Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK
For members

LEARNING

12 brilliant German words you won’t find in English

Unfortunately English let you down when you were trying to think of these things to say.

Published: 12 October 2016 16:29 CEST
Updated: 7 May 2020 15:30 CEST
12 brilliant German words you won't find in English
A woman walks up actual 'Treppen' in Berlin in March. Photo: DPA

1. Verabredet

A woman writes in her caldendar. Photo: DPA

Germans don’t just agree to meet up at 2pm, and then rely on their mobile phones to explain why they’re late. They make utterly clear, unambiguous appointments. And then they describe themselves as “verabredet.”

“You are late. We were verabredet. I am simply not understanding this.” It’s an adjective that defines a whole culture.

2. Fahne

A man takes a nap after a few too many beers in Cologne. Photo: DPA

This does not just mean flag. It’s also the special type of “flag” (or the stench of booze) that flutters in your face and stings your eyes when a drunkard tells you he always loved her, you know, honestly, really loved her, despite how it looks. “Please wave that Fahne somewhere else.”

3. Drachenfutter

Roses. Photo: DPA

You’ve stayed out late and you weren’t supposed to. Your wife has put the kids to bed, made your dinner, and given it to the dog. What you need is Drachenfutter – a gift that will, literally, feed the dragon, outmoded sexist interpretations of gender roles notwithstanding.

“Oh no, I hope the late-night shop is open. I’m absolutely off my face and I need some Drachenfutter.”

4. Kummerspeck

Photo: DPA

The English have “comfort food,” but the ever-thorough Germans have taken that concept to its obvious biological conclusion. Kummerspeck, literally “sorrow bacon,” is the extra bulges that develop once you’ve consumed too much comfort.

“Is that Kummerspeck, or are you just pleased to see me?”

5. Fremdschämen

PFile photo: DPA

This is a truly vital word, missing from English, and indeed every language in the world (probably) – except German. It means to be ashamed FOR someone else. How often have you wanted to express that feeling in one neat, perfect word?

“Yes, I was very fremdgeschämt when Donald Trump got the date of the US election wrong.”

6. Rabenmutter

A T.V. show depicting a mother who pushes her children into show-business. Photo: DPA/ARTE

In keeping with their 19th century image of family roles, Germans have a special word for a bad mum. It literally means “raven mother”. Apparently baby ravens in the wild eat nothing but ketchup and are allowed to play with scissors.

READ ALSO: German word of the day: Die Rabenmutter

“Look, that child has not got a hat on and it’s below 20 degrees Celsius. What a Rabenmutter.”

7. Pechvogel/Glückspilz

Mushrooms Photo: DPA

In the Germans’ skewed image of the universe, the bird, soaring free through the sky, is an unlucky beast, but to be a mushroom is a fate associated with good fortune. It’s fun to be a fungi.

“Oh no, my fungi has ceased to grow. I am such a Pechvogel.” 

Pech means bad luck and Glück is good luck. See if you can work the rest out yourselves.

8. Quergebäude

Photo: DPA

Germans, it turns out, have specific names for different parts of a building, largely because of the structure of blocks of flats in Germany. There’s a Vorderhaus (front bit), a Seitenflügel (side bit), a Hinterhof (back bit) and something called a Quergebäude, which is, erm, the across bit. Quer means across, and can also be used as in the wonderfully literal term querlegen – to obstruct.

9. Handschuhschneeballwerfer

A glove-wearing snowball thrower in Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia. Photo: DPA

Everyone hates the coward willing to criticize and abuse from a safe distance. The Germans equate that person with the lowest of the low: the one who wears gloves when throwing snowballs. As far as they’re concerned, a snowball fight is not a snowball fight until someone gets frostbite.

10. Treppenwitz

Stairs in the foyer of the Elbphilharmonie concert hall in Hamburg. Photo: DPA

Another wonderful German word, for a bittersweet situation familiar to everyone on the planet. The Treppenwitz, literally “stair-joke,” is the brilliant comeback you think of when you’re already out of the door and halfway down the stairs.

“And you, sir, are a prick! Ach! If only I’d thought of that at the time!”

11. Verschlimmbessern

Photo: DPA

There’s being ham-fisted, or putting your foot in it, or there’s just plain clumsiness, but in German there’s the very specific act of verschlimmbessern, which is when you make something worse in the very act of trying to improve it.

“Oh no, that extra piece of cheesecake, far from being nutritious, has just verschlimmbessert my digestive tract.”

12. Radfahrer

Cyclists in Göttingen, Lower Saxony. Photo: DPA

This is a deceptively simple word that weirdly hints at Germans’ darkest perversion. It just means cyclist, but in some German circles it refers to an employee who sucks up to his superiors while treading on his inferiors, thus imitating the posture of a cyclist. Not literally. That would be truly horrid.

For all The Local’s guides to learning German CLICK HERE

Member comments

  1. My personal favourite is “Ausstrahlung” – the radiance or feeling that someone gives off… kind of like your aura, but somehow in german it sounds less poncey 😉

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.
For members

LEARNING GERMAN

‘Focus on your strengths’: Our readers’ top tips for learning German

German is a hard language to learn - but far from impossible - was the consensus from The Local's reader survey on tips to learn the language. Here's the advice they gave to people struggling with the language.

Published: 12 April 2024 16:43 CEST
'Focus on your strengths': Our readers' top tips for learning German

The “awful German language,” as writer Mark Twain famously coined it almost 150 years ago, still pains many people to learn.

In The Local Germany’s survey, in which we asked our readers for their top tips for learning the language, two-thirds (65.7 percent) of 65 respondents described Deutsch as either “quite hard” or “very hard” to learn.

“German grammar can be very tedious to understand, especially when switching to the different cases,” said Rob, 39.

Some survey takers felt even stronger: “German is an unnecessarily over-complicated language, illogical and outdated. I hope future human generation won’t have to face this,” said an anonymous respondent.

Only two respondents said that the language was either “quite easy” or “very easy”.

Still, readers are not giving up in their pursuit to master the language, with 82 percent of survey takers having studied it for over a year, and 24.6 percent for more than five years.

Biggest barriers

Not all respondents felt that the largest barrier to learning German was the language itself – and all of the unwieldy grammatical rules that come with it – but rather factors like a lack of time, shortage of people with whom to practice, or simply too many locals switching to English with them.

For JBN, 37, in Germany, the biggest challenge was “not speaking it at work. I try to have German podcasts or TV on as background noise when I work.”

In addition to struggling with getting pronunciation tight, Fiona, 33, also in Germany found it challenging that Germans often “answer in English. Tell them you’re learning and it will eventually pay off!”

“Keep speaking – people appreciate it when you try,” said Rob, 24, from the US.

Tips for learning

Spontaneous daily interactions with the Deutsche is, of course, easiest in a German-speaking country or region. 

So it comes as little surprise that about half of respondents said that “immersing yourself in the culture” and getting a tandem (language exchange partner or talking to locals were top ways to pick up German. 

Over 40 percent also ranked self-study – as well as language courses – as top methods to master the language.

For those who preferred to learn independently, they recommended a variety of free and paid apps, such as Duolingo, Busuu, and Zinguist. 

They also advised tuning into both podcasts designed for Deutsch learners, such as Coffee Break German, as well as those catering primarily to native speakers and listening at a lower speed.

What podcasts can help you learn Italian?

What podcasts can help you learn German? Photo by freestocks on Unsplash.

Several respondents encouraged learners to watch German movies directly auf Deutsch and with German subtitles, as well as YouTube videos created for German learners of all levels such as Easy German.

A few respondents recommended getting a private tutor, either in person or online through a website such as Preply.

Deutsch Gym – a subscription service that organises in-person and online meet-ups for practicing German – was one respondent’s top recommendation for getting that all-important speaking practice.

READ ALSO: ‘Brutal’: What it’s really like to learn German in Austria

Good ‘ol fashioned resources

And other respondents recommended simply delving into “old-fashioned” print materials.

“Learn with books for children,” recommended Rina, 44. 

Rina also advised learners to “focus on your strengths, whether that’s auditory or visual.”

An old German expression states that “Es ist kein Meister vom Himmel gefallen” (“Masters don’t fall from the sky”) – similar to the English “practice makes perfect”.

But Francisco, 44, in Munich said that perfection shouldn’t be the end goal, but rather getting by in day to day life.

Then there’s less pressure – and in turn a better environment for absorbing even more German.

“Don’t try to learn the grammar perfectly; try to learn as much vocab as possible and enough grammar that you can understand.”

Thank you so much to everyone who completed our survey. Although we weren’t able to use all the responses, we read them all, and they helped inform our article. 

SHOW COMMENTS