Lübke English

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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."