Gestern ist mein Browser gecrasht. Ich hatte nach kostenlosen E-Book Downloads gegoogelt und hatte eine interessante Seite gefunden. Alles war prima, bis beim Downloaden eines Files auf einmal alles einfror. Ich skypte daraufhin mit einem Freund, der sich mit dem ganzen Kram gut auskennt. Glücklicherweise kann man auch ohne Browser skypen. Er meinte, ich solle meinen Browser updaten und es noch einmal versuchen. Manche Webseiten, besonders für kostenlose Downloads, sind nicht sicher. Es gibt ein Problem mit der URL oder dem Zertifikat oder so. Viele Links führen auch auf unsichere Seiten und es besteht die Gefahr, sich einen Virus zu holen. Nun, er konnte mir helfen und am Abend konnte ich ein neues E-Book auf meinem E-Reader lesen. Prima, diese Technik.

 

This is a normal piece of text in 2016. Though, if you were able to travel back in time and show this to someone in the year 1980, they would be quite puzzled as to what I’m talking about.

 

 

Language is alive

 

Language is alive. It changes with the times and with the people who speak it. All throughout history, words from other languages have found their way into other tongues; be it through trade, war, religion, usurpation or technology. Some words die out because the things they represent are no longer in use or they are simply replaced. While other words change their meaning or the context in which they are used; and of course, new words show up.

 

In the past weeks, this kind of new ‘tech talk’ came up in several of my German classes. So, I’ve decided to share the results of my research in an article.

 

New technologies, new things & new words

 

We are living in an age of rapid developing technologies. Hence there are many new words concerning the Internet, social media, and new gadgets. In most cases, it doesn’t make sense to translate them. The most prominent examples are probably Google and Skype. These proper names have become verbs. But there are many others for which there are no feasible translations and so they have entered the body of the German language. Some words, though, do have a German translation and – at least in my ears – they sound better.

 

So, I’d rather say:

    Ich habe ein E-Book heruntergeladen.

Instead of:

    Ich habe ein E-Book downgeloadet.

 

But, the choice is yours. The DUDEN, the standard work for German language, lists these new words so it’s absolutely fine to use them. Now, let’s have a closer look.

 

 

Nouns

 

Of course, to properly integrate into the German language, the nouns received a capital initial letter as well as an article -- and therewith a gender. Sometimes, there are two options for the word, with one being more common in Germany than the other. For example, in Germany: die E-Mail; while for Swiss & Austrian German: das E-Mail. Having received a gender, the nouns can then be declined just as any other noun in German. So neuter and masculine nouns take an “s” in the Genitive (des Blogs), and female forms don’t (der App).

 

The plural forms of these nouns often take an “s” just as in their original English form (die Apps, die Browsers), though some may remain unchanged (die Follower).

 

Singular

Plural

Alternative words

die App

die Apps

 

das Attachment

die Attachments

der Anhang, die Anhänge

der (oder, das) Blog

die Blogs

 

der Blogger

die Blogger

 

die Bloggerin

die Bloggerinnen

 

der Browser

die Browser

 

der (das) Download

die Downloads

 

das E-Book

die E-Books

 

der E-Reader

die E-Reader

 

der (oder, das) E-Mail

die E-Mails

 

(ohne Artikel) Facebook

 
 

das oder der File

die Files

die Datei, die Dateien

der Follower

die Follower(s)

der Anhänger, die Anhänger

das Internet

 
 

der Kindle

die Kindles

 

der (oder das) Link

die Links

 

die (oder das) SMS

die SMS

 

der (oder das) Tweet

die Tweets

 

die (oder der) URL

die URLs

 

das Update

die Updates

 

das Upgrade

die Upgrades

 

die Webseite

die Webseiten

 

 

 

Verbs

 

The verbs receive the regular infinitive ending –en/-n and need to be conjugated. The good news is that all of them are weak or regular verbs. They form the simple past with “(e)t”+ regular ending. The participle is formed with “ge-verb stem-(e)t”. Where necessary, the endings are also adjusted to the German phonetics, so the silent “e” is omitted -- as in ich skypte, ich habe geskypt. And in cases like to google (dt. googeln), the letters “e” and “l” are swapped.

 

Verbs consisting of prefixes, like up and down, are treated like separable verbs in the participle, that means the “ge” goes in between the up/down and the verb stem: downgeloadet. In the present tense, however, they are not separated: ich downloade.

 

Verb (basic form)

Conjugated

Partizip II

Alternative words

adden

addete

geaddet        

hinzufügen

browsen

browste

gebrowst

 

chatten

chattete

gechattet

 

crashen

crashte

gecrasht

 

e-mailen

e-mailte

gee-mailt

 

downloaden

downloadete

downgeloadet

(herunterladen)

googeln

googelte

gegoogelt

 

highlighten

highlightete

gehighlightet

farblich hervorheben / markieren)

skypen

skypte

geskypt

 

spammen

spammte

gespammt

 

texten

textete

getextet

 

twittern

twitterte

getwittert

 

updaten

updatete

upgedatet

(aktualisieren)

upgraden

upgradete

upgegradet

 

uploaden

uploadete

upgeloadet

(hochladen)

verlinken

verlinkte

verlinkt

 

 

This list is certainly not complete and there will be more words that find their way into the German language. Nevertheless, I hope this little article proves useful for you. When in doubt, you can always consult the DUDEN to see if it is possible to use a word and how to do so. Also, immer schön upgedatet bleiben! (Stay up to date!) Cheers!

 

Hero image by Nick Karvounis (CC0 1.0)