Some Language Help for Those Entering German-Speaking Newsrooms

Nearly one year ago, I was among nine American journalists chosen to take part in the Arthur F. Burns Fellowship, a journalism exchange program between the United States and Germany.  (Ten German journalists were also chosen for the fellowship.)

With my limited German language skills, I was sent to NDR, a German radio network in Hamburg, which has a German-speaking newsroom.

While the reporters there were kind and helpful, it was still difficult to figure out what was going on because of my lack of German language skills.  German language classes may teach you how to ask for directions, order a beer or book a hotel, but they don’t teach you newsroom speak.

So I reached out to the German Burns fellows to fill me in on some newsroom language.  With their help, we came up with the following list.  I’m posting it here for future Burns fellows and other non-German speakers who might find themselves lost and confused in German newsrooms.

Special thanks to all of the 2011 Arthur F. Burns fellows who contributed to this list!

 

Key German newsroom phrases:

• “Wir werden ein Interview machen.” = I would like to do an interview (with you).
• “Unter zwei” = off the record
• “Unter drei” = on background
• “ein aktueller Aufhänger” = news peg
• “ein zeitloses thema” – a timeless topic or “green” story that can be held for a later date
• “Wir muessen das Programm oeffnen” or “Wir muessen ins Programm gehen” – old school German for: breaking news!
• “Ich bin kein Praktikant!” = “I am not an intern.”  (Key phrase for Burns fellows who are professional journalists.)
• “Hol dir deinen Kaffee doch selbst! Ich bin kein Praktikant!” = “Go get yourself some coffee! I’m no trainee!”

Phrases for broadcasters:

•  “Anmoderation” or “Anmod” = Lede (for broadcaster).
• “Abmoderation” or “Abmod” = tag or line of copy read by anchor or host after the story
• “Beitrag” or “Stueck” = broadcast story or piece
• “Korri-Gespraech” = a talk to the correspondent.
• “da musste dranbleiben” = stay tuned!
• “weiterdrehen” = to do a broadcast story about the same topic someone has done before, but from a different angle.
• “Der äht so viel” – he talks not fluent, with a lot of “äh, eum, well…”
• “Das versendet sich” = “that debroadcasts,” which are the words you comfort someone who is worried about an error in a (radio) piece.  In plain English, “Don’t worry. Tomorrow nobody gives a f#*k anyway.”

 

 Phrases for newspaper people:

• “Das machen wir auf den Fuss.” = place a piece on the bottom of the page
• “Eckenbrüller” = piece on the top corner of a page
• “Aufmacher” = front page story
• “Anlauf” = lead
• “Hurenkind/Schusterjunge” = if you make a break just before the end of a column so that there’s only one line of text on the top or bottom of that column
• “Die Nachdrehe” = a piece written about the same topic someone has done before but from a different angle. The verb is “nachdrehen”
• ‎”Das machen wir groß!” = do make a story big, put it on the frontpage, etc.
• “Habe ich gern gelesen, aber…” = I don’t like your article.
• ‎”Das druckt doch eh nicht!”  = A (mean) expression to say that you are convinced that a story doesn’t fit to be published.
• “Schmuckbild” = a big picture with little text that is more of a graphic element than a news item. For example: Picture of people sunbathing when yesterday was a hot day and the real lead story is something you can’t illustrate.
• “Das Thema kann man nicht bebildern” = There are no pictures to illustrate that piece of text.

Other phrases you might hear in a German newsroom:

• “Das muessen wir noch ein wenig anspitzen!” = “We have to jazz that up a little”
• “Ich moechte das jetzt nicht abmoderieren, aber…” = “I don’t want to ask you not to write the story, but…”
• “Das Thema haben wir in mehreren Ressorts GESPIELT” = “We’ve had a couple of pieces on that topic in different parts of the newspaper
• ‎”Hast du das auf dem Schirm?” =  “You have that on your screen?” means: “Are you aware that you have to cover that?”  Works also as a reply when someone asks you to cover something: “Keine Sorge, ich hab das auf dem Schirm.” = “Don’t worry.  I have it on my screen.”
• “Der Dreh” – the spin!
• “Das läuft gut” = It’s running.  A quote or result of an investigation which is again quoted by other newspapers, TV, or press-agencies.  Also, “The story is getting a lot of play.”
• “Geh scheissen!” = Used by old school journalists from Austria when you are suggesting a bad story.
• ‎”Der Leser hat kein Archiv” = The reader has no archive, so we can run the story we did last year and the year before again!
• ‎”Locken auf der Glatze drehen” = “twist curls on a bald head,” means to write a lot of yada yada even though you got nothing to write about.  A more rude phrasing for the same thing is “Aus Scheiße Gold machen,” which means to “make gold out of s*#t.”
• “Dies ist nicht ihr Beritt!” = “This is not your beat!”  The term for intruding into some co-worker’s field.  For example, when somebody tries to do a piece on a traffic-issue without asking the guy responsible for traffic beforehand, the traffic-guy might say, “Herr Kollege, dies ist nicht ihr Beritt!”

Tags: Arthur F. Burns, Burns Fellowship, German, Germany, Newsroom