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Damit sind Sie dafür gerüstet, in Meetings auf dem inter-nationalen Parkett mitzu-reden, selbstverständlich in

Ihrer Lieblingsfremdsprache „Number One“.

Statistiken mit Vorsicht genießenVorweggeschickt sei allerdings, dass ei-ne neuere Untersuchung von Eurostat belegt, dass nicht die Hälfte – wie oft be-hauptet – der jungen Spanier unter 25 arbeitslos sind, sondern „nur“ ein Fünf-tel. Die Statistiken erfassen zum Beispiel keine Studenten, die tatsächlich keine Arbeitssuchenden sind. Sie erscheinen oft erst im Alter von 26 und später hoch qualifiziert auf den Arbeitsmarkt.

Eurostat ist das statistische Amt der Eu-

ropäischen Union mit Sitz in Luxem-burg. Es hat den Auftrag, die Union mit europäischen Statistiken zu versorgen, um Vergleiche zwischen Ländern und Regionen in Europa zu ermöglichen.

Diesen neuen Erkenntnissen zufolge sollten wohl andere zahlenmäßig ver-gleichbare Gruppen von Arbeitssuchen-den von den Politikern nicht vernach-lässigt werden.

Bitte übersetzen SieSind Sie bereit? Den folgenden Text ha-ben wir am 29. Mai 2013 auf der Web-site des Guardian gefunden: www.guardian.co.uk/business/2013/may/29/bmw- unemployed-spanish-young-people

„BMW to recruit unemployed Span-ish young people to ‚give something back‘...BMW is recruiting a small number of unemployed young Spaniards to work in Germany in a pilot pro-gramme to “give something back” to its customer coun-tries.

Twenty-five workers aged 18 to 25 will be trained for a year at the German car-

Down to Business

Test your knowledge: Jugend-arbeitslosigkeit in EuropaDie Jugendarbeitslosigkeit in Europa war im Mai 2013 eines der Topthemen der deutschen und internationalen Politik. Grund genug für uns, das Thema einmal zu beleuchten, und zwar in Form eines Vokabel- und Übersetzungs-trainings.

Jugendarbeitslosigkeit,

liebe Leserin, lieber Leser,ist eine schlimme Sache, und sie ge-hört nicht zu den seichten Themen im Geschäftsalltag. Trotzdem wird da-rüber geredet. Wir mischen mit, und nicht nur sprachlich, sondern auch erkenntnismäßig bringen wir Sie hier auf den neuesten Stand.Ein absolutes Small-Talk-Thema, mit dem Sie viel interkulturelle Kom-petenz unter Beweis stellen kön-nen, ist Landeskunde. Im Herbst steht in den Vereinigten Staaten das “Thanksgiving”-Fest an.Daneben finden Sie – wie immer – zahlreiche praktische Tipps und kon-krete Hilfsmittel, die Ihren beruflichen Alltag erleichtern werden, zumindest sprachlich.Frohes Schaffen und viel Erfolg!

PS: Fehlerteufel im Answer key auf Seite 6 der Ausgabe 10/2013. Die korrekte Lösung bei „Favourite Mistakes“ ist 5c.

EDITORIAL

2 PO BoxMitarbeiterbeurteilung: Fehlverhalten kommentieren

4 Odds & EndsEine haarige Angelegenheit

5 You can say you to meThanksgiving – eine amerikanische Tradition

7 If in doubt – cut it outDas richtige Zeichen geben: Binde- und Gedankenstriche IN

HALT

1

Maureen Brown ist in London aufgewachsen. Sie hat viele Jahre als Assistentin und Sekretärin im Ma-nagement eines Unternehmens gearbeitet. Heute ist sie für eine Bezirksregierung in England aktiv.

Jennifer Hohensteiner ist in den USA groß ge-worden und lebt seit 1990 in Deutschland. Sie hat den Master’s Degree in Political Science und lang-jährige Berufserfahrung als Fremdsprachensekre-tärin, Wirtschaftsübersetzerin und Trainerin für Business English.

Professionelles Know-how & mehr Kompetenz für Assistenz und Sekretariat

English@work71703

11/2013 September

Maureen Brown (GB) Jennifer Hohensteiner (USA)

Kostenfrei! Nutzen Sie Ihren Login auf www.english-work.com ABenutzername: englishAPasswort September: anwenden13 Heftarchiv, Arbeitshilfen und vieles mehr!

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maker’s headquarters in Munich, the BMW personnel chief, Milagros Cai-na-Andree, told Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on Wednesday.

‘They should be immersed in German culture, possibly live with a BMW host family and work in development, sales, marketing or another area. After that, these young people can go back home or stay here,’ she said.

Kleine TiefenbohrungThere is one idiosyncrasy about this text for German readers. Please answer this question only after you have trans-lated the text.

Which noun could you only fit in in your translation in the correct form af-ter you read further on?

Answer key on page 3

PO Box

Mitarbeiterbeurteilung: Fehlverhalten kommentierenIn der letzten Ausgabe Ihrer English@work ging es darum, als Arbeitnehmer mit der Personalabteilung zu kommunizieren. Heute drehen wir den Spieß einmal um und schauen uns an, was Personalabteilung, Abteilungsleiter oder Supervisor den Mitarbeitern mitzuteilen haben. In vielen internationa-len Großunternehmen gibt es Standards dafür. Wir stellen Sie Ihnen vor.

Natürlich machen wir das auf Englisch. So sind Sie nicht nur als Assistentin einer hierfür zuständigen Person in einem

„Multi” mit internationaler Belegschaft bestens gerüstet, sondern haben auch in kleineren und mittleren Unternehmen einen Vorrat an Vorlagen zur Mitar-beiterbeurteilung zur Hand. Sie müs-sen sie nur an die speziellen Bedürfnisse Ihres Unternehmens anpassen.

Konstruktiv kritisieren?Well, what Bo Bennett said regarding politics is surely not true for objections in business relationships.

An objection there means far more than a request for more information. It is a pro-test against something leading to a re-quest for a change in company procedures.

Let us try and find out what adds up to an objection and how you find the fit-ting tone for your criticism.

Please read the following sample letter.

Konstruktive KritikNow take some time to think about it and write down your comments in English:

1. What do you think of this letter?

_______________________________

_______________________________

_______________________________

2. Is it constructive?

_______________________________

_______________________________

_______________________________

3. Is it positive?

_______________________________

_______________________________

_______________________________

4. Could you do better?

_______________________________

_______________________________

_______________________________Answer key on page 4

Kommentar zum BriefThis was a special and very challenging example of how to deal with perform-ance evaluation and you shouldn’t be disappointed if you judged it too seri-ous. Some letters have to be forceful as a result of former discussions.

Schriftlich abmahnen Now let us look at an apparently “mi-nor” reason for a letter.

Muster: Rüge für Unfähig-keit, den Finanzplan zu erfüllen

Dear Mr BrofferAs we discussed yesterday for the sec-ond time we continue to have concerns about your ability to keep your depart-ment within the agreed financial plan.Following the first special performance evaluation meeting six months ago you have received monthly reports from the Accounts Department and you have taken part in a finance coaching week-end seminar in Heidelberg.However your recent reports indicate a significant overspending of your bud-get line.We value your commitment to the com-pany and as a way forward we suggest you share responsibility with Mr Epper-mann for the next two months. He will act as your personal coach. If after this time there is no improvement in the sit-uation we will have to consider offering you a non-managerial position in the Customer Care Department.Kind regards

Quote“An objection is not a rejection;

it is simply a request for more informa-tion. Bo Bennett, former US politician

Caina-Andree, who joined BMW’s management board last year, said the programme could be expanded to other countries such as Italy or Greece if it is successful. …“

As usual our advice for perfect transla-tions is: Produce a good German text and use as much freedom of language as neccessary – and as little as possible.

Answer key on page 3

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pear. Nevertheless while they still ap-pear in the documents it means some-body else will need to correct or rewrite the letters.

Schriftlich Druck ausübenHere is one example of how you can put pressure on the young employee in such a case.

Kommentar zum Brief• This letter is clear as it names the mis-

takes and the downside for the com-pany.

• It is constructive as it suggests what the recipient could do.

• It is friendly as it stresses the compa-ny’s confidence in the improvement (“unlikely case”).

• It is frank about the consequences.

For some employees especially with lit-tle job experience, a written admoni-tion counts more than just a meeting. So this letter might help the recipient to improve.

If you want to learn more about how to solve conflicts and how to give constructive

criticism, why not attend one of GWI’s seminars? There is one “Kritik und Kon-flikte konstruktiv lösen”. Look it up un-der www.officeakademie.com.

Kommentar zum BriefThe reason for writing in this case ap-pears to be minor, but only at first sight. It is common knowledge that people spend hours on the internet, checking their Facebook account, comparing pri-vate offers, ordering private items. This is a costly consideration for the com-pany.

The fact that the esteem of the recipient is not expressed shows how seriously the com-

pany’s approach should be taken in this case. It is much stronger and shows more severe consequences than the first example.

This sample letter shows that it is quite often impossible to reprimand con-structively.

Kleinere Verfehlungen regelnWell, as it turned out, the second ex-ample was even worse than the first. But there are really minor cases where a meeting should be sufficient to point out the company’s expectations and the consequences that might follow if the objectives are not reached. As in a case when an apprentice (BE)/trainee (AE) makes too many mistakes in let-ters.

In reality such “minor” errors happen quite often but after a while and with careful instruction the mistakes disap-

Muster: Ermahnung für private Nutzung des Computers

Dear Ms WullnerThe IT Dept. has informed me that once again you have been using your work-place to access online websites not re-lated to your job. This is the fourth time you have contravened company rules and been reprimanded for such activi-ties.With this letter we inform you that an automated system monitors your work-station. Should this system find you ac-tive on private websites again, your employment will be immediately ter-minated.With kind regards

Answer key exercise: Bitte übersetzen SieBMW will arbeitslose spanische Jugend-liche rekrutieren, um „etwas zurückzu-geben” … In einem Pilotprojekt rekrutiert BMW eine kleine Anzahl junger arbeitsloser Spanier für die Arbeit in Deutschland, um „etwas an seine Kundenländer zu-rückzugeben“.Fünfundzwanzig Arbeitnehmer im Alter zwischen 18 und 25 Jahren sollen ein Jahr lang im Hauptquartier des deut-schen Automobilherstellers in Mün-chen ausgebildet werden, teilte Mila-gos Caina-Adree, Personalchefin von BMW, am Mittwoch der Frankfurter All-gemeinen Zeitung mit.„Sie sollen in die deutsche Kultur ein-tauchen, wenn möglich in einer BMW-Gastfamilie leben und in der Entwick-lung, im Verkauf, im Marketing oder anderen Abteilungen arbeiten. Danach können diese jungen Menschen nach Hause zurückkehren oder hier bleiben“, sagte sie.Caina-Andree, seit vergangenem Jahr Mitglied im BMW Management, sagte, das Programm könne auf andere Län-der wie Italien und Griechenland aus-gedehnt werden, wenn es erfolgreich sei. …Kleine TiefenbohrungDas Nomen ist „Personalchefin“. Man musste bis „she said“ weiterlesen, um das vorne eingefügte „Personalchef“ zu korrigieren.Allerdings gilt dies nur für diejenigen unter uns, die den Namen „Milagos“ nicht auf Anhieb als feminin erkannt haben.

Muster: Ermahnung zur Sorgfalt

Dear Ms AufheimerAs we stated in our meeting last week the company expects a higher standard of accuracy from your work, especially with regard to the letters you write.It is not acceptable that all of your let-ters need proofreading and contain more than 10 mistakes. This is too time consuming and expensive for the com-pany.We would like to suggest you take a lite-racy skills course within the next month in your own time to improve and per-fect your writing skills.We will meet again on 14th November. In the unlikely case your skills have not improved by then we will have to trans-fer you into a position that does not in-volve composing letters.Kind regards

Vocabulary Box

accuracy – Sorgfaltadmonish – abmahnenapparently – anscheinendbe terminated – gekündigt werden from employmentoverspending – Mehrausgabenperformance – Mitarbeiter- evaluation beurteilungreprimand – rügen, ermahnensave face – das Gesicht wahrenwith regard – in Bezug

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Exercise: IdiomsBitte Bitte beschreiben Sie, was das Idiom bedeutet, und geben einen Beispielsatz dazu. Natürlich – bis auf „German

meaning“ - auf Englisch!

Idiom Meaning Example sentence German meaning

split hairs

a bad hair day

make someone’s hair curl

by a hair’s breadth/by a hair

tear one’s hair out

hair nor hide

make one’s hair stand on end

get in someone’s hair

never a hair out of place

not turning a hair

wear a hair shirt

Answer key see on page 6

Odds & Ends

Eine haarige AngelegenheitNicht nur das Wetter ist ein gutes Small-Talk-Thema, auch Haare und Frisuren können dazu dienen. Wenn das Wetter feucht ist, kann es schon mal die Frisur verderben. Wie man darüber reden kann und welche tragende Rolle Haare in der Kommunikation noch spielen können, das erfahren Sie in diesem Beitrag.

Fangen wir mit einer paar For-mulierungen an, die direkt mit dem schönen Kopfschmuck zu tun haben.

1. Bitte übersetzen Sie:Sie lässt sich einmal im Monat die Haa-re schneiden.

_______________________________

_______________________________

2. Was ist in dem Beispielsatz oben rich-tig:a) hair oderb) hairs?c) Können Sie das begründen? Und

ein Beispiel nennen?____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3. Setzen Sie den richtigen Begriff ein. Es können auch mehrere sein.a) Her new (Haarschnitt) _________

looks really nice.b) Ms Drew has a new (Frisur)

______________, but she had not cut her hair.

c) Mr Hum uses a lot of styling gel for his new ___________________.

4. Bitte übersetzen Sie den folgenden Satz:She had her locks cut last week. _____________________________

5. Und jetzt eine Übung zu Redewen-dungen, mit denen Sie Ihre Sprach-kompetenz deutlich erweitern. Denn wenn Sie im Gespräch solche idioma-tischen Wendungen nutzen, bewei-sen Sie, dass Sie ein tieferes Sprach- und Kulturverständnis besitzen als üblich.

Down to businessGästebetreuung auf Events: So gelingt sie Ihnen

PO BoxPost zum Jahreswechsel: Diese Schreiben sollten Sie kennen

You can say you to meJa oder nein: Internationale Partner in Verhandlungen richtig verstehen

If in doubt – cut it outVeränderungen bei der Schreib-weise von Verben

VORSC

HAU

Answer key exercise: Konstruktive KritikAs we cannot know your thoughts we have to write down ours.1. This letter is precise and straightforward. It states the facts and the steps that have already been undertaken. And it gives the expectations and consequences if they can’t be reached.2. It is constructive as it offers another chance. There are cases where this would not be possible. But even then a change within the company would still be constructive.3. It is positive, although it does not meet the employee’s expectations. But com-pany aims are the main focus. Nevertheless the writer expresses his esteem of the employee’s commitment.4. We don’t think we could do better. The positive estimation does not sound very credible in the given connection. But it is a sign of friendliness and offers the recipi-ent the chance to save face.

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An uns herangetragen hat diese Idee un-sere Leserin Helena D. aus F.

Ein Familienfest mit GeschäftsfreundenSie schreibt: „Im November kommt ein Geschäftspartner zu einem Meeting, und er bringt seine ganze Familie mit. Nun hatte meine Chefin die Idee, al-le zu einer Thanksgiving-Party einzu-laden. Können Sie mir ein paar Tipps geben, was unbedingt zu einer solchen Feier gehört?”

Danke, liebe Frau D. für diese Anre-gung.

Tatsächlich finden Sie einige Anregun-gen rund um diesen speziellen Feiertag in bereits veröffentlichten Ausgaben von English@work, entweder in Ihrer Print-ausgabe, oder im Downloadbereich unter www.english-work.com unter dem Stichwort „Thanksgiving”.

Am 4. Donnerstag im November findet in den USA ein traditionelles Familien-fest statt, zu dem Mitglieder auch aus weit entfernten Gebieten zusammen kommen. Daher ist die Idee der Che-fin gut.

Und auch wenn Ihr Besuch nicht genau an dem passenden Datum zu Ihnen kommt, kön-

nen Sie den Tag sowie die Einladung ja zumindest unter das Motto „Thanksgi-ving” stellen.

Mit den folgenden Hinweisen haben Sie die wichtigsten Traditionen rund um diesen Feiertag an der Hand und kön-nen sich herauspicken, was zu Ihnen, Ihrem Chef und dem Unternehmen, aber natürlich auch zur Erwartungs-

haltung der Besucher am besten passt.

Der traditionelle TruthahnAlthough the Americans have a tra-dition (created in 1989 by President George W. Bush) of pardoning the White House Thanksgiving Turkey it is still common for 95 percent of Amer-icans – according to the National Tur-key Federation – to have one for a big Thanksgiving family dinner.

Traditionally the turkey is roasted in the oven, but other ways of cooking it are getting popular like turkey burgers or salt-encrusted or deep fried turkey. Last year we tested a recipe with red cur-rant jelly on the turkey and a corn bread stuffing, accompanied by roasted sweet potatoes with a mozzarella topping and carrots in an orange sauce.

If you are interested in Ameri-can recipes and a bit of local colour (BE)/local color (AE)

there are many good websites. Some fa-vourites (BE)/favorites (AE) for cooking

are these: http://thepioneerwoman.co und http://tastykitchen.com/. You will find a lot of suggestions and combina-tions for your party there.

So if you invite an American family to your or your boss’s home they will be more than pleased with a turkey dish.

Sport als UnterhaltungAnother popular tradition on Thanks-giving Day in the US is watching sports, especially football. This dates back to the first intercollegiate football champi-onship in 1876, which was held on this public holiday. A reporter once called Thanksgiving Day:

As you don’t live in the US it will be al-most impossible (unless you have Sky Sports Channel) to watch national foot-ball games, but you could ask if the family would wish to watch a German football game or offer another TV sports pro-gramme (BE)/program (AE) for the kids.

Thanksgiving ParadeThere is a parade tradition dating back to 1920, when a Department Store per-

You can say you to me

Thanksgiving – eine amerikanische TraditionBald ist es so weit: Die Ernte wird eingefahren und es kommt die Zeit, Danke zu sagen. „Thanksgiving” ist eine sehr typische Tradition in Amerika, deren historischen Aspekten wir uns schon gelegentlich gewidmet haben. Heute geht es um die persönlichen, die familiären Aspekte.

ImpressumHerausgeber: GWI – eine Marke der WEKA MEDIA GmbH & Co. KGPostanschrift: Römerstraße 4, 86438 Kis-sing, Tel.: 08233 23 7850, Fax: 08233 23 7860, E-Mail: service@gwi.de, Internet: www.gwi.dePersönlich haftende Gesellschafterin: WEKA MEDIA Beteiligungs-GmbH, Sitz in KissingGeschäftsführung: Stephan Behrens, Michael Bruns, Werner PehlandRedaktion: Ulrike Rudolph (Chefredak-teurin, V.i.S.d.P.), Anschrift siehe obenObjektleitung: Michaela TimeusHerausgeberinnen: Maureen Brown (GB), Jennifer Hohensteiner (USA)Satz & Layout: contentsign, AltenahrDruck: Druckkultur GmbH, MünchenErscheinungsweise: monatlichAlle Angaben in „English@ Work“ wurden mit äußerster Sorgfalt ermittelt und überprüft. Sie basieren jedoch auf der Richtigkeit uns erteilter Auskünfte und unterliegen Verän-derungen. Eine Gewähr kann deshalb nicht übernommen werden, auch nicht für telefo-nisch erteilte Auskünfte. Wiedergabe – auch auszugsweise – nur mit schriftlicher Einwilli-gung des Herausgebers. ISSN 1862-4316

Insider tip from your American editor Jennifer Hohensteiner

One tradition with turkey is making a wish by pulling the bird’s wishbone. “The lucky break” dates back to the Ro-mans who took the tradition from the Etruscans and brought it to England. It means two people grab each end of the turkey’s wishbone with their pin-kie and tear it apart. The one who gets the “lucky break”, i.e. the bigger part of bone with meat on it can make a wish that is sure to come true. (So they say.) If you tell this to an American visitor he or she will surely be impressed.

Quote„A holiday granted by the State

and the Nation to see a game of foot-ball.“

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formed the first parade in Philadelphia. In 1924 the New York branch of Ma-cy’s took up this idea and the Thanks-

giving Day parade tradition. Since then this tradition has grown into an annual event of balloons, bands, and floats. More than 46 million people watch this event each year in person and on TV.

Danke sagenOne of the most important traditions – as the name of the holiday suggests – is giving thanks for the harvest and the blessings of the past year. In many American families this is expressed by saying grace or by providing holiday meals to the homeless and/or needy.Even if you or your boss don’t usually pray it might be nice to mention this

tradition and show empathy if the visi-tors want to.

Insider tip from your Britisheditor Maureen Brown

Thanksgiving is not celebrated in the UK and therefore there is no Bank Ho-liday. The closest British have is “har-vest festival” in the autumn. That comes close to the German “Ernte-dankfest”. These services take place in churches and schools to thank God for the harvest. Produce is donated and delivered to the needy.

Vocabulary Box

corn bread – Maisbrotfloat – Festwagenneedy – Notleidenderpinky/pinkie (AE) – kleiner Finger say grace – ein Dankgebet

vor dem Essenstuffing – Füllungsweet potato – Süßkartoffeltopping – Garnierungwishbone – Gabelbein

Answer key exercise: Eine haarige Angelegenheit1. She has her hair cut once per month. 2. b., c.) hair bezeichnet die Gesamtheit der Haare, die Frisur, während „hairs“ die einzelnen Haare meint, wie in „splitting hairs“3. a.) haircut, b.) hair-do, hairstyle, headdress (not common in AE), c.) haircut (if you cannot see if he has been to the hairdresser‘s),

hair-do, hairstyle, headdress4. Sie hat sich letzte Woche ihre Schlösser schneiden lassen. (Was natürlich Unsinn ist. „Lock“ für „Locke“ ist zwar nicht vollkommen

falsch, aber es ist unmodern, regelrecht shakespearianisch, weshalb die Assoziation „Schloss“ näher liegt. Das richtige Nomen wäre „curls“ gewesen, doch schneiden lässt man sich „hair“.)

IdomsIdiom Meaning Example sentence German meaning

split hairs paying too much attention to unimportant details

We’ll sit in the meeting until midnight if we go on splitting hairs!

Haare spalten

a bad hair day a day when everything – not only the hair-do – goes wrong

I’m really having a bad hair day! ein mieser Tag

make someone’s hair curl frighten someone The novel really made my hair curl!

die Fußnägel kräuseln

by a hair’s breadth/by a hair a very close escape from danger or another threat

The car missed the dog by a hair’s breadth/hair.

um Haaresbreite

tear one’s hair out being extremely busy or con-fused trying to fix something

He was tearing his hair out over the meeting to get the projector working.

sich die Haare raufen

hair nor hide Not a thing ‘I haven’t seen hair nor hide of him since last week.

Nicht das kleinste Bisschen

make one’s hair stand on end something terrifying makes the hair rise

The thought of the conflict talk tomorrow makes my hair stand on end.

die Haare zu Berge stehen lassen

get in someone’s hair annoy or disturb someone If you didn’t get in my hair all the time I’d finished this pre-sentation in time.

im Weg rumstehen, dazwischen funken

never a hair out of place a perfect appearance I wish I looked like you: never a hair out of place.

wie geleckt aussehen (positiv)

not turning a hair not showing a reaction when expected

He didn’t turn a hair when he got his note of cancellation.

nicht mit der Wimper zucken

wear a hair shirt choosing to have no pleasure in life

Being a socialist doesn’t mean having to wear a hair shirt.

in Sack und Asche gehen

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Exercise: Bindestriche – ja oder nein?Do the underlined parts of the sentences require hyphenation, yes or no?1. The speed limit on this motorway is

70 miles per hour.2. During his stay in the USA, he became

a very good American football player.3. It was so windy last night, I found an

upside down garden chair in my gar-den this morning.

4. We are always thrilled by the stun-ningly gorgeous view from the top of the mountain.

5. My children are aged eighteen, twen-ty, and twenty four.

6. Does he really think it is un American to serve something besides turkey on Thanksgiving?

7. His ex wife had a lion like mane of hair.

Answer key on page 8

Zwei englische GedankenstricheNow that you are warmed up, let’s add another element to the mix: the dash (Gedankenstrich). As we mentioned in the introduction, there are two kinds of dashes commonly used in English, the en dash and the em dash. Optically, they differ in length. The en dash (which is the same as the German “Gedanken-strich”) is about as long as the letter “n”. The em dash is longer, about as long as the capital letter M.

But let us just forget about the em dash for a moment, since its use is very par-ticular. Usually you will use the hyphen and the en dash, and you will use them the same way you use a “Bindestrich” and a “Gedankenstrich.” So when we talk about a “dash” below, we mean the en dash, unless we explicitly say oth-erwise.

Exercise: Binde- oder Gedankenstrich?But do you know for sure when to use a hyphen and when to use a dash? Here is a little quiz to test your knowledge. Please jot down whether a hyphen or dash should be inserted in the blank:1. t…shirt2. 2003…20133. Ages 7…124. right…handed

Bindestriche verbinden – auch im EnglischenAs you learned in the June 2013 issue of your English@work, one of the main uses of hyphens is to divide words at the end of a line. Aside from that, though, hyphens are more commonly used to connect words, creating compound nouns, compound modifiers, or phrases.

Some phrases (on-line, good-for-no-thing), compound nouns (grown-up, mother-in-law) and modifiers (self-centered, good-natured) always use hyphens. But there are differences be-tween British and American English on hyphenation, and the British and Americans differ among themselves as well! At the end of the day, hyphena-tion often has neither rhyme nor reason. Therefore, you will not be able to dis-pense with your spell-check and a dic-tionary or two.

Tipps für die Benutzung von BindestrichenOf course we do have some tips and guidelines for using hyphens in English. 1. Whether to hyphenate or not often

depends on a phrase’s position with-in the sentence. If a compound modi-fier comes before the noun, hyphens are used. If it comes after the noun, hyphens are not used (unless it is a phrase that always uses hyphens):• Her style is easy to read. / She has an

easy-to-read style.• He approached the problem head

on./He took a head-on approach to the problem.

• An eight-year-old piano player was on stage. / The piano player was eight years old.

But:• He was a cold-blooded killer. / The

killer was cold-blooded. (Cold-blooded always uses a hyphen.)

2. No matter the position in the sen-tence, do not use a hyphen after an adverb ending in “-ly”: the happily married couple (not the happily-mar-ried couple); the beautifully trimmed hedge (Not the beautifully-trimmed hedge).

3. Always use a hyphen when writing out numbers from 21 to 99: twenty-one, ninety-nine.

4. Use a hyphen to connect a single let-ter to a word: x-ray, e-book, a-list.

5. Always use a hyphen to connect a prefix to a word that is capitalized: anti-American, sub-Saharan, pre-Raphaelite.

6. There is a lot of variation in the use of hyphens with prefixes. But they are more likely to be used with the prefixes self-, ex-, anti-, post-, and great-: self-aware, ex-mayor, anti-aging, post-war, great-grandmoth-er.

7. Hyphens are sometimes used with suffixes, especially -like and -odd (et-was mehr als): lizard-like smile, forty-odd years.

8. Be sure to use a hyphen (or not) if its omission causes a change in mean-ing:• I once saw a man eating shark. (Ich

habe einmal einen Mann gesehen, der Haifisch gegessen hat.)

• I once saw a man-eating shark. (Ich habe einmal einen menschen-fressenden Haifisch gesehen.)

Have you got all that? It might be good to put it to the test.

If in doubt – cut it out

Das richtige Zeichen geben: Binde- und Gedankenstriche Binde- und Gedankenstriche (auf Englisch: hyphens and dashes) sehen ähnlich aus, doch werden sie unterschiedlich benutzt. Wann Sie einen Ge-danken- und wann einen Bindestrich einsetzen sollen, ist Ihnen klar – auf deutsch. Wir geben Ihnen jetzt einige Tipps für die richtige Verwendung von Bindestrichen im Englischen und stellen Ihnen zwei englische Gedanken-striche vor: den „en dash“ und den „em dash“.

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Ausgabe 11 | 2013

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English@work

5. Separa…tion (word divided at the end of a line)

6. 100…200 Euros7. five… and ten…dollar bills

Answer key on the right

We expect that you did well on this quiz because the German punctuation would be the same in each of these in-stances. Hyphens are used to divide words at the end of lines and form compound words. Dashes, on the oth-er hand, are used to designate an inter-val or range of value (whether it is time, money, distance or another unit). The only difference is that when a dash is used this way in English, there are no spaces around it.

Noch zwei Fälle für den „dash“The dash is also used in English in two other instances. It is used to emphasize the relationship between two things. So if you were referring to the relation-ship between Germany and the UK, you would use a dash rather than a hyphen: German–British relations. However, like a hyphen, in such cases it is used without spaces before or afterward.

And it is also used to connect two things if one or both of them is an open com-pound or consists of two words: the Nobel Prize–winning author; folk mu-sic–influenced style. This makes these phrases easier to read, and avoids con-fusion that might otherwise arise. For example, consider “big business–free market approach” and “big business-free market approach”. The use of the dash makes it clear that the approach in question involves both big business and the free market. When a hyphen is used instead, it suggests that the approach is “business-free”, i.e., that business is not involved at all.

Und jetzt kommt der „em dash“ ins Spiel Perhaps some of you are saying to your-selves: wait. I know there is yet another use for the dash. In German it is called “Gedankenstrich” and aptly so, because of course a dash is often used within a sentence in various ways that have to do with thought or thinking. It can be used to insert a thought into the middle of a

sentence in a similar way to commas or parentheses. It can indicate a pause (as if for thought) or change in direction of a sentence (because of a new thought). It is also used toward the end of a sen-tence to sum up its central thought or reach a conclusion.

And of course a dash does all these things in English as well. However, in such cases, the em dash is often used in-stead of the en dash, although both are correct. The en dash is used with spaces around it, but the em dash is not:

En dash:Of the two options – lowering the price or offering more services – management prefers the second. I would be happy to take you in my car – or did you want to walk?

Em dash:Of the two options—lowering the price or offering more services—management prefers the second.I would be happy to take you in my car—or did you want to walk?

While both are correct, the em dash is preferred in the United States. In Can-ada and the UK, the en dash is more prevalent, although at least one impor-tant UK publishing house – Oxford Uni-versity Press – also uses the em dash. Still, you can always use the en dash and no one will slap you on the wrist. But if your business partners are mostly or ex-clusively from the US, you can choose the em dash to make an even better im-pression.

Auf der Tastatur wird der „Hy-phen” natürlich mit der glei-chen Taste erzeugt wie der

Bindestrich. Der „en dash“ (sowie der deutsche Gedankstrich) wird mit der Tastenkombination STRG + NUM - er-zeugt. Und den „em dash“ bekommen Sie, wenn Sie die Tastenkombination STRG + ALT + NUM - benutzen.

Exercise: Fehler korrigierenSome of the sentences below use dashes and/or hyphens improperly. Please find and correct them!1. Mother-daughter relationships are

especially hard when the daughters are between the ages of fourteen and twenty one.

2. This was the first time I ever ate at this sub-standard restaurant – and it will be the last, I assure you!

3. The happy faced clown put on a great show—and he knew just when to stop.

4. The Berlin–London flight departs at four o’clock in the afternoon.

5. The path down to the beach is well-trodden.

Answer key below

Answer key exercise: Bindestriche ja oder nein?1. No;2. Yes (to make clear that he was good at playing American football and not a good football player who was an Ame-rican);3. Yes; 4. No; 5. Yes; 6. Yes; 7. Yes and yesBinde- oder Gedankenstrich1. Hyphen; 2. Dash; 3. Dash; 4. Hyphen; 5. Hyphen; 6. Dash; 7. HyphensFehler korrigieren1. Mother–daughter relationship; twenty-one;2. Substandard;3. happy-faced;4. No mistakes;5. well trodden