Linguistic characteristics of the German letter of recommendation (diachronic aspect)

Popova Larisa Georgievna ORCID: 0000-0001-5721-9378 Doctor of Philology Professor of the Department of Germanistics and Linguodidactics, Institute of Foreign Languages, Moscow City Pedagogical University 105064, Russia, g. Moscow, ul. Malyi Kazennyi Per., 5B, of. 511 larageorg5@gmail.com Other publications by this author     Shatilova Lyubov' Mikhailovna ORCID: 0000-0001-6250-0957 Doctor of Philology Professor, the department of Germanic Studies and Linguodidactics, Moscow City Pedagogical University 142611, Russia, Moscow, st. Maly Kazenny Lane, 5 B shatilova-79@mail.ru Other publications by this author     Khukhuni Georgii Teimurazovich ORCID: 0000-0002-7423-5393 Doctor of Philology Professor, Department of Language Theory, English and Applied Linguistics, State Educational Institution of Higher Education of the Moscow Region "Moscow State Regional University" 141014, Russia, g. Mytishchi, ul. Ul. Very Voloshinoi, 24 khukhuni@mail.ru

Krasnikova Anastasiya Dmitrievna Master's degree, Department , Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Education "Russian State University for the Humanities" 125047, Russia, g. Moscow, ul. Miusskaya Ploshchad', 6 nastasy-98@mail.ru

In the fields of science, culture, office work, in political spheres, as well as in the media, the language finds its application in different ways. Each sphere implies the use of a certain type of language and knowledge of the features of business communication, a distinctive number of language levels, such as lexical, syntactic and grammatical. The topic of business communication acquires particular importance at the linguistic level ^[6]. The problems of intercultural communication and business etiquette have been studied for a long time ^{[4, 5, 9, 11, 13]}. However, interest in this topic of official business style in other cultures is growing, modern society is changing along with the linguistic and genre component. A letter of recommendation as a speech genre belongs to the sphere of business communication ^[2]. At this level, the genre discourse "letter of recommendation" in Germany becomes the most interesting and relevant topic in the peculiarities of German business writing, communication and expression of the mentality of the German people.

The relevance of this work lies in the fact that letters of recommendation have been around for a long time and are an integral part of the business sphere in Germany. Given the lack of workbooks in Germany, providing a letter of recommendation for consideration by a potential employer is a prerequisite. This speech genre requires detailed attention and consideration from the point of view of linguistic and structural features.

The object of research is the speech genre "recommendation letter". The subject of the study are structural and substantive features, types of letters of recommendation.

The purpose of this work is to consider the types and features of letters of recommendation in the German language in a diachronic aspect.

The scientific novelty of the study lies in the fact that for the first time the types and linguistic characteristics of the German-language recommendation letter are studied from the standpoint of diachrony. The research material was a German website containing archives of old letters of recommendation: Arbeitszeugnis-forum.de.

There are several types of letters of recommendation in Germany ^{[14, 16]}.  The first is a simple letter of recommendation (Einfaches Zeugnis). Simple evidence only confirms the nature of the employment relationship and its duration. They do not include characteristics about the effectiveness and leadership qualities of the employee. As a rule, the first and last name of the employee must be indicated; the address and date of birth in the certificates are recorded only with the consent of the employee. The nature of the work should be described in full and accurate so that a third party can get an idea of the employee. General information is not enough if the employee was carrying out special assignments. As employment, the legal duration of the employment relationship is indicated until the employee is dismissed or leaves. A simple certificate does not specify short breaks such as vacation, illness, etc. 

The second type is a qualified letter of recommendation (Qualifiziertes Zeugnis). It contains information about the nature and duration of the employment relationship, about the leadership qualities and effectiveness of the employee. Leadership and effectiveness should be evaluated throughout the entire period of the employment relationship. The employee has the right to choose whether to receive a simple or qualified certificate. If a qualified certificate was issued in accordance with the employee's requirement, then he will no longer be able to request a simple certificate. Conversely, when obtaining a simple certificate, it will not be possible to require a qualified one. 

As a rule, an "advanced", that is, a qualified certificate, is preferred. If the question is about confirming the previous place of work, then minimal information is sufficient and a qualified certificate is not required. But since a simple certificate meets only the minimum requirements, it is not suitable for all purposes and, therefore, has the character of a certificate or certificate, not a certificate. A simple certificate looks like this:

“ Herr Hans Meister, geboren am 11. November 1969, ist seit 1. Juli 1999 als Bote und Fahrer bei uns besch?ftigt. Seine Aufgaben sind im wesentlichen das Verteilen der Post und Kurier- und Botendienste mit dem PKW. In der Urlaubszeit hat er auch Dienst als Pf?rtner gemacht. Herr Meister verl?sst heute das Unternehmen auf eigenen Wunsch. Wir danken ihm f?r seine Mitarbeit und w?nschen ihm f?r seine Zukunft alles Gute” ^[8].  

That is, based on the example, we can note the following: if this employee needed a qualified certificate, it would be expanded and would include leadership qualities, work efficiency and achievements. Leadership is understood as social behavior or according to Section 109 of the Industrial Code "behavior in labor relations". Efficiency means not only the performance of work and its result, but also professional and social competence. Managers, in addition, should evaluate managerial skills, leadership qualities.

The third type of recommendation letters is an intermediate certificate (Zwischenzeugnis). The intermediate certificate corresponds in content to the final final certificate. The only difference is that the employment relationship continues to exist. For example, an employee may have a special legitimate interest in obtaining an interim certificate when transferring to another position, during professional development, or when changing a manager. The employer is prohibited from deviating from his assessment in the interim certificate when drawing up the final certificate, if after drawing up the interim certificate there were no circumstances that could affect the assessment. 

There are some details that are important to know. For example, a certificate issued by an employment agency is not a certificate from the place of work. In principle, every employee has the right to receive a certificate. Even part-time workers or part-time workers may require a certificate from their place of work. According to Section109 of the Industrial Code, employees may be eligible for a certificate, even if the employment relationship was short ^[12]. However, this does not apply to a qualified work certificate. It is issued only if the work has been going on for a certain period of time.

Since the HR manager usually receives a large number of applications with the same or similar qualifications, a certificate from the place of work is regularly used as a decisive criterion for choosing a suitable candidate. The certificate of employment is also the only document that allows the manager to assess the operational behavior of the candidate ^[10].  

But the actual problem is that many do not even receive an invitation to an interview, despite their, from the first unprofessional glance, a friendly letter of recommendation.  HR managers still use typical suggestions to positively evaluate employees, but they actually hide negative things behind them. However, anyone who knows the special secret language of employers will be warned about the quality of this candidate's work. Bad reviews can lead to the fact that the further path of the employee will be significantly difficult, and he will be unemployed for a long time. For this reason, the method of issuing certificates is becoming increasingly important, workers often complain about the labor certificates provided to them and declare their alleged claims to correct the certificate even before the workers' courts ^[15].

As a rule, a letter of recommendation must comply with the principles of truth and goodwill, as legally established. That is, the tasks of the employee must be described correctly, the assessment of efficiency and the assessment of social behavior must be correct, but positive. And according to §109 paragraph 2 of the Industrial Code, employees have the right to a voluntarily formulated certificate of employment ^[12]. Back in 1963, the Federal Labor Court ruled that employees were entitled to this legal requirement, so they would no longer be hindered from finding a new job.

If there are errors in the job description, they are easy to fix, because it is easy to prove that the employee really did his job. A more complex and frequent subject of dispute is the assessment of work and the assessment of social behavior of an employee. Employees have the right to demand adjustments from the employer, and he is obliged to correct incorrect information. But what does an error mean when it comes to a high subjective assessment; in many professions, the result of work and its quality do not lend themselves to an objective assessment. It is this question that often causes controversy. For example, when an employee believes that he earned 1 or 2 as an assessment, but the employer believes that 3 is enough ^[15].  

In November 2014, the Federal Labor Court (BAG) ruled that employees should be satisfied with a positive rating, but cannot ask for a good or very good rating ^[15].   

Therefore, it should be noted that a qualified labor certificate with an assessment of the employee's productivity, efficiency and behavior plays a crucial role for his future career, because letters of recommendation are the only proof of the employee's achievements in past labor relations. The importance of letters of recommendation increases depending on the requirements for work and for the labor certificate.

Unique working certificates from 1800 show how the current positive ratings were used 220 years ago. Letters of recommendation of that time are only positive evaluation. However, these letters are a clear example of how the language of labor certificates has changed, replenished over the years with various characteristics and evaluation criteria. There is no general structure of letters, as it began to develop only towards the end of the 20th century. 

The employee's letter of recommendation from 1803, rather, can be attributed to a simple letter of recommendation. It specifies the minimum supporting information, namely: the identification of the employee, his first and last name, place of residence, years of service and a recommendation from the employer about honest and satisfying service.

«… dieses Herr Johann David Bartenstein aus K?nigsberg Sich ?ber seine Lehrzeit nemlich von Primo Aug 1802 bis medio January 1803 als Commis in meiner Tuch und Schnitthandlung sich aufgehalten und w?hrend dieser Zeit sich redlich, tre? und rechtschaffen betragen, mithin seiner Dienste wegen vollkommen zufrieden gewesen bin» ^[7].

The letter also presents interesting lexical and spelling features of that time. For example, the employee in this letter is Commis. According to the Duden dictionary, this word came from the French language, whose use is obsolete. Or, for example, the employer is completely satisfied with the employee's service, the German word "Dienst" in the 21st century is used, rather, in the context of someone's provided services, service or in the context of military service. The German word "Arbeit" is used to denote work, hence the modern name of letters of recommendation or, in another way, recommendations from a previous place of work – "Arbeitszeugniss".

In the recommendation letter of the brewer from 1868, the identification of the employee is also observed (Herr Georg Henzaus Betzenweiler war vom 16. Novbr. 1865. Bis heute als Braumeisterin meinen Diensten). Based on this letter, it can be noted that since the beginning of the 1800s, a simple letter of recommendation has expanded: it was filled with thanks and wishes for the future.

«Ich gebe ihm daher gerne das Zeugniss meiner vollsten Zufriedenheit und w?nsche ihm zu seinem ferneren Fortkommen alles Gl?ck» ^[7].

Until 1900, work certificates were written by the employer personally by hand; according to the history of the creation of typewriters, until 1877 typewriters were not relevant because of the high cost, therefore, they acquired a higher demand in the early 1900s. In addition to the employee's data and personal qualities, the recommendation for the 20th century is supplemented with positive characteristics and contains the employee's attitude to work and his merits in additional work. It is these characteristics that are emphasized by the particularly important words ganz besonders, thereby emphasizing the value of the employee:

«Ganz besonders verdient seine zielbewusste und energische Arbeit bei den Abschlussarbeiten und dem Einbringen der Aussenst?nde lobend erw?hnt zu werden».

Letter of recommendation from the warehouse manager, 1945:

«Herr [NAME], geb. am [DATUM] in Stettin, war in der Zeit vom 1. Oktober 1943 bis 19. August 1944 bei unserer Aussenstelle Frankreich als Lagerverwalter in Paris besch?ftigt. Herrn [NAME] wurde die kaufm?nnische und technische Leitung eines grossen franz?sischen Mineral?l-Tanklagers ?bertragen. Er hatte w?hrend seiner T?tigkeit rd. 200 franz?sische Arbeiter und Angestellte zu betreuen. Herr [NAME] hat mit Fleiss und Interesse seinen Posten zu unserer vollsten Zufriedenheit ausgef?llt. Wir k?nnen ihm best?tigen, dass er in der Lage ist, selbst?ndig und gewissenhaft zu arbeiten.

Wir w?nschen ihm f?r sein ferneres Leben alles Gute und empfehlen ihn jeder Firma als brauchbaren Mitarbeiter» ^[7].

This letter can be attributed to a qualified certificate, since it contains: information about the nature and duration of the employment relationship, details the duties that the employee performed; leadership qualities and efficiency of the employee are indicated, gratitude and wishes for the future are expressed.

There is the use of superlatives, which indicates that the employee was really a professional in his field and the employer was satisfied

«Herr *** hat mit Fleiss und Interesse seinen Posten zu unserer vollsten Zufriedenheit ausgef?llt» ^[7].

Thus, letters of recommendation of the 20th century are gradually expanding, acquiring a special clearer structure, similar to letters of the 21st century. Employers are starting to use a lot of adjectives, superlatives, to focus on the merits of the employee. However, the secret language in the letters of recommendation of the 18th-20th century was not discovered, which allows us to conclude that secret codes did not exist yet. Labor characteristics before 1970 are replenished only with positive characteristics.

Since simple letters of recommendation carry minimal information, the secret language of employers cannot prevail in them. Qualified writing is becoming increasingly in demand and developed at the beginning of the 20th century, which subsequently affects the creation of a special secret language of labor certificates. It is advisable to turn to the quantitative calculation of the simple and qualified certificates used, starting from 1850 and ending in 1950. Quantitative calculation showed the following results, which can be presented in the form of diagrams:

Figure 1

Figure 2

A review of the German archives showed the demand for simple letters from the mid-19th century to the mid-20th century, which are on a par with qualified letters, as well as a sharp increase in demand for qualified certificates after 1951. 

From this we can conclude that in the 19th century, a simple certificate confirming information about the previous place of work was enough for employees. Qualified letters are only gaining popularity and, although they do not yet have a clear structure in the 19th century, the characteristics are gradually replenished and gaining demand. Since the middle of the 20th century, a simple letter of recommendation has become less relevant, and employees want to receive a full qualified letter with a detailed description of merits and qualities. This allows a qualified labor certificate to acquire a clear structure of characteristics. Subsequently, this has an impact on the creation of a special secret language of employers at the end of the 20th century.