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German expressions that don’t exist in English
- jonnym1ll3r 7y ago"Wehmut" literally: 'The courage in feeling pain'. This is powerful. I feel like this courageous curiosity has been the primary virtue or trait that I've been exploring and aiming to cultivate more than any other during the past couple of years. As a non-German speaker I'd be interested how this relates to melancholy (these to me feel like quite different emotional states).
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- JumpCrisscross 7y ago> I'd be interested how this relates to melancholy Melancholy pertains to one’s internal state. It is a state of being, and one that accepts the circumstances as they are. (It also contains notes of inevitability.) Wehmut is more active. The outcome is evitable. One accepts them, and the pain they will cause, but perseveres, usually towards a brighter outcome. At worst, it’s Sisyphean with an unknown ending.
- steve1977 7y agoThis is not how Wehmut is used in German, sorry. As nice as it sounds. ;)
- JumpCrisscross 7y ago> As nice as it sounds I’ll grant my (Austrian) mother that license, then!
- mrintegrity 7y agoWouldn't this translate quite well as stoicism? "the endurance of pain or hardship without the display of feelings and without complaint."
- JumpCrisscross 7y ago> Wouldn't this translate quite well as stoicism? Stoicism accepts discomfort for its own sake, and the futility in fighting it. Wehmut is less fatalistic. It is about experiencing unavoidable pain in pursuit of a worthy goal.
- steve1977 7y agoAs a native German speaker, I wouldn't translate "mut" in Wehmut as courage. Here it rather is the same as "mood" (and the English word has the same roots). Like in "Anmut", "Dehmut", "Unmut" etc. So Wehmut literally would be something like "woeful mood" and you could use it more or less synonymous with melancholia (or nostalgia for example).
- atoav 7y agoI don’t really think it is 100% synonymous with melancholia, but that’s probably (sadly?) the way it used today. Wehmut is a little bit of a rare and oldfashioned word which got fashionable in the romantic era through (among others) works of Goethe and got modern reuse in the fantastic Donald Duck translations of Erika Fuchs.
- yokaze 7y agoTo my (vague) knowledge, it is an word coined in romanticism to replace the French-rooted word Nostalgie, Schwermut was coined for Melancholie. The movement was fairly nationalistic and was unhappy with the dominance of French in high culture at that time. So they went ahead and coined "German" words were ones with French (or Latin) roots were used. But please check/correct me on that, my memory might be betraying me here. Not even sure about the source...
- lower 7y agoI think it's a mistranslation, though. The "mut" in "wehmut" does not mean courage. Looking up the etymology, the word "wehmut" seems to come from "wehmütig", which literally means something like being in a painful state of mind.
- riedel 7y agoI actually would not read too much into these. The German language builds heavily composed words. To me intuitively they mean mostly just the translation presented in the post and I would rarely reflect about the origin. There might be slight changes in connotation from the English, but I doubt it says all too much about the German using them (at least I can tell that about me when using the word wehmut). Particularly the stem "mut" is much to ubiquitous and mostly meaningless to the speaker these days. Sure it is interesting but one can also dig into the etymology of any other language...
- y4mi 7y agoAccording to Wikipedia, melancholy included the present in it's reflection. I.e. you remember how great that house you grew up in was, and how your current apartment is terrible in comparison Wehmut on the other hand doesn't need a current reflection... Which is much harder to find an example for, which is probably also why it's basically never used irl While the memory is kinda painful, your personal mood doesn't necessarily have to become negative from wehmut either, while it's easy to write like that... Good luck finding a situation in which this applies. I know the definition but really struggled to find an applicable example. Maybe if you're recalling a broken leg some time ago and how hard life was with it? It still feels like we compared it to the present, honestly. We just didn't spell it out.
- hubert1234 7y agoYou say that somebody is wehmütig when he is purposefully trying to be sad and down on him or herself or everybody, so Wehmut is somewhat derogatory. If you tell somebody that they are wehmütig, it means that they are actively being dumb, basically. Melancholy is more like a wistful sadness also considered negative but connected to some tragic event or maybe when thinking about better times in the past a bit too much.
- schappim 7y agoLet’s not forget schadenfreude!
- tacomonstrous 7y agoAh, but it does have an equivalent in English: it's schadenfreude.
- schappim 7y agoOnly because we fairly recently stole it!
- jjgreen 7y agoNot that recently, it's been used italiced and capitalised for a century, only recently it's been properly absorbed by losing those decorations. In contrast, the French absorb foreign words almost instantly, see the verb "liker" (to like on Facebook) for example.
- schappim 7y agoInteresting, when I was a boy, my mother (who was a German Teacher), always used it as an example of one of these great German words without a direct translation. Back then it didn’t seem to be used in popular culture, now I seem to hear it on a weekly basis!
- jjgreen 7y agoI definitely saw it in the English music paper, the New Musical Express, in the late `70s (very Punk at the time), I remember having to look it up ...
- enlyth 7y agoYou mean epicaricacy?
- branko_d 7y agoI'm not even German, but I know this... Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell Awesome YouTube channel, BTW. ;)
- lisper 7y agoLiterally: briefly said
- the_mitsuhiko 7y ago> Kurzgesagt That's not actually a German word. It's two words: "kurz gesagt" which is literally "briefly said".
- usr1106 7y agoCorrect. It's an expression that a considerable amount of Germans would write as a single word. Zusammen oder getrennt, composed or separate is one of the most tricky questions in German orthography.
- ed_balls 7y agoI don't speak German but I use weltschmerz and reisefieber
- a_bonobo 7y agoI've been struggling to find an equivalent for 'overengineered' in German - there's verschlimmbessern, a portmanteu verb of 'verbessern' (improve) and 'schlimm' (bad), it's what you use when you want to improve something but the end-product is worse. However, German tech (to me!) has a overengineering problem, not a verschlimmbessern problem, there's nothing being improved. Just look at modern German cars, impossible to fix yourself, very expensive to have serviced, for no real gain, pure overengineering. Is there a word? (edit: there's an opposite for OP's 'Lebensmut' - 'Lebensmüdigkeit', literally 'tired of being alive', i.e. suicidal)
- lower 7y agoI usually say überkompliziert.
- ahartmetz 7y agoThat is missing the passive-aggressiveness of "overengineered"... which is probably fine.
- mbeex 7y agoI would probably use 'verkompliziert' or even 'kuenstlich verkompliziert' when emphasizing the active role of the responsible person/group. But the english term is good - short, a bit more specific. It is used as a 'Lehnwort' quite often even in german-speaking tech environments.
- larusso 7y agoWhat about “vertüftelt”? “tüfteln” means to tinker around. The word means that you bring something into the state of being tinkered together or is complex.
- itronitron 7y agoIngenieurvergnügen
- deleted 7y ago
- anticensor 7y agoSchweigen, because English people did not reckon when to stop talking.
- dschuetz 7y agoIt is interesting indeed to unwrap the literal meaning of the composite words in German. I don't entirely agree on his proposition of the meaning of 'Stimmung' though. It's not just 'the voice of the situation' but rather "state of adjustment/tuning of emotions towards a situation". For instance when we [Germans] say that the "Stimmung ist getrübt" it means that most people involved have adjusted to a rather dampened mood for a particular situation. They are then not just experiencing it in a bad way, but they are also expressing their mood non-verbally.
- EastLondonCoder 7y agoInterestingly enough the words exists in Swedish as well, spelling is a bit different but the meaning is more or less the same: German -> Swedish Wehmot -> vemod Entwicklung -> utveckling Einsam -> ensam Stimmung -> stämmning Entschuldigen -> ursäkta Aufrichtigkeit -> uppriktighet Lebensmut -> livsmod Ursprung -> ursprung Liebenswürdig -> älskvärd Note that Sinneswandel is missing not sure if there is a direct translation in Swedish
- turboturbo 7y agoSame in Dutch! Weemoed, ontwikkeling, eenzaam, stemming, verontschuldigen, oprechtheid, oorsprong. Some are missing, or at least from my vocabulary. Glad I learned something new today!
- Svip 7y agoIt's the same in Danish, and I'd imagine Norwegian too. And like Swedish, "Sinneswandel" is missing. The Danish for "Ursprung" is »udspring«, which lit. means something more akin to 'out spring', but we do have the »ur-« prefix in Danish, meaning origin/source. So »urskov« would be the 'origin of forest', or jungle, i.e. it is the thing that it is the origin of all that. In the same sense, you could - jokingly - making the word »urvittighed« meaning the 'original joke'. Compound nouns are extremely powerful.
- deaddodo 7y agoI mean, technically you can do this in English as well. English is a Germanic language and compound words are fully legitimate in the language. The following don't exist in the colloquialisms or formal records of the language, but are grammatically correct: Wehmot -> sorecourage Einsam -> onepeace Stimmung -> innervoice Lebensmut -> lifegrit Liebenswürdig -> loveworthy And, despite the author's claims, many do have direct equivalent words in English: Ursprung -> outspring Aufrichtigkeit -> uprightness Entwicklung -> unwrapping Entschuldigen -> unguilt All of which could be used in the manner described in the article. As well as having accurate one-word synonyms: outspring: origin / original uprightness: compunction unwrapping: developing, delving, growth unguilt: unburden The main difference in the languages is that modern English (especially 20th century on) has relied more on loanwords (another compound word) and hyphenations to augment. Love-worthy, for instance: https://www.wordnik.com/words/love-worthy https://www.wordnik.com/words/love-worthy It's hard to count compound words as "words that don't exist in other languages", honestly. Meanwhile, there are perfectly acceptable (compound or not) words that actually give voice to something hard to describe in other languages. Which is a far more interesting (IMHO) concept; such as "schadenfreude" or, going the other way for many languages, "irony".
- smitty1e 7y agoHere's a massively useful term, particularly in the case of watching the news: Fremdschämen See: https://www.leo.org https://www.leo.org for good discussion.
- watt 7y agoI think basically it means "cringe".
- smitty1e 7y agoOh no no no. It's more the embarrassment one feels on behalf of some shameless piece of work who really ought to silence themselves, yet somehow natters on.
- umanwizard 7y agoCringe can mean exactly that in English (although it also has slightly different meanings).
- Hermel 7y agoNo, these expressions exist in English, they just have a slightly different meaning. And in the case of “Entwicklung”, the English pendant “Development” even has the exact same origin: to unwrap or unfold (the opposite of envelope). There certainly are German expressions that do not exist in English, but this list does not do a good job at collecting them. My personal impression is that German makes it easier to express abstract impersonal goals and needs. For example, consider the word “Sachzwang” which translates to “intrinsic necessity” - i.e. something that must be a certain way to satisfy the naturally given constraints. This can for example be used in the wonderful expression: sachzwangreduzierte Ehrlichkeit. (Reduced honesty due to inherent constraints.) Often, English has very elegant and short ways to express something similar, in that case it could simply be “spin”, as in giving an article a political spin. However, while “spin” is something done intentionally by someone (the spin doctor, another nice expression), the German variant is passive and implies that “die Sache” (roughly “the mission”) dictate the doctoring with the truth. This again illustrates what I mean by German tending to more abstract, impersonal goals.
- TillE 7y agoRight, English often does the same thing but disguises it with Latin. This first struck me with "unmittelbar", which is exactly the same as "immediate" except it feels more literal because all the components are German.
- schoen 7y agoAnd quite often it's not even a coincidence. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calque https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calque
- joezydeco 7y agoFunny thing, I see a lot of software development job listings in German that use 'Entwicklung' as a synonym for 'Developer'.
- kaybe 7y ago'Entwickler' (someone or something that does Entwicklung) is the direct translation of 'developer'.
- camillomiller 7y agoAs an Italian living in Germany, and as a lover of the German language, I think this is not a good list. It reads like it was put together to fit the author's approach to coaching. Entwicklung, indeed, is the best example of this. It is exactly the same in English. What's really fun about German: as a non native you can get to a point where you create involuntary neologisms by putting together words you already know. Surprisingly, Germans find it mostly funny and tend to understand well what you mean, suggesting that there's an underlying plasticity to this language, if you're mutig enough to play with it and its admittedly strict Grenzen. I just cant's wrap my head around the rule of writing every substantive with a capital letter though, which I interpret as an annoying need to always circumstantiate a purported objectivity of the perceived reality. With some friends we started coming up with these neologisms on purpose. My favorite one is "Sonnenschuld" or "Wetterschuld", which is that feeling you get in Berlin when you have to work during the summer while the sun is shining outside. You know you're doing the right thing, but at the same time you know you're wasting a precious opportunity to enjoy a rather seldom occurrence.
- distances 7y agoInteresting that you find beautiful days to be a rare occurrence in Berlin. Perhaps because you're coming from Italy? I have the opposite attitude -- summer days are easier to spend inside in Berlin, as the weather is generally very good and there's always another beautiful day coming!
- drpgq 7y agoThe winter months in Berlin can be a bit grim.
- camillomiller 7y agoWhat you describe is making Sonnenschuld worse, because you know you have to take in as much sunny days as possible in the summer, preparing for the depressing gray days of winter!
- terofle 7y ago> I just cant's wrap my head around the rule of writing every substantive with a capital letter though, which I interpret as an annoying need to always circumstantiate a purported objectivity of the perceived reality. I think this rule actually exists to make reading german texts easier. IMO reading german without capitalized nouns is a lot harder, because you don’t recognize nouns on first sight.
- kenmendin 7y agoAlthough German language is full of great words, the expressions from the post exist in other languages, even in my native tongue Turkish, which belongs to a completely different language family. However in Germany these expressions are regularly used on TV,press and literature. They have become and are powerful building blocks of a German speakers thoughts, giving them an advantage to think better.
- limmeau 7y agoSo while we're in the market for "words your language doesn't have" -- any recommendations for Turkish words you haven't seen in other languages?
- kenmendin 7y agoI don't have a list of such expression handy. But there is one specific feature of Turkish language which I find interesting and really smart. Check these words: At, aş, it, us, su, ev, er, te, ot, et, ar, ön, an, in, un, en, Literally translated: horse, food, dog, intelligence, water, house, man/soldier, far, grass, meat, honor, front, moment (time), shelter/cave, flour, most/width, Many important aspects of daily was are words as short as possible and have survived thousand years of change and part of modern Turkish language. There are also a large number of 3 letter words for further important things such as ana (mother), soy (ancestry), boy (length/race), toy (young/unexperienced), and (promise).
- WalterBright 7y agoThey overlooked "hausfrauenpanzer": https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21894468 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21894468
- jfk13 7y ago"Chelsea tractor" is a reasonable equivalent, I think.
- chrisdhoover 7y agoKaren is the US version isn’t it?
- jfk13 7y ago"Chelsea" in this case refers to a wealthy area of London, not a person's name.
- limmeau 7y agoWhile we're proposing useful words, may I humbly suggest two useful adverbs: "fei" (Bavarian): in contrast to what I think you're assuming. "Des is fei da letzte" -- "This is the last one, and I think you thought there would be more". "als" (Allemannic/Suabian): something like "in the default case, which is also frequent".
- drfuchs 7y agoAs an American, I observe that the Brits use “isn’t it” to express something similar to “fei”. Example: “That’s the entrance, isn’t it?” seems to mean “You thought that that is the exit, did you? You’re an idiot.” The closest we Yanks have is the sarcastic “That’s an exit? Yeah, right.”
- selimthegrim 7y agoEnglish uses the Latin pace for the first case
- jasonjei 7y agoDoesn’t every language have such a thing? What makes German more exceptional than English? Or Chinese more exceptional than English? I’m certain there are expressions that don’t exist in every language, and even if you translated them, they might not translate well due to cultural or linguistic issues (try translating Monty Python to Chinese while keeping British wit and hoping your average Chinese viewer understands the context of the humor). This might sound overgeneralized but I think every language has its own qualities. Most languages have evolved out of cultural needs (consider words like “Internet,” “email,” and “texting”). For example, Chinese has a word distinguishing language (e.g 英文, literally English culture) and the language itself (英語, literally English language). Most people in normal parlance would say 英文 over 英語 for English, because the culture is inseparable from the language. That’s why Chinese speakers use -文 for languages over -語, such as 中文、英文、日文、西班牙文. For the example of Entschuldigen or “apologize,” Chinese uses several expressions such as 對不起、抱歉. In the case of 對不起 it literally means the speaker cannot face the recipient, as in loss of face. Or another expression is 「不好意思」; this literally means “poor meaning or intentions.” Its English equivalent is approximately “excuse me.” I’m not trying to put down the value of the article. It’s highly intriguing. I just find the exceptionalism a little off-putting when languages like Japanese have similar constructs.
- bryanrasmussen 7y agoI guess what makes German more exceptional than English is the common wisdom about the languages (common wisdom used here as something not necessarily wise or even insightful but just a commonly understood thing that is maybe not even enunciated very often). The common wisdom has that English is a language that imports new concepts from other languages as needed (which implies that these concepts somehow are not English for having been imported), and the common wisdom of German is that they have a word for that slightly messed up concept you just came up with in it, also the habit of German of creating compounds gives the impression of a language in which every concept can be found because there is a word compounded of other words to describe it. Both of these are illustrated by the importation of the word schadenfreude.
- umanwizard 7y ago
- deanjones 7y agoAlternative title: "One language that has different close compounding rules than another language has different compound nouns than that other language". Auf Deutsch: Verscheidenzusammengesetztesgebotesprachen haben verscheide zusammengesetztes Substantive.
- allendoerfer 7y agoTo the non-native speakers: "Verscheidenzusammengesetztesgebotesprachen" looks long and German, but is not a German word. Maybe its parts were auto-corrected.
- deanjones 7y agoAs that great Germanic comedian Mr Arnold Schwarzenegger might have said: "And here are the jokes ..." :-)
- allendoerfer 7y agoAnd I am sitting here, thinking you actually wanted to say, "verschiedene Substantivzusammensetzungsrechtschreibverordnungen" lead to "verschieden zusammengesetzte Substantive", while you were just making jokes. Silly me :-)
- deanjones 7y agoYes.
- coldtea 7y ago>Alternative title: "One language that has different close compounding rules than another language has different compound nouns than that other language". And different cultural and historical sensibilities expressed in those compound nouns - which is the main point of the article one would assume, not the mechanics...
- deanjones 7y ago
- skytreader 7y agoMe: Moved to Hamburg this year, has 320 days on Duolingo and finished an actual beginner's German course so far. I can only partially agree to the statements made in this thread about the quality of this list but I've been fascinated with German words that have no English counterparts, at least not completely. My favorite one so far is "Waldeinsamkeit"--literally "forest soltitude" but the translation does not capture the "calm, contemplative atmosphere amidst a beautiful setting"[1]. Before moving to Hamburg I used to camp a handful of times a year for stargazing and I _feel_ that I understand this concept somehow. On a more "Auslander" observation: when I moved in to Hamburg I was struck by how early the city sleeps, how dark the streets are at night. Sure there are streetlights[2] but for the second largest city in a European hub such as Germany, they might as well be lighting a residential village! For my connotation of a metropolitan area, Hamburg at night just ain't cutting it. Until, I learned about "Waldeinsamkeit". Again this is probably just the Auslander talking but I have since thought that Waldeinsamkeit is the philosophy behind Hamburg's urban design. They may have urbanized for 20th century living but, if I may be poetic, they still want that beautiful serenity of darkness. [1] https://blogs.transparent.com/german/untranslatable-german-words-waldeinsamkeit/ https://blogs.transparent.com/german/untranslatable-german-w... [2] though there are nooks and crannies in Hamburg that are notably really dark, sometimes only lighted by the apartments along the street.
- lispm 7y agoHamburg has a Lichtkonzept: https://www.hamburg.de/contentblob/3486350/1bb71bada5b28628153614cb0f23107d/data/download-lichtkonzept.pdf https://www.hamburg.de/contentblob/3486350/1bb71bada5b286281...
- skytreader 7y agoMy German is not at this level yet but this is fascinating to learn. Thanks for linking this!
- jablan 7y agoFellow Hamburg immigrant here. I admire your optimism and the will to perceive an intention behind the darkness (which was also one of my first impressions of Hamburg). Unfortunately, I don't see it that way, but more as general unfriendliness of the city towards a random individual. Other things in the same vain that I noticed (coming from the Balkans, if important) are: very few overhangs that the buildings offer as means of shade from the rain - often there is no place for a pedestrian to shelter from the rain, which is absurd with amount of wet days Hamburg has. Another thing that irks me is the lack of public water taps. Such a basic and affordable civilization achievement - and yet not a single one in a 2M city. Of course, I adore and enjoy the city, these are just few things that I can't really understand.
- goto11 7y agoIt is funny to the see exoticization of the German language, even though German is so close to English. I think the author confuses etymology with meaning, and then uses wrong etymologies (e.g. translating "mut" to "courage" rather then the literal "mood") to arrive at some amazing "wisdom" in German. Some of the words are exactly the same meaning as the English counterpart, e.g. develop also means to unwrap. It just have a French origin rather than a Germanic. I think English is really the odd language here. Because so many English words are loanwords from French or Latin, their origin or etymology is not as apparent to English speakers. (And of course the article sprinkles a bit of irrelevant neurobabble.)
- deng 7y agoThese are good examples of what linguists call a "Volksetymologie", meaning a usually wrong derivation of words which are no longer correctly understood or have changed meaning. A popular example is when a German newspaper did one of those stupid surveys for the "most beautiful German word", and the winner was "Habseligkeiten". The cited reason was because it combines "Haben" (to have) with "Selig" ("blessed"), the profane with the heavenly, but the real etymology is actually different. As is already mentioned here, the "-mut" in Wehmut does not mean "courage" but is actually identical to the English "mood". I would also highly doubt his interpretation of "Einsam". The suffix "-sam" usually means simply to having something. "Liebenswürdig" is difficult, because "Liebe" means many things (from simply "friendly" to modern romantic "love"), and "-würdig" is more in terms of being adequate or appropriate. When you say "Er ist sehr liebenswürdig", this does not mean that HE is worthy of love, but simply that he is a friendly person, meaning he knows how to treat people properly. As was also already mentioned here, "Entwicklung" and "development" are literally the same, and the same goes for "Ursprung" and "origin". There is also the simple fact that German allows for building compositions, so what would be considered an expression in English can be one word in German (like "Sinneswandel" for "change of mind"). But this does not mean that it "does not exist". As a German, the word I'm really missing when speaking English is the simple word "doch", which more or less means "No, but yeah". If you've ever watched German kids in a "Nein! Doch!" match, you know how powerful that simple word is. I think there was actually an article here some time ago that English used to have this with "Yay" and "Nay" in addition to "Yes" and "No", but that this got lost. Of course German is not unique in having "doch", most other roman languages have it as well (the French have "Si", which in Italy is the normal "Yes"). EDIT: Found the article: https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/what-part-of-no-totally-dont-you-understand?verso=true https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/what-part-of-no-...
- memling 7y ago> As a German, the word I'm really missing when speaking English is the simple word "doch", which more or less means "No, but yeah". As a college student I lived with a few German speakers. I felt like I had "arrived" with the language during an exchange in which I said, "Ich kann nicht Deutsch" and the native speaker said, "Doch." Of course the nuances are a bit more complex than that, and English (it feels to me) uses intonation and inflection more than particles to communicate meaning.
- habet 7y ago"Entschuldigen" is a pretty fascinating verb, but not for the author's reasons. It literally means to remove guilt from someone (not specifically from oneself as the author states) and is kind of equivalent to "forgive". Commonly it is misused in German: people say "ich entschuldige mich", literally meaning they're removing their own guilt from theirselves and thus forgiving theirselves, which is kind of impossible and not what's actually meant. The right phrase would be "um Entschuldigung bitten" (to ask to be excused) which actually is rarely used.
- tom_mellior 7y ago> The right phrase would be The right phrase, depending on your religion, is what people use in practice (descriptivism), or what's listed in dictionary (prescriptivism). In this case, the two happen to agree: https://www.duden.de/rechtschreibung/entschuldigen https://www.duden.de/rechtschreibung/entschuldigen "jemanden wegen eines falschen Verhaltens o. Ä. um Verständnis, Nachsicht, Verzeihung bitten", example: "sich förmlich, in aller Form entschuldigen" I understand where you're coming from, but the ship has sailed. The word means what it means now, even if a literal historical reading indicates that it might have meant something else at some point.
- superhuzza 7y agoAufrichtigkeit – Sincerity/Honesty. Literally: To be in an upright posture This sounds pretty similar to 'having a spine'. Its normally used for courage or sticking up for your beliefs.
- gherkinnn 7y agoHaving a spine = Rückgrat haben Pretty much the same. Though I’d use it in the face of adversity, whereas “aufrichtig” is more of a muted, constant state of being. Like sincerity, with a visceral touch.
- raxxorrax 7y agoThere is the expression of "Rückgrat haben" which would probably be the direct translation to "having a spine". I would say the meaning is nearly equivalent. If someone has a spine he is someone who stands by his convictions (maybe implying the presence of external animosity). Someone who is "aufrichtig" is "just" honest about his convictions.
- jfk13 7y agoWe can simply use "uprightness" for exactly that meaning in English, too. Or "rectitude".
- gherkinnn 7y agoGlück. All this talk about long compound words, when German gives the word Glück. It can mean luck, joy, bliss, though it is so much more than the sum of its possible translations. Hermann Hesse wrote a beautiful essay on this. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7rLsb3w8ZaM https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7rLsb3w8ZaM
- cryptica 7y agoOne key aspect of the English language is that the meaning of any word can vary slightly in interpretation from person to person. Could breaking down complex feelings into concrete components mislead the individual into thinking that they're processing emotions in the exact same way as their neighbors? Or is it self-fulfilling, that the language shapes the emotion? In any case, I think all these compound words definitely make learning German easier. It encourages one to adopt the mindset.
- LeonW 7y agoAnother word someone brought up is "Geborgenheit", which translates to comfort or security. Briefly researching the origin it, it seems to come from the terminology around "Burg" (castle), and the feeling of safety and comfort we feel when we're inside one. In my understanding it also has a considerable amount of warmth next to the sense of safety and comfort. Overall, definitely one of my favorite words that I think belongs on this list too!
- deng 7y agoIt comes from "bergen", meaning "in Sicherheit bringen" (to shelter), as in "ein Schiff bergen", "wir verbargen uns im Schrank". From this stem nouns like "Herberge" and also "Geborgenheit". However, it seems the word "Burg" simply comes from "Berg" (mountain). Of course I don't know this by heart, I recommend looking this up in https://www.dwds.de Careful, you can easily spend hours there...
- kenmendin 7y agoGeborgenheit: I always think this is a how a kid feels while sleeping on a couch under a blanket along with loving parents at a warm home while it is snowing outside.
- LeonW 7y agoI love this, realizing that we each have our own description and meaning of the word stored in the memories we lived. Thanks for sharing!
- kieckerjan 7y agoOn a lighter note, one of my favorite German words is "Warmduscher", literally "someone who takes hot showers", aka a wimp or a candy-ass. Be aware that by using it you imply that you yourself only take cold showers and you may get called out on that. (Of course I take cold showers so I feel no compunction about using this word.)
- ulfw 7y agoI hate that word. Signs of a machismo culture to imply only "real men" take "cold showers"
- donjoe 7y agoMy favourite German expression which doesn't exist in English is still "Ohrwurm". It refers to a catchy song/tune stuck in someone's mind [1]. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earworm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earworm
- sagichmal 7y agoYou linked to the literal English translation of it, which definitely exists?
- chmod775 7y agoThe article also mentions it's a calque which emerged only recently. So... 'yeah' to both of you.
- pseudalopex 7y agoThe article suggests it isn't much older in German.
- hapless 7y agoMost of these have close English equivalents, but as a second language learner, the author does not have a large enough vocabulary to summon them easily. Learning a second language is not the same experience as being a native speaker. Having grown up without German in my life, I will never have the eloquence or depth of vocabulary in German that I do in English. That's OK. It is the nature of the human animal. Knowing my limitations, I would be reluctant to write an article about "English expressions that do not exist in German"
- sajithdilshan 7y agoI guess there are really better examples than this. One I've learened recently is Torschlusspanik (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torschlusspanik https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torschlusspanik)
- cafard 7y agoFlorence King once wrote that the word "Kinderfeindlichkeit" (dislike of children) could not have an English equivalent, and was one reason she'd like to live in Germany.
- umanwizard 7y agoHow can it not have an English equivalent, when you literally wrote the English equivalent right after it?
- koonsolo 7y agoIn Dutch we use more or less the same words, but for me the top word is "wetenschap" (which is probably similar in German). Literally translated it's "knowledgeship", which would be a better word for science. You can believe things, and you can know things. Science is knowing things, and what better word to describe that than "knowledgeship"?
- namibj 7y agoIt's Wissenschaft.
- LargoLasskhyfv 7y agoFahrvergnügen
- LargoLasskhyfv 7y agoStadtneurotiker