Abstract
The paper explores assimilation strategies employed to integrate anglicisms into German written business discourse. The study was carried out on the textual level, which gives valuable insight into the rules and norms governing business communication and thus contributes to a better understanding of written conventions deemed appropriate within business discourse communities. The authors hold the view that assimilation problem can be treated as translation problem. In accordance with this view anglicisms were evaluated in respect to the strategies of foreignisation and neutralization understood as different degrees of assimilation. The results show that neutralizing strategy aimed at mixing borrowed and native language units outweighs quantitatively the foreignising strategy, which indicates the overall trend towards a balanced approach to the incorporation of anglicisms. The authors conclude that assimilation strategies applied to anglicisms should be consistent with the purposes and objectives of professional communication. Thus developing adequate assimilation strategies ensures optimal transmission of ideas and improves text coherence.
Highlights
The current phase of accelerated globalization fostered by the introduction of ICT and social media entails considerable convergence between the word stocks of European languages
In translation studies translations are evaluated in respect to the foreignising and domesticating strategy, in this paper anglicisms were evaluated in accordance with different degrees of assimilation: foreignising strategy is represented by anglicisms retaining their foreign appearance or showing signs of a relatively loose integration, neutralizing strategy – neutral position between foreignising and domesticating strategy – is represented by juxtaposition of borrowed and native elements
Double nomination and hybrid anglicisms illustrate the neutralizing strategy since here we are confronted with a mixture of borrowed and native elements
Summary
The current phase of accelerated globalization fostered by the introduction of ICT and social media entails considerable convergence between the word stocks of European languages. This convergence occurs due to continuously increasing number of anglicisms. Connotations regarding the spread of English vary considerably, “ranging from “unique”, “easy-to-learn”, “most influential” to “catastrophic”, “eurocentric”, “triumphalist”, “language imperialism” and even “language fascism”[1]. Kick showed that no other European country has so many English advertising slogans as Germany does [2]. The influx of anglicisms into German is not always viewed positively, since language could become a barrier rather than a means to communication when flooded with incomprehensible words
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