German B Extended Essay

[Dasza]

Hi, I'm really stuck with my EE and would appreciate any help.

My first idea was to write about Anglicisms in German language, than I thought about the influence of Arabic culture on German language, as it would be more actual. So my first question is whether this topics are suitable for the EE and which one would be better? ( I personally find the second one more interesting, but also more difficult, as I don't now anything about Arabic language)

The second thing is how to narrow the topic. I thought about narrowing it to a certain age group and maybe do a questionnaire about using different slang words (but still I'm not sure how this should look like). My second idea was to focus on a certain text type, as for example analyzing the slang used in Internet forums in case of English and maybe song lyrics in case of Arabic. Is this something I can use in my EE?

And finally I failed to find any useful literature to this topics, so if anyone could advise anything I would be grateful.

[Samster]

Wow, gold star for you for doing your EE in German B! (I take German B as well and I reckon I'd find it very difficult to do an EE in it)

Here are my thoughts on the two choices (though they may not be of any use)

ANGLICISMS IN GERMAN LANGUAGE

• It's true that more and more Anglicisms are apparent in the English language (speaking from my own personal experience as I took part in an exchange in Nuremberg last year). So perhaps if you want to narrow your topic you could talk about a particular generation (I think German teenagers would be a good one) or a particular industry
• One article worth reading: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/mar/14/german-language-anglicisms-challenge

ARABIC CULTURE ON GERMAN LANGUAGE

• We visited this topic really briefly in class but I still don't know too much about it.
• One of the articles we read in class was: http://www.dw.de/germanys-arabs-struggle-to-fit-in/a-1682563
• I can't think of how it would influence the German language, though one film you could use to show influence of Arabic culture on German culture (not language) is "Angst Essen Seele Auf", a 1970s film directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder. Though it's quite difficult to find this on DVD or on Video, you can find it on youtube
• Perhaps narrow it down to a certain time period (e.g. a significant decade or a particular region of Germany)

Sorry I couldn't be any more help.

Edited September 1, 2013 by Samster

[Blackcurrant]

I see that Samster has already given good advice. I would just add that when selecting a certain group or generation, you must have good reasons for this choice, with respect to your research subject (sociocultural issues in language) and be able to justify/explain why your research topic is worthy of investigation.

Your choice of topic should clearly provide an opportunity to "develop an argument and to demonstrate critical analysis and personal judgment " rather than just knowledge. Which means, avoid topics or topic formulations that are merely descriptive or narrative (or encourage this approach-- which is why your topic formulation is crucial ), or that only summarize secondary sources.

Good luck with identifying an aspect!