A group of German university professors, angered by the U.S.-British war against Iraq, have launched a campaign to replace many popular English-language words used in Germany with French terms. Saying they are appalled by the way the United States and Britain defied the will of the United Nations and attacked Iraq, the four professors declared war on borrowed English terms in German such as “okay”, “T-shirt” and “party”. They have devised French-language alternatives: “d’accord”, “tricot” and “fete”.
“We won’t accept the United States as a role model as long as it is violating international law so this seemed to be an appropriate way to protest peacefully,” Armin Burkhardt, a professor of German at Magdeburg University, told Reuters. “We aren’t trying to purify the language, we’re trying send a political signal to show we’re against this war which has no legal foundation,” said Burkhardt, who is chairman of the group “Language in Politics” (www.sprache-in-der-politik.de). Burkhardt rejected the notion the German professors have resorted to the same tactics as super-patriots in the United States who renamed “French Fries” as “Freedom Fries” to protest France’s resistance to war in the U.N. Security Council. He said there could also be no talk of a “language war” drawn up along the lines of patriotic Americans in World War One who rechristened “sauerkraut” as “liberty cabbage”, “dachshund” as “liberty pups” and “hamburger” as “liberty steak”. “That’s not our aim,” Burkhardt said. “We are not trying to permanently ban English terms…We are urging French alternatives because of our solidarity with France.” GERMANS GO “JOGGEN” English as well as French terms have long been part of the German language, but the infiltration of English has risen steadily in the decades since World War Two, with the dominant influence of the United States in German business and culture. German language purists have long fought a losing battle to keep the English words out and saw their efforts overwhelmed in recent years with the surge of the English-dominated Internet and pop culture. Even most German pop groups sing in English. Germans go “joggen” in the morning and use “Shampoo”, “Bodylotion” or “Aftershave” before going to their “Job”. Before “Lunch” they send “Faxes” or “Mails” to each other. They go to “Afterworkpartys” in “Clubs” and “Bars”, drink “Cocktails” or “Milkshakes” before watching “Gameshows” and “Talkshows”. The German linguists have so far come up with 33 French substitutes for the thousands of English terms used by Germans and have called for further French replacements. They want to replace English terms in use with the French words “mannequin” (Model), “ordinateur” (Computer), “Equipe” (Team) and “Adieu” (Byebye). Norbert Dittmar, a German language professor at Berlin’s Free University who is not part of the protest, said the drive to oust English words was a noble idea and worthy of support. “The idea of provoking an ideological debate on what language is used for by suggesting these changes is good given there is no doubt language is exploited for political ends, as we saw with the ‘freedom fries’ affair,” he said.
September 2001
By Erik Kirschbaum and Dave Graham BERLIN (Reuters) –
