"...in German they feel somewhat optional - ä, ö and ü can be replaced with ae, oe and ue respectively" At least in German you've got those options. For instan

"...in German they feel somewhat optional - ä, ö and ü can be replaced with ae, oe and ue respectively" At least in German you've got those options. For instance, Gärtner becomes Gaertner without any loss of information. That cannot be said for English when the only (usual) option is to change the word to Gartner.