*tea cup* Deutsche Bahn's use of Denglish
Ok, I am sorry that this is going to be a long one but it ties into some topics that have been bothering me for some time. Long story short: While phrases like “zänk yu for träweling wiz Deutsche Bahn” are hilarious, I would actually be happy to hear their Denglisch more often if that meant they put more effort into providing bilingual services at least in places where there are a lot of migrants, tourists and/or travellers. At least the Deutsche Bahn tries to provide bilingual announcements and services in some “hotspot” regions of Germany and even there it is not enough. One of my Brazilian cousins once missed a train in Cologne, one of our biggest and most international cities, because he couldn’t find a Deutsche Bahn employee who spoke English.
While many young people at least speak some English and might help you out if you are struggling, I think we have a huge problem with the use of English (or rather the lack thereof) in official institutions. Combine that with a culture of horrible customer service (which in my experience gets worse if you don’t look "German "enough and/or have an accent) and you end up with a culture that is oftentimes very hostile to people who don’t speak German. And it’s not even that people in my opinion don’t speak English “well enough”. As I said, I would actually have no problem with Denglish as long as it meant that people were genuinely trying to help out migrants/tourists/travellers and provide the services to them they are entitled to.
Apart from the racism (which is also a huge problem) I have witnessed many times that people in these positions turn hostile as soon as it required of them to speak English. My hometown has a huge migrant population and yet it is prohibited to speak English in the city administration when dealing with citizens???? Even in the offices that deal with migrant issues???? Like, even if you KNOW English, you have to speak German to people who don’t. But I have also worked professionally as a freelancer with our city administration and I feel like there are many people who at least on a subconscious level feel threatened by the increasing importance of English as they feel left behind. There were a few people who turned very hostile during a workshop when they were asked if it was ok to work with an English worksheet. And I don’t even mean in a “I don’t understand English” kind of way but what I mean is that one participant refused to TOUCH the English worksheet insisting that “Deutsch ist Amtssprache!”
If you have made positive experiences in Germany in that regard, I am happy for you! But sadly, I have witnessed many scenes over the years ranging from unfriendly to hostile and racist.
TL;DR: If it means that people who struggle with the German language have access to more services, I would love to listen to more cringy Deutsche Bahn-type Denglisch.
send me a ☕️ and a topic and i’ll talk about how i feel about it
