Bubble tea - why some things should not be translated

In Germany, bubble tea really got popular these days. So I bought some to try it. Cold drink for hot summers - nice! The only thing that worried me a bit were the anime-styled crabs on the cup which were just way too cute for a guy. It made me feel like a teenage girl.

This stuff is really called “Bubble Tea” here, and as you can easily see: that does not sound very German!
There are many words in German which we simply don’t translate. The English words are often kept. This sometimes has the effect of sounding more modern, “cooler” or… well… at least less crappy.

There simply are some things that better remain in their original language. “Bubble Tea” is one of those words too. While the English name sounds trendy and modern, directly translating it into “Blasentee” makes it sound very… popular for the generation 70+. Blasentee is a word that already exists and which people use that have a troubling bladder. Since “Blase” can mean “bubble” and “bladder” alike this is a coincidence that might… go along with marketing problems.

Modern things or technical devices are usually not being translated. A laptop is still a Laptop in German for example (except for the capitalization part).

There’s a crazy habit in Germany which is… translating English words... into English.
So how does that work? It’s actually pretty easy: You take an English word and then you change it into another English word. So… in Germany a mobile or cellphone is a “Handy”. Most Germans don’t even know that this is the germanized version of this word. Even less people know that what is called a “Beamer” in Germany is actually a “projector” in "real" English. So in case some German people are using these words… now you know what they're talking about.

I’m not sure about the reasons for these changes so I can only guess. When saying "Projektor" most Germans are usually talking about slide projectors or maybe overhead projectors. Those things are not really modern and "beamer" just sounds really fancy for German ears. So the name was probably changed for marketing reasons.

There are also words which are being used in English although they're originally German. Doppelgänger is one example for such a loan word. Looks really familiar, right? Well... except for the Umlaut.

So be careful with what you order in Germany and don't try to translate every word you know. Otherwise you might end up drinking the wrong kind of "bubble tea"... or worse.