Reply from Langenscheidt's Head Office

Frederick,

As Mr Langenscheidt is travelling he asked me to reply to your e-mail.

Thank you for your comments on Langenscheidt's use of the English language. You indicate in your e-mail that the "beautiful" English language is being "abused" and "misused" by the German public and appeal to us to do something about this. For us at Langenscheidt there are no such things as "beautiful" or "ugly" languages - merely language, created and used by human beings to communicate and constantly in a state of flux.

If you take a look at how languages develop you will agree that no modern language could exist without the influence of other languages which have given it a richness and variety it would not inherently have. No-one can deny that English has been deeply influenced by both Latin and French, to name but two languages.

The Langenscheidt viewpoint on the use of language is quite clear: as a dictionary publisher we have chosen a descriptive, rather than a prescriptive approach to the depiction of language. We do not see ourselves as the arbiters of good taste but as collectors of authentic language as it is used by most people. This is a position adhered to by most dictionary publishers, which is why you will not find an English dictionary that recommends the use of "visum" as opposed to "visa" as a singular noun in English. I am sure you agree that visa is standard English, even though friends of Latin might perceive this as "abuse" or "misuse". The examples of this sort of use of foreign words in English are legion - think of "media", "graffiti", etc.

To imply that a word like "Power" is wrongly used in German is a viewpoint which you are perfectly entitled to have, but loan words are constantly finding their way into other languages and changing their meaning on the way. "Power" is a commonly used word in German, with its own meaning, as is "Handy", which one may or may not like, but which is not perceived by German native speakers as being anything but a German word. To suggest that "Power" would be adequately translated by "Kraftwerk" ignores the positive connotations created by the use of "Power" in German (and indeed in English).

Language is alive, and using English words in German can be creative, adding new meanings to the English words that cannot be adequately expressed in original German words. Not all uses of English words in German are equally creative, and we as a publishing house do not condone clear-cut misuse of English ("return of invest" for "return on investment"). We do, however, accept that modern German uses English words, and this is reflected both in our products and our own use of German for advertising purposes.

Yours sincerely,
Langenscheidt KG
Rolf Müller
Publishing Director

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