I find it nicely clear in German. If you wrong someone, you're loading guilt unto yourself ("mit Schuld beladen"). You'll then ask to be forgiven ("um Entschuld

I find it nicely clear in German. If you wrong someone, you're loading guilt unto yourself ("mit Schuld beladen"). You'll then ask to be forgiven ("um Entschuldigung bitten" is "asking to be relieved of the guilt"), and the other party can lift the guilt ("entschuldigen"). You can also say "ich entschuldige mich", which skips that step and is essentially "I absolve myself". While it's common in colloquial German to use the one-step-absolution and skip over the possibility of the other party not absolving you, it's also often considered rude when it matters and has a taste of "but not really". It's fine when you accidentally stepped on someone's foot, but not so much when you've stolen their car.