Over at Bremer Sprachblog, there's an excellent post on Denglish that's also relevant here. My German is pretty rusty, but here's my attempt at a translation:


In the online edition of the St. Galler Tageblatt, there's a very nice interview with the Swiss writer and literature professor Urs Widmer. Here's an excerpt:

The language we use is full of Anglicisms. How far are you willing to accommodate Denglish?

Widmer: You know, my relationship to the language isn't a moralizing one. The language does what it does. And I watch what it does, and deploy that sometimes directly and straightforwardly, and sometimes with critical irony. But the language is always right. I'm against language wars, against complaints that too many English words are being used, too few French words, that we need to protect our dialect. I'm one of those people who floats upon the language like a cork, with a clear head.

I'm personally more suited to ranting, not profound observation, so I'm naturally pleased by Widmer's clear head (definitely read the whole interview!).

Labels: German, grammar politics, links