English Today · 2002 · 69 citations · 0 references
Translation StudiesInterior SignageMultilingualismGlobal EnglishCultural StudiesShop SignsLanguage DocumentationWorld LanguagesHistorical LinguisticsLanguage CultureEnglish InfluenceLanguage StudiesEndangered LanguageLanguage PuritySociolinguisticsGermanEuropean StudiesAdvertisingMarketingTrademarkSign LanguageCultureLanguage LocalisationGerman Cultural StudiesCase StudyArts
Language purists in Germany have long opposed foreign influence, especially English, to preserve national character. The study examines how foreign, particularly English, words appear on shop signs and windows in three European cities. The authors conduct a case study of shop signage in three cities to analyze foreign linguistic influence.
A case study of foreign and especially English influence on the language of shop signs and shop windows in three European cities. PEOPLE have always worried about language purity: ‘No greater harm can be done to a nation than taking away its national character and the idiosyncrasies of its language’ (Immanuel Kant, over 200 years ago). ‘Kein Denglisch in deutschen Wörterbüchern’ is a citation of the German Verein zur Wahrung der deutschen Sprache e.V. (‘Association for the Protection of the German Language’)1, founded in 1997. Theirs is a struggle to keep German free of too much foreign-language influence: most notably English.