The Fürther Nachrichten has polled some locals for their opinions on the use of English words in German. The ages of those interviewed were 53, 61, 48, 15, 41 and 13. I don’t need to say which of them were pro and which contra. The only statement that surprised me was that of the 13-year-old:

Englische oder eingedeutschte Begriffe sollten nur von Jugendlichen verwendet werden. Erwachsene sollten doch lieber die deutschen Begriffe verwenden, sonst klingt die Sprache so gekünstelt. Wenn ich älter bin, werde ich sicher wieder die deutschen und nicht die englischen Begriffe benutzen. Wichtig ist nur, dass man für das englische Wort auch das deutsche Gegenstück kennt. Unter Jugendlichen ist es einfach angesagter, wenn man die englischen Wörter verwendet.

On the subject of polls, after the announcement of the Unwort des Jahres 2007 yesterday (Herdprämie), I saw a TV reporter asking people in the street what their personal Unwort des Jahres was, and one replied immediately, ‘Knut’.

LATER NOTE: Gabi Zöttl at Über-Setzer-Logbuch takes up the topic of anglicisms in German, pointing out that using German terms improves understanding. And Markus Trapp at Text & Blog shows a videoclip of the rather Englishly named Wise Guys singing (in German) that they want their language back.

Can anyone in the USA or Canada lend this dictionary urgently to Teresa?

Here’s her comment under my earlier entry.

If you can, contact her via the comment link.

I am looking for a copy of this Bucksch dictionary ENG–>GER for a job I am currently working on. Would pay for all shipping (US or Canada only) plus a fee. Returned next week (22nd).
ATA-member in good standing; reliable!

Thanks for any pointers (I talked to Kater-Verlag, where I usually get my dicos; they can’t deliver this week.)

I knew it was windy last night, but I didn’t realize it had come to this – a picture of Fürth from the Sparkasse webcam at about twenty to five p.m., Central European time:

(Via zonebattler’s homezone)

Middlesex Guildhall is a building near the Houses of Parliament. It was a Crown Court until recently, but it’s being refurbished – greatly refurbished, apparently, by Lord Foster – as the building of the new Supreme Court (Wikipedia). It appears that there’s a conflict between the kind of furnishings people want to preserve and the image of court of justice they would like to modernize.

BBC News has some photos.

My attention was drawn to this by the weblog White Rabbit by the barrister Andrew Keogh, who departs from his usual avoidance of legal subjects to describe the beauties and shortcomings of the building and the paucity of attractive Crown Court buildings as a whole. Here’s the relevant entry:

Middlesex Guildhall is a listed building and is to be refurbished in a way that has caused howls of horror from traditionalists. I don’t really have a problem with this generally – the place did look pretty tired and the refurbishment plans actually look pretty good, albeit ones that I can’t imagine they would ever get past English Heritage in any other context. Okay, it’s staggeringly expensive also but after the Millennium Dome we are probably inured to that sort of stuff. Governments are for wasting money. My gripe is – they are mucking about with courts 1 and 2!!! This should never be allowed to happen….
Next thing you know – they will take Judge Jeffries’ name down!

I haven’t read any Robert Harris before, but this (Christmas present) was a very good read.

The ‘ghost’ is a ghostwriter with no political interest who finds himself with a huge contract to write the autobiography of the former British prime minister, Adam Lang, a lightly adapted version of Tony Blair with a wife similar to Cherie Blair. This involves spending time in Martha’s Vineyard in winter. Lang is facing prosecution at the ICC for his part in deporting terrorists who were tortured.

It’s a page-turner, it carries its research into ghosting and the American setting lightly, and above all it’s rather sparely written – a pleasure to read every sentence. Out in German too, and the English version is a paperback now (I got the hardback).

amazon.de
English paperback: Ghost
German hardback (translated by Wolfgang Müller): Ghost

Further election posters (for earlier SPD example, see here).

This is mystifying:

I haven’t noticed any increase of learning in the immediate vicinity, but I believe scientists have been imported to the former Grundig territory.

Meanwhile, in Erlangen, the Green Party can’t swim, so they present themselves on bikes:

In this way they merely blend into the rest of the population of Erlangen. Here is a bicycle park at the station: