Lübke English
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article does not cite any references or sources. (January 2008) Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. |
The term Lübke English is referring to nonsense English texts, caused by a naive word-by-word translation of German texts, i.e. disregarding differerences between these languages in terms of e.g. their
- syntax,
- context dependency of vocabulary with multiple possible meanings,
- German idioms not having identical English equivalents.
Lübke English is named after a President of Germany of the Sixties, Heinrich Lübke, whose English language skills unfortunately suffered from the beforementioned flaws when exercised on his state visits, which caused him to become a rewarding target for German humorists of that time.
An example of Lübke English would be:
- A German sentence: "Gleich geht es los."
- A meaningful translation to English (example): "It'll start very soon."
- A Lübke English, thus nonsense translation: "Equal goes it loose."
