Language

Any student who has studied abroad in Germany or spent a significant amount of time there will quickly notice that English slang has had a profound effect on German slang, in particular among the younger demographics. German seems to have a limited supply of those cruder words that ought not to be mentioned here, but it has gracefully and regularly dipped into English's abundant reserves. This is readily apparent, in that around university campuses, one will often hear German students using English profanities as smoothly and fluently as though they had been German words all along.

But this borrowing of English's less formal vocabulary has also extended to less uncouth words. Dorm mates might regularly inquire as to who wants to "chillen," or even an adult might say "das ist unser Place-to-be."

Some German words have even been formed to appear as though they were derived from an English word, when in fact they were not. One of the most well known examples of this is "Handy," which, although it seems as though it might come from English, does not.

It should also be added that a huge number of English words have been imported into German that deal with more recent technological innovations such as the internet. These things already had English words, and Germans (as well as speakers of many other languages) have remained relatively faithful to them, tweaking them slightly to conform to the rules of the grammar. For example: "Hast du das gegoogelt?" or "Ich wollte das eigentlich besser layouten."

-Alex