The significance of words: Why Choosing the Right Article Matters

Words have an impactful meaning and choosing the wrong ones can completely transform the meaning of sentences. It is therefore imperative that we are aware and conscious of the weight words carry and the ways in which we use them.  

Our partner in Belgium, European Union of Jewish Students (EUJS) sent a complaint letter to media outlet Doorbraak following their publication on May 11th, 2024, titled ‘German Christian Democrats want to regain power: ‘Our politics are opposite of what Greens are doing’.  Doorbraak is a popular media outlet covering the Flemish speaking region in Belgium and serving the broader centre-right public.  

The article itself contained a misquote of a well-known CDU politician that significantly altered the meaning of the sentence. The false quote in the article read, “Der Islam, der unsere Werte nicht teilt und unsere freiheitliche Gesellschaft ablehnt, gehört nicht zu Deutschland.” However, this is a factually incorrent representation of the politician's words. The original statement was: “Ein Islam, der unsere Werte nicht teilt und unsere freiheitliche Gesellschaft ablehnt, gehört nicht zu Deutschland.” 'Der' has been replaced by 'Ein'.  

It may seem like a small change in the article, but this misquotation has significant implications for the interpretation and meaning of the statement. Using the wrong indefinite article ‘Ein’ (a) implies a conditional clause, suggesting that some forms of Islam share our values whilst others do not. However, on the other hand by changing the article to use a definitive form ‘Der’ (the), a relative clause is implied, suggesting that not sharing our values and rejecting our society is an inherent characteristic of Islam.  

Misquotation quote 

The quote in German according to Doorbraak publication read as: “Der Islam, der unsere Werte nicht teilt und unsere freiheitliche Gesellschaft ablehnt, gehört nicht zu Deutschland” when in reality the original quote stood as: “Ein Islam, der unsere Werte nicht teilt und unsere freiheitliche Gesellschaft ablehnt, gehört nicht zu Deutschland” 

The significance of the wrong usage of the clause ‘one’ and ‘the’ is great. Politicians are respected public figures who appeal to an audience. The stakes are high when translations go awry. The relative clause ‘der’ would be translated into Islam that does not share our values and rejects our liberal society, does not belong in Germany. The original conditional clause: a (version of) Islam that does not share our values and rejects our liberal society does not belong to Germany / If a version of Islam does not share our values and rejects our liberal society, it does not belong to Germany, has a completely different meaning. 

Regardless of personal opinions, misquotations are serious as they can completely alter the meaning of a sentence. Doorbraak has the responsibility to ensure precision as a source of news and information to the public. One of the key components of professional journalism is accuracy, which is essential to credibility. Therefore, our Belgian partner noted this importance and asked the journalists at Doorbraak to correct the misquotation and communicate the correction through their social media channels to acknowledge the error and rectify it.   

We found them willing to change the article in response to our complaint, which is the course of action we adhere to and therefore appreciate. Nevertheless, it proves the importance of monitoring traditional media for mistakes with great repercussions.