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| Ihre 10 Minuten Englisch pro Woche |
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Dear email,
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Most of the time, I don’t think about the impact Shakespeare has had on my life. And yet I can quote most of Act 1, Scene 1 of Romeo and Juliet; I wolfed down the novel Hamnet (and wailed at Chloé Zhao’s Oscar-winning film adaptation); and my idea of a great night in is a pot of tea and a streamed performance by the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Shakespeare lived for just over half a century, more than 400 years ago, but he changed the way we speak English, inventing or popularizing over 1,700 words and phrases. His birthday is celebrated today, 23 April, which is also why it’s been chosen for the UN’s English Language Day. To honour this, this special newsletter is a small celebration of the English language in all its forms: from the poetic to the practical.
Here’s to the English language...
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Rachel Preece
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Editor, Business Spotlight
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impact: Einfluss, Auswirkung(en) | quote sth.: etw. zitieren | wolf sth. down: etw. verschlingen | wail: heulen | great night in: gemütlicher Abend zuhause | pot of tea: Kanne Tee
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Words of the Week
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thou
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Did you know...? “Thou” and “thee” are archaic and poetic English forms of the singular “you” (du and dich/dir). “Thy” and “thine” are equivalents of the singular possessive “your” (dein).
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© Illustration: Georg Lechner
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Poetry
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Sonnet 18
by William Shakespeare
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Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date;
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm’d;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature’s changing course untrimm’d;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st;
Nor shall death brag thou wander’st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
In the Oscar-winning film Nomadland, Frances McDormand recites Sonnet 18. It’s a beautiful rendition, set against the bleak landscape of the movie.
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art: archaisch für “are” | temperate: gemäßigt, mäßig | bud: Knospe | lease: hier: Zeit(spanne) | hath: archaisch für: has | complexion: Angesicht, Antlitz | dim: trüben, verdunkeln | untrimmed: hier: der Schönheit beraubt | eternal: ewig | fade: schwinden, verblassen | brag: prahlen | recite: vortragen, rezitieren | rendition: Interpretation | bleak: trostlos, öde
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© Image: Victoria & Albert Museum / Bridgeman Images
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What’s it about?
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There’s a debate about whether Shakespeare wrote this beautiful poem about a real person – and, if so, whether it was addressed to a woman or a man – or whether it’s about an imaginary relationship. Whoever the beloved was, the poet tells him or her that they’re even lovelier than a summer’s day. The summer can be too windy, too short, too hot, too cool… but his lover is perfect. Summer inevitably comes to an end, but his beloved will exist forever in the lines of this poem. A clever trick by the poet to give his lover eternal life!
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beloved: Geliebte(r) | inevitably: unweigerlich
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Quiz
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Shakespeare
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1. Which of these idioms did Shakespeare invent?
A) “Wild goose chase”
B) “Piece of cake”
C) “Break the ice”
2. At what age did Shakespeare marry?
A) 35
B) 27
C) 18
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© Illustration: Georg Lechner
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Answers: 1. A) meaning “time wasted looking for something you can't find”; 2. C)
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Language
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Is there such a thing as global English?
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Thinking about English beyond borders feels especially fitting on Shakespeare’s birthday. His plays began in the Globe Theatre, but the language they helped shape has travelled far beyond it. According to David Crystal, there’s more than one English in the world. The linguist has been thinking about the English language for a long time – and has written more than 100 books on the subject.
“Look at this big baby,” says Crystal, taking a big red book from his crowded shelves. It’s the Dictionary of the English/Creole of Trinidad & Tobago. It turns out that “those two little islands in the Caribbean” have around 12,000 English words all of their own. “I’ve got 20 or 30 dictionaries like that, all with 10,000, 20,000 words,” says Crystal, pointing round the room.
“Everyone hates English equally”
In the postcolonial world, newly independent nations may have kept English as a “devil-you-know language”, Crystal explains. Take Nigeria, which preferred to stick with imperialist English rather than be faced with the impossible task of choosing one of the hundreds of local languages battling for supremacy. “Everyone hates English equally, as it were,” says Crystal. “But the interesting thing was they then said: ‘We will make it our English. We will give it our identity.’” And so it happens that countries wind up collecting words that better express their national character, describing their flora and fauna, myths and legends and cultures
“The word ‘English’ most definitely has a plural”
Before long, A Dictionary of South African English also comes off the shelves, with
its 10,000 or so unique terms, some of them borrowed from Afrikaans, Zulu and other languages, but others very recognizably English – even if they have completely different meanings, such as “robot”. On one trip to South Africa, Crystal was chatting to his British Council driver when he saw a “Robot Ahead” road sign.
“Robot, but what’s a robot?” he asked.
“You don’t know what the robot is?” said the driver, nearly swerving off the road.
“No, really, I don’t know. Tell me.”
“A robot is a traffic light.”
“The word ‘English’ most definitely has a plural these days,” says Crystal.
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devil-you-know: unbeliebt, aber vertraut | supremacy: Vormachtstellung | as it were: hier: sozusagen | wind up (ifml.): damit enden | swerve: schlingern, ausscheren | traffic light: Ampel
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© GIF: Blackbox via canva.com
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Communication
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20 tips to communicate better
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When talking, writing emails or giving a presentation, people usually assume others understand what they mean. But, as American designer Jeff Daly said: two monologues do not make a dialogue. In Business Spotlight's article on communication, we have 20 practical tips to help you communicate better, from polite interruptions to saying sorry.
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assume sth.: von etw. ausgehen
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© Illustration: Georg Lechner
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Anzeige
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In 7 Tagen zu besseren Texten
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Mit dem kostenlosen E-Mail-Kurs der ZEIT Akademie lernen Sie in sieben Tagen, wie Sie bessere Texte schreiben – egal ob Buch, Rede, E-Mail oder Geburtstagskarte.
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© Bild: ZEIT Akademie
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Social Media
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What’s your favourite English word?
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Do you have a favourite English word? Watch our team share theirs and let us know yours in the comments section! Watch here on Instagram or Facebook, and don’t forget to follow our channels!
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Quiz
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Famous speeches
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Words can start revolutions, encourage diplomacy, and, when Shakespeare is involved, make even heartbreak sound beautiful. In the spirit of World English Day and Shakespeare’s birthday, we’re celebrating English at its most powerful: the speech.
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involved: beteiligt | heartbreak: Kummer
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© Image: Caleb Fisher / Unsplash.com
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From the ZEIT SPRACHEN App
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UK vs. US English
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From chips vs. French fries to trousers vs. pants: in this course, you’ll learn different words used for everyday topics in Great Britain and the United States.
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© Illustration: Jana Trampert
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Mitarbeit: Dennis Draber, Judith Gilbert, Susanne Krause, Mae McCreary, Richard Mote, Rachel Preece, Inez Sharp, Lorraine Turner Akcakaya.
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