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Aufrichtigkeit – Sincerity/Honesty. Literally: To be in an upright posture This sounds pretty similar to 'having a spine'. Its normally used for courage or sticking up for your beliefs.
Pretty much the same. Though I’d use it in the face of adversity, whereas “aufrichtig” is more of a muted, constant state of being. Like sincerity, with a visceral touch.
Let’s not forget schadenfreude!
You mean epicaricacy?
The word is mentioned in some early dictionaries, but there is little or no evidence of actual usage until it was picked up by various "interesting word" websites around the turn of the twenty-first century.
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 expr…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Alternative title: "One language that has different close compounding rules than another language has different compound nouns than that other language". And different cultural and historical sensibilities expressed in those compound nouns - which is the main point of the article one would assume, not the mechanics...
From the article: "the unique wisdom of some of these words, that don't have an exact counterpart in the English language". So the claim is precisely that because English doesn't have single-word translations of these German terms, that the German words somehow encode "unique wisdom", which is obviously BS. In most cases, close examination reveals that it's unfounded BS. "Aufrichtigkeit" (Sincerity/Honesty) has the s…
As for the general claim, not so obviously.
For one, "wisdom" here is not meant as some expert understanding of who we are and what to do in general (the generic sense of wisdom), but as improved insight about a sentiment/situation captured in a specific word, as opposed to a language that can only describe it in many ad-hoc words.
To put it in IT terms, those words avoid an extra pointer interaction to the subject matter. Or having them is like having first class support for something that in English only can be achieved with "design patterns" and extra ceremony (of course there are English words which the German don't have too).
As for specific examples in the article, sure, they might not be the best picks to illustrate the general claim.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Doesn’t every language have such a thing? Not in the same degree. > What makes German more exceptional than English? Different syntax, more abstract terms, and easier to combine terms and create new meanings. > Or Chinese more exceptional than English? Totally different writing system, syntax and sensibility, and a couple of millennia or more of added history.
I will dispute that it is "easier to combine terms and create new meanings" in German than in English. You can combine words to create new words in either language.
(1) people often do,
(2) the language encourages it,
(3) the terms are accepted as valid (e.g. when seen in an article or spoken),
(4) there are as many compound words in English as in German,
(5) it's as historically customary to create compound words
and several other things besides.
So I don't think one can dispute that it's easier in German.
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 expr…
I dislike when people say “this cannot be translated correctly into your language” as it logically doesn’t make sense. perhaps they mean word for word? I’m sure any language can conjure up a similar feeling and combination of words. Maybe not a literal translation, but by virtue of being a human construct, any language can be crafted and molded into anything.
Anyone who speaks >1 languages is aware of this.
Me: Moved to Hamburg this year, has 320 days on Duolingo and finished an actual beginner's German course so far. I can only partially agree to the statements made in this thread about the quality of this list but I've been fascinated with German words that have no English counterparts, at least not completely. My favorite one so far is "Waldeinsamkeit"--literally "forest soltitude" but the translation does not captur…
This highly influences traffic (patterns), structure of neighborhoods in the residential areas and so on.
Maybe this explains why the city sleeps so early - the working population is off to their homes in the suburbs.
In any case, I think all these compound words definitely make learning German easier. It encourages one to adopt the mindset.
Aufrichtigkeit – Sincerity/Honesty. Literally: To be in an upright posture This sounds pretty similar to 'having a spine'. Its normally used for courage or sticking up for your beliefs.
I would say the meaning is nearly equivalent. If someone has a spine he is someone who stands by his convictions (maybe implying the presence of external animosity).
Someone who is "aufrichtig" is "just" honest about his convictions.