. If the online order hasn’t arrived, they make a call and are connected to a call centre (Call Center). Other verbs that have been taken from English are interviewen, surfen, leasen, daten, relaxen, switchen, piercen, managen, bloggen, joggen, outsourcen. All verbs loaned from English are classed as regular verbs in the German language. Want to know how to conjugate a German verb? Get with one of our German tutors!
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