Aspects and implications regarding the use of English in Germany with respect to the German culture and advertising of mobile phone companies

Essay from the year 2006 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Linguistics, grade: A, University of Brighton (School of Languages), course: Language in Interaction, language: English, abstract: In this essay I intend to set out some of the historic relations which lead to the status English language has acquired in the German language. In addition, I intend to investigate the English language and its importance as a world language. So as to demonstrate this I shall illustrate the use of English on websites of mobile phone companies operating in Germany. I shall distinguish and differentiate some of the different reasons and purposes which tend to involve the use of the English language. What are the respective attitudes towards English by both the customer and the advertiser? I would like to stress that this essay does not aim to explain how marketing and advertising work in general. The purpose of this essay is to consider one certain aspect of advertising namely the use of the English by Germans and the English language itself. This phenomenon is sometimes referred to as 'Denglish'.