New German Grammar Elicits Harsh Words

The body of grammatical oddities that Mark Twain referred to as “the awful German language” looks destined to stay awful for a while.

But not for lack of trying to reform it. Specialists in the German-speaking countries of Europe have launched a new set of rules covering spelling, punctuation, capitalization and other fine points of German style. But an incensed public is now fighting to keep things as they are.

Last summer, after more than two decades of deliberations, officials from Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Lichtenstein and four countries with German-speaking minorities unveiled a new Rechtschreibung, or standard German grammar.

Noting that the language of Goethe and Schiller has grown top-heavy with rules, exceptions, dialects and Germanized foreign words, they agreed that a good pruning was in order.

According to the new grammar, the official list of German spelling rules is to be reduced to 112 from 212; instead of the 52 regulations governing commas, there will be nine.

To the delight of typists, German is also supposed to lose its Eszett--a Gothic-looking, B-shaped letter pronounced like an “S”--which cannot be easily accommodated on modern computer keyboards. It will be replaced by a simple “ss.”

The reform also includes systematic spelling rules for the many foreign words now creeping into German--a worthy goal in an age of instant global communication.

Plans call for a seven-year phase-in period, beginning in 1998. But teaching of the new grammar began in this academic year--and so did the backlash.

First students and teachers, then novelists, constitutional scholars and politicians, and finally, even the German president, disputed the new grammar. Petitions are making the rounds. A bloc has been organized in the Federal Assembly. Ads in newspapers are calling for legislative debates at the state level.

Newspapers and magazines, most notably the prestigious Der Spiegel, have decided to boycott the reform.

The new grammar is “about as useful as a goiter,” scoffs German President Roman Herzog.

The level of emotion surrounding the new grammar suggests that it must be a radical departure from current usage. But the reform is actually a rather timid collection of compromises, evading the core issues that so vexed Twain and generations of the language’s students, both native-speaking and foreign.

They’re all still here: the irregular plurals, the verbs that split like fragmentation grenades, the capitalized nouns, the genders that make no real-world sense. All cats are still female in the new German; all dogs are still male. And girls go on being neuter.

What is upsetting many is not so much the break with tradition as the cost of a relatively feeble reform. Times are tight, and some critics estimate the new Rechtschreibung will cost more than $600 million to implement. At such a price, they say, a few modest changes in spelling and punctuation just aren’t worth it.

But officials argue that the reforms will cost no more than $180 million.

Still, this is a preelection year in Germany, and politicians are taking more note than usual of public opinion. So it would come as no surprise if the political will behind the new grammar fizzled, as politicians decide that they can’t afford to lose votes over a matter such as spelling and punctuation.

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Adapting Foreign Words to German

The new grammar includes rules governing the spelling and capitalization of foreign words that have entered the German language. Here are a few examples from current usage (left) and under the reform (right):

Asthma: Astma

Asphalt: Asfalt

Bouquet: Buket

Common sense: Commonsense

Ghetto: Getto

Nougat: Nugat

Safer sex: Safersex

sketch: sketsch

T-bone-steak: T-Bone-Steak

tabula rasa: Tabula rasa