Wolf Schneider (1) (1925–)

Wolf Schneider, a stalwart defender of correct German, has written countless columns and books on the topic - helping readers learn about their mother tongue in an entertaining way. His latest booklet is part Philippic, part lament, part crib about the malicious English influence on German. While still a worthwhile read, it suffers from a copy-and-paste approach of combining different short texts. It does not match the quality of many of his other books, even though his message merits attention.

As advertising sings, when it has nothing to say, Germans use English words in German phrases. The cloud-like English is a much less precise language than German. No wonder philosophers cherish its vexing tendency to exactness. English words like marketing, fitness and team lose part of their ill-defined appeal if translated and split into different German counterparts. Some words like "city" (downtown), "city call" (local call) or "service point" (information desk) acquire new meanings beyond their English usage - at the loss of often better German terms.

All his arguments about German being the fourth most important world language pale in comparison to the top dog language, English. The winner-takes-all effect does not offer prizes for showing up. All the posturing and in-fighting (especially with the French) is futile. The general public is the wrong addressee. As he himself concedes, most of these misused words emerge from either the media or the advertising industry. Thus, any successful initiative must be directed towards changing their behavior. Given the short-term nature of their business (and their unwillingness to think about their business), it is highly questionable whether this phenomenon can ever be reversed.… (more)