Denglisch: The English words that will make you sound like a German speaker
Denglisch - a hybrid of Deutsch and English - can refer to the half-and-half way German speakers and foreigners speak to each other. But Austrians use plenty of English words amongst themselves - although they don’t always mean the same thing. English speakers are no stranger to using certain German words when speaking English—schadenfreude and kindergarten being perhaps the most obvious. The process is possibly even more advanced in reverse.
Many Germans are proud of being able to speak English well, and the Berlin Wall’s fall in 1989 only accelerated the process, as a redefined international community - with English as the main global language - beckoned. In Austria, kids learn English in school and even if sometimes older Austrians seem like they don't speak it, in many cases they just don't feel like it.
Now English words are found in all parts of Germanic life. Many German speakers don’t even necessarily understand why. English-language cultural influence is certainly a part of life, but the dubbing of television shows, to use just one example, remains far more widespread in Austria and Germany than in many smaller European countries, which use original audio with subtitles.
Here's a selection of Anglicisms that Austrians use with each other.
Human Resources, 'Soft Skills' and 'Manager'
'Personalabteilung' is still used to describe a human resources department. But plenty of Austrian companies—whether international or mostly Austrian will use Human Resources even in German-language communication. Although 'Leiter' and 'Leiterin,' meaning 'leader' are used, even Austrian job titles will use “Manager.” The word 'Manager' has even been adapted to accommodate German noun genders. A female manager, may be referred to as a 'Managerin'.
The world of work in Austria is also notable for importing another contemporary English term. 'Soft Skills' is used in German when recruiters are looking to see if a candidate might fit culturally into a particular workplace. The words actually describing these skills, like 'Führungskompetenz' or 'leadership ability,' often sound unmistakably German though. But there are exceptions. 'Multitasking' is used in German as well.
'Clicken,' 'Uploaden,' 'Downloaden' and 'Home Office'
As a technology that came of age relatively recently, German has imported many English terms related to technology and the Internet. While web browsers might use 'Herunterladen' instead of 'download' or 'hochladen' instead of 'upload,' people are just as likely to use the slightly Germanized version of the English word, hence 'downloaden'.
Even before 'Home Office' appeared on Austrian tax returns, to calculate what credit workers could get from remote work during the Covid-19 pandemic, 'Home Office' was still widely used in German to describe, well, working from home. It can be confusing for English speakers, though, especially those from the UK, because the Home Office is a department in the British government.
English words that have slightly different meanings in German - 'Shitstorm' and 'Public Viewing'
There are English words Germans and Austrians use that don’t always mean quite the same thing to a native English speaker.
An English speaker from the UK or Ireland, for example, might associate a 'public viewing' with an open-casket funeral. Austrians, however, tend to use “public viewing” almost exclusively to mean a large screening, usually of an event, that many people can gather to watch for free. Placing a large television at the Wiener Rathaus for World Cup matches is perhaps the most immediately recognisable example of a 'public viewing'.
READ ALSO: Shitstorm 'best English gift to German language'
Then there’s what, at least to native English speakers, might sound outright bizarre. But former German Chancellor Angela Merkel herself used “Shitstorm” more than once while in office. In German though, it can refer specifically to a social media backlash involving heated online comments.
Another typical English-sounding word used in German differently is 'Handy' - meaning cellphone (well, it does fit in your hand). It can sound a bit strange to English speakers, though.
Other words, however, more or less mean what you think they do - such as when one German newspaper referred to Brexit as a 'Clusterfuck'.
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English speakers are no stranger to using certain German words when speaking English—schadenfreude and kindergarten being perhaps the most obvious. The process is possibly even more advanced in reverse.
Many Germans are proud of being able to speak English well, and the Berlin Wall’s fall in 1989 only accelerated the process, as a redefined international community - with English as the main global language - beckoned. In Austria, kids learn English in school and even if sometimes older Austrians seem like they don't speak it, in many cases they just don't feel like it.
Now English words are found in all parts of Germanic life. Many German speakers don’t even necessarily understand why. English-language cultural influence is certainly a part of life, but the dubbing of television shows, to use just one example, remains far more widespread in Austria and Germany than in many smaller European countries, which use original audio with subtitles.
Here's a selection of Anglicisms that Austrians use with each other.
Human Resources, 'Soft Skills' and 'Manager'
'Personalabteilung' is still used to describe a human resources department. But plenty of Austrian companies—whether international or mostly Austrian will use Human Resources even in German-language communication. Although 'Leiter' and 'Leiterin,' meaning 'leader' are used, even Austrian job titles will use “Manager.” The word 'Manager' has even been adapted to accommodate German noun genders. A female manager, may be referred to as a 'Managerin'.
The world of work in Austria is also notable for importing another contemporary English term. 'Soft Skills' is used in German when recruiters are looking to see if a candidate might fit culturally into a particular workplace. The words actually describing these skills, like 'Führungskompetenz' or 'leadership ability,' often sound unmistakably German though. But there are exceptions. 'Multitasking' is used in German as well.
'Clicken,' 'Uploaden,' 'Downloaden' and 'Home Office'
As a technology that came of age relatively recently, German has imported many English terms related to technology and the Internet. While web browsers might use 'Herunterladen' instead of 'download' or 'hochladen' instead of 'upload,' people are just as likely to use the slightly Germanized version of the English word, hence 'downloaden'.
Even before 'Home Office' appeared on Austrian tax returns, to calculate what credit workers could get from remote work during the Covid-19 pandemic, 'Home Office' was still widely used in German to describe, well, working from home. It can be confusing for English speakers, though, especially those from the UK, because the Home Office is a department in the British government.
English words that have slightly different meanings in German - 'Shitstorm' and 'Public Viewing'
There are English words Germans and Austrians use that don’t always mean quite the same thing to a native English speaker.
An English speaker from the UK or Ireland, for example, might associate a 'public viewing' with an open-casket funeral. Austrians, however, tend to use “public viewing” almost exclusively to mean a large screening, usually of an event, that many people can gather to watch for free. Placing a large television at the Wiener Rathaus for World Cup matches is perhaps the most immediately recognisable example of a 'public viewing'.
READ ALSO: Shitstorm 'best English gift to German language'
Then there’s what, at least to native English speakers, might sound outright bizarre. But former German Chancellor Angela Merkel herself used “Shitstorm” more than once while in office. In German though, it can refer specifically to a social media backlash involving heated online comments.
Another typical English-sounding word used in German differently is 'Handy' - meaning cellphone (well, it does fit in your hand). It can sound a bit strange to English speakers, though.
Other words, however, more or less mean what you think they do - such as when one German newspaper referred to Brexit as a 'Clusterfuck'.
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