“……….languages
are the pedigree of nations.” Samuel
Johnson (1709-1784)
German is a highly stylized
language which, over the centuries, has incorporated the vocabulary of friends
and enemies alike. Its grammar has many distinct
rules, most of which have at least one exception. Nouns are always capitalized; they have not
only a male and female gender, but also a neutral one (“der, die, das”). Nouns
can be linked to each other indefinitely; their gender always to be determined
by the very last noun.
Sentences can be short, but they also can be seemingly endless when “Schachtelsatze”
(sentences in boxes) are made to fit into each other like one small box into the
next size box, and so on. And the verb is usually the last word in the
sentence, which presents quite a challenge for simultaneous interpreters.
Austrian German, and
particularly the German spoken in the capital city Vienna, is sprinkled with words
from other languages, such as Yiddish, Italian, Czech, Hungarian, etc. At
present, English seems to be prevalent in Austrian advertising and colloquial
speech; previously, French shone through many conversations in Vienna and in
other provincial capitals. French was
the official language of the Austrian Emperor’s Court, which means that a
certain part of Vienna’s population was actually bilingual: they spoke French
at the Court and with their peers, while speaking German with servants and the
general population.
Today, Germany is once again
Austria’s powerful neighbor, while Austria with about 8 million inhabitants is
a small country relying heavily on tourism and agriculture. But Austrians proudly maintain ‘their’
German; they look upon their language as part of their national heritage and
culture. It is their pedigree.
About
the Author: Monique Roske has been a Member of the NLSC
since 2010. She holds a M.A. in Liberal Studies (International Affairs/Social and
Public Policy) from Georgetown University and a M.A. in Multicultural/
Multilingual Education from George Mason University.
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