Does language create admin? Do businesses get slowed down by the language they use internally, or with customers?

An everyday incident at work made me realise how German complicates business. Thinks: is this why German companies are being rapped over the knuckles and told to improve efficiency?

We were sending out emails to nearly 100 people. Afterwards I worked out that – had the content been written in English – the whole email could have been cut and pasted with a minor edit done in the opening line to change the name. Yes, many English people will write to each other now as “Dear Peter” or even simply “Peter,”

In German – oh dear. First we had to sort the emails between those we know on first name terms, calling them “Du” [you] and those who were still on the formal word for you: “Sie”. The whole email had to be reworded as verbs are declined accordingly. (In English this isn’t a problem. “You hit” could be for one person, several people, a person you know formally. It’s all the same). Then we had to sort out the Sie’s: male or female. The male recipients had a “Sehr geehrter Herr” and the females “Sehr geehrte Frau”.

To cut a long story short: I estimate sending out one simple email took TWICE as long as it would have in English.

I rest my case: language dictates efficiency.