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AUTOBAHN

German government rejects speed limit on Autobahn

Germany is not planning a general speed limit on German motorways, government spokesman Steffen Seibert said in Berlin on Monday.

Published: 28 January 2019 16:29 CET
German government rejects speed limit on Autobahn
The Autobahn in Baden-Württemberg. Photo: DPA

For language learners: we've highlighted some useful vocabulary in this news story. You'll find the German translations at the bottom of the article.

He added that there are already speed regulations throughout the German road network which are adapted to the respective traffic and environmental situation.

About 30 percent of the German Autobahn, or motorways, currently have a speed limit, according to Statista.

SEE ALSO: Eight things you never know about the German Autobahn

SEE ALSO: Fact check: will a general speed limit on Germany’s Autobahn be beneficial?

“There are also even more intelligent options to control the speed than a general speed limit,” added Seibert.

He did not elaborate, but rather said that the government is now waiting for “an expert working group” to present their results by the end of March on how to lower emissions from transport – after which it will work on measures based on their recommendations, he said.

Most recently, the working group, National Platform on the Future of Mobility, proposed a general speed limit of 130 kilometres per hour on German motorways, triggering a heated debate.

SEE ALSO: Germany considers Autobahn speed limit to fight climate change

In response, Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer (CSU) sharply spoke out against a speed limit, calling it “against all common sense.”

Scheuer pointed to the safety of German drivers in a global comparison, telling the newspaper “Bild am Sonntag” that “German motorways are the safest roads in the world”. The system of recommended speed limits also have proved to be effective, he added.

In an ARD survey, half of Germans (51 percent) were in favor of introducing a speed limit of 130 kilometers per hour on German motorways, while 47 percent of citizens are against a speed limit.

Germany has not reduced greenhouse gas emissions since 1990, even though overall emissions have been reduced by around 28 percent as of 2017, putting the country under a lot of pressure.

The German government, however, has announced a climate protection law for 2019 with concrete targets for the transport sector as well.

das Tempolimit – speed limit

Experten-Arbeitsgruppe – expert working group

im globalen Vergleich – in a global comparison

Die Umfrage – survey

die Hälfte – half

Treibhausgas-Emissionen – greenhouse gas emission

Verkehrsbereich -transport sector

Vorgaben – targets

We're aiming to help our readers improve their German by translating relevant vocabulary from our news stories of the day. Did you find articles like these useful? Do you have any suggestions? Let us know.

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GERMAN LANGUAGE

Everything that’s changed in the latest Duden German dictionary

The new Duden dictionary is thicker than ever with an additional 3,000 words in its 29th edition. The reference work, which is out on Tuesday, also includes spelling and grammar changes.

Published: 20 August 2024 12:36 CEST
Everything that's changed in the latest Duden German dictionary

In the four years since the last new edition of the ‘Duden’ German dictionary, the world has seen enormous changes, from the pandemic to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and even changed eating habits.

The dictionary reflects these developments with the inclusion of words such as Coronaleugner (Covid denier), Klimakleber (climate activists who glue themselves to things), Ukrainekrieg (war in Ukraine), Extremwetterereignis (extreme weather event), Deutschlandticket (Germany travel ticket), ChatGPT, and Fleischersatz (meat substitute).

“The Duden is a mirror of its time. These words say something about what has happened in the last three to four years,” editor-in-chief Kathrin Kunkel-Razum told news agency DPA. 

The biggest language changes of the past few years can be seen in the areas of crisis, war and cooking, Kunkel-Razum said.

The Duden also highlights language trends, like Quetschie, a word used to describe the squeezable packets of fruit purees that are sold as snacks for children. The term comes from the word quetschen (to squeeze).

Unsurprisingly, there are also quite a few new borrowed words or expressions from English. These include ‘upskirting,’ ‘catcalling’ and pampern (pampering).

The Duden is the most well-known reference work on German spelling and, as such, regularly deletes words that are no longer used very much.

Three hundred words have been removed from the current edition, Kunkel-Razum said.

READ ALSO: What are the best websites and apps to learn German?

These include words like frigidär (refrigerator), UMTS-Handy (UMTS mobile phone) or Rationalisator, a term used in the GDR to describe an employee with rationalisation tasks.

Kühlschrank (der) is the only word for a fridge now, while Handy (das, and without the UMTS) is the ‘Denglisch’ word for a mobile phone.

The dictionary has also ditched spelling variants for some words. For example, Tunfisch and Spagetti are no longer accepted ways of writing tuna and spaghetti. Only Thunfisch and Spaghetti are correct now.

“Deleting words is much more difficult than adding them,” the linguist said, explaining that it was much harder to prove that a word was rarely used than the other way around.

Deletions can also be reversed, she said. For example, the word Hackenporsche (a jokey description for a shopping trolley) was removed from the previous addition but has now been included again.

“We received complaints that the word was deleted,” said Kunkel-Razum.

The reference work – named after German philologist Konrad Duden – used to be binding until Germany’s 1996 spelling reform. The authority on spelling is now the Council for German Orthography, which publishes an ‘official set of rules’. 

READ ALSO: Denglisch: The English words that will make you sound German

Reference works like Duden then implement these rules which eventually become incorporated in everyday use.

Kunkel-Razum said the new Duden contained the Council’s latest spelling changes that were approved at the end of 2023.

These include the mandatory use of a comma before an extended infinitive.

An extended infinitive is the bit of a sentence that’s in direct relation to the ‘infinitive plus zu‘ construction. So, according to the new rules, this means that you should write: Gisela weiß mit Sicherheit, The Local gelesen zu haben. (Gisela knows for sure that she’s read The Local.)

Here, the extended infinitive is ‘The Local gelesen zu haben’ so the comma goes before that.

The comma used to be compulsory, then it became optional and now it’s compulsory again – don’t you love German?

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