Ulrich Brosinsky
Registriert seit: 09.08.2004
Beiträge: 155
Wohnort: Weinstadt
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 : Sonntag, 22. Aug. 2004 16:52 Titel: Parents and publishers are saying nein |
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Europe | Germany
Tongue Twisters
As if German wasn't already tough enough, a new set of rules has parents and publishers saying nein
By CHARLES P. WALLACE BERLIN
Sunday, Aug. 15, 2004
How do you spell mayonnaise in German? Traditionalists will tell you Mayonnaise, but on Aug. 1, 2005, the authorized spelling is set to become Majonäse. On the same day, Frischgebacken (freshly baked) will turn into frisch gebacken, as countless delightful German compound words are broken up by official decree. Other new rules will govern where a comma belongs in a sentence, and use of the good old-fashioned ß, which will only follow long vowels and diphthongs, while ss will follow short vowels; so it's ich weiß (I know) but ich wusste (I knew). Alles klar? Not really. When Time asked Steffen Reiche, the Education Minister for the state of Brandenburg, to explain the ß/ss rule, he confessed: "Oh dear, I'm really confused."
Most Germans are just as bewildered about how their written language is changing - which is why a grassroots revolt is trying to save the old ways. Back in 1996, the governments of Germany, Switzerland and Austria agreed on far-reaching reforms meant to simplify the spelling and grammar of their complex common tongue. Educators had argued that the old rules were confusing and contradictory. But the revision - 12,000 new or altered spellings and many grammar changes, which have been taught in most classrooms since 1998 - turned out to be just as bad. The new rules are scheduled to become permanent next year after a seven-year interim period in which both the old and new spellings were accepted. But two weeks ago two of Germany's biggest media companies - Spiegel-Verlag, owner of Der Spiegel, the country's largest newsmagazine, and Axel Springer Verlag, which owns Bild, Germany's biggest circulation newspaper - announced they were going back to the old rules. "Out of a feeling of responsibility for future generations, we recommend to others that they too put a halt to the state-ordered dyslexia and return to classic German spelling," the publishers said. The committee rolling out the reforms - the Kultusministerkonferenz (a compound word allowed under the new regime, since one part cannot be written independently) will hold talks in Vienna next week to decide whether the reforms need to be reformed.
The decision by Axel Springer Verlag and Spiegel-Verlag is a real blow because their publications reach about 60% of Germans. The Süddeutsche Zeitung announced it too was going back to the old system, joining the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, which switched back four years ago. "I don't think it would be a very good idea to have two systems of writing in this society," says Ludwig M. Eichinger, director of the Institute for German Language. Günter Grass has come out against the reforms, and many parents haven't bothered to learn the new rules. Susan Haselbach, 42, a Berliner with three school-age children, admits that "many of the new regulations I simply don't understand. The whole thing appeared so stupid that I refused to relearn everything."
Will the reforms survive? They still have plenty of fervent supporters, like Brandenburg's Education Minister, Reiche. "For 20 years people have known we need a spelling reform," he says. "We need clear rules that are not contradictory. If you reverse the spelling reform now, it will bring chaos across the country." According to Ernst Klett, Germany's biggest publisher of textbooks and dictionaries, going back would cost cash-strapped local governments j250 million for new books with the old spellings.
Chancellor Gerhard Schröder caused a predictable outcry when he said he sees no reason to drop the reforms. "The spelling reform is a good example of the German disease," says Guido Westerwelle, leader of the Free Democratic Party. "Instead of taking care of domestic security by hiring more policemen, we wasted the work of 200 civil servants to look after this reform." The issue has even divided Schröder's Social Democratic Party (spd). Dieter Wiefelspütz, an spd parliamentarian, says that despite Schröder's support, "it's just a couple of bureaucrats who demand the changes and I will not let them determine how I write the German language."
While the spelling revolt played out on the front pages of the nation's newspapers last week, the German Language Council was organizing a contest to find the most beautiful German word. More than 20,000 entries flooded in, including such tongue twisters as Erdbeermund (strawberry mouth), meaning voluptuous lips, and Wolkenkuckucksheim (cloud-cuckoo-land). Another entry read: Liebe (love). But when it comes to grammar and spelling, perhaps the loveliest word of all is einfach: simple.
With reporting by Regine Wosnitza/Berlin
From the Aug. 23, 2004 issue of TIME Europe magazine |
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