We can say without a doubt that English is one of the most used languages on Earth. As many new technology developments originate from the US, so too as many social media platforms appeared in this country, and as many communication-related disciplines started here years ago, it is logical that many of the terms used are adopted across the globe as they are, with no translations.
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There are of course countries where many terms have been translated – let’s think for a moment, for instance, at the French language where, speaking the “computer” is an “ordinateur”.
Among the countries that recently adopted various English terms is Germany. In fact, the recent edition of the Duden dictionary, the country’s most important dictionary, includes, as the Guardian highlights, several terms from English such as “digital native”, “social media”, “flashmob”, “e-book Reader”, “app”, “Facebook”, and others.
The language has also its own words for some of the most well known and used terms. “Handy”, as an example, is a term that refers to the mobile phone.
An interesting trend seems to be pronouncing some of the English terms in a German way. Angela Merkel uses English term “shitstorm” in the pronunciation “shitschturm”. This fact was noted by the Guardian first in 2012.
Another interesting article on this topic was published recently by The Week and emphasizes the apparent rise of Denglish, this blending of English words into the German language. The article contains some interesting examples of English words that made their way into the German language, some unaltered (“flashmob”), some “Germanized” such as “leasen” which would be the German equivalent of “to lease”, even if there already is a German verb for that: “pachten”. The same adjustment to German is visible in the case of “babysitten.”
This situation can only bring back into the discussion the issue of preserving a country’s language in a globalized world. There are many voices defending languages and asking to keep them safe from the adoption of new words from other languages, but there is also the aspect of language development to take in consideration. Languages influence one another, and there are many languages that have words from others in the area or from the nomad people or invaders that crossed those countries at some point for a longer period. Languages evolve, and it looks like the trend in the past years has been to incorporate various English words in other languages.