A very useful word to steal would be “doch”. There is no completely unambiguous way of answering a negative question in English: “So, you don’t want to come with us?”, how to answer with yes or no?? YES might mean “yes I don’t want to” and NO could mean “no I don’t want to”. “doch” lets you “negate the negation” and answer positively. “doch” means I want to come with you!!
@@uncletiggermclaren7592 "There are no mountains in Scotland" "doch" sounds better than "incorrect", which is, of course correct. You could say "doch, doch doch" for emphasis. This is often used.
My favourite untranslatable German word is "Erklärungsnot". It means something like having difficulty explaining oneself, e.g. when a politician is caught lying and is forced to try to wriggle his/her way out of the situation. There's no English word for that, you would need a whole sentence.
@@RobWords One of the ways I have seen it used, is for the feeling of a very small child asking what the condoms it found are for. You have to answer but it is realy hard to do so in a way that feels right.
When you have some explaining to do, Owe someone an explanation - yup it's not that easy to get the precise nuance. Maybe "President K under pressure to explain £30,000 personal expenses claim"
To me „Wanderlust“ is more a kind of „I would like to go on a walk/hike right now“, whereas „Fernweh“ has a much deeper meaning, describing a deep urge, longing, maybe even craving to go travelling. So it isn’t only how big the undertaking would be, but also the strength of the feeling itself.
Zumindest in Ostösterreich gibt es keine Wanderlust, entweder man hat Bock drauf, dann geht man eine Runde oder man wandert zu seinem Wirten (kann eine 2 Minuten Wanderung sein). Bei uns sagt man Fernweh und Heimweh. Wo man bei uns auch hinwandert, ist ins Kittchen, wenn man was ausgefressen hat. Ich finde Wanderlust hört sich als englischen Wort besser an als als deutsches. Es hört sich so sophistacted an, wie man bei uns auf Neudeutsch sagt.
My thoughts: _"Wanderlust":_ To like to go out and enjoy nature while walking/hiking though the woods or mountains (or whatever natural surrounding). Maybe on a lengthy hike. _"Fernweh":_ The deep longing to roam the earth or at least to be somewhere far away, maybe in a (subjectively) unknown culture. - Maybe like "Wanderlust", but more deep and thorough.
I really like the word "Staubfänger". It translates to "Dust Collecter" and describes useless decoration or decoration in generell, which only purpose is...well, to collect dust.
That's not quite right. Collector means "Sammler" , so it should be "Staubsammler". But "Fänger" means "catcher". For example, "Ich habe dich gefangen (genommen)." means I catched you. Not I collected you. "Staubfänger" literally means "dustcatcher".
Closest would be the word _enshittification_ or to _enshittify._ A collation of _enhance_ and _shitty,_ with the suffix -ify which is used to turn adjectives into verbs. Albeit those are much narrower in their meaning. They're used in the context of digital platform and service economics, when a platform makes changes to its platform to users' detriment, even if they advertise it as an improvement, in order to increase profit margins.
I am German and I also like the word "fremdschämen". I think it was invented in the 90s because I never heard it before this time. Fremdschämen is a verb that refers to a feeling of second hand embarassment, if you feel embarrassed for other peoples behaviour.
I am not sure but I think I remember Rob talking about that word in one of his videos. I also like that word a lot. The Dutch equivalent is just too long 😅
@@kenster8270 I think the more accurate term in English for fremdschämen would be secondhand embarrassment. Funnily enough cringe is nowadays ever more frequently used by young Germans too.
My favourite is "innerer schweinehund". schweinehund literally means pig-dog but is described as the inner lazy bastard we all have inside of us (some more, some less), as in "I have to overcome my inner schweinehund and get off this sofa, stop watching netflix and do something productive." - a feeling I have every day.
We also have the "eierlegende Wollmilchsau" (A pig that gives milk, wole, eggs and meat/ combines the goods of all farm animales into one.) It's used for some questionable device (or idea) that is supposted to be a cure for everything and almost to good to be true
In relation to "Wegbier" we also have "Vorglühen" (which probably comes from "preheating a Diesel engine", because that´s what "vorglühen" literally means. A (older) Diesel had to be "vorgeglüht" in order to start it). It describes meeting up and having a few drinks before going to a party ... So you´d invite your friends over "zum Vorglühen" and then have a "Wegbier" on your way to the party :)
"Fachidiot" is for sure one of my favourites, it accurately describes how a person can be exceptionally knowledgable in one single field and be completely clueless in all the others. BUT, "Selbstbeweihräucherung" (self-shoulder-clapping) is a further candidate I would love to see enriching english...
The English words for "Selbstbeweihräuchering" are "self-congratulation" or "self-adulation". And for "Fachidiot" English has the term "one-track specialist".
@@langweiligTV Also wenn du das als Synonym für Fachidiot meinst, nein, das ist was anderes. Ansonsten gibt das auch ganz normal im Deutschen. Und dafür gibt es Pendants im Englischen.
@@SingingSealRiana Fernweh describes something vague. When you would like to take a big vacation somewhere else, but haven't planned anything concrete yet. Reisefieber on the other hand, is right before you go to a planned vacation or trip. There is also a similar word "Lampenfieber" (eng. "lamp fever", "lamp" like from a spotlight), which is the same excitement, but right before a stage performance.
One word I missed on this list is "Kabelsalat". Pretty sure most of us had to deal with that stuff at least once in their lives :D Fun video! Cheers :)
@@BPo75 Good point, actually didn't think of that. In my mind, spaghetti cabling is kinda like cabling being done without rhyme or reason, while Kabelsalat is what happens for example in a box full of cables. Is there a big enough difference though, I'm not sure.
One of my favorite German words is "Muskelkater". It literally translates to "muscle hangover" and means that your muscles are sore the day after a workout.
I tried to explain this to an american, and the best we came up with was "training fatigue". It tell what it's about but it really lacks the pain you feel when having "träningsvärk".
@@larsrossle8576I tried to explain the concept of "Muskelkater" to my high school running coach. He tried to deny it existed and I got a silly macho/moral lecture about 'attitude' and 'applying' myself.
@@jrgptr935 das war ein Spruch von einem amerikanischen Künstler Freund Mit der Frage was ist eine schnitzelbank Etliche Jahre später kam die Auflösung in Süddeutschland 😉 Und zwar eine holzbank an einem Baum wo verliebte ihre Herzchen herein schnitzen
Betriebsblindheit is definitely my favourite untranslatable, but very useful word. It literally translates to "work blindness" and means the blindness you get from doing something repetitive for too long. You forget to actually pay attention and might make big errors you'd usually notice instantly.
Just to clarify: It's not about making mistakes due to repetition and sleepiness on the job, e.g. working on the assembly line, but rather when you get so used to the way it's done in your company, that you can't see the better options any more. As opposed to the fresh view of an outsider. Happens to managers all the time.
As a chef, I've experienced being 'ticketblind' and it's a sporadically occurring phrase to describe the kind of mental overload that prevents you from doing things in sequence. Another is 'noseblind', where you've become so accustomed to a certain funk or concoction of smells, you don't notice it anymore. Yet a newcomer's nose would probably pick up on it immediately. I think the latter might be the closer compound.
@@jacobpast5437 indeed, as an electronic engineer when fault finding or if something doesn't work, a colleague can have a fresh perspective or experience to why. Even when an apprentice makes a remark, don't dismiss it outright, especially when it takes too long...
My most cherrished German word is Tapetenwechsel,: the need to have a change, be somewhere else (great in times of pandemic where you couldn't get out) - literally, the change of wallpaper
Wait, German still uses Tapeten to mean wallpaper? That is pretty funny. Germans still use tapestry for wallpaper? That's pretty classy :p I wish I had the money. In Dutch we say behang, which I also find very funny because it's so childishly literal in what it does instead of what it is. Be- implies it's on something, like ge- implies something is from something or has passed, or is the current situation, and hang is hang, or in German: hang 🤣 So basically the word says hang on or onto 🤣As in, the stuff you hang on the walls, as if no one ever hangs anything else on walls 🤣 Like photos, paintings, tapestry... But whatever 🤣 And technically you hang it on the glue :p So it's not even close to being correct either, but neither are sunrise and sunset, so I guess I'll just have to accept that :p I'm surprised we don't call curtains hang off or off of, or in Dutch gehang, but I guess that word was already taken by boomers complaining about youth hanging around and the boomers getting tired of all that _gehang._ We do call all the hinges, doorknobs, etc. beslag, as in beaten on or onto. I'm guessing because it used to be smithed with a hammer, or maybe because it was hammered onto the objects with nails and a hammer before we had screws. I think German has that word as well, right: beslag, for meaning hinges and doorknobs and such, and the same word for occupying or seizure on stuff.
@@stylis666Behang was literally textile hanging in front of the wall, with air behind it. Later people found it cheaper to paste paper to the wall. Now you know what a Klugscheißer is.
The verse: I need another air around my treetop. I won't to stand in grove in line. See the same meadow all the time. The sun is in the morning left and evening right.
The "Sturm" in "Sturmfreie Bude" actually doesn't come from (the) storm but from "to storm". The expresssion dates back to medieval warfare and describes a tactial situation around a besieged fortress where no assault from the outside was to be exptected/possible within the foreseeable future. So when teenagers say that they have a "Sturmfreie Bude" they mean that the parents are gone for a while and and unlikely to interfere/"invade" the room where the magic happens.
Would sturmfreie also express the relief that you feel from being home without the expectation of social invasions? Like you would be sturmfreie after hosting a lot of holiday parties?
@@MEME-ou4eb No, it is usually only used to describe a situation when you want to do someting at your place (with other people) and you are positive that people who normally live there and might not be ok with it won't suddenly interfere with your shady business/good deeds. It describes the excitement of being able to set a plan in motion that normally wouldbe difficult with your parents/roommates around. It's not about the calm after the stom but about the freedom to do what you want in the near future. BTW, historically the opposite of "sturmfrei" is "stumreif" (geschossen), meaning that artillery has reduced the defenses of a fortress to the point that a direct assault has chances to succeed. Sometimes it is used to describe a situation when a public person has been attacked and and ridiculed in the media to the point that he is about to resign.
I always interpreted "sturmfrei" als "free/ready to be stormed/invaded". Where the "invasion" would be with the approval of a resident able to facilitate access, but who doesn't necessarily have full authority over the place, along the lines of what @Eric0816 described. The obstacle that normally exists could also be pesky neighbours who would complain about noise.
@@MEME-ou4eb YES, you can use it that way, too: You'll be home alone while having 'sturmfreie Bude' , and happy to be so. So you can do whatever you like, mostly conntated to things you normally (like with your parents/family/partner around) can't do: sleep the day away undisturbed, watch some movie marathon, have somebody come to you unseen, invite your pals for a wild party - everything is possible while having 'sturmfreie Bude'.... The term came from youth speak, so origially it was used for an occaision to have a party, or let your boy/girlfriend come by, but is has developed over time....
My favorite german word that is untranslatable in English and most other languages is "Geborgenheit" it describes tge feeling you should have when at home, with your family, friends or partner. Feeling safe, secure, cozy, like in a pleasent hug ... Its really hard to describe and one of the most beautiful things.
Geborgenheit, dieses Wort gibt es, doch in Deutschland gibt es kaum noch Geborgenheit außerhalb der Wohnung, Familie. Warum, weil wir zu viele Migranten haben, die dieses Gefühl genommen haben.😮
Absolute best German word: Doch. The perfect end to a series of "yes it is, no it isn't" type of argument. The word doch just puts an end to it. It takes an entire sentence in English. Translation of doch: "I don't give a @%$! what you think, my mind is made up, end of the discussion."
Nah for me as a german the "End of discussion" circumstance you are describing is better expressed by using the word "Basta!"..."Doch" on the other hand is just used when somone makes a negative statement like "I don't think he is gonna make it" "Doch wird er! (Of course he will)" or something like "I didnt take this/did do this" "Doch hast du, ich habe dich gesehen (Of course you did I just saw you)"
My English colleague likes the term "Freizeitstress". This means that you have free time and, for example, appointments with friends or family but there are so many appointments that you are stressed.
@@Erika1965 i live close to the border, and i have to say dutch and german are pretty similar, so that doesnt surprise me much. Idont speak Dutch, but i could understand quite alot ;)
As a German living abroad I can say that Feierabend is probably the word I miss most in my everyday live. I feel it incorporates the well deserved rest, the acknowledgment of the day’s achievements in a way that simply wishing a coworker a nice evening never could.
I have been working with colleagues from all over the world for years now. Everytime around afternoon when we have calls, I want to say schönen Feierabend. But I wasn’t able to find an adequate translation yet.
@@Andrea-Marie Glaub' ich schon. Konterbier funktioniert ja auch. Nur ist unsere Bezeichnung nicht so lustig wie Eure. Zur Zeit braucht ihr aber viele Reparaturseiderl, bei dem, was Eure Mannschaft so anstellt. 😀 Gratulation zum Gruppensieg und Prost!
@@Oradon01 Oh, das ist aber nett. Dankeschön. Als Österreicher ist man ja fußballerisch nicht gerade erfolgsverwöhnt, daher werden solche Ergebnisse besonders gefeiert. Und jetzt kann`s wirklich bewiesen werden, ob das mit dem Reperaturseiderl stimmt 😂. Wünsche auch Euch eine weiterhin tolle EM!!
In Australia, we have two words which have a similar function to "jein". Most common is "yeahnah", which means something like "You make a compelling suggestion and I acknowledge that it has merit, but I'm afraid I shall have to respond in the negative". We also have the somewhat rarer "nahyeah", which has the opposite function.
1:33 "Jein" was popular and in use long before Fettes Brot made a song about it. Doesn't take much to smush "ja" and "nein" into a single word and german speakers all over the place have been doing that for a long time... which is probably why Fettes Brot made a song about it.
I have another one for you that you might have already mentioned in a different video: "Verschlimmbesserung". It also works as a verb "verschlimmbessern". It means "trying to improve something but making in worse". When I visited the US in 2009 I taught this term to an American woman, who was actually a language teacher for Spanish speaking immigrants. She was so impressed by it, that she promised me to establish the term 😀
In danish we say "bjørnetjeneste" (bear favor) about the situation where you're trying to help, but are making things worse. Imagine a friendly bear trying to wave away a wasp that has landed on your face, and it accidentally rips your face off with his big claws.
There is the expression "einen Bärendienst erweisen", literally "to render a bear service". It means worsening the situation while trying to be helpful, which is slightly more specific as verschlimmbessern. Verschlimmbessern does not necessaryly need the part of trying to be helpful to somebody else.
I like "Mitmensch". It means "fellow human being", but sounds much warmer to my ears. Like "Mitgefühl", which means basically "empathy", but it has more feeling to it. I would say the difference between "Wanderlust" and "Fernweh" is that "Wanderlust" sounds more positive ("I feel like going somewhere"), whereas "Fernweh" has a note of suffering in it ("weh" is cognate with English "woe"; also note the word "Wehen", which means "labour pains"). "Fernweh" could imply that you want to travel somewhere but are unable to. Unlike your friend, I do not associate "Wanderlust" literally with hiking. Then there are some words that just sound wonderful, like "Papperlapapp" (silly talk, nonsense) or "etepetete" (an adjective describing that somebody is overly concerned with appearances, is trying to appear extra fancy or sophisticated - something of that sort) or "pillepalle" (adjective or noun - something that is of negligible importance).
I agree that Wanderlust and Fernweh are different, and Wanderlust isn't limited to hiking. To me, Fernweh means I want to get away, I want to be in another place. That place can be a lawn chair by a pool if it is far away. And Wanderlust means I want to travel; the experience of traveling, seeing things, being active and busy and not staying in one place. It's about the journey, not the destination. Wanderlust is a bit of an old school word, and also e. g. used for young people who want to move around for work to see new places. And discussing such subtleties is a matter of Sprachgefühl :-)
In my opinion the greatest german word, with the most impact and most often used, hence clearly being of major relevance to the language and culture of Germany is as it has always been: "Tja"
Hi Rob, I’m Stella (11yo) born in Berlin but living in Canada and I love your videos. I have an awesome German word for you that is definitely missing in English: verschlimmbessern! People keep doing this all the time…
@@ayaakovc The word's composed of "verschlimmern" (=to exacerbate) and "verbessern" (= to improve), meaning to accidentally turn things for the worse while trying to fix or improve them.
I just stumbled upon your channel this week and I'm loving your content so far! As a German myself I always enjoy seeing people from other contries starting to enjoy our language after Mark Twain's quite bad (but still true) take on it. The build-up and story-line of your videos is great; providing informative content without being too stuck-up on it but instead showing your own joy for the topic in it makes it lovely to watch. In this one I really liked your way of coming up with different puns and plays on words for each transition. Keep it up, looking forward to dig deeper into your content!
The Eierlegende Wollmilchsau: There are also very important terms which actually consist of two words like "Eierlegende Wollmilchsau". It literally means a egg laying wool producing sow which gives milk. Thus it is something with all the benefits but no drawbacks, which typically does not exist.
The reason these are two words is, the first word is an adjective, not a noun. Otherwise (two nouns) it would be written as a single word. That difference often occurs in street names too, e.g., Lehmbacher Weg versus Lehmbachweg.
@@HartmutWSagerFun fact: In street names you can make a difference in the spelling to change the namegiver. If you live in "Berliner Straße", you have the street to Berlin. If you live in "Berlinerstraße", its the street where someone bakes "Berliner" which means doughnuts.
Alternatively, there is the “Mopsgedackelter Schäferspitz”. It describes a mix of all possible dog breeds (from Pug, Dachshund, German Shepherd and Pomeranian) in one. It means having the respective characteristics of the different breeds combined in one animal.
"-speck" as in "Kummerspeck" is still productive and very versatile. You'll also hear "Winterspeck" and "Weihnachtsspeck". And since a lot of people gained weight during Covid lockdowns, we also came up with "Coronaspeck". A common synonym for "Wegbier" is "Fußpils" which is probably a pun on "Fußpilz". Though I guess it is technically a hyponym as the beer would have to be a Pils for it to be accurate. And speaking of Feierabend, a commonly used word is "Feierabendbier", beer to celebrate Feierabend.
I just love that while I'm lamentably out of practice speaking German, its so easy to pick back up because so many of the words are the same or easily translated into my own Danish. Feierabend/Feierabendbier? Fyraften/fyraftensøl. Weinachtsspeck? Julesul. The words aren't the same but the meaning is and once you understand Weinachten and Speck, you just know the person is talking about the padding of the waistline due to too much good Christmas food.
I also like "Fachchinesisch" which is literally "technical Chinese" and describes hugely technical language that anyone outside of this speciality won't understand. I suppose you could translate it as "technical jargon" but that is not half as colourful as Fachchinesisch.
@@madwolf666sub.7 Not necessarily, because as far as I know you can use that for any situation in which you don't understand what someone means, say an incoherent ramble. That would be more akin to German "Ich verstehe nur Bahnhof" ("I only understand train station" which, incidentally... no idea why that's a thing) whereas "Fachchinesisch" is specifially for technical language, perhaps even with an indication of criticism for _unnecessarily_ difficult wording.
@@steffenpanning2776 Naah, you say "das kommt mir Spanisch vor" when something doesn't add up, when you're suspicious of it, more like "that seems fishy to me"
Very happy about your choice for #1. As a German working in an English speaking environment, I‘ve felt like introducing Feierabend to the workplace vocabulary a couple of times already. People have commented on my comparatively strict German work ethic, and contributing a term that brings a spirit of celebration to a day‘s achievement feels like giving something back.
Backpfeifengesicht is actually quite a common idea in Chinese language. We have a word called "欠打" which literally translate to "owe beating". Which means someone carries an appearance or behaviour that owes you a punch or two. 😅
I would add a word I came across recently SITZFLEISCH especially it's metaphorical meaning of the ability to sit for long and by extension to stick at at particular task. (Lack of sitzfleisch was a reason given by admiring contemporaries of a famous physicist as to why he did not win the Nobel prize.)
In Dutch we use 'zitvlees' to refer to a persons ass. But not in any metaphorical context. If youve been sitting on a hard wooden chair for too long you stand up and say 'ach kanker mijn zitvlees doet zeer'
I am an American living in Germany now for 33 years. It was so much fun seeing words that I use on an every day basis explained in my mother tongue. I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Some words I use all the time that would fit this category is "Ohrwurm" (a song you hear in the elevator which sticks in your head all day) "Holterdiepolter" and especially, now that I am getting old and having more and more difficultly getting my butt off the couch and going to the sport studio to get rid of my "Speck" I first have to overcome my "inneren Schweinehund!"
Ooh! This is very interesting because it seems "Ohrwurm" has actually made it into English while you were away! Let me guess, it literally translates to "ear worm?" Because the word earworm in English is something I only started hearing recently and it has that exact same meaning!
@@Scum42 _Ooh! This is very interesting because it seems "Ohrwurm" has actually made it into English while you were away! Let me guess, it literally translates to "ear worm?" Because the word earworm in English is something I only started hearing recently and it has that exact same meaning!_ That was my doing! I've been living in Cambridge(UK) 2009-2012 and tried to introduce the "Ohrwurm" as an "ear worm" into English language by using it in every pub at as much occasions as possible. Glad it worked out!
The innerer Schweinehund is a serious Thing. He is the most powerful Opponent you will met in your Life but it's just you. Why aren't we all succesful, live healthy etc...because of him.
"Feierabend" can also have a darker meaning. You may say "Jetzt ist Feierabend!" if you are so fed up with something that you want to draw a line and not tolerate it anymore. Where you would say something like "Enough already!" or "That's it!" or "I've had it!" in English. And you can also say that it's Feierabend when something takes a (sudden) hopeless turn with no more chance for a positive outcome. A bit like "curtains" in English. If that car had run me over, it would have been curtains for me. It would have been Feierabend.
In Swissgerman exist another Scheisser: der Tüpflischisser (Tüpfchenscheisser), the german equivalent would be Korinthenkacker, meaning being a nitpick.
For me the difference between Wanderlust and Fernweh is pretty simple. Wanderlust: You want to GO somewhere else, like actively wander, roam, hike, etc. Fernweh: You want to BE somewhere else, to the point that it's a longing, usually only to faraway places that are quite different to where you are (e.g. if you live in the Black Forest, you might long for the sea. If you live at the ocean, you might long for the mountains, etc). It's not the same as "Tapetenwechsel" (literally "change of wallpapers") which is more about changing the everyday situation by changing location (e.g. when you work from home without break all the time, you want to have a Tapetenwechsel by going clubbing all weekend. Or if you work at a bar every weekend, you might want a Tapetenwechsel for your weekends, staying at home and chilling on the sofa).
It's often suggested that English should snaffle a word for "the day after tomorrow" from some nearby language. But I recently saw an archaic English word cited as meaning just that. Unfortunately, I didn't take a note of it, and don't remember it. Does anyone know what this word is, or did I just dream the whole thing?
English has ‘ereyesterday’ for "the day before yesterday", but it has fallen out of use. (The word is especially recognisable to Dutch-speaking people, as "eergisteren" is alive and well in Dutch.)
Portuguese has an equivalent to "vorgestern" too: "anteontem", where "ante" means "vor" and "ontem" means "gestern". There's no equivalent for "übermorgen" though... Maybe we should consider getting one 🫤
@tanjak72 ... Yes,that's a good one, too. ('Fingertip-ability- of-feeling') As the real fingertips can do very delicate work, you sometimes need Fingerspitzengefühl in a conversation by carefully choosing your words.
It not only means to have a knack or touch for things (ger. _ein Händchen für etw. haben_ ..), it moreso means, to have an expressively well-calibrated *interpersonal* understanding to _say and do_ the right things _at_ the right time. So being good with comforting so. during difficult times, having the ability to ease as a intermediator in difficult situations with angered or toxic persons and such, beeing good with feisty people or even belligerent animals. _Though you're right, it has _*_a lot_*_ to do with empathy!_ I'd even go so far to say, that Fingerspitzengefühl foremost tends to address the interpersonal communicative realm (also towards animals) more than it touches upon (mechanical/technical) things in general. E.g. Michael Schumacher (the famous German F1-driver) always had a very good Fingerspitzengefühl for his cars and the ability to drive the cars just at the very edge of destruction, without actually braking it. And having a pretty good feeling about when things are about to brake (and hence take the foot of the pedal to prevent mechanical destruction). When talking about it, he always called it his 'Popo-Meter' (engl. seat-of-the-pants feel). The German Wikipedia has a dedicated article on the Popometer. Anyway, the popometer is largely based upon a very fine-tuned subjective Fingerspitzengefühl.
These are all super! Schnappsidee is my favourite, as I often have them. Also Bierleichen (beer corpses): The bodies of people who have passed out from too much beer. Ex. "When I visited Manchester, I had to step over the Bierleichen lying about in the hotel corridor."
@@norbertkuhn4072 genaugenommen bekommt man die ja gezeigt, nämlich hinten aus der Hose des Schiedsrichters, die andere war in der Brusttasche, für die schwarz-weiß Zuschauer zur Unterscheidung
One of very handy German words that we use in Poland (mostly in western parts due to stronger German influence over the dialects of these parts) is Reisefieber, meaning the nervousness or anxiety felt before a voyage.
@@BigWhoopZHYes, the fear of getting into the spolights (and thereby forgetting your text or so) on a stage infront of an audiance. That is where the expression comes from. It is a bit older though. Stage spots used to be called Lampen or Bühnenlampen. Today we mostly say Scheinwerfer or Spot
@@BigWhoopZH I did not know that one, so I don't think it is used in Poland. Well, it hadn't been used so far, but I'm going to do my best to change that.
In german Reisefieber doesn't mean nervousness like Lampenfieber does. Reisefieber means a huge craving for traveling. Maybe you use it different in Poland.
@@Virus-vy7kp That is interesting. I'm not a German speaker, so I wouldn't know the original meaning, but I am certain that here in Poland it is used as nervousness, in a negative sense, not as craving.
Here in Denmark we have already adopted and adapted some of these highlighted German terms and expressions. In Danish, "Schadenfreude" is "Skadefryd" and "Ohrfeigen" is "Ørefigen". We also have the equivalent of "Konterbier", which in Danish is: "Reparations-bajer" (Reparation Beer).
Austrian here! We use the term „Reparaturseid(e)l“ (english hair of the dog), which is basically a small beer (0,3 l). In Bavaria it‘s 0,7 l, so don‘t be surprised about the quantity you get in either one of the countries. Cheers!
And fyraften also. As a german living in Danmark I’m often surprised about the many words I know from german, but I sometimes wonder if this is because both languages have the same roots and both have the ability to invent new compound words (what this video is all about).
This should be the first in a series. Would love to see top 10 words English should steal from French, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, Japanese, Mandarin, Swedish, etc....
"Backpfeiffengesicht" is a very popular word in such listings. Yes, we have that word, every German understands it, but we don't really use it. Maybe it is a generational word, and was used quite a bit, but nowadays it's not very common. But it's a funny word, so if you really need it, use it! All the other words are actually used on a regular basis, so good listing! 👍
Another classic German word you've missed is "verschlimmbessern", the act of trying to improve something but in fact making it worse. An incredibly useful word I find. There are of course plenty more, such as "Kabelsalat", describing the mess of cords, or "Geborgenheit", a hard to translate feeling of warmth, love, and safety.
There is an idiom in Chinese that has this meaning too! It translates directly as “adding a foot to a snake” the story was some people were competing to win a cask of wine by drawing the best snake. One person got bored and drew feet on his snake, claiming that it made his drawing the best. Of course he lost
@@nahblue I've just asked my swedish wife and she said that "trygghet" is more about safety, whereas "Geborgenheit" is more about the sense of wholeness, just in the moment, experiencing warmth and love from a loved one, and with a sense of home and belonging. It's hard to describe as it is the culmination of all of these feelings in a harmonious way.
18:40 Fun Fact: Danish has many of those German inventions as so-called calques meaning that they simply translated each component directly (e.g. Schadenfreude = skadefryd). But something must have gone awry with "Feierabend", because in Danish that became "fyraften", which if translated back into German would mean "Feuerabend". So perhaps the Danes got so carried away at the end of each workday that they were setting fire to random stuff? 🤷♂🤣
Maybe that happened over time when the languages drifted further apart and it changed it's meaning to the time when you fire up the oven after comming home? Btw.: In some southern german dialects Feuer (fire) is pronounced the same as Feier (celebration). And the word itself has old roots and comes from the word vīrabent and originally meant the evening before a holiday. (a holiday is Feiertag which would have been vīrtag i guess) The meaning to the current one allegedly changed in the 16th century.
The danish word "fyr" actually have quite a few different meanings, depending on the context. For example we use the word "fyr" for the device generating heat in a house heated by burning wood, oil, gas or other things that can be burned. The word "fyrtårn" means lighthouse. Literally it translates to "fire-tower", like a tower where a fire is kept to generate light. A usage very similar to English is "fyret", which literally translates into the English word "fired", meaning you got let off your job. As a native Dane my intuitive understanding of the word "fyraften" is the word to use when you are done working for the day and go home to start warming up your house in the evening. After all, "fyraften" literally translates into "fire-evening".
Ifølge ordbogen, stammer "fyraften" fra nedertysk "vîravent" sammensat af 'vîre' (højtid) og 'avent' (aften), dvs. samme betydning som højtysk 'Feierabend'.
Swedish also did the loan translations from low German (and later phonetic transcriptions of French loan words like "fåtölj" = "fauteuil") But our Konterbier is better, it's "återställare" which means restorer.
My favorites are: Kabelsalat (cable salat) wich is the mess of cables you get if you for example put your charger and headphones in the backpack and everything is entangled when you want to take it out. Verschlimmbessern (mixture of verbessern -> make better and verschlimmern -> to make worse) it describes the process of trying to fix a problem but making it worse in the process Halleluja Problem (halleluja -> religious praise): this is where a situation works better than expected and you are in trouble because of it. For example, you invite your friends expecting not all of them to come but then they all show up and bring a friend as well and now you don't have space for everyone.
11:38 That is a much more positive description of "Kopfkino" than I ever experienced. Whenever I encountered the word it was used for something that you really rather not think about but someone just mention it and you can't help to imagine it in vivid detail.
We use it in the psychiatric hospital in the situation where someone has paranoic thinking. For example: if someone tells me „someone put drugs in my cup.“ I would say: no, it’s not possible, that is just KOPFKINO.
Exactly - I never heard Kopfkino in a positive context. As I know it you get Kopfkino when you have vivid unpleasant images in your head, very often sexual: "My best friend's mom tried to hit on me last night." "Noooo, Kopfkino" You got more information than you wanted.
Exactly so. It's much more often about really not wanting to see the film that was unintentionally placed in your head, but with no chance to avoid it. It might happen instantaneously after an ambiguous phrase with a second, often bodily meaning, causing a lively imagination of disgust. When using the term, it's often meant in a mischievously humorous way. After the triggering phrase, one might slap their hand against the side of their head and say 'Aaah, Kopfkino, geh aus!', as if one could end the movie with a smack to the projector. Usually, laughter ensues.
I like the word "Galgenfrist" (~ "gallow-deadline"), which means a short prolongation of a deadline in a very crucial event, e.g. you should finish an important task till a predefined date and you get additional time for completion, one would say: "Du hast noch eine Galgenfrist erhalten."
German, especially in the westfalia-region: "So!" - commonly said, when sitting around and one wants to express that one will go, with no further ado. Can be emphasized with a slap of both hands on the legs. Works well in Combination with "Feierabend" - "So, Feierabend!"
That's a pretty reasonable collection of German idioms, except the "Backpfeifengesicht": this one is often used in English videos about funny German words, but it's rarely used in German nowadays. A more common term would be "Hackfresse" - it's even more rude with a similar meaning, so have fun to find an appropriate translation 😉! I was totally surprized about #1 "Feierabend" because this term is so natural for us Germans, so I totally agree: this needs to be migrated in every other language 😂!!!
Backpfeiffengesicht and Hackfresse are totally different things. Hackfresse is just a very ugly face, literaly meaning chopped face. i think in English there is the term chopped liver for describing that. backpfeiffengesicht is not necessarily ugly. its just a face that you want to slap. can for example be a smug and arrogant guy in expensive clothing showing a false smile to everyone or something like that. but you are right that it is rarely used by Germans. in Bavaria the corresponding term Watschengesicht is used much more frequently
Ziemlicher Fall von Selbstüberschätzung zu denken, nur, weil ein Wort in Deiner Bubble nicht häufig verwendet wird, wäre es in ganz Deutschland in jeder Altersgruppe mit jeder Sozialisation so... Und dann nicht einmal die Bedeutung des Wortes verstanden...
@@miskatonic6210 Hier sind viele Kommentare die die gleiche Beobachtung ausdrücken und ich denke auch dass das Wort Backpfeife generell eigentlich fast gar nicht mehr verwendet wird.
Hack'fresse (hoeing + kisser) originally and pejoratively meant a right-wing student who took part in a Mensur duel, i.e. fighting with sabres or similar weapons with the end to cut the face of the adversary and leaving scars.
"Frohnatur" - a very positivly thinking person "Drahtesel" - an old description for "bicycle" ("wire-donkey") "Stimmungskanone" - a person who is always friendly and makes a lot of jokes
Some notes regarding "Feierabend": - We don't celebrate the workday, we celebrate that it's over :D - There is an even better word: "Feierabendbier". What that means is left as an exercise to the reader. Also, Austria (and maybe southern Germany too?) has a more concise version of "Backpfeifengesicht": "Watschng'sicht". A "Watsche"/"Watschn" is a slap on the face, and contracting "Gesicht" to "G'sicht" lightens the burden of expressing this sentiment to only three syllables, important savings in a country that has had Sebastian Kurz as a head of state. Also, I wish to nominate "Ohrwurm" - although I guess "earworm" has been somewhat gaining traction in English?
ja und 7 bier ergeben 1 schnitzel und in bayern ist ein Bier grundnahrungsmittel. aber lasst bitte die inger von alkoholfreiem hofbräu. das eklig. @@eschess_
In Australia we have 'roadie' for Wegbier which even acts as an indicator how far the distance one has to travel. A friend of mine moved a bit further from our favourite pub and commented the way home was now a 'two roadie'. Love your channel!
Measuring distance by how drunk you can get while traversing it comports with every depiction of Australians I've ever seen in American and British media.
That is actually what we germans do as well, its like lets go to that bar next which is kinda far away, but if we walk, we can make it with two or three wegbiers
Point is not that (Australian or whatever) English has no way to describe the concept at all, just that it doesn't have a unique term for it. Sure, you can call it roadie. But a roadie is also a stagehand on tour. Wegbier's quality is simply its objective unmistakeability where English is just a wash most of the time.
Quite a good list. I have been living in Germany since 1989, originally from the USA. I have come to love the words “doch” for its finality and also “Fingerspitzengefühle” describing something that too many of my Teutonic friends seem to lack.
I'm gonna be blunt (or better: direct) like a stereotypical German: "Fingerspitzengefühl" (which is a nice word and that I don't display well here) is only used in singular. It's quite like "information" in English whereas we use "Information" or "Informationen", depending on if it's a singular information or a set of information. Please take my directness as something practical for you. In that sense, you might even consider it a politeness. (You don't have to, but it allows you to be more correct - if you prefer it.) Regardless, I wish you many good encounters with fellow (world )citizens.
there are two ways of Fingerspitzengefühl. One is literally your ability to do some very intrique work with your hands and fingers. And the other is the metaphoric meaning of knowing and saying the right words for special situations. Please do not aspect non-nativ speakers to have Fingerspitzengefühl when speaking in a foreign language. Me as a German do not think US Americans as impolite even if they behave in a for us strange way, as they have not grown up with our social background
It's so funny to experience the own language through the eyes of a young, friendly and educated english guy like you. Thank you for your sunny gesunden Menschenverstand. In my opinion, your Videos bauen Brücken between germans and english people. Thank you very much for that, Schulterklopfmaschine! (Make peace, not war.)
As a Belgian native speaker of Dutch, I learned that, at a conference about oenology (whine making) in Italy, German speakers had about half a dozen specific words for each Italian term that needed a context to be clear in Italian ...
That's a typical issue for translators. German demands extreme precision, which especially English does not allow. That can cause quite some 'Kopfzerbrechen' (another word English needs?) when you translate a medical or engineering text, and find that the English phrase could be translated three different ways, but you have no way to contact the author to find out what he/she meant.
@@dagmarfrerking2235 Meine früheren deutschen/österreichischen Kollegen (und, ja, ja, Kolleg*innen ;-/ ) in den EU-Ratsarbeitsgruppen hatten deshalb die größte Mühe, ihre Weisungen aus Berlin zu vermitteln, denn die Dolmetscher (Dolmetschenden?) verwendeten Wörter lateinischer Herkunft, die tatsächlich einen viel breiteren Anwendungsbereich haben, aber deswegen auch sehr ungenau sind. Hier in Belgien sind unsere Französischsprachler dafür bekannt, dass sie mit ihren "mots passe-partout" stundenlang reden können, ohne etwas zu sagen.
i would like to submit "Mahlzeit" and "Torschlusspanik". "Mahlzeit" translates to 'meal time' or just 'meal' (if translated literally). But it's also connected to the emotions of wishing somebody an enjoyable meal and/or good day around noon. "Torschlusspanik" translates to "gate closing panic" and is expressing the feeling of missing out on opportunities in life because one's getting oder.
Coming from a German region where you don't say "Mahlzeit" as a wish, and where the word means "meal", and only that - it will never be anything else than odd to me that people are telling me "Meal!" when i'm sitting with my meal. And I always want to say "Yes, I know, it is!"
@@JLar-bb5hl Since we already had that word explained in the video: Jein. Torschlusspanik is related to fomo, but I wouldn't use them interchangably. Maybe that's just my understanding. Fomo, to me, is a much smaller scale. Like going to a party you didn't want to go to, because something might happen and you want to be there for it. Toschlusspanik on the other hands deals with woman getting older and suddenly trying for a child, because they get scared they might want one when they are to old for one, or suddenly wanting to change your job, because you think you can't reach your career goal in the current job anymore, because it would take to much time. Fomo, to me, seems to be less consequential and "just for the moment", while Torschlusspanik involves descisions with consequences and looking into the future.
What a great video! Thanks a lot for brightening up my day 👍 The part where you speak about Komposita (a construct that makes German a language with a literally innumerable number of words - think of Schiffskutterkapitänshemdenknopflochnaht) was very interesting since I never thought of how English works when new words or expressions are formed. Schnapsidee, Wegbier, Kopfkino, sturmfrei and Feierabend - couldn't imagine and couldn't endure my life without them. Greetings from Düsseldorf
Feierabend can also be used meaning "end" , "finish" or "stop" . If your kids (or anyone) behave unruly or just badly you could say : "jetzt ist aber Feierabend" 😅 Thank You, Rob ! Great post !! 🙏🏼👍🏼🖖🏻
My parents were Croatians so I grew up using a lot of German words pronounced and even spelled like a croatian word (e.g. frištik = Frühstück = breakfast) and not realizing that a lot of these words were used since the Austria-Hungarian times. A newer one is Feierabend and a much used one as well. Whereat it isn´t only used when you finish your workday, but also when you finish a task thus can relax now.
In German the "Abend" (evening) part is also not taken very literally. I've heard it used (and used it myself) in the morning after a nightshift as well. We could've called it "Feiermorgen" (morgen=morning), but that would somehow just sound wrong lol
Oh I particularly like the Slovene "Kremšnita", a VERY unhealthy but delicious pastry and local specialty around Lake Bled, whose name is basically just Slavic spelling for the German name "Cremeschnitte", lit. "slice of cream" - which also happens to describe precisely what it is :)
@@cod3r1337 Yes, kremšnta. To be found in Croatia as well and even Bosnia. To sweet for me , but I immediately thought of "štrudla". Not Apfelstrudel, but the fluffy one with walnut or poppy seeds and a nice white coffee made of "divka i cikorija". Damn, now I have to go and bake one. Are you from Slovenija?
"Feierabend" can also mean that something comes to an end. For example, if my kids are loud and unruly, I can yell "Jetzt ist aber Feierabend!", and that translates as "That's enough!" As in, 'stop annoying me!'
I remember a joking attempt to turn "no" into "yesn't", and I think this would be an equivalent to the German "jein". And I think that "doch" should've made it to the list. "Doch" is such a sassy and unique short response - it's so efficient! If you want to know more about Germab words in English language, there is an entire list in form of a Wikipedia article.
“Feierabend” is also used in a completely different not exactly friendly way: If someone is fed up with something said or done by other people he might announce ( especially but not necessarily) if he’ s regarded to be some kind of boss or elder : “ (Schluss, Aus,)Feierabend!” in order to put a definite unquestionable end to an ongoing discussion or action. 19:56
My little daughter brought that from Kindergarten, aged 4. She probably got that from her educatrix. (if that's a word) She was absolutely sure that she could end ALL discussions to get her way just by saying the magic words. She was more than surprised that it did not work against her parents and bed time. Schluss! Aus! Feierabend!
Interestingly this ties into another word I love: "Machtwort" (literally: "word of power/authority") It describes when someone uses their authority to unilaterally dictate a decision being made, particularly when trying to put an end to a debate or deciding against the dominating opinion among a group. For example when a parent sends their child to bed but the child doesn't want to, the parent may decide to speak a "Machtwort" ("ein Machtwort sprechen"), which could take the form of "Schluss; Aus; Feierabend! Du gehst jetzt ins Bett!" Or when a team is debating back and forth between two approaches to a problem and there is no progress being made, then the most senior member of the team (in rank or experience) may just speak a "Machtwort" and make the decision on behalf of the team so they can move the discussion along to more productive topics.
Feierabend has been generalized to be used in quite a few more situations. For example, when you „ritually end“ your working day with a beer, that’s a „Feierabendbier“, but when later that night the bartender proclaims that the bar is now closing, it’s also „Feierabend“. In a nutshell, this word is being used pretty much across the board for „the time after something has ended or is currently in the process of ending“, to the extent that you could even say „Für ihn ist Feierabend“ („for him it’s game over“) when someone died, albeit it’s an improperly casual phrase in most circumstances - but then again, it could be used by the pastor in the funeral speech as a mildly humerous, „tongue-in-cheek“ touch if it somehow fits the deceased’s reputation.
I also like "Zapfenstreich" it used to mark the end of a feast when someone put a stopper into a cask of wine. It took on the meaning of the closing time of an inn but we also used it in boarding school or the time when we had to be in bad and it is (or was) also used in the military.
About "kopfkino": sometimes somebody suggests something that invokes rather unpleasant pictures. in that case you can often hear "Bilder geht aus meinem Kopf"("Pictures go out of my head")
One of my favorite lost words from Old English is _feondscipe,_ basically "fiendship," which is the opposite of "friendship." There are a bunch of these from specifically Old English that are like that, and I think we should bring more of them back.
Sounds like "Feindschaft" in German (meaning hostility, enmity, animosity, hatred, ill-will), constructed from "Feind" (enemy) plus "-schaft" (-ship). I bet English "fiend" and German "Feind" are cognates, too.
"Fiendship" is a typo waiting to happen (and my mobile device wanted to correct it to friendship), and we already have hostility. And at REDACTED years old, I've suddenly wondered if host and hostile are related in any way.
Re _feondscipe_ is it more like mortal enemy or nemesis, or something more like frenemy? Interesting that it captures the _ongoing relationship_ of having a nemesis or frenemy. À la Sherlock and Moriarty!
I guess "enmity" would be a modern English analogue. Although that word does feel more like a synonym of "hostility" than a specific reference to the relationship of being enemies.
This video is a perfect example of how RUclips videos shoudl be: It was entertaining AND informative. Gongrats and thank you. Dieses Video stellt ein perfektes Beispiel dafür dar, wie RUclips-Videos sein sollten: Es war unterhaltsam und gleichzeitig lehrreich. Gratulation - und vielen Dank.
The true beauty of these compound words is that even if you never heard it before in your life, as a native speaker you mostly get a good idea of the intended meaning since you already know the components it is build from. So it is rather easy to spread around new words and it keeps the language in quite a constant flux. One of my most liked compound words is "Fliegenschiss" which literally translates to "shitpile of a fly". The meaning is uttermost insignificance combined with a certain disgust to it, since you can barely ever even notice the shitpile of an already tiny and insigificant and disgusting insect like a fly. Basically its not even worth your attention at all.
Yes, my mother tongue finnish has this same element and it makes the language so flexible. Basically I could put any two words together and come up with something that others would understand, and this happens all the time when people come up with new words, usually quite funny ones. My favourite word is "persjalkanen" which directly translates to "asslegged", meaning short (person). We also have the word for Fliegenschiss!
Nah, most compound words could easily mean something else and we just learned the meaning. Kummerspeck could be the food you eat when depressed. Baby oil could be oil made FROM babies. Sturmfrei can also mean weather with no heavy winds. Schadenfreude could also mean a serious internal conflicted about things good and bad at the same time.
Compound words are a good thing to have. Yes there is definitely a good amount of exceptions, but most of the time you should be able to understand it. Baumhaus, Schneemann, Feuerwehr, Türklinke, Bettlaken, Familienfeier, Arbeitsplatz, Handschuh (i like this one a lot actually:D) are some examples
Thank you so much! You left me speechless - what a wonderful video. And yes, if I sometimes see English moderated chess games it is funny to hear between the English words "Zugzwang", "Zeitnot", "Abzugsschach", "Zwischenzug" or something like "He made a ittle bit 'Luft' for his king"... It is great.
I understand "Kopfkino" to mean something different than explained by your German friend. I know it more as the word you use when you're creating scenarios in your head, when you have expectations about how things will develop. For example, when someone says "I'm visiting my ex-boyfriend tomorrow" and then you have this "Kopfkino" that they'll end up getting back together or you'll have to comfort your friend after the visit because she's upset, even though you can't really know what will actually happen. Kind of like "catastrophizing" - but also in a neutral or even positive way.
that is the most used scenario but maybe they couldn't say this on youtube - Jugendschutz - even if anyone who can stand on 2 legs would know what they're talking about
I kinda know it as like. When someone says to you, “if you’re scared to talk I front of people, just imagine them naked” and the typical reaction would be “that old teacher too? Oh god, stop the kopfkino”
Kopfkino can be both. But actually I find it used mostly, when a person tells you something that you wouln't like to vision or it's funny/embarassing, if it is taken literally. It is actually a very hard problem for me, because I'm rather imaginary, so even in serious situations I sometimes laugh out loud, when somebody's mistaken in using terms an immediately a picture pops up in my mind 😂 Sry for my bad english 🫣
I am German and Kopfkino is in my opinion more of an instant imagination (visualization in mind) of a situation that someone is talking about at the moment. But I also use "Kopfkino" when trying to sleep at evening.
Agreed. I've only ever seen it used in combination of cringing. Someone tells you something and it evokes images that you don't want to have so you go "ewwww. kopfkino!!!". E.g. someone describing a bad accident with gore involved or something that's yucky. Never heard anyone use it as a stand-in for just generally imagining things in your head.
I really love to hear people talk about my language. When you grew up with it you take certain things for granted and stop to think about the fact that people have to deal without such words. Thank you for the Video. My word suggestion would be "Weltschmerz" the feeling of being sad because ... well everything and nothing at all. This feeling that there is something fundamentally wrong while being totally unable to point at the exact problem.
In its origin, "sturmfrei* is actually an old military term from the middle ages. "Stürmen" as in "storm troopers" means "to assault" or "to overrun". When a cliff or a mountainside was so steep and high that the castle on top could under no circumstances be attacked from that side, it was considered "sturmfrei" or "bare of assaults".
False: "Sturmfrei" comes from a fortress not being guarded, as when in mediaeval times all the knights were away on a crusade or something. That made this fortress "free to be stormed".
@@mststgt You might confuse sturmreif with sturmfrei. You make a fortress sturmreif, aka ripe to be stormed, with artillery or making the defenders leave. But sturmfrei really means not able to be stormed by enemy forces.
@@mststgtDoch. 😉 The "Duden" dictionary gives the definition "militärisch veraltet für uneroberbar" (obsolete military expression for "safe against conquering").
10:15 A «Wegebier» (or «Wegbier») is also a «Fußpils» (play on words with «Fußpilz» - tinea pedis or «athlete's foot») is a combination of «zu Fuß» (on foot) and «Pils» (Pilsener beer). So, a beer you're drinking when you are on your way.
"Fahrbier" need also be added to this category, means the (only) one beer you are allowed to drink, when you drive. (Important: Need to be consumed WHILE driving...) 🙂
Don't forget the "Scheidebecher", when you're about to go home/part ways. Only that there are always more than just one more last drink...so you end up drinking several Scheidebecher
Roadie in American English has long meant someone who travels ("goes on the road") with a musical band on tour, and may be responsible for setting up equipment at the venues. My multilingual dictionary app says it has been imported directly into French and into German. (Must have done it behind the back of the Académie Française.) Maybe other languages, too.
Actually I think that “Wanderlust” and “Fernweh”are opposites aiming in the same direction. Wanderlust describes the of joy of looking forward to go somewhere abroad and experience new things (in a positive way), “Fernweh” on the other hand describes the feeling you have when you are stuck at home and crave to go somewhere far away without the possibility to do so any time near (the word “Weh”has a negative touch to it contrary to “Lust”)… PS: In Austria the “Konterbier” is called “Reparaturseidl” (a small Beer (- 0,33l) that will repair you) 😉.
I can't believe that "Ohrwurm" wasn't in the list! I miss that word so often in English. It is what you call a song that is stuck in your head and goes round and round and you can't get rid of it. I have that so often, and sometimes one "ear worm" replaces another and is replaced again by a third one in quick succession throughout the day. I say so often "Ich hab einen Ohrwurm", and never know how to say it in English elegantly and quickly. 😊
"Earworm" is coming into vogue in English, so just start using it more and usage will spread! It is fair to say that the word is now part of our language, even though not everyone yet is familiar with the term. There's an entire wikipedia page now devoted to it: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earworm
A very useful word to steal would be “doch”. There is no completely unambiguous way of answering a negative question in English: “So, you don’t want to come with us?”, how to answer with yes or no?? YES might mean “yes I don’t want to” and NO could mean “no I don’t want to”. “doch” lets you “negate the negation” and answer positively. “doch” means I want to come with you!!
NOT ©Homer Simpson
Sure.
Isn't it clear?
Yes, it is not.
Or... no, it is.
We already have perfectly utile words for that. Correct, and Incorrect.
@@uncletiggermclaren7592 "There are no mountains in Scotland"
"doch" sounds better than "incorrect", which is, of course correct.
You could say "doch, doch doch" for emphasis. This is often used.
My favourite untranslatable German word is "Erklärungsnot". It means something like having difficulty explaining oneself, e.g. when a politician is caught lying and is forced to try to wriggle his/her way out of the situation. There's no English word for that, you would need a whole sentence.
Like an explanation emergency? I like that one a lot. Thanks.
@@RobWords Yeah, you are in dire need of explaining your actions while being basically unable to do so.
@@RobWords it can be roughly compared with "being caught red handed", but not only.
@@RobWords One of the ways I have seen it used, is for the feeling of a very small child asking what the condoms it found are for. You have to answer but it is realy hard to do so in a way that feels right.
When you have some explaining to do, Owe someone an explanation - yup it's not that easy to get the precise nuance. Maybe "President K under pressure to explain £30,000 personal expenses claim"
To me „Wanderlust“ is more a kind of „I would like to go on a walk/hike right now“, whereas „Fernweh“ has a much deeper meaning, describing a deep urge, longing, maybe even craving to go travelling. So it isn’t only how big the undertaking would be, but also the strength of the feeling itself.
to me wanderlust just really goes with wanting to change and explore, whereas fernweh has more of a i am cooped up and want a holiday thing
Zumindest in Ostösterreich gibt es keine Wanderlust, entweder man hat Bock drauf, dann geht man eine Runde oder man wandert zu seinem Wirten (kann eine 2 Minuten Wanderung sein). Bei uns sagt man Fernweh und Heimweh. Wo man bei uns auch hinwandert, ist ins Kittchen, wenn man was ausgefressen hat. Ich finde Wanderlust hört sich als englischen Wort besser an als als deutsches. Es hört sich so sophistacted an, wie man bei uns auf Neudeutsch sagt.
My thoughts:
_"Wanderlust":_ To like to go out and enjoy nature while walking/hiking though the woods or mountains (or whatever natural surrounding). Maybe on a lengthy hike.
_"Fernweh":_ The deep longing to roam the earth or at least to be somewhere far away, maybe in a (subjectively) unknown culture. - Maybe like "Wanderlust", but more deep and thorough.
For me "Wanderlust" sounds like a word from the 19th century. I never use this word. In fact I know it only from English texts.
@@veraroemer1530 Me too. I never use it, and only know it from English texts. It's old.
I really like the word "Staubfänger". It translates to "Dust Collecter" and describes useless decoration or decoration in generell, which only purpose is...well, to collect dust.
That's not quite right. Collector means "Sammler" , so it should be "Staubsammler". But "Fänger" means "catcher". For example, "Ich habe dich gefangen (genommen)." means I catched you. Not I collected you. "Staubfänger" literally means "dustcatcher".
@@junekazama4578 *caught
I like that - Almost sounds like a hapless Bond villain. I think I might even start referring to Donald Trump as 'Staubfänger'. 😀
@@VelvetVoicecan say that to Kamala now😂
something similar in english would maybe be 'clutterment', mix of clutter and ornament 😁
„Verschlimmbessern“. To ruin something by trying to improve it. I love it
YES!!! I love that one!!!
I suggest "to shitprove". It captures it very well. The genuine intention to improve combined with the sheer incompetency to do so.
One of my favorites!
Closest would be the word _enshittification_ or to _enshittify._ A collation of _enhance_ and _shitty,_ with the suffix -ify which is used to turn adjectives into verbs. Albeit those are much narrower in their meaning. They're used in the context of digital platform and service economics, when a platform makes changes to its platform to users' detriment, even if they advertise it as an improvement, in order to increase profit margins.
@@frtzkngGood to know there is a similar expression in English. It will come handy from time to time😁
Hmmm now your name “RobWords” makes sense…
Good one!
Rob thinks we should rob words from German.
😂
🤣
lol 😂
I am German and I also like the word "fremdschämen". I think it was invented in the 90s because I never heard it before this time. Fremdschämen is a verb that refers to a feeling of second hand embarassment, if you feel embarrassed for other peoples behaviour.
I am not sure but I think I remember Rob talking about that word in one of his videos. I also like that word a lot. The Dutch equivalent is just too long 😅
I believe the TikTok generation uses the word "cringe" to express that emotion?
@@kenster8270 I think the more accurate term in English for fremdschämen would be secondhand embarrassment. Funnily enough cringe is nowadays ever more frequently used by young Germans too.
Yeah I can recognize the word "shame" in there.
Also vicarious embarrassment. Cringe fits quite well, but it often has much more disparaging/derogatory connotations.
You're the first English person I encountered mastering the German Umlaut Ü.
You pronounce it like a German would do it. Nice.
Der ist doch kein Ängländer, sondern auch nur zugereist.😂
My favourite is "innerer schweinehund". schweinehund literally means pig-dog but is described as the inner lazy bastard we all have inside of us (some more, some less), as in "I have to overcome my inner schweinehund and get off this sofa, stop watching netflix and do something productive." - a feeling I have every day.
In Danish language, we also use this expression - which has been directly translated from German language: "Indre Svinehund".
I used to live with an external schweinehund. That wasn"t fun either.
I know that guy …
@@Mario-yk7ej😮😂
We also have the "eierlegende Wollmilchsau" (A pig that gives milk, wole, eggs and meat/ combines the goods of all farm animales into one.) It's used for some questionable device (or idea) that is supposted to be a cure for everything and almost to good to be true
In relation to "Wegbier" we also have "Vorglühen" (which probably comes from "preheating a Diesel engine", because that´s what "vorglühen" literally means. A (older) Diesel had to be "vorgeglüht" in order to start it).
It describes meeting up and having a few drinks before going to a party ... So you´d invite your friends over "zum Vorglühen" and then have a "Wegbier" on your way to the party :)
Das klingt, als gibt man sich in Deutschland dauernd die Kante 😂
@@AlexEMagnus Ist schon irgendwie so... So´n bisschen Alkoholiker-Nation ist Deutschland schon.
Siehe den Ausspruch: "Ich glühe härter vor, als Du Party machst" ;)
There actually is an English equivalent to this, 'pre-game'. But I do like 'Vorglühen' more😂
@@pe8268 if I´d literally translate "pre-game" it would be "Vorspiel"... but that´d get us into adult content xD
"Fachidiot" is for sure one of my favourites, it accurately describes how a person can be exceptionally knowledgable in one single field and be completely clueless in all the others. BUT, "Selbstbeweihräucherung" (self-shoulder-clapping) is a further candidate I would love to see enriching english...
Fachidiot is especially good because Fach- is used so often in German and leaves non-natives scratching their heads as to why 😊.
Great suggestion with "Fachidiot" -- the phenomenon is far more common than many would think!
The English words for "Selbstbeweihräuchering" are "self-congratulation" or "self-adulation". And for "Fachidiot" English has the term "one-track specialist".
Hierzu kurz auf deutsch: „Spezialisten sind Menschen, die immer mehr über immer weniger wissen, bis sie schließlich alles über nichts wissen.“
@@langweiligTV Also wenn du das als Synonym für Fachidiot meinst, nein, das ist was anderes. Ansonsten gibt das auch ganz normal im Deutschen. Und dafür gibt es Pendants im Englischen.
Reisefieber - lit. Travel fever. It's the excitement before traveling somewhere, like before going on holiday.
Fernweh
@@SingingSealRiana Fernweh describes something vague. When you would like to take a big vacation somewhere else, but haven't planned anything concrete yet. Reisefieber on the other hand, is right before you go to a planned vacation or trip.
There is also a similar word "Lampenfieber" (eng. "lamp fever", "lamp" like from a spotlight), which is the same excitement, but right before a stage performance.
One word I missed on this list is "Kabelsalat". Pretty sure most of us had to deal with that stuff at least once in their lives :D
Fun video! Cheers :)
Great one!
Is Kabelsalat better than spaghetticabling?
@@BPo75 It's a tough competition for sure but Kabelsalat rolls of the tongue much easier than spaghetticabling.
@@BPo75 Good point, actually didn't think of that. In my mind, spaghetti cabling is kinda like cabling being done without rhyme or reason, while Kabelsalat is what happens for example in a box full of cables. Is there a big enough difference though, I'm not sure.
I am missing the word "Doch", I know that you can translate it sometimes with "but", but there are plenty of times where it just lacks a translation
One of my favorite German words is "Muskelkater". It literally translates to "muscle hangover" and means that your muscles are sore the day after a workout.
In Sweden we would say "träningsvärk" (training/workout pain)
So... aching.
The "muscle tom-cat" is come from muscle-"catharr".
I tried to explain this to an american, and the best we came up with was "training fatigue". It tell what it's about but it really lacks the pain you feel when having "träningsvärk".
@@larsrossle8576I tried to explain the concept of "Muskelkater" to my high school running coach.
He tried to deny it existed and I got a silly macho/moral lecture about 'attitude' and 'applying' myself.
Being a German native speaker I absolutely loved your video and think that it's a great contribution to "Völkerverständigung". ❤
😂😂 Ist das denn ein Schnitzel Bank ja das ist ein schnitzelbank😂
haha thats a good one :D
@@berndf7437Ein unerklärlicher Begriff, zumal des männlichen Artikels wegen.
@@jrgptr935 das war ein Spruch von einem amerikanischen Künstler Freund
Mit der Frage was ist eine schnitzelbank
Etliche Jahre später kam die Auflösung in Süddeutschland 😉
Und zwar eine holzbank an einem Baum wo verliebte ihre Herzchen herein schnitzen
@@berndf7437 Danke, das nehm ich mal so mit.
Most enjoyable 😂. I have 3 favorites - 'ein Ohrwurm' , 'ein Morgenmuffel' , and my grandmother often used 'ein Ohnmachtshappen' 😊
I always forget that 'earworm' is not a word that exists in English. I mean, it just makes so much sense!
I really liked 'Kopfkino', literally head cinema, àn idea that just keeps playing in you mind.
As german i never heard Ohnmachtshappen.😅
Betriebsblindheit is definitely my favourite untranslatable, but very useful word. It literally translates to "work blindness" and means the blindness you get from doing something repetitive for too long. You forget to actually pay attention and might make big errors you'd usually notice instantly.
We know that in Dutch as Bedrijfsblindheid 😊
I've not come across this one. It's excellent!
Just to clarify: It's not about making mistakes due to repetition and sleepiness on the job, e.g. working on the assembly line, but rather when you get so used to the way it's done in your company, that you can't see the better options any more. As opposed to the fresh view of an outsider. Happens to managers all the time.
As a chef, I've experienced being 'ticketblind' and it's a sporadically occurring phrase to describe the kind of mental overload that prevents you from doing things in sequence.
Another is 'noseblind', where you've become so accustomed to a certain funk or concoction of smells, you don't notice it anymore. Yet a newcomer's nose would probably pick up on it immediately. I think the latter might be the closer compound.
@@jacobpast5437 indeed, as an electronic engineer when fault finding or if something doesn't work, a colleague can have a fresh perspective or experience to why.
Even when an apprentice makes a remark, don't dismiss it outright, especially when it takes too long...
My most cherrished German word is Tapetenwechsel,: the need to have a change, be somewhere else (great in times of pandemic where you couldn't get out) - literally, the change of wallpaper
Wait, German still uses Tapeten to mean wallpaper? That is pretty funny. Germans still use tapestry for wallpaper? That's pretty classy :p I wish I had the money.
In Dutch we say behang, which I also find very funny because it's so childishly literal in what it does instead of what it is.
Be- implies it's on something, like ge- implies something is from something or has passed, or is the current situation, and hang is hang, or in German: hang 🤣 So basically the word says hang on or onto 🤣As in, the stuff you hang on the walls, as if no one ever hangs anything else on walls 🤣 Like photos, paintings, tapestry... But whatever 🤣 And technically you hang it on the glue :p So it's not even close to being correct either, but neither are sunrise and sunset, so I guess I'll just have to accept that :p
I'm surprised we don't call curtains hang off or off of, or in Dutch gehang, but I guess that word was already taken by boomers complaining about youth hanging around and the boomers getting tired of all that _gehang._
We do call all the hinges, doorknobs, etc. beslag, as in beaten on or onto. I'm guessing because it used to be smithed with a hammer, or maybe because it was hammered onto the objects with nails and a hammer before we had screws.
I think German has that word as well, right: beslag, for meaning hinges and doorknobs and such, and the same word for occupying or seizure on stuff.
@@stylis666Behang was literally textile hanging in front of the wall, with air behind it. Later people found it cheaper to paste paper to the wall.
Now you know what a Klugscheißer is.
@@NICEFINENEWROBOT😂
We have the German chanson "Tapetenwechsel".
The chorus is:
I need to change wallpapers, says the birch tree and walked away before the morning come.
The verse:
I need another air around my treetop.
I won't to stand in grove in line. See the same meadow all the time. The sun is in the morning left and evening right.
The "Sturm" in "Sturmfreie Bude" actually doesn't come from (the) storm but from "to storm". The expresssion dates back to medieval warfare and describes a tactial situation around a besieged fortress where no assault from the outside was to be exptected/possible within the foreseeable future. So when teenagers say that they have a "Sturmfreie Bude" they mean that the parents are gone for a while and and unlikely to interfere/"invade" the room where the magic happens.
Would sturmfreie also express the relief that you feel from being home without the expectation of social invasions? Like you would be sturmfreie after hosting a lot of holiday parties?
@@MEME-ou4eb No, it is usually only used to describe a situation when you want to do someting at your place (with other people) and you are positive that people who normally live there and might not be ok with it won't suddenly interfere with your shady business/good deeds. It describes the excitement of being able to set a plan in motion that normally wouldbe difficult with your parents/roommates around. It's not about the calm after the stom but about the freedom to do what you want in the near future. BTW, historically the opposite of "sturmfrei" is "stumreif" (geschossen), meaning that artillery has reduced the defenses of a fortress to the point that a direct assault has chances to succeed. Sometimes it is used to describe a situation when a public person has been attacked and and ridiculed in the media to the point that he is about to resign.
I always interpreted "sturmfrei" als "free/ready to be stormed/invaded". Where the "invasion" would be with the approval of a resident able to facilitate access, but who doesn't necessarily have full authority over the place, along the lines of what @Eric0816 described. The obstacle that normally exists could also be pesky neighbours who would complain about noise.
So basically: for a few blessed hours, no danger of somebody storming the castle.
@@MEME-ou4eb YES, you can use it that way, too: You'll be home alone while having 'sturmfreie Bude' , and happy to be so. So you can do whatever you like, mostly conntated to things you normally (like with your parents/family/partner around) can't do: sleep the day away undisturbed, watch some movie marathon, have somebody come to you unseen, invite your pals for a wild party - everything is possible while having 'sturmfreie Bude'.... The term came from youth speak, so origially it was used for an occaision to have a party, or let your boy/girlfriend come by, but is has developed over time....
My favorite german word that is untranslatable in English and most other languages is "Geborgenheit" it describes tge feeling you should have when at home, with your family, friends or partner.
Feeling safe, secure, cozy, like in a pleasent hug ... Its really hard to describe and one of the most beautiful things.
Geborgenheit, dieses Wort gibt es, doch in Deutschland gibt es kaum noch Geborgenheit außerhalb der Wohnung, Familie. Warum, weil wir zu viele Migranten haben, die dieses Gefühl genommen haben.😮
Absolute best German word: Doch. The perfect end to a series of "yes it is, no it isn't" type of argument. The word doch just puts an end to it. It takes an entire sentence in English. Translation of doch: "I don't give a @%$! what you think, my mind is made up, end of the discussion."
And perfectly followed by "Ohh!"
@@ChRiAn0815 in certain conversations it can be translated as "is too"
.. is not
.. is too
...is not
...is too
@@retropolis1 I was more alluding to an old Louis de Funes scene, at least in the german Version.
Nah for me as a german the "End of discussion" circumstance you are describing is better expressed by using the word "Basta!"..."Doch" on the other hand is just used when somone makes a negative statement like "I don't think he is gonna make it" "Doch wird er! (Of course he will)" or something like "I didnt take this/did do this" "Doch hast du, ich habe dich gesehen (Of course you did I just saw you)"
@@retropolis1 "ist auch" kann man nicht wirklich mit "doch" bzw. "Oh doch" vergleichen. Meiner Meinung nach.
My English colleague likes the term "Freizeitstress". This means that you have free time and, for example, appointments with friends or family but there are so many appointments that you are stressed.
" Fingerspitzengefühl " is another beautiful word i think english might need. I love this language for such words.
Oh, you are right! That's such a great word. Didn't think about it, but it's really necessary very often in real life to have it... 😆
Is already used in some Scandinavian countries
You have tiptoe for it
We use it in the Netherlands :-)
@@Erika1965 i live close to the border, and i have to say dutch and german are pretty similar, so that doesnt surprise me much. Idont speak Dutch, but i could understand quite alot ;)
18:11 I disagree because I think we need the word “doch” more than “Feierabend” because “doch” is just simply more Versatile than “Feierabend”
As a German living abroad I can say that Feierabend is probably the word I miss most in my everyday live. I feel it incorporates the well deserved rest, the acknowledgment of the day’s achievements in a way that simply wishing a coworker a nice evening never could.
I have been working with colleagues from all over the world for years now. Everytime around afternoon when we have calls, I want to say schönen Feierabend. But I wasn’t able to find an adequate translation yet.
I feel the very same!
Es gibt einen Werbeclip mit "Feierabend🎶" das ist ein gewaltiger Ohrwurm.
Feierabend is "quitting time"
@@retropolis1is this even used? I know after work, but I never heard quitting time. Sound like quitting the job.
I am German. It was really fun to watch. Great video and it made me to appreciate my language even more.
Ich auch. Greetings from Austria. By the way: "Konterbier" = "Reparaturseiderl" in Austria (1 Seidl = 0,33l Bier)
@@Andrea-Marie Das Reparaturseiderl find' ich ja richtig putzig. Bei dem Wort muss ich zwanghaft grinsen.😄
@@Oradon01 Laut der Damen und Herren, die sich dessen nach durchzechter Nacht bedienen, soll es wirklich funktionieren. Ein Phänomen 😜🍻
@@Andrea-Marie Glaub' ich schon. Konterbier funktioniert ja auch. Nur ist unsere Bezeichnung nicht so lustig wie Eure. Zur Zeit braucht ihr aber viele Reparaturseiderl, bei dem, was Eure Mannschaft so anstellt. 😀 Gratulation zum Gruppensieg und Prost!
@@Oradon01 Oh, das ist aber nett. Dankeschön. Als Österreicher ist man ja fußballerisch nicht gerade erfolgsverwöhnt, daher werden solche Ergebnisse besonders gefeiert. Und jetzt kann`s wirklich bewiesen werden, ob das mit dem Reperaturseiderl stimmt 😂. Wünsche auch Euch eine weiterhin tolle EM!!
In Australia, we have two words which have a similar function to "jein". Most common is "yeahnah", which means something like "You make a compelling suggestion and I acknowledge that it has merit, but I'm afraid I shall have to respond in the negative". We also have the somewhat rarer "nahyeah", which has the opposite function.
Given how offensive much of Australian slang can be, I really love how “yeahnah“ shows kindness when disagreeing.
... and immediatly, I have Ozzy mans voice in my head :-)
"naja" is also a german word, it translates more to "well" as in "well, well, bad luck ..."
Canadians have
"yeah no yeah" 😂
Likewise, we already have the concept and phrase "punchable face"; there's no reason to translate it into German.
1:33 "Jein" was popular and in use long before Fettes Brot made a song about it. Doesn't take much to smush "ja" and "nein" into a single word and german speakers all over the place have been doing that for a long time... which is probably why Fettes Brot made a song about it.
I have another one for you that you might have already mentioned in a different video: "Verschlimmbesserung". It also works as a verb "verschlimmbessern". It means "trying to improve something but making in worse". When I visited the US in 2009 I taught this term to an American woman, who was actually a language teacher for Spanish speaking immigrants. She was so impressed by it, that she promised me to establish the term 😀
If memory serves, Rob did cover it not too long ago.
In danish we say "bjørnetjeneste" (bear favor) about the situation where you're trying to help, but are making things worse.
Imagine a friendly bear trying to wave away a wasp that has landed on your face, and it accidentally rips your face off with his big claws.
@@lakrids-pibe the German word would be Bärendienst! :)
There is the expression "einen Bärendienst erweisen", literally "to render a bear service". It means worsening the situation while trying to be helpful, which is slightly more specific as verschlimmbessern. Verschlimmbessern does not necessaryly need the part of trying to be helpful to somebody else.
A loanword would come out to about "forworsebettering".
I like "Mitmensch". It means "fellow human being", but sounds much warmer to my ears. Like "Mitgefühl", which means basically "empathy", but it has more feeling to it. I would say the difference between "Wanderlust" and "Fernweh" is that "Wanderlust" sounds more positive ("I feel like going somewhere"), whereas "Fernweh" has a note of suffering in it ("weh" is cognate with English "woe"; also note the word "Wehen", which means "labour pains"). "Fernweh" could imply that you want to travel somewhere but are unable to. Unlike your friend, I do not associate "Wanderlust" literally with hiking. Then there are some words that just sound wonderful, like "Papperlapapp" (silly talk, nonsense) or "etepetete" (an adjective describing that somebody is overly concerned with appearances, is trying to appear extra fancy or sophisticated - something of that sort) or "pillepalle" (adjective or noun - something that is of negligible importance).
Fernweh translatet with far woe? I'm not shore as German?
In Danish we have commonly used words that directly translate to "Mitmensch" and "Mitgefühl". They are "medmenneske" og "medfølelse".
I agree that Wanderlust and Fernweh are different, and Wanderlust isn't limited to hiking.
To me, Fernweh means I want to get away, I want to be in another place. That place can be a lawn chair by a pool if it is far away.
And Wanderlust means I want to travel; the experience of traveling, seeing things, being active and busy and not staying in one place. It's about the journey, not the destination.
Wanderlust is a bit of an old school word, and also e. g. used for young people who want to move around for work to see new places.
And discussing such subtleties is a matter of Sprachgefühl :-)
fernweh is more melancholic, same as heimweh
In my opinion the greatest german word, with the most impact and most often used, hence clearly being of major relevance to the language and culture of Germany is as it has always been:
"Tja"
Hi Rob, I’m Stella (11yo) born in Berlin but living in Canada and I love your videos. I have an awesome German word for you that is definitely missing in English: verschlimmbessern! People keep doing this all the time…
What does it mean?
@@ayaakovc
It means you try to make things better with a really good intention but in the end you have only worsen them...
@@ayaakovc The word's composed of "verschlimmern" (=to exacerbate) and "verbessern" (= to improve), meaning to accidentally turn things for the worse while trying to fix or improve them.
@@ayaakovctry to make things better while making them worse. That's what politians do.
Totally agree. I don't know how do you call windows update if you don't have word like Verschlimmbesserung :3
I just stumbled upon your channel this week and I'm loving your content so far! As a German myself I always enjoy seeing people from other contries starting to enjoy our language after Mark Twain's quite bad (but still true) take on it. The build-up and story-line of your videos is great; providing informative content without being too stuck-up on it but instead showing your own joy for the topic in it makes it lovely to watch. In this one I really liked your way of coming up with different puns and plays on words for each transition. Keep it up, looking forward to dig deeper into your content!
The Eierlegende Wollmilchsau:
There are also very important terms which actually consist of two words like "Eierlegende Wollmilchsau". It literally means a egg laying wool producing sow which gives milk. Thus it is something with all the benefits but no drawbacks, which typically does not exist.
The reason these are two words is, the first word is an adjective, not a noun. Otherwise (two nouns) it would be written as a single word. That difference often occurs in street names too, e.g., Lehmbacher Weg versus Lehmbachweg.
@@HartmutWSagerFun fact: In street names you can make a difference in the spelling to change the namegiver. If you live in "Berliner Straße", you have the street to Berlin. If you live in "Berlinerstraße", its the street where someone bakes "Berliner" which means doughnuts.
Tatsächlich hat noch nie ein Deutscher eine solche gesehen. Es scheint ein Fabelwesen zu sein. 😆
Alternatively, there is the “Mopsgedackelter Schäferspitz”.
It describes a mix of all possible dog breeds (from Pug, Dachshund, German Shepherd and Pomeranian) in one. It means having the respective characteristics of the different breeds combined in one animal.
It exists, the name is platypus.
But everything is wrong, the eggs aren't yummy, the milk the same and the hair isn't good wool.
"-speck" as in "Kummerspeck" is still productive and very versatile. You'll also hear "Winterspeck" and "Weihnachtsspeck". And since a lot of people gained weight during Covid lockdowns, we also came up with "Coronaspeck".
A common synonym for "Wegbier" is "Fußpils" which is probably a pun on "Fußpilz". Though I guess it is technically a hyponym as the beer would have to be a Pils for it to be accurate.
And speaking of Feierabend, a commonly used word is "Feierabendbier", beer to celebrate Feierabend.
Das Kind hat noch "Babyspeck" 😂
I just love that while I'm lamentably out of practice speaking German, its so easy to pick back up because so many of the words are the same or easily translated into my own Danish. Feierabend/Feierabendbier? Fyraften/fyraftensøl. Weinachtsspeck? Julesul. The words aren't the same but the meaning is and once you understand Weinachten and Speck, you just know the person is talking about the padding of the waistline due to too much good Christmas food.
Und es gibt noch den Wohlstandsbauch
There's also the "Speckgürtel" around cities. The area that doesn't belong to the city itself, but is still close enough to profit from it.
I also like "Fachchinesisch" which is literally "technical Chinese" and describes hugely technical language that anyone outside of this speciality won't understand. I suppose you could translate it as "technical jargon" but that is not half as colourful as Fachchinesisch.
Doesn't it compare with: it's greek to me" ?
@@madwolf666sub.7 Not necessarily, because as far as I know you can use that for any situation in which you don't understand what someone means, say an incoherent ramble. That would be more akin to German "Ich verstehe nur Bahnhof" ("I only understand train station" which, incidentally... no idea why that's a thing) whereas "Fachchinesisch" is specifially for technical language, perhaps even with an indication of criticism for _unnecessarily_ difficult wording.
@@delikatessbruhe9843 "it's greek to me" translates to german as "das kommt mir spanisch vor".
@@steffenpanning2776 Naah, you say "das kommt mir Spanisch vor" when something doesn't add up, when you're suspicious of it, more like "that seems fishy to me"
@@delikatessbruhe9843 oh ok.
Very happy about your choice for #1. As a German working in an English speaking environment, I‘ve felt like introducing Feierabend to the workplace vocabulary a couple of times already.
People have commented on my comparatively strict German work ethic, and contributing a term that brings a spirit of celebration to a day‘s achievement feels like giving something back.
Backpfeifengesicht is actually quite a common idea in Chinese language. We have a word called "欠打" which literally translate to "owe beating". Which means someone carries an appearance or behaviour that owes you a punch or two. 😅
Like in "Some people need a high-five. With a chair. In the face." 😏
How could that word be written in English consonants and vocals to carry the pronounciation? I'd like to use it as avatar nickname 😂
In italian there is "Faccia da schiaffi". And it means basically the same as Backpfeifengesicht.
@@hffnr Buckpfiveangasishd
But we dont do it.
I would add a word I came across recently SITZFLEISCH especially it's metaphorical meaning of the ability to sit for long and by extension to stick at at particular task. (Lack of sitzfleisch was a reason given by admiring contemporaries of a famous physicist as to why he did not win the Nobel prize.)
in our region we'd call it Sitzleder
Die Schwester von Sitzfleisch ist dann wohl "aussitzen".
In Dutch we use 'zitvlees' to refer to a persons ass. But not in any metaphorical context. If youve been sitting on a hard wooden chair for too long you stand up and say 'ach kanker mijn zitvlees doet zeer'
Mir ist nie aufgefallen, wie viele schöne Wörter es gibt, die genau das beschreiben, was es ist. Danke dafür!
~9:50 Ist eine Schnapszahl nicht dreistellig?
Nein, nur doppelte Ziffern. Das assoziiert doppelt sehen bei zu viel Schnapsgenuss.
I don’t have a favorite because there’re way too many useful compound words but I did enjoy the Berlin “S-Bahn” driving up and down behind you 😂
I am an American living in Germany now for 33 years. It was so much fun seeing words that I use on an every day basis explained in my mother tongue. I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Some words I use all the time that would fit this category is "Ohrwurm" (a song you hear in the elevator which sticks in your head all day) "Holterdiepolter" and especially, now that I am getting old and having more and more difficultly getting my butt off the couch and going to the sport studio to get rid of my "Speck" I first have to overcome my "inneren Schweinehund!"
Ooh! This is very interesting because it seems "Ohrwurm" has actually made it into English while you were away! Let me guess, it literally translates to "ear worm?" Because the word earworm in English is something I only started hearing recently and it has that exact same meaning!
Gute Auswahl😂
Haha. Innerer Schweinehund is such a great phrase 😇
@@Scum42 _Ooh! This is very interesting because it seems "Ohrwurm" has actually made it into English while you were away! Let me guess, it literally translates to "ear worm?" Because the word earworm in English is something I only started hearing recently and it has that exact same meaning!_
That was my doing! I've been living in Cambridge(UK) 2009-2012 and tried to introduce the "Ohrwurm" as an "ear worm" into English language by using it in every pub at as much occasions as possible. Glad it worked out!
The innerer Schweinehund is a serious Thing.
He is the most powerful Opponent you will met in your Life but it's just you.
Why aren't we all succesful, live healthy etc...because of him.
"Feierabend" can also have a darker meaning. You may say "Jetzt ist Feierabend!" if you are so fed up with something that you want to draw a line and not tolerate it anymore. Where you would say something like "Enough already!" or "That's it!" or "I've had it!" in English. And you can also say that it's Feierabend when something takes a (sudden) hopeless turn with no more chance for a positive outcome. A bit like "curtains" in English. If that car had run me over, it would have been curtains for me. It would have been Feierabend.
"Feierabend" means simply the end of something. End of work or end of stupidities.
Dazu sagen wir auch „Schicht im Schacht „. Dann ist es definitiv negativ gemeint.😊
And also in perspective of a situation turning worse: "Wenn... dann ist Feierabend" = "If... then this will be 'Game Over' "
When I say Feierabend to my dog, she knows, that there come no further Leckerlies😂
ruclips.net/video/ysgS4P4uHdo/видео.html
My husband just called me "Klugscheißer" and that would be good to add to your wonderful compilation
lol. so he has a point?
@@moritzmolle6609 yes, from time to time I can't resist. Lol
A "Klugscheisser" is just a smartass.
In Swissgerman exist another Scheisser: der Tüpflischisser (Tüpfchenscheisser), the german equivalent would be Korinthenkacker, meaning being a nitpick.
They have "smart-ass" in English.
For me the difference between Wanderlust and Fernweh is pretty simple.
Wanderlust: You want to GO somewhere else, like actively wander, roam, hike, etc.
Fernweh: You want to BE somewhere else, to the point that it's a longing, usually only to faraway places that are quite different to where you are (e.g. if you live in the Black Forest, you might long for the sea. If you live at the ocean, you might long for the mountains, etc). It's not the same as "Tapetenwechsel" (literally "change of wallpapers") which is more about changing the everyday situation by changing location (e.g. when you work from home without break all the time, you want to have a Tapetenwechsel by going clubbing all weekend. Or if you work at a bar every weekend, you might want a Tapetenwechsel for your weekends, staying at home and chilling on the sofa).
Also "Vorgestern" is an amazing word in my opinion, it means "the day before yesterday" and is just so much shorter
It's often suggested that English should snaffle a word for "the day after tomorrow" from some nearby language. But I recently saw an archaic English word cited as meaning just that. Unfortunately, I didn't take a note of it, and don't remember it. Does anyone know what this word is, or did I just dream the whole thing?
@@KarlSmith1 The German word for 'the day after tomorrow' is Übermorgen ie 'the day beyond tomorrow'.
That's it - overmorrow. Thank you,@@gustavmeyrink_2.0
English has ‘ereyesterday’ for "the day before yesterday", but it has fallen out of use. (The word is especially recognisable to Dutch-speaking people, as "eergisteren" is alive and well in Dutch.)
Portuguese has an equivalent to "vorgestern" too: "anteontem", where "ante" means "vor" and "ontem" means "gestern". There's no equivalent for "übermorgen" though... Maybe we should consider getting one 🫤
Fingerspitzengefühl is a favorite of mine. Means you have empathy toward certain things.
@tanjak72 ...
Yes,that's a good one, too. ('Fingertip-ability- of-feeling') As the real fingertips can do very delicate work, you sometimes need Fingerspitzengefühl in a conversation by carefully choosing your words.
It not only means to have a knack or touch for things (ger. _ein Händchen für etw. haben_ ..), it moreso means, to have an expressively well-calibrated *interpersonal* understanding to _say and do_ the right things _at_ the right time. So being good with comforting so. during difficult times, having the ability to ease as a intermediator in difficult situations with angered or toxic persons and such, beeing good with feisty people or even belligerent animals. _Though you're right, it has _*_a lot_*_ to do with empathy!_
I'd even go so far to say, that Fingerspitzengefühl foremost tends to address the interpersonal communicative realm (also towards animals) more than it touches upon (mechanical/technical) things in general.
E.g. Michael Schumacher (the famous German F1-driver) always had a very good Fingerspitzengefühl for his cars and the ability to drive the cars just at the very edge of destruction, without actually braking it. And having a pretty good feeling about when things are about to brake (and hence take the foot of the pedal to prevent mechanical destruction).
When talking about it, he always called it his 'Popo-Meter' (engl. seat-of-the-pants feel). The German Wikipedia has a dedicated article on the Popometer.
Anyway, the popometer is largely based upon a very fine-tuned subjective Fingerspitzengefühl.
Not so much empathy but sensibility.
COOL ❤❤
Für Engländer kaum auszusprechen. 🤷♂️
Ein wunderbares Video! Vielen Dank! ❤
Und ein wunderbares Publikum!
Soviel gelernt und humorvolle Geschichten gelesen.
Auch hier vielen Dank! ❤
I am preparing for an important exam and am experiencing lots of ”Muffensausen”. But I guess, afterwards it will be ”schnurzpiepegal”.
😂
Jaja, supi❤
Oh my - giving me goose bumps as a German that likes languages. 🥰
These are all super! Schnappsidee is my favourite, as I often have them. Also Bierleichen (beer corpses): The bodies of people who have passed out from too much beer. Ex. "When I visited Manchester, I had to step over the Bierleichen lying about in the hotel corridor."
Just loved your video. I guess "Hausdrache/Gewitterziege", "Hasskappe", "Dackelblick" and "Arschkarte" could be useful at times
Arschkarte ist super, da habe ich aber die Arschkarte gezogen. Tolles Wort.
I'm German and I don't know what "Hausdrache/Gewitterziege" means...
@@deniseb.4656 both despective descriptions for annoying women, the former mostly reserved for the prototypical bossy wife.
@@norbertkuhn4072 genaugenommen bekommt man die ja gezeigt, nämlich hinten aus der Hose des Schiedsrichters, die andere war in der Brusttasche, für die schwarz-weiß Zuschauer zur Unterscheidung
Zimmerlinde = room linden tree for a house wife.
One of very handy German words that we use in Poland (mostly in western parts due to stronger German influence over the dialects of these parts) is Reisefieber, meaning the nervousness or anxiety felt before a voyage.
Interesting. Do you also adapt Lampenfieber (lamp fever) to describe the anxiety to step on stage before an audience?
@@BigWhoopZHYes, the fear of getting into the spolights (and thereby forgetting your text or so) on a stage infront of an audiance.
That is where the expression comes from. It is a bit older though. Stage spots used to be called Lampen or Bühnenlampen. Today we mostly say Scheinwerfer or Spot
@@BigWhoopZH I did not know that one, so I don't think it is used in Poland. Well, it hadn't been used so far, but I'm going to do my best to change that.
In german Reisefieber doesn't mean nervousness like Lampenfieber does. Reisefieber means a huge craving for traveling. Maybe you use it different in Poland.
@@Virus-vy7kp That is interesting. I'm not a German speaker, so I wouldn't know the original meaning, but I am certain that here in Poland it is used as nervousness, in a negative sense, not as craving.
"jetzt ist aber Feierabend hier" 😅 Wird auch oft verwendet um eine bestimmte Aktion zu stoppen.. Anstatt z.B. "jetzt ist aber Schluss hier"
Here in Denmark we have already adopted and adapted some of these highlighted German terms and expressions. In Danish, "Schadenfreude" is "Skadefryd" and "Ohrfeigen" is "Ørefigen". We also have the equivalent of "Konterbier", which in Danish is: "Reparations-bajer" (Reparation Beer).
Reparation beer is such a funny word!!!
Even better than konterbier imo.
Language is so nice :D
Austrian here! We use the term „Reparaturseid(e)l“ (english hair of the dog), which is basically a small beer (0,3 l). In Bavaria it‘s 0,7 l, so don‘t be surprised about the quantity you get in either one of the countries. Cheers!
@@georgforster911
So is es 😂🇦🇹
We have a dutch word for Schadenfreude too, leedvermaak. Sounds nothing like german or danish.
And fyraften also. As a german living in Danmark I’m often surprised about the many words I know from german, but I sometimes wonder if this is because both languages have the same roots and both have the ability to invent new compound words (what this video is all about).
This should be the first in a series. Would love to see top 10 words English should steal from French, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, Japanese, Mandarin, Swedish, etc....
That is a cromulent idea that will embiggen us all!
@@AlbertaGeek Don't be supercalifragilistic!
Sounds like a plan.
And Dutch please.
Well, "hygge" is a danish/norwegian word I've seen brits talk a lot about.
In dutch they say "Gezelligheid" which is apparently somewhat different?
"Backpfeiffengesicht" is a very popular word in such listings. Yes, we have that word, every German understands it, but we don't really use it. Maybe it is a generational word, and was used quite a bit, but nowadays it's not very common. But it's a funny word, so if you really need it, use it!
All the other words are actually used on a regular basis, so good listing! 👍
Today you'd say "ich will dem so ne bombe geben" instead of saying "der hat ein backpfeifengesicht"
How about the more modern “Lexikongesicht”?
nowadays I think you would say "Hackfresse"...?
@@idiosyncisland2651 nah that one has a different meaning
Sackgesicht is also nice!
😅
Have rarely heard anyone speaking so positively about german language. Love your humorous way of expressing things, and your British accent.
Another classic German word you've missed is "verschlimmbessern", the act of trying to improve something but in fact making it worse. An incredibly useful word I find.
There are of course plenty more, such as "Kabelsalat", describing the mess of cords, or "Geborgenheit", a hard to translate feeling of warmth, love, and safety.
There is an idiom in Chinese that has this meaning too! It translates directly as “adding a foot to a snake” the story was some people were competing to win a cask of wine by drawing the best snake. One person got bored and drew feet on his snake, claiming that it made his drawing the best. Of course he lost
Geborgenheit is a nice one, like swedish trygghet? Whose corresponding translation in english I often think of as missing.
I work in software. That word is SOOOO useful!
@@nahblue I've just asked my swedish wife and she said that "trygghet" is more about safety, whereas "Geborgenheit" is more about the sense of wholeness, just in the moment, experiencing warmth and love from a loved one, and with a sense of home and belonging. It's hard to describe as it is the culmination of all of these feelings in a harmonious way.
Cable salad is very translatable. I might start using that one.
18:40 Fun Fact: Danish has many of those German inventions as so-called calques meaning that they simply translated each component directly (e.g. Schadenfreude = skadefryd). But something must have gone awry with "Feierabend", because in Danish that became "fyraften", which if translated back into German would mean "Feuerabend". So perhaps the Danes got so carried away at the end of each workday that they were setting fire to random stuff? 🤷♂🤣
Maybe that happened over time when the languages drifted further apart and it changed it's meaning to the time when you fire up the oven after comming home?
Btw.: In some southern german dialects Feuer (fire) is pronounced the same as Feier (celebration). And the word itself has old roots and comes from the word vīrabent and originally meant the evening before a holiday. (a holiday is Feiertag which would have been vīrtag i guess) The meaning to the current one allegedly changed in the 16th century.
The danish word "fyr" actually have quite a few different meanings, depending on the context.
For example we use the word "fyr" for the device generating heat in a house heated by burning wood, oil, gas or other things that can be burned. The word "fyrtårn" means lighthouse. Literally it translates to "fire-tower", like a tower where a fire is kept to generate light.
A usage very similar to English is "fyret", which literally translates into the English word "fired", meaning you got let off your job.
As a native Dane my intuitive understanding of the word "fyraften" is the word to use when you are done working for the day and go home to start warming up your house in the evening. After all, "fyraften" literally translates into "fire-evening".
Sounds like a viking pastime to me!
Ifølge ordbogen, stammer "fyraften" fra nedertysk "vîravent" sammensat af 'vîre' (højtid) og 'avent' (aften), dvs. samme betydning som højtysk 'Feierabend'.
Swedish also did the loan translations from low German (and later phonetic transcriptions of French loan words like "fåtölj" = "fauteuil")
But our Konterbier is better, it's "återställare" which means restorer.
My favorites are:
Kabelsalat (cable salat) wich is the mess of cables you get if you for example put your charger and headphones in the backpack and everything is entangled when you want to take it out.
Verschlimmbessern (mixture of verbessern -> make better and verschlimmern -> to make worse) it describes the process of trying to fix a problem but making it worse in the process
Halleluja Problem (halleluja -> religious praise): this is where a situation works better than expected and you are in trouble because of it. For example, you invite your friends expecting not all of them to come but then they all show up and bring a friend as well and now you don't have space for everyone.
That's so interesting. I will help to use this words in my conversation with my english speaking friends😃
11:38 That is a much more positive description of "Kopfkino" than I ever experienced. Whenever I encountered the word it was used for something that you really rather not think about but someone just mention it and you can't help to imagine it in vivid detail.
We use it in the psychiatric hospital in the situation where someone has paranoic thinking.
For example: if someone tells me „someone put drugs in my cup.“ I would say: no, it’s not possible, that is just KOPFKINO.
An alternate kind of *_Kopfkino_* (al least imho):
ruclips.net/video/SB6mcoIyqXE/видео.html
Exactly - I never heard Kopfkino in a positive context. As I know it you get Kopfkino when you have vivid unpleasant images in your head, very often sexual: "My best friend's mom tried to hit on me last night." "Noooo, Kopfkino" You got more information than you wanted.
Exactly so. It's much more often about really not wanting to see the film that was unintentionally placed in your head, but with no chance to avoid it. It might happen instantaneously after an ambiguous phrase with a second, often bodily meaning, causing a lively imagination of disgust. When using the term, it's often meant in a mischievously humorous way. After the triggering phrase, one might slap their hand against the side of their head and say 'Aaah, Kopfkino, geh aus!', as if one could end the movie with a smack to the projector. Usually, laughter ensues.
Yeah, "Kopfkino" movies are rather the ones one does _not_ want to see.
I like the word "Galgenfrist" (~ "gallow-deadline"), which means a short prolongation of a deadline in a very crucial event, e.g. you should finish an important task till a predefined date and you get additional time for completion, one would say: "Du hast noch eine Galgenfrist erhalten."
German, especially in the westfalia-region: "So!" - commonly said, when sitting around and one wants to express that one will go, with no further ado. Can be emphasized with a slap of both hands on the legs. Works well in Combination with "Feierabend" - "So, Feierabend!"
Mit "So!" fängt Arbeit an
That's a pretty reasonable collection of German idioms, except the "Backpfeifengesicht": this one is often used in English videos about funny German words, but it's rarely used in German nowadays. A more common term would be "Hackfresse" - it's even more rude with a similar meaning, so have fun to find an appropriate translation 😉! I was totally surprized about #1 "Feierabend" because this term is so natural for us Germans, so I totally agree: this needs to be migrated in every other language 😂!!!
Backpfeiffengesicht and Hackfresse are totally different things. Hackfresse is just a very ugly face, literaly meaning chopped face. i think in English there is the term chopped liver for describing that. backpfeiffengesicht is not necessarily ugly. its just a face that you want to slap. can for example be a smug and arrogant guy in expensive clothing showing a false smile to everyone or something like that. but you are right that it is rarely used by Germans. in Bavaria the corresponding term Watschengesicht is used much more frequently
Ziemlicher Fall von Selbstüberschätzung zu denken, nur, weil ein Wort in Deiner Bubble nicht häufig verwendet wird, wäre es in ganz Deutschland in jeder Altersgruppe mit jeder Sozialisation so...
Und dann nicht einmal die Bedeutung des Wortes verstanden...
@@miskatonic6210 Hier sind viele Kommentare die die gleiche Beobachtung ausdrücken und ich denke auch dass das Wort Backpfeife generell eigentlich fast gar nicht mehr verwendet wird.
Hack'fresse (hoeing + kisser) originally and pejoratively meant a right-wing student who took part in a Mensur duel, i.e. fighting with sabres or similar weapons with the end to cut the face of the adversary and leaving scars.
There is also the term "feierabendbier"
"Frohnatur" - a very positivly thinking person
"Drahtesel" - an old description for "bicycle" ("wire-donkey")
"Stimmungskanone" - a person who is always friendly and makes a lot of jokes
Partybremse
At least for *Drahtesel* the Britains have one, I really love: 'Boneshaker' wonderful.
@@Shishi03 But this one does have an equivalent "Party pooper"
@@Shishi03 Spaßbremse
opposite to "Stimmungskanone" : "Spaßbremse" (fun brake)
Some notes regarding "Feierabend":
- We don't celebrate the workday, we celebrate that it's over :D
- There is an even better word: "Feierabendbier". What that means is left as an exercise to the reader.
Also, Austria (and maybe southern Germany too?) has a more concise version of "Backpfeifengesicht": "Watschng'sicht". A "Watsche"/"Watschn" is a slap on the face, and contracting "Gesicht" to "G'sicht" lightens the burden of expressing this sentiment to only three syllables, important savings in a country that has had Sebastian Kurz as a head of state.
Also, I wish to nominate "Ohrwurm" - although I guess "earworm" has been somewhat gaining traction in English?
As far as I know Watschng'sicht is used in bavaria but not in Baden-Württemberg.
ja und 7 bier ergeben 1 schnitzel und in bayern ist ein Bier grundnahrungsmittel. aber lasst bitte die inger von alkoholfreiem hofbräu. das eklig. @@eschess_
Yes, earworm is common now. And for me, sadly, it's a common experience!
Most words from Austria that are not in Standard German should relate to their counterpart dialect across the border.
@eschess_ Yes, I am from Bavaria and am very familiar with the term "Watschen-Gsicht"!! 😆👏
Awesome! I am going to sprinkle some of these into my every day conversations. Thanks!
My favorite german word is "Schneegestöber" Schnee= snow and gestöber = rumble/flurry. and i think it just sounds nice
Kinda reminds me of my, a german who started learning english in kindergarten, first favorite word! Saturday~ I just really liked how it sounds
@@liuqmno3421 ps: kindergarten is also a german word 😄
In Australia we have 'roadie' for Wegbier which even acts as an indicator how far the distance one has to travel. A friend of mine moved a bit further from our favourite pub and commented the way home was now a 'two roadie'.
Love your channel!
Measuring distance by how drunk you can get while traversing it comports with every depiction of Australians I've ever seen in American and British media.
Yes, 'Traveller' is another version of 'roadie' - "I'll need a traveller or two"
I really need to do a video on Australian slang...
That is actually what we germans do as well, its like lets go to that bar next which is kinda far away, but if we walk, we can make it with two or three wegbiers
Point is not that (Australian or whatever) English has no way to describe the concept at all, just that it doesn't have a unique term for it. Sure, you can call it roadie. But a roadie is also a stagehand on tour. Wegbier's quality is simply its objective unmistakeability where English is just a wash most of the time.
Quite a good list. I have been living in Germany since 1989, originally from the USA. I have come to love the words “doch” for its finality and also “Fingerspitzengefühle” describing something that too many of my Teutonic friends seem to lack.
😂
yeah the babaric clumpyness of the world best engineers is a welln known phenomen. its like the popular idea of americans and being very slim.
I'm gonna be blunt (or better: direct) like a stereotypical German: "Fingerspitzengefühl" (which is a nice word and that I don't display well here) is only used in singular. It's quite like "information" in English whereas we use "Information" or "Informationen", depending on if it's a singular information or a set of information.
Please take my directness as something practical for you. In that sense, you might even consider it a politeness. (You don't have to, but it allows you to be more correct - if you prefer it.)
Regardless, I wish you many good encounters with fellow (world )citizens.
there are two ways of Fingerspitzengefühl. One is literally your ability to do some very intrique work with your hands and fingers. And the other is the metaphoric meaning of knowing and saying the right words for special situations. Please do not aspect non-nativ speakers to have Fingerspitzengefühl when speaking in a foreign language. Me as a German do not think US Americans as impolite even if they behave in a for us strange way, as they have not grown up with our social background
@@snookaisahtheotengahrepres5681 That made me laugh xD
What a nice video! Thank you so much, Rob.
Thank you so much for watching! Vielen Dank.
It's so funny to experience the own language through the eyes of a young, friendly and educated english guy like you. Thank you for your sunny gesunden Menschenverstand. In my opinion, your Videos bauen Brücken between germans and english people. Thank you very much for that, Schulterklopfmaschine! (Make peace, not war.)
As a Belgian native speaker of Dutch, I learned that, at a conference about oenology (whine making) in Italy, German speakers had about half a dozen specific words for each Italian term that needed a context to be clear in Italian ...
LOL “whine”-ology. Perfect description of my Bavarian mother-in-law’s hobby!
@@darktimesatrockymountainhi4046 Wünsche Ihnen viel Vergnügen beim Verzehr des bajuwarischen Rebensafts. Gruß aus Flandern.
Oder ist es ein Frankenwein, wie die Altneuhauser Feuerwehrkapelle meint...? 😂
That's a typical issue for translators. German demands extreme precision, which especially English does not allow. That can cause quite some 'Kopfzerbrechen' (another word English needs?) when you translate a medical or engineering text, and find that the English phrase could be translated three different ways, but you have no way to contact the author to find out what he/she meant.
@@dagmarfrerking2235 Meine früheren deutschen/österreichischen Kollegen (und, ja, ja, Kolleg*innen ;-/ ) in den EU-Ratsarbeitsgruppen hatten deshalb die größte Mühe, ihre Weisungen aus Berlin zu vermitteln, denn die Dolmetscher (Dolmetschenden?) verwendeten Wörter lateinischer Herkunft, die tatsächlich einen viel breiteren Anwendungsbereich haben, aber deswegen auch sehr ungenau sind. Hier in Belgien sind unsere Französischsprachler dafür bekannt, dass sie mit ihren "mots passe-partout" stundenlang reden können, ohne etwas zu sagen.
i would like to submit "Mahlzeit" and "Torschlusspanik".
"Mahlzeit" translates to 'meal time' or just 'meal' (if translated literally). But it's also connected to the emotions of wishing somebody an enjoyable meal and/or good day around noon.
"Torschlusspanik" translates to "gate closing panic" and is expressing the feeling of missing out on opportunities in life because one's getting oder.
So, "fomo": )
@@JLar-bb5hl yeah I guess so.
Coming from a German region where you don't say "Mahlzeit" as a wish, and where the word means "meal", and only that - it will never be anything else than odd to me that people are telling me "Meal!" when i'm sitting with my meal. And I always want to say "Yes, I know, it is!"
Torschlusspanik can be a reaction to Zugzwang
@@JLar-bb5hl Since we already had that word explained in the video: Jein. Torschlusspanik is related to fomo, but I wouldn't use them interchangably. Maybe that's just my understanding.
Fomo, to me, is a much smaller scale. Like going to a party you didn't want to go to, because something might happen and you want to be there for it.
Toschlusspanik on the other hands deals with woman getting older and suddenly trying for a child, because they get scared they might want one when they are to old for one, or suddenly wanting to change your job, because you think you can't reach your career goal in the current job anymore, because it would take to much time.
Fomo, to me, seems to be less consequential and "just for the moment", while Torschlusspanik involves descisions with consequences and looking into the future.
What a great video! Thanks a lot for brightening up my day 👍 The part where you speak about Komposita (a construct that makes German a language with a literally innumerable number of words - think of Schiffskutterkapitänshemdenknopflochnaht) was very interesting since I never thought of how English works when new words or expressions are formed.
Schnapsidee, Wegbier, Kopfkino, sturmfrei and Feierabend - couldn't imagine and couldn't endure my life without them. Greetings from Düsseldorf
Feierabend can also be used meaning "end" , "finish" or "stop" .
If your kids (or anyone) behave unruly or just badly you could say : "jetzt ist aber Feierabend" 😅
Thank You, Rob !
Great post !! 🙏🏼👍🏼🖖🏻
Ah yeah, that is right: Feierabend also means Schluss jetzt
My parents were Croatians so I grew up using a lot of German words pronounced and even spelled like a croatian word (e.g. frištik = Frühstück = breakfast) and not realizing that a lot of these words were used since the Austria-Hungarian times.
A newer one is Feierabend and a much used one as well. Whereat it isn´t only used when you finish your workday, but also when you finish a task thus can relax now.
In German the "Abend" (evening) part is also not taken very literally. I've heard it used (and used it myself) in the morning after a nightshift as well. We could've called it "Feiermorgen" (morgen=morning), but that would somehow just sound wrong lol
Oh I particularly like the Slovene "Kremšnita", a VERY unhealthy but delicious pastry and local specialty around Lake Bled, whose name is basically just Slavic spelling for the German name "Cremeschnitte", lit. "slice of cream" - which also happens to describe precisely what it is :)
@@cod3r1337 Yes, kremšnta. To be found in Croatia as well and even Bosnia. To sweet for me , but I immediately thought of "štrudla". Not Apfelstrudel, but the fluffy one with walnut or poppy seeds and a nice white coffee made of "divka i cikorija".
Damn, now I have to go and bake one.
Are you from Slovenija?
@@equolizer It´s basically just describing the point at which it´s time to lay down work and enjoy some freetime, not to be taken literally at all.
"Feierabend" can also mean that something comes to an end. For example, if my kids are loud and unruly, I can yell "Jetzt ist aber Feierabend!", and that translates as "That's enough!" As in, 'stop annoying me!'
I remember a joking attempt to turn "no" into "yesn't", and I think this would be an equivalent to the German "jein".
And I think that "doch" should've made it to the list. "Doch" is such a sassy and unique short response - it's so efficient!
If you want to know more about Germab words in English language, there is an entire list in form of a Wikipedia article.
Kudos also to your most excellent collaborator.
“Feierabend” is also used in a completely different not exactly friendly way: If someone is fed up with something said or done by other people he might announce ( especially but not necessarily) if he’ s regarded to be some kind of boss or elder : “ (Schluss, Aus,)Feierabend!” in order to put a definite unquestionable end to an ongoing discussion or action. 19:56
My little daughter brought that from Kindergarten, aged 4. She probably got that from her educatrix. (if that's a word)
She was absolutely sure that she could end ALL discussions to get her way just by saying the magic words.
She was more than surprised that it did not work against her parents and bed time. Schluss! Aus! Feierabend!
Interestingly this ties into another word I love: "Machtwort" (literally: "word of power/authority")
It describes when someone uses their authority to unilaterally dictate a decision being made, particularly when trying to put an end to a debate or deciding against the dominating opinion among a group.
For example when a parent sends their child to bed but the child doesn't want to, the parent may decide to speak a "Machtwort" ("ein Machtwort sprechen"), which could take the form of "Schluss; Aus; Feierabend! Du gehst jetzt ins Bett!"
Or when a team is debating back and forth between two approaches to a problem and there is no progress being made, then the most senior member of the team (in rank or experience) may just speak a "Machtwort" and make the decision on behalf of the team so they can move the discussion along to more productive topics.
I totally love, how the pretzels in the upper left corner fill up.. :D
Feierabend has been generalized to be used in quite a few more situations. For example, when you „ritually end“ your working day with a beer, that’s a „Feierabendbier“, but when later that night the bartender proclaims that the bar is now closing, it’s also „Feierabend“. In a nutshell, this word is being used pretty much across the board for „the time after something has ended or is currently in the process of ending“, to the extent that you could even say „Für ihn ist Feierabend“ („for him it’s game over“) when someone died, albeit it’s an improperly casual phrase in most circumstances - but then again, it could be used by the pastor in the funeral speech as a mildly humerous, „tongue-in-cheek“ touch if it somehow fits the deceased’s reputation.
I also like "Zapfenstreich" it used to mark the end of a feast when someone put a stopper into a cask of wine. It took on the meaning of the closing time of an inn but we also used it in boarding school or the time when we had to be in bad and it is (or was) also used in the military.
True that. There is also the expression "Jetzt ist damit aber (endgültig) Feierabend!" meaning "I've had (finally) enough of something."
About "kopfkino":
sometimes somebody suggests something that invokes rather unpleasant pictures.
in that case you can often hear "Bilder geht aus meinem Kopf"("Pictures go out of my head")
One of my favorite lost words from Old English is _feondscipe,_ basically "fiendship," which is the opposite of "friendship." There are a bunch of these from specifically Old English that are like that, and I think we should bring more of them back.
Sounds like "Feindschaft" in German (meaning hostility, enmity, animosity, hatred, ill-will), constructed from "Feind" (enemy) plus "-schaft" (-ship). I bet English "fiend" and German "Feind" are cognates, too.
"Fiendship" is a typo waiting to happen (and my mobile device wanted to correct it to friendship), and we already have hostility.
And at REDACTED years old, I've suddenly wondered if host and hostile are related in any way.
Re _feondscipe_ is it more like mortal enemy or nemesis, or something more like frenemy? Interesting that it captures the _ongoing relationship_ of having a nemesis or frenemy. À la Sherlock and Moriarty!
I love all the Old English -ship words too. I mentioned "feondscipe" in my newsletter a few weeks back.
I guess "enmity" would be a modern English analogue. Although that word does feel more like a synonym of "hostility" than a specific reference to the relationship of being enemies.
This video is a perfect example of how RUclips videos shoudl be: It was entertaining AND informative. Gongrats and thank you.
Dieses Video stellt ein perfektes Beispiel dafür dar, wie RUclips-Videos sein sollten: Es war unterhaltsam und gleichzeitig lehrreich. Gratulation - und vielen Dank.
Das war echt ein Hingucker und ein Ohrenschmaus, danke 😊
Most underrated comment.
Ohrenschmaus? Vielleicht, aber ein Eye-catcher auch?
@@DowerLi did you miss his pal Marie?
So habe ich meine Sprache noch nie gesehen. Aber diese Wörter treffen halt genau den Punkt den man ausdrücken möchte. Danke für das Video 😊
I always liked the " sturmfreie Bude" meaning that nobody of your elders would be at home and you could party like hell.
I think our best word is our expression for vocabulary: Wortschatz, literally "word treasure".
What about Habseligkeiten, posessions that make you blissfull?
Dutch has that too! It's ""woordenschat", and it means exactly the same as in german
The true beauty of these compound words is that even if you never heard it before in your life, as a native speaker you mostly get a good idea of the intended meaning since you already know the components it is build from. So it is rather easy to spread around new words and it keeps the language in quite a constant flux.
One of my most liked compound words is "Fliegenschiss" which literally translates to "shitpile of a fly". The meaning is uttermost insignificance combined with a certain disgust to it, since you can barely ever even notice the shitpile of an already tiny and insigificant and disgusting insect like a fly. Basically its not even worth your attention at all.
Another handy thing is that upon hearing or reading this new word, you also know its gender, since it's just the same as the last noun used.
Yes, my mother tongue finnish has this same element and it makes the language so flexible. Basically I could put any two words together and come up with something that others would understand, and this happens all the time when people come up with new words, usually quite funny ones. My favourite word is "persjalkanen" which directly translates to "asslegged", meaning short (person). We also have the word for Fliegenschiss!
A Finnish version would be 'hyttysenpaska Itämeressä' - a shit of a mosquito in the Baltic sea.
Nah, most compound words could easily mean something else and we just learned the meaning.
Kummerspeck could be the food you eat when depressed.
Baby oil could be oil made FROM babies.
Sturmfrei can also mean weather with no heavy winds.
Schadenfreude could also mean a serious internal conflicted about things good and bad at the same time.
Compound words are a good thing to have. Yes there is definitely a good amount of exceptions, but most of the time you should be able to understand it. Baumhaus, Schneemann, Feuerwehr, Türklinke, Bettlaken, Familienfeier, Arbeitsplatz, Handschuh (i like this one a lot actually:D) are some examples
Thank you so much! You left me speechless - what a wonderful video. And yes, if I sometimes see English moderated chess games it is funny to hear between the English words "Zugzwang", "Zeitnot", "Abzugsschach", "Zwischenzug" or something like "He made a ittle bit 'Luft' for his king"... It is great.
My fave is “Fingerspitzengefühl”. The sensation you get in your fingertips when handling something. Used when you need to finesse something.
I understand "Kopfkino" to mean something different than explained by your German friend. I know it more as the word you use when you're creating scenarios in your head, when you have expectations about how things will develop. For example, when someone says "I'm visiting my ex-boyfriend tomorrow" and then you have this "Kopfkino" that they'll end up getting back together or you'll have to comfort your friend after the visit because she's upset, even though you can't really know what will actually happen. Kind of like "catastrophizing" - but also in a neutral or even positive way.
that is the most used scenario but maybe they couldn't say this on youtube - Jugendschutz - even if anyone who can stand on 2 legs would know what they're talking about
I kinda know it as like. When someone says to you, “if you’re scared to talk I front of people, just imagine them naked” and the typical reaction would be “that old teacher too? Oh god, stop the kopfkino”
Kopfkino can be both. But actually I find it used mostly, when a person tells you something that you wouln't like to vision or it's funny/embarassing, if it is taken literally. It is actually a very hard problem for me, because I'm rather imaginary, so even in serious situations I sometimes laugh out loud, when somebody's mistaken in using terms an immediately a picture pops up in my mind 😂
Sry for my bad english 🫣
I am German and Kopfkino is in my opinion more of an instant imagination (visualization in mind) of a situation that someone is talking about at the moment. But I also use "Kopfkino" when trying to sleep at evening.
Agreed. I've only ever seen it used in combination of cringing. Someone tells you something and it evokes images that you don't want to have so you go "ewwww. kopfkino!!!". E.g. someone describing a bad accident with gore involved or something that's yucky. Never heard anyone use it as a stand-in for just generally imagining things in your head.
I really love to hear people talk about my language. When you grew up with it you take certain things for granted and stop to think about the fact that people have to deal without such words. Thank you for the Video. My word suggestion would be "Weltschmerz" the feeling of being sad because ... well everything and nothing at all. This feeling that there is something fundamentally wrong while being totally unable to point at the exact problem.
In its origin, "sturmfrei* is actually an old military term from the middle ages. "Stürmen" as in "storm troopers" means "to assault" or "to overrun". When a cliff or a mountainside was so steep and high that the castle on top could under no circumstances be attacked from that side, it was considered "sturmfrei" or "bare of assaults".
True.
False: "Sturmfrei" comes from a fortress not being guarded, as when in mediaeval times all the knights were away on a crusade or something. That made this fortress "free to be stormed".
@@mststgt You might confuse sturmreif with sturmfrei. You make a fortress sturmreif, aka ripe to be stormed, with artillery or making the defenders leave. But sturmfrei really means not able to be stormed by enemy forces.
@@mststgtDoch. 😉 The "Duden" dictionary gives the definition "militärisch veraltet für uneroberbar" (obsolete military expression for "safe against conquering").
@@AdamMPick "Sturmreif" is also a great word. And "windschief".
Waldeinsamkeit. That kind of exquisite isolation/peace of being alone in a big forest. Woodland solitude.
10:15 A «Wegebier» (or «Wegbier») is also a «Fußpils» (play on words with «Fußpilz» - tinea pedis or «athlete's foot») is a combination of «zu Fuß» (on foot) and «Pils» (Pilsener beer). So, a beer you're drinking when you are on your way.
"Fahrbier" need also be added to this category, means the (only) one beer you are allowed to drink, when you drive. (Important: Need to be consumed WHILE driving...) 🙂
Fußpils! LOL 😂
@@bowlingguy7755 Pilsvergiftung
@@hansmeiser8042 Wow, that’s indeed as funny as Fußpils…
Don't forget the "Scheidebecher", when you're about to go home/part ways. Only that there are always more than just one more last drink...so you end up drinking several Scheidebecher
As a german speaker I really enjoyed this list.
Well chosen examples, dear Sir. Thank you.
Found the Indian
Australian slang has "roady" a term for beer for the road, used when your going to walk to a place and drink a drink on the way
Roadie in American English has long meant someone who travels ("goes on the road") with a musical band on tour, and may be responsible for setting up equipment at the venues.
My multilingual dictionary app says it has been imported directly into French and into German. (Must have done it behind the back of the Académie Française.) Maybe other languages, too.
In the US+Canada: "one for road" but that could be any kind of drink or snack you take with you when leaving
We use road beer in the UK, surprised he's not heard it before
Interesting. DIdn't know that. My family left Australia when I was a teenager. And I was never really keen on beer.
Actually I think that “Wanderlust” and “Fernweh”are opposites aiming in the same direction. Wanderlust describes the of joy of looking forward to go somewhere abroad and experience new things (in a positive way), “Fernweh” on the other hand describes the feeling you have when you are stuck at home and crave to go somewhere far away without the possibility to do so any time near (the word “Weh”has a negative touch to it contrary to “Lust”)… PS: In Austria the “Konterbier” is called “Reparaturseidl” (a small Beer (- 0,33l) that will repair you) 😉.
I can't believe that "Ohrwurm" wasn't in the list! I miss that word so often in English. It is what you call a song that is stuck in your head and goes round and round and you can't get rid of it. I have that so often, and sometimes one "ear worm" replaces another and is replaced again by a third one in quick succession throughout the day. I say so often "Ich hab einen Ohrwurm", and never know how to say it in English elegantly and quickly. 😊
"Earworm" is coming into vogue in English, so just start using it more and usage will spread! It is fair to say that the word is now part of our language, even though not everyone yet is familiar with the term. There's an entire wikipedia page now devoted to it: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earworm
@@andreafalconiero9089 wow that is amazing! Thank you! I didn't know there were entire studies about it. That article is super interesting. 😁👍🏻
we use it in our english here, an earworm...like the smurf song..
I’ve used earworm for ages.
You're joking right? You even said it in your paragraph: Earworm