As a native English speaker, you automatically have what it takes to become a top marketing wizard in Germany. Germans buy stuff when you advertise it in English, because things sound more legitimate when they have English names or are described in English. That’s why Germans on television always say the English words for things, then pause and translate the new term for the ignorant masses, and then go on explaining the subject that they are obviously so knowledgeable about.
All you need to learn to start your marketing career in Germany is the article das, some prepositions like mit and ohne, the conjuction und, and some modifiers like jetzt or neu. Now just add the prefixes super and mega to every 4th word, and you are ready to advertise anything.
deutsche Übersetzung für Astrid ein/ausblenden
Astrid, ich bins!
Hier die Übersetzung:
Sparsamkeit ist toll
Als englischer Muttersprachler haben Sie automatisch alles, was es braucht, um in Deutschland ein qualifizierter Vermarktungsmeister zu werden. Deutsche kaufen Zeug, wenn Sie die Werbung dafür auf Englisch machen, denn es hört sich seriöser an, wenn sie englische Namen haben oder eine englische Beschreibung. Deshalb sagen Deutsche im Fernsehen immer die engliche Bezeichnung für eine Sache, machen eine kurze Pause und übersetzen dann den neuen Begriff für die ignoranten Massen, und erklären dann weiter das Thema über das sie ganz offensichtlich so viel wissen.
Alles was Sie lernen müssen, um in Deutschland Ihre Vermarktungskarriere zu starten ist der Artikel das, ein paar Präpositionen wie mit und ohne, das Verbindungswort und und einige Modifikatoren wie jetzt oder neu. Addieren Sie nun noch die Vorsilben super und mega zu jedem vierten Wort, und Sie können hiermit für alles Werbung machen.
Ein megadickes Tschüsschen,
John
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June 20th, 2008 at 3:49 am
Der not das!
June 20th, 2008 at 3:50 am
Der Burger, nicht das Burger…
Weiter so! Ist absolut geil was ihr uns hier aufzeigt.
June 20th, 2008 at 5:04 am
in this case there should have been the word “NOW” not “jetzt”
June 20th, 2008 at 6:43 am
der (male)
June 20th, 2008 at 7:03 am
Don’t forget the forged words.
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liste_deutscher_Scheinanglizismen
But this burger looks scary to me. Like a grinning alien hovering above the ground.
June 20th, 2008 at 7:33 am
Treffer, versenkt!
June 20th, 2008 at 8:47 am
Der geübte Werbe-Fachmann würde natürlich alle englischen Wörter groß schreiben und noch ein obligatorisches Deppenleerzeichen einfügen. Also statt superbacon “Super Bacon” (siehe auch http://deppenleerzeichen.de/).
Sonst aber perfekt
June 20th, 2008 at 9:44 am
Thank you so much for hitting the nail right on the head. Everybody I know is so p…d off by this pseudo-english marketing crap, I don’t know why it’s still so successful. Or isn’t it?
June 20th, 2008 at 10:23 am
You’re so damn right. I myself as a native German hate his f**** up “Denglish” (Deutsch + English), too. Marketing here seems to be: Translate everything into (often grammatically wrong) English or use pseudo-english words, and your product sounds cool and stylish. Even federal offices are now named like that (the former “Arbeitsamt” is now a “Job Center”).
Hopefully some day the Germans will wake up and ban that crap.
June 20th, 2008 at 10:44 am
The funny thing is that many Germans misinterpret some of the omnipresent English advertising slogans. For example the perfumery Douglas is using the slogan “Come in and find out” which some Germans translate to “Kommen Sie rein und finden Sie wieder raus”.
By contrast the German carmaker Audi seems confident enough to advertise worldwide with the slogan “Vorsprung durch Technik”.
June 20th, 2008 at 10:51 am
By the way the burger in your fake-ad looks disgusting. Yet Another reminder of Jimmy Dean Chocolate Chip Pancakes & Sausage on a Stick.
June 20th, 2008 at 12:36 pm
Oh my, I am so glad someone else has noticed the idiocy in the Douglas slogan, @xion. That one makes me roll my eyes every single time I come across it.
And yes, it’s sad that marketing doesn’t take advantage of our own language, especially when it comes to typical German products. I often times don’t buy stuff because I just hate their commercials. And I usually write the companies and tell them to please use the German language. No one has answered yet, though
If you want to hear what happens when a German company starts mixing up German and English, just head over to Youtube and search for the terms “SAP” and “Denglish” … that’s comedy.
June 20th, 2008 at 12:42 pm
First, as i read this, i wasn’t sure how to associate this with stuff in the reality. Then i saw the burger and all was obvious. LOL
June 20th, 2008 at 1:01 pm
mmmmmhhhhh….noch ein paar cheese fries dazu und der Abend ist gerettet!!!
June 20th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
I would give anything for a Jimmy Dean Pancake and Sausage on a Stick right now.
June 20th, 2008 at 4:16 pm
So true.
BTW, Alex, you stole my name
June 20th, 2008 at 6:33 pm
But do not forget that also Americans like stuff sounding somehow “European” (with döts etc.
)
–> Häagen-Dazs
June 20th, 2008 at 6:34 pm
Denglisch marketing becomes even more worse when the English text is so complicated for the mass, that people simply understand something completely different:
Do you remember Duglas campaign – “Come in and find out.” ? The most Germans would think that this would mean: Komm rein und finde wieder raus *rofl* That’s probably not what Douglas wanted to say
And because I love every kind of cliché: You are wrong (!) It’s DER Burger not Das Burger
June 20th, 2008 at 9:53 pm
BTW, congrats on the title of this post. Brilliant
June 22nd, 2008 at 4:34 pm
“Public Viewing” - köstlich! Das wusste ich nicht. Ist ja noch besser als “body bag”
Witzigerweise scheint es keinen zu geben, der dieses “Denglish” mag. Ich halte das Ganze für eine Art Diktatur der “Werbefuzzis”. Einzige Ausnahme: Das “Katastroph” oder “Deppen-Apostroph” als Anleihe des englischen Genitivs ist deutlich Vormarsch, zum Beispiel in: “Ulla’s Currywurst”.
In Managerkreisen scheint “Denglish” dazu zu dienen, hohlem Geschwätz einen pseudo-wissenschaftlichen Anstrich zu verleihen.
Übrigens:
Das Ganze ist nicht neu: Es gab Zeiten in Europa, als jeder, der was auf sich hielt, französisch sprach.
Übringens sind “super” und “mega” keine englischen Wörter. Aber das wissen sicher selbst die Erfinder der flotten Sprüche nicht.
Ansonsten: Tolle Artikel! Ich bin begeistert! Weiter so!
June 22nd, 2008 at 6:15 pm
Denglish ads can be annoying, agreed, but in the case of burgers - think about it:
Who sells the most burgers in Germany? Probably Burger King and McDonalds. And who are they? Two companies originating in the USA. Everyone knows that, so appearing American is part of their image. It is just like how IKEA tries to remind you that they are FROM SWEDEN in every single corner of their stores!
June 24th, 2008 at 8:24 pm
my current favorite is: “mit leckerem Beef!” … by burger king? so wrong.
June 28th, 2008 at 8:03 pm
And you need to use English words that sound cool but either don’t exist in English or have a completely different meaning. Honestly, it’s really embarrassing how German commercials work.
December 6th, 2008 at 5:30 pm
@ xion… i liked “kommen sie rein und finden sie wieder raus” too… but the best english ad-text was Sat1 - “Powerd by Emotion” translated by not a small number of viewers as “Kraft durch Freude” …..
February 19th, 2009 at 9:14 pm
That burger looks absolutely(!) disgusting
…
June 19th, 2009 at 2:16 pm
The article “Das” is wrong. It’s “Der Burger”
October 12th, 2009 at 5:55 pm
Yes, it’s horrible!!! I really like English and really like German, my native language. But this Denglisch advertising crap is annoying as hell! We don’t need to go back to the times when the Nazis wanted to create words like “Bernzieh” for electric railroad engine or these DDR terms like “Großvieheinheit” (= cow), but this Denglisch is far too much used. There a quite funny public polls (see for example http://www.spiegel.de/unispiegel/wunderbar/0,1518,310548,00.html) that show that most people don’t understand what the advertisers want to say. Serves them right!
October 13th, 2009 at 11:26 am
DDR terms like “Großvieheinheit” (= cow)
LOL!!
Just like the “geflügelte Jahresendfigur” (”winged end of year figurine” - this means an angel as Christmas decoration!)