Tessa Lush and Dr. Hans-Wilhelm Kelling, Department of German

Throughout its history, German has been influenced by other languages, most notably Latin and French prior to 1900. However, since the end of World War II, American culture and technology has had a profound impact on both German culture and language, including in the area of business culture (Hedderich, 2003). One byproduct of this influence has been the influx of English into German. Indeed, English has become the co-official language alongside German at many large firms, especially those who are global players (Ammon, 2006), to such an extent that English has become a required language for managers and employees in all fields and “at practically all levels” of business (Ehrenreich, 2010: 416).

While much research has confirmed the importance of English in the German workplace, less has examined the specific motivations behind English usage. This study examines the place of English within the German-speaking business world to answer several questions: 1) which English words are most commonly used in German related to business? 2) How are English words preferred over German in business in Germany? 3) Is there a difference in usage based on the business field? And lastly 4) what factors prompt a German native speaker to use an English term over a German word that exists? How do Germans feel about the use of English in the business world?

A three pronged study was conducted to answer our research questions as follows: 1) A list of English words used in 100 newspaper articles on five areas of business (banking, insurance, trade, auto manufacture, and IT/media) was compiled from three major German newspapers, Süddeutsche Zeitung (Munich), Wirtschaftswoche (Düsseldorf), and Handelsblatt (Düsseldorf). 2) Native Germans working in the five areas of business listed above were asked to complete an online survey. The survey included the 20 most common English words collected from the newspapers, and respondents were asked to provide the equivalent German word if they believed one exists, as well as the situations in which they would use the English term over the German. 3) Lastly, respondents were asked for their opinion on the use of English in their field of business, and to provide a rating of how appropriate English is in a variety of situations. Respondents also completed a short bio-survey to provide their job title, self-report their English on a scale of one to ten, and state the frequency with which they use English in their occupation. Our results follow are as follows.

RQ 1: Which English words are most commonly used in German related to business?

In our newspaper search, 658 English words were found across 100 articles, counted one time per article. A list of 20 words was compiled based on words that appeared in the most articles and/or from at least two business fields, e.g., banking and trade. The words needed to be “English-only”, i.e., no German-English blends, e.g., Webseite. The following 20 words were chosen to be included in our survey: Banker, Business, Computer, Deal, Detail, Format, Hardware, Interview, Job, Management, Marketing, Meeting, Rating, Service, Slogan, Standard, Team, Test, Training, and Workshop.

RQ 2: How are English words preferred over German in business in Germany?

Respondents were asked “Is there a German word for X?” and “When would you use the English term?” We found that significantly more people responded that there was a German term than they responded that there was no German term in almost all cases. We also found that the English term is predominantly used over the German term for more specific technical terms, and that German speakers are more likely to reject the English term for more general terms that are common even outside of business, e.g. job, standard, etc.

RQ 3: Is there a difference in usage based on the business field?

There were no significant differences in either the choice of word, choice of “No German term”, or even the situations in which a person would use the English over the German term based on the field except for the word “Standard”. In short, the use of English does not appear to differ based on field according to our analysis of when respondents said they would use the English term, although there is a perceived difference among respondents. For example, respondents who work in banking believe that those working in IT/media use more English than in any other field although this is not the case.

RQ 4: What factors prompt a German native speaker to use an English term over a German word that exists? How do Germans feel about the use of English in the business world?

Respondents were asked two questions to which they indicated their level of agreement on a 5-point Likert scale. The top five responses are listed here for each question.

Why do you speak English at work?”

1. Because it is expected
2. Because there are English words I use that I don’t know in German
3. Because I like to speak English
4. Because it makes an impression
5. Because I work with people who don’t speak German

“To what extent do you agree with the following statements?””

1. I prefer to speak German at work
2. English is simply part of business in Germany
3. People who work for larger companies use English more often
4. I am required to speak English at work
5. I like to speak English at work

Based on our open-ended question “Why do business people in Germany use English?” responses were grouped into the following three most common themes:

1. International clients, colleagues, and contact
2. International business partners
3. Technical terms

We asked the open-ended question “Is English necessary in your career? Why do you think that English terms are used more often than equivalent German terms? Do people use English even when they don’t want to, or do they use English because they like it?” The top three responses are as follows

1. English is used too much and/or is not always necessary
2. English is more descriptive and used more often for technical terms
3. English is used out of habit

Discussion

Although English is seen as a necessary part of business, native Germans see limits to the appropriate use, e.g., not using it with other Germans. Many borrowings have been integrated, e.g., Banker. Field specific terms are likely to be retained and used over more generic borrowings in the language. An interesting additional finding shows that some respondents continually answered that they would use the German word over the English. Interestingly, these respondents were from among the younger respondents, not the older respondents.

Future research would imply collecting more responses, analyzing differences in responses to English words in terms of whether respondents feel that they are indeed borrowed from English, expanding the number of business fields examined, further investigating the proportion of English terms in newspaper articles, and recording samples of interactions in the workplace.

Works Cited

• Ammon, U. (2006). The status and function of English in Germany. Revista canaria de estudios ingleses, 53(Nov), 27-33.
• Ehrenreich, S. (2010). English as a business lingua franca in a German multinational corporation. The Journal of Business Communication, 408-431.
• Hedderich, N. (2003). Language change in Business German. Global Business Languages, 8:47-55.