Stig Östlund

lördag, augusti 20, 2011

German Youth Language – a Reflection of German Youth Culture?

Youth language changes quickly. It is sometimes a bit difficult for parents to appreciate or even understand it and it reflects how creative and dynamic languages are.
One of its strenghts is the ability to trigger cohesion, solidarity and a sense of identity. On the other hand, it can also serve as a way to distance oneself from other people/generations. Youth language also probably goes to some extent hand in hand with societal trends.
Over the course of globalization, a certain anglicization has for instance become a common tendency in German youth language. Interestingly, German teenagers are very adept at remodeling English words in a way that is line with German grammar (e.g. gechillt – to be laid back, chilled out). /'THE WEEK IN GERMANY'

Read more: http://www.germany.info/Vertretung/usa/en/__pr/GIC/2011/08/Youth__Language__S.html

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