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German expressions that don’t exist in English

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Re: German expressions that don’t exist in English

#31

Post by Hermel »

No, these expressions exist in English, they just have a slightly different meaning. And in the case of “Entwicklung”, the English pendant “Development” even has the exact same origin: to unwrap or unfold (the opposite of envelope). There certainly are German expressions that do not exist in English, but this list does not do a good job at collecting them.

My personal impression is that German makes it easier to express abstract impersonal goals and needs. For example, consider the word “Sachzwang” which translates to “intrinsic necessity” - i.e. something that must be a certain way to satisfy the naturally given constraints. This can for example be used in the wonderful expression: sachzwangreduzierte Ehrlichkeit. (Reduced honesty due to inherent constraints.)

Often, English has very elegant and short ways to express something similar, in that case it could simply be “spin”, as in giving an article a political spin. However, while “spin” is something done intentionally by someone (the spin doctor, another nice expression), the German variant is passive and implies that “die Sache” (roughly “the mission”) dictate the doctoring with the truth. This again illustrates what I mean by German tending to more abstract, impersonal goals.

Re: German expressions that don’t exist in English

#32

Post by ema »

a_bonobo wrote: post #11

I've been struggling to find an equivalent for 'overengineered' in German - there's verschlimmbessern, a portmanteu verb of 'verbessern' (improve) and 'schlimm' (bad), it's what you use when you want to improve something but the end-product is worse. However, German tech (to me!) has a overengineering problem, not a verschlimmbessern problem, there's nothing being improved. Just look at modern German cars, impossible…

We don't have a word for it because we don't see it as overengineering, we see it simply as engineering ;)

On a more serious note, there is this idea that at their core systems are about accepting inefficiency in order to gain consistency and simplicity. From this perspective us Germans accept inefficiency for consistencies sake but not for simplicity.

Re: German expressions that don’t exist in English

#33

Post by deaddodo »

EastLondonCoder wrote: post #22

Interestingly enough the words exists in Swedish as well, spelling is a bit different but the meaning is more or less the same: German -> Swedish Wehmot -> vemod Entwicklung -> utveckling Einsam -> ensam Stimmung -> stämmning Entschuldigen -> ursäkta Aufrichtigkeit -> uppriktighet Lebensmut -> livsmod Ursprung -> ursprung Liebenswürdig -> älskvärd Note that Sinneswandel is missing not sure if there is a direct transl…

I mean, technically you can do this in English as well. English is a Germanic language and compound words are fully legitimate in the language. The following don't exist in the colloquialisms or formal records of the language, but are grammatically correct:

  Wehmot -> sorecourage
  Einsam -> onepeace
  Stimmung -> innervoice
  Lebensmut -> lifegrit
  Liebenswürdig -> loveworthy
And, despite the author's claims, many do have direct equivalent words in English:

  Ursprung -> outspring
  Aufrichtigkeit -> uprightness
  Entwicklung -> unwrapping
  Entschuldigen -> unguilt
All of which could be used in the manner described in the article. As well as having accurate one-word synonyms:

  outspring: origin / original
  uprightness: compunction
  unwrapping: developing, delving, growth
  unguilt: unburden
The main difference in the languages is that modern English (especially 20th century on) has relied more on loanwords (another compound word) and hyphenations to augment. Love-worthy, for instance:

https://www.wordnik.com/words/love-worthy

It's hard to count compound words as "words that don't exist in other languages", honestly. Meanwhile, there are perfectly acceptable (compound or not) words that actually give voice to something hard to describe in other languages. Which is a far more interesting (IMHO) concept; such as "schadenfreude" or, going the other way for many languages, "irony".

Re: German expressions that don’t exist in English

#34

Post by camillomiller »

As an Italian living in Germany, and as a lover of the German language, I think this is not a good list. It reads like it was put together to fit the author's approach to coaching. Entwicklung, indeed, is the best example of this. It is exactly the same in English.

What's really fun about German: as a non native you can get to a point where you create involuntary neologisms by putting together words you already know. Surprisingly, Germans find it mostly funny and tend to understand well what you mean, suggesting that there's an underlying plasticity to this language, if you're mutig enough to play with it and its admittedly strict Grenzen. I just cant's wrap my head around the rule of writing every substantive with a capital letter though, which I interpret as an annoying need to always circumstantiate a purported objectivity of the perceived reality.

With some friends we started coming up with these neologisms on purpose. My favorite one is "Sonnenschuld" or "Wetterschuld", which is that feeling you get in Berlin when you have to work during the summer while the sun is shining outside. You know you're doing the right thing, but at the same time you know you're wasting a precious opportunity to enjoy a rather seldom occurrence.

Re: German expressions that don’t exist in English

#35

Post by kenmendin »

Although German language is full of great words, the expressions from the post exist in other languages, even in my native tongue Turkish, which belongs to a completely different language family.

However in Germany these expressions are regularly used on TV,press and literature. They have become and are powerful building blocks of a German speakers thoughts, giving them an advantage to think better.

Re: German expressions that don’t exist in English

#36

Post by zmix »

ema wrote: post #32
a_bonobo wrote: post #11

I've been struggling to find an equivalent for 'overengineered' in German - there's verschlimmbessern, a portmanteu verb of 'verbessern' (improve) and 'schlimm' (bad), it's what you use when you want to improve something but the end-product is worse. However, German tech (to me!) has a overengineering problem, not a verschlimmbessern problem, there's nothing being improved. Just look at modern German cars, impossible…

We don't have a word for it because we don't see it as overengineering, we see it simply as engineering ;) On a more serious note, there is this idea that at their core systems are about accepting inefficiency in order to gain consistency and simplicity. From this perspective us Germans accept inefficiency for consistencies sake but not for simplicity.

> We don't have a word for it because we don't see it as overengineering, we see it simply as engineering ;)

Haha! Yes, totally! No German engineer "overengineers". Ever! It's called "refinement", "evolution" and "sophistication". There is no language to criticise engineers in a nation dominated by engineers (and businesspeople). ;)

Re: German expressions that don’t exist in English

#37

Post by zmix »

ed_balls wrote: post #30
branko_d wrote: post #8

I'm not even German, but I know this... Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell Awesome YouTube channel, BTW. ;)

I don't speak German but I use weltschmerz and reisefieber

Kindergarten is also a word, that has found its way into anglo-saxon languages.

Re: German expressions that don’t exist in English

#39

Post by DayDollar »

a_bonobo wrote: post #11

I've been struggling to find an equivalent for 'overengineered' in German - there's verschlimmbessern, a portmanteu verb of 'verbessern' (improve) and 'schlimm' (bad), it's what you use when you want to improve something but the end-product is worse. However, German tech (to me!) has a overengineering problem, not a verschlimmbessern problem, there's nothing being improved. Just look at modern German cars, impossible…

Hirnschneckenhäuschenbergwerk

The german language is basically a lego-language-set, nice for construction and recombination. Unfortunatly, the gramar and rule OCD-Guardians got to it.

The trick is to never admit you invented anything, you always heard it elsewhere..

When it is consensus somewhere else, doubt kreeps into the hivemind communication watchmen.

Have fun. And get away with it. Death to the duden.

Re: German expressions that don’t exist in English

#40

Post by usr1106 »

EastLondonCoder wrote: post #22

Interestingly enough the words exists in Swedish as well, spelling is a bit different but the meaning is more or less the same: German -> Swedish Wehmot -> vemod Entwicklung -> utveckling Einsam -> ensam Stimmung -> stämmning Entschuldigen -> ursäkta Aufrichtigkeit -> uppriktighet Lebensmut -> livsmod Ursprung -> ursprung Liebenswürdig -> älskvärd Note that Sinneswandel is missing not sure if there is a direct transl…

>Entschuldigen -> ursäkta

That's not a direct translation as far as I can see. I'm not a native speaker but I don't think säkt does means anything, opposite to Schuld, which has a clear meaning. The direct translation would be something like avskulda, but that's not a word AFAICS.

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