Crap English in Germany

Ha Bloody Ha!

We have a hairdressing salon in a local town (Büdingen) which goes by the name "Hairkillers"

I've had my beady eye on this thread for a while but have thus far resisted the temptation ...

"cringeworthingly" ! Where coined words are concerned my brand of pedantry could have put up with cringeworthily in the context of describing crappy, but ...worthingly. Even poetic license seems to be strained to breaking point here. Which brings us to the paradoxical nature of your complaint but as I'd rather not point the finger ...

It seems to me, from a very neutral standpoint I assure you, that you're rather disppointed that these folk don't wish to buy what you have to sell. Perhaps they feel they don't need perfect English websites or brochures or leaflets to make money - which is surely what they're about. There's good reason for good translation if it avoids confusion, clarifies the issues or is a positive benefit when selling the product. But if it doesn't put bums on seats or hats on heads then surely it's an unnecessary expense. If the product sells, despite the grammar, then why change the grammar.

I think we'd all be better served if we tried to get them to write decent German, let alone translate crappy German into equally crappy English. We're just as guilty in UK. When did you last read a well written, grammatically correct, syntactically accurate article in a British newspaper ? If you did, it was probably written by somebody at least bi-lingual. I rest my case.

Tom

So, as promised here's a copy of the German grammar summary I promised, as quite a few people have asked about it, I've hosted it online, so anyone interested in having it can simply save a copy to their hard drive.

As you can see it's quite creased - that's because it's been used quite a lot and is quite a few years old.

I hope you find it as helpful as I did, it's not a "Wundermittel" but it's quite good (and importantly - concise!)

here's the links:

http://tinypic.com/view/?pic=oadxl2
http://tinypic.com/view/?pic=oamyr9

Cheers!

The problem lies in the exceptions, of which there are many.
And there's nothing on word order. Nothing about GROPE (get rid of pronouns early) or AIM (auxiliary inifinitive modal) ... can't believe I can still remember this from when I was 14.

Thanks for those, I'm going to get all my german language books back out and try again..I gave up a few years ago so maybe this time it'll be better!

My favourite. I think this book is superb.

sr=8-5/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i5_xgl/203-5903614-1795924]http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/052127883X/qid=1140801089/sr=8-5/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i5_xgl/203-5903614-1795924[/url]

Sorry, that wasn't much good, was it?

Search this on Amazon.co.uk

The German Handbook: Your Guide to Speaking and Writing German (Cambridge Express German S.)
Paul Webster

Amazon.co.uk

just change the first line from to this and it should work

Thanks bbulldog, but I seem to have got it now :-)

Well pedantic you certainly are! Is there no poetic licence for TYPOs!!?

And yes, licence with a c.

There was Bäckerei in Ingolstadt with a Snake Bar according to the Shopfront.

John

Spiegel seem to have fallen into the Save-safe problem whilst trying to translate German football terms to english.

?? all I can fine is the Owen page with a "great save"... are you trying to say it should really be "Great safe" ??!!!??

:$

Robinson picture 4.

but it was a brilliant safe!

he's got eyes like an eagle, our Neil.

Found two biggies recently

1) A Belgian company serviced by a German ad agency
"First is quality"
er, yes, wow that's really snappy. Do they mean "quality comes first", or "I top priority: quality". But "First is quality". Shite.

2) adidas, you guessed it, based near Nuremberg and serviced by a German agency
"Impossible is nothing"

God I hate that slogan!! And it's marching on unabated across the globe.

Thank you for the warm response.
It seems strange to me that somebody who encourages others to seek out the errors of those using English as a foreign language is then so sensitive when their misuse of their own language is pointed out, especially given the nature of your business. Obviously Typographic errors are an unavoidable aspect of the advertising business. But let's not squabble about this, let he who is without sin cast the first ...

I had a feeling you'd jump on license, and to be honest I don't know if it's right or wrong, but in that I'm not alone. In UK English usage both versions can be acceptable, normally with licence for the noun and license for the verb. As I wasn't sure I actually checked before finishing my text. Collins Universal offered both options so I took the one that felt the most natural to me, but others would disagree.

Best Regards

Both versions of licence are perfectly ok in the UK. I was ribbing you mate.

As for "so sensitive", I think you misjudge me!

Whatever.

Are you by any chance in the teaching professions or an accountant

or AKA known as High n Dry??

Actually licence is a noun and license is a verb and that is the only acceptable way in the UK. License is both noun and verb in the US. Trust me; I'm a linguist

If I've done that I apologise. Let's forget our personal use of language.

I'm neither a teacher, nor an accountant, on both counts innocent of all charges. In fact, in the German sense I'm entirely unqualified.

License they mean when they cry liberty...