{"id":11684,"date":"2020-07-23T14:35:00","date_gmt":"2020-07-23T14:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/?p=11684"},"modified":"2020-07-23T14:35:00","modified_gmt":"2020-07-23T14:35:00","slug":"the-curiosity-of-the-word-homeoffice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/the-curiosity-of-the-word-homeoffice\/","title":{"rendered":"The Curiosity of the Word “Homeoffice”"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s quarantine time, and so many people are working from home. So you set up your regular office at home – you built yourself a home office! In German, we normally call our office a\u00a0B\u00fcro\u00a0<\/em>or\u00a0Schreibtisch\u00a0<\/em>(literally “writing table”). But when working from home, it’s not a\u00a0Heimb\u00fcro<\/em>, but curiously, a “Homeoffice”. And even if you don’t have an office in your home at all and you just get your work done relaxing on your couch, Germans still call it\u00a0Homeoffice<\/em>. How did this seemingly English term creep into the German language? Let’s explore.<\/p>\n

Ich arbeite im Homeoffice<\/strong><\/em><\/h2>\n
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Image by Luke Peters at Unsplash.com<\/p><\/div>\n

In English, you would say “I am working from home” and occasionally that you have a “home office”. However, in German, it is quite common now to say\u00a0Ich arbeite im Homeoffice\u00a0<\/em>(“I am working in the home office”) or even Ich mache Homeoffice\u00a0<\/em>(“I do home office”). The Duden gives das <\/em>Homeoffice, das <\/em>Home-Office<\/em> as the only correct ways to write the word, though sometimes you might also see it written as two words (Home Office<\/em>). Especially to a Brit, this may all sound weird, as in the UK the “Home Office” is a government department.<\/p>\n

In German, you could also say Ich arbeite von Zuhause <\/em>(I am working from home), but Ich mache Homeoffice<\/em> is easier to say. Another term that more officially refers to the\u00a0Homeoffice\u00a0<\/em>is\u00a0Telearbeit\u00a0<\/em>(“telework”). Here’s how we pronounce it in German:<\/p>\n

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