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It’s a false friend for a German. The German adverb „spontan“ does not mean „spontaneously“. The former means „at short notice“ while the latter „without direct

It’s a false friend for a German. The German adverb „spontan“ does not mean „spontaneously“. The former means „at short notice“ while the latter „without direction“.

kanbara 3y ago
eventuell and aktuell are two great ones ask any tech worker shat eventual consistency is in german and then get very frazzled
- actionfromafar 3y ago
  Haha lovely!
- brazzy 3y ago
  Whoa, that's indeed a good one. I think the best option would be to turn it into an adjective: irgendwannkonsistent.
  - boffinAudio 3y ago
    "Sometime" consistent and "eventually" consistent, not the same things and still confusing. Maybe better: "letzendlichkonsistent" (Disclaimer: expat English native speaker, living in Austria, enjoying this thread immensely..)
    - AdamN 3y ago
      My Austrian co-worker hates talking tech in German - it just doesn't roll of the tongue and he's more comfortable in English with that domain.
      - boffinAudio 3y ago
        Same. I live in Vienna, and converse with my technical colleagues in English most of the time - although they do expect me to keep up with their crazy dialects over the coffee machine, an activity I find often quite fun, oida...
        rzzzt 3y ago
        If you like comics, "Asterix speaks Viennese" might help: https://www.diepresse.com/5450586/asterix-auf-wienerisch-wappla-koffa-leachalschas https://www.diepresse.com/5450586/asterix-auf-wienerisch-wap...
        boffinAudio 3y ago
        Thanks for that, its brilliant. Me and my kids salute you!
        CRConrad 3y ago
        I've seen Asterix in printed form in Schwäbisch, Swabian. Also in, uh, can't recall if it was Karjalaa or Savvoo, the Carelian or Savonian dialect of Finnish. Maybe both.
mgraupner 3y ago
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/de/worterbuch/englisch/spontaneously https://dictionary.cambridge.org/de/worterbuch/englisch/spon... "spontaneously" translates to "spontan".
- flohofwoe 3y ago
  Yeah weird, the description "in a way that is natural, often sudden, and not planned or forced" is exactly the meaning in German too. Maybe "spontaneous" has different semantics between US and UK English?
  - G3rn0ti 3y ago
    You are overthinking this. Words usually have multiple meanings, common ones and less common ones. "False friend" words usually swapped their common and rare semantics when entering a different language. In this case, the common meaning for "spontaneously" is "without direction" but not "on short notice". But it's the other way around in German. There actually is the German term "spontane Ordnung" ("order from chaos") using the English connotation in this case.
    - flohofwoe 3y ago
      FWIW I usually use "spontan" like "ungeplant" (unplanned). Maybe there's even differences for native speakers in different parts of Germany (wouldn't surprise me, especially between East and West).
    - mgraupner 3y ago
      May I ask if you're a native German or English speaker? There is an example in another thread here which has the following example: We spontaneously decided to get married. I would translate that into: Wir haben uns spontan (dazu) entschieden zu heiraten. What is the difference in these two? Same words, same meaning to me as a native German speaker. As I see it, spontaneously can have a subtle other meaning than spontan, but can also be the same.
      - 3y ago

It’s a false friend for a German. The German adverb „spontan“ does not mean „spontaneously“. The former means „at short notice“ while the latter „without direction“.

kanbara 3y ago

eventuell and aktuell are two great ones ask any tech worker shat eventual consistency is in german and then get very frazzled

actionfromafar 3y ago
Haha lovely!
brazzy 3y ago
Whoa, that's indeed a good one. I think the best option would be to turn it into an adjective: irgendwannkonsistent.
- boffinAudio 3y ago
  "Sometime" consistent and "eventually" consistent, not the same things and still confusing. Maybe better: "letzendlichkonsistent" (Disclaimer: expat English native speaker, living in Austria, enjoying this thread immensely..)
  - AdamN 3y ago
    My Austrian co-worker hates talking tech in German - it just doesn't roll of the tongue and he's more comfortable in English with that domain.
    - boffinAudio 3y ago
      Same. I live in Vienna, and converse with my technical colleagues in English most of the time - although they do expect me to keep up with their crazy dialects over the coffee machine, an activity I find often quite fun, oida...
      - rzzzt 3y ago
        If you like comics, "Asterix speaks Viennese" might help: https://www.diepresse.com/5450586/asterix-auf-wienerisch-wappla-koffa-leachalschas https://www.diepresse.com/5450586/asterix-auf-wienerisch-wap...
        boffinAudio 3y ago
        Thanks for that, its brilliant. Me and my kids salute you!
        CRConrad 3y ago
        I've seen Asterix in printed form in Schwäbisch, Swabian. Also in, uh, can't recall if it was Karjalaa or Savvoo, the Carelian or Savonian dialect of Finnish. Maybe both.

mgraupner 3y ago

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/de/worterbuch/englisch/spontaneously https://dictionary.cambridge.org/de/worterbuch/englisch/spon... "spontaneously" translates to "spontan".

flohofwoe 3y ago
Yeah weird, the description "in a way that is natural, often sudden, and not planned or forced" is exactly the meaning in German too. Maybe "spontaneous" has different semantics between US and UK English?
- G3rn0ti 3y ago
  You are overthinking this. Words usually have multiple meanings, common ones and less common ones. "False friend" words usually swapped their common and rare semantics when entering a different language. In this case, the common meaning for "spontaneously" is "without direction" but not "on short notice". But it's the other way around in German. There actually is the German term "spontane Ordnung" ("order from chaos") using the English connotation in this case.
  - flohofwoe 3y ago
    FWIW I usually use "spontan" like "ungeplant" (unplanned). Maybe there's even differences for native speakers in different parts of Germany (wouldn't surprise me, especially between East and West).
  - mgraupner 3y ago
    May I ask if you're a native German or English speaker? There is an example in another thread here which has the following example: We spontaneously decided to get married. I would translate that into: Wir haben uns spontan (dazu) entschieden zu heiraten. What is the difference in these two? Same words, same meaning to me as a native German speaker. As I see it, spontaneously can have a subtle other meaning than spontan, but can also be the same.
    - 3y ago