Were you planning to relocate to Germany for professional reasons? Or perhaps you are working with Germans regularly?
The following words are taken from everyday office language. Have you come across some of them yet?
Der Anhang: If you send an email from a German version of outlook and would like to also send a report along with the email, you would send the report as an attachment, als Anhang.
Die Datei: The attachment/der Anhang could also be referred to as a file, als Datei.
Hochladen/ herunterladen: Depending on whether you are sending or receiving the email with a file attached (it einer Datei im Anhang), you may need to upload the file first – die Datei hochladen – and at the other end, you will need to download the attachment – den Anhang herunterladen. You may have guessed from the look of the verb that it is separable. So it is “er lädt die Datei herunter”
Die Besprechung: Always a welcome excuse not to be able to take a phone call. This notion is the same across all countries; I believe: “Oh, I am afraid he cannot speak to you right now; he is in a meeting – in einer Besprechung.”
Generally, native English speakers are on the lucky side when learning German, at least in computer-related language. Unlike other languages, German has not bothered to find its translation for words like computer, Desktop, email, internet, browser, and scanner. The only thing you might want to be aware of is whether it is “der”, “die” or “das” and the fact that since they are nouns, they are being written in the capital:
der Computer
das Desktop
die Email – emailen
das Internet
der Browser
der Scanner – again the verb has the German verbal ending –en, scannen.
These are only a few examples. The German language has borrowed many English terms for computer-related terms and technology, marketing, and PR.
Are you looking for German courses in London? Why not consider classes with your private German tutor?
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