Global English and German Today. Occasional Paper.

This paper investigates the impact of English as an international language on the German language and society. Even though English has influenced German linguistically for many years, the growing importance of English as a global language, and the increasingly dominant lingua franca in Europe, has drastically increased the presence of English in many domains of German life. This paper examines the role of English in contemporary German society, its impact on the German language, and attitudes toward English and the language change attributed to the influence of English. It concludes that, even though English has no official status in Germany, it plays an important role in many domains and is actively and passively used by many Germans. English has high prestige because it is considered a vital precondition for economic success. It is offered to most elementary school children at ever-younger ages as their first foreign language. English also serves as cultural identification in contemporary Germany. It is viewed as a symbol of internationalism and signals a new German identity that breaks with a nationalist past. German, like other languages, is undergoing rapid language change in response to fast technological, economic, and social change globally. An appendix presents examples of transference from English. (Contains 19 references.) (SM)