A Language of Our Own
17 November 2005
When I first started learning German, and long before I ever thought much about “Denglish,” I made a prediction: I said that in all likelihood, although English would always be our primary language, eventually A. and I would end up speaking a unique mixture of English and German with one another.
When I told A. this he wasn’t convinced that we would ever do such a thing. Therefore, even though I believed that it would likely come to pass, after my initial prediction I didn’t say too much more about it. However, the longer that we are here and the more comfortable I become with German, the more I see it happening.
As I foretold, English remains the primary form of communication between A. and me. Nevertheless, every now and again I can simply no longer think of the English word to describe something or the German word that I have learned just works better. In these instances I am amazed at how easily the German word flows out of my mouth and into the conversation.
The first couple of times I slipped these odd German words or phrases into one of our English discussions, I thought for sure A. would say something. After all, during our rare attempts to speak German together A.’s biggest complaint is that he doesn’t think we sound “natural” when we speak German with one another. Yet the first time that I exclaimed toll he barely batted an eyelash and now when I interject such things as begeistert, or Gar nicht so übel Baby! into my every day dialogue he doesn’t even seem to notice.
But it isn’t just me. After a long day at work where he communicates mostly in German, A. has been known to come home and forget to shift back into “English mode.” It can happen at any time, but usually occurs within the first couple of hours after he gets home. We may be having a chat in perfect English and then, without warning, the next phrase that he speaks is in German!
Because I often hear A. speaking German with other German speakers, I am never completely surprised to hear him speaking German. However, I must admit that since his German is seldom directed at me, every time he slips German into one of our conversations, I definitely notice.
I have considered reminding him of my prophecy by pointing these language inconsistencies out to him, but until now I have not done so. However, next time one of us says something in German when we are speaking in English I definitely think I will remind him of my prediction. We may not be speaking Denglish just yet, but he can no longer deny that German has crept into our every day speech and we are well on our way to speaking a language of our own.
