German and Slovene language relations and intercultural linguistics: international words

Abstract

In the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages international words are defined as a very important element of the linguistic and communicative competence of  multilingual speakers. The article deals with international words in German and Slovene, two languages which were for centuries  in close contact, since the Slovene ethnic territory was under a strong  influence of German for geographical, cultural and political reasons.

The author discusses selected pairs of international words (some of which are false friends), whose characteristics can be explained by taking into account the contact between German and Slovene.