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LANGUAGE AND CULTURE

German word of the day: Frühlingsmüdigkeit

Feeling low or energy or even a little down right now? Then this German word could hold the answer to your sluggishness. Here's what you need to know.

Published: 1 April 2019 11:06 CEST
Updated: 28 April 2023 16:40 CEST
German word of the day: Frühlingsmüdigkeit
The changing of the clocks doesn't help. File photo: Depositphotos

Why do I need to know Frühlingsmüdigkeit? 

Because as spring gets fully underway, you may need to reach for this German word to describe a strange condition that sometimes crops up around this time of year.

What does it mean?

This German word combines the word for spring (der Frühling – said like this) and tiredness (die Müdigkeit – said like this) and refers to what is sometimes called “springtime lethargy” or “spring fatigue” in English. 

Symptoms of Frühlingsmüdigkeit (also known as Frühjahrsmüdigkeit) include everything from general tiredness to mood swings and irritability, or even headaches and problems sleeping. In other words, it’s kind of the flip side to the childish glee we usually feel once spring rolls around. 

What are the causes?

This is still disputed territory but a hormone imbalance (or hormone rebalancing) may play a role. According to this theory, spring fatigue is a war of hormones as the body switches from the winter production of the ‘sleep’ hormone melatonin to the daylight-inspired production of the ‘happiness’ hormone serotonin.

Read also: The German language you need for spring in Austria

Some also say it’s a symptom of getting out and about and doing more as soon as the weather gets better, following your long Winterschlaf (hibernation). Others point to the fact that rising temperatures makes the body work harder, so you feel that bit more sluggish around this time of year.

None of this is helped by the changing of the clocks. When the evenings get longer, people stay up later and the alarm clock seems to ring that much earlier every morning.

Is there a cure?

If you feel like you’ve been hit by a case of spring fatigue, both Swiss health insurance Swica and German insurance TK recommend getting plenty of light, doing exercise outdoors, eating light, healthy meals and going to bed early enough to get a good night’s sleep.

The good news is Frühlingsmüdigkeit doesn’t tend to last too long – and you have the pleasant sunny evenings and cheery spring flowers around to get you through it. 

READ ALSO: The five signs that spring has really arrived in Austria

Use it like this:

Die Arbeit fällt mir so schwer momentan. Es ist wohl die Frühlingsmüdigkeit! 

I’m finding work so hard at the moment. It’s probably spring fatigue!

Leidest du unter Frühlingsmüdigkeit? Du scheinst, ein bisschen antriebslos zu sein.

Are you suffering from spring fatigue? You seem a little listless. 

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LANGUAGE AND CULTURE

8 German words that are impossible to translate into English

Some words in the German language are so culturally specific, they just don’t exist in English.

Published: 4 October 2023 11:18 CEST
8 German words that are impossible to translate into English
For some, Heimat means feeling connected to familiar landscapes or surroundings. Photo: DPA

1. Heimat

Sure, online translators will tell you that Heimat means home, homeland, or heritage in English, but the German word is so much more complex than the meaning attached to each of these words.

When German speakers say Heimat, oftentimes it’s used to describe a sense of familiarity or belonging. Heimat can also convey associations with the landscape of one’s childhood and encompass feelings of being surrounded by family or close friends.

It’s moreover a rather loaded political term in German-speaking countries, and can sometimes come with anti-immigrant rhetoric.

Trying to come up with an English word that conveys all the above left us stumped (and overwhelmed), too.

2. Mahlzeit!

If you work in a large office in a German-speaking country, you might have noticed colleagues saying Mahlzeit! to you in the hallways on their way in or out of the canteen.

But contrary to what you might think, they’re neither saying ‘Meal time!’ nor wishing you an enjoyable meal – for which the German phrase is ‘Guten appetit.’

According to Langenscheidt dictionary, the term can be used before or after a meal. Wortbedeutung.info adds that it’s a phrase people say to each other “often in a working environment during lunch breaks.”

Even the phrases ‘Time to eat!’ or ‘Have a nice lunch!’ don’t seem to be accurate translations of the true meaning of this German term. Plus, can you think of an English word you say to your colleagues each day from around noon to 2:00 pm? We didn’t think so.

3. sympathisch

Another German word that can be tricky for native speakers of other languages to wrap their heads around is sympathisch.

While it’s true that English words such as likeable, friendly and congenial can be used in its place, oftentimes none of these terms manage to truly say what a German speaker strives to communicate when they use it.

‘Sympathisch’ in German goes beyond friendly or approachable. Photo: Ulf Lundin/Imagebank Sweden

For instance, by saying you find someone sympathisch (jemanden sympathisch finden), you could mean that you feel close to a person in the sense that you trust them or you have a good gut feeling about them.

Unfortunately though the English language doesn’t make things easy for us; no such word which encapsulates everything that sympathisch means currently exists.

4. Eben!

This four-letter German word may be short but it packs a punch and here’s why.

While a speaker can use eben to describe a surface as smooth, level or flat, eben also signals agreement with someone else’s opinion – for instance with English words like ‘precisely’ or ‘quite’.

But the expression ‘Eben!’ takes things up a notch.

Duden dictionary defines the term as reinforcing a statement and confirming one’s previous actions. Further proof that the English language simply does not have a one-word translation for the expression, according to online dictionary dict.cc, ‘Eben!’ can be a “response to a person who, while explaining why they are in agreement, mentioned facts that the original speaker had already alluded to or said.”

Don’t worry, we’re just as baffled as you are.

5. gemütlich

It’s not as simple as stating that gemütlich can be translated into English as cosy, comfortable, snug or homely. That’s because, for German speakers, anything from an event to a sweater can be considered gemütlich.

While a soft chair can be called comfy, a German speaker might describe as gemütlich a scene in which a person is sitting in that comfy chair surrounded by close friends and holding a cup of coffee with mellow tunes playing in the background.

A Christmas market in Linz can leave you with a lot of ‘gemütlich’ feelings, but so can many other peaceful, comfortable, or joyous things. (Linz Tourismus, Photographer: Alex Sigalov)

And it’s not just limited to social situations – another definition of the word refers to the comfort of a prosperous, middle-class life.

Gemütlichkeit, as defined by Langenscheidt, can mean everything from peace to leisure to easy-goingness; no such English word on the other hand precisely encompasses the vast definitions of this one word.

6. Spießigkeit

Whereas you might have heard young people in Germany describe someone as spießig to mean that they are stuffy, square or conservative, the word has a variety of other definitions.

One translation offered by dict.cc is narrow-mindedness. Another translation given by Linguee states that Spießigkeit can be used interchangeably with parochialism.

Wortbedeutung.info moreover defines Spießer as a derogatory word for a person who “complies with social norms” and is “averse to changes in his or her living environment.”

7. Doch!

If you’ve lived in a German-speaking country for a while you may have come to notice how useful it’d be if there were a word in English to express what ‘Doch!’ does. But no, that’s just not the case.

Use of the succinct term depends heavily on context. In English you might translate it as ‘of course!’ or ‘yes!’ But, yet again, none of these terms really do it justice.

That’s because German speakers use it to contradict a negative question or statement. And the phrase that Langenscheidt gives – ‘Oh certainly!’ – would be strange or inappropriate to hear where ‘Doch!’ is used.

8. Kehrwoche

To round off this list, here’s a word that’s very specific to German-speaking culture; in English it really can only be explained in a few sentences.

Langenscheidt gives one definition for Kehrwoche: a week for cleaning. Dict.cc gives a lengthier translation: “a rotating time period during which a resident (e.g. of an apartment building) is responsible for cleaning shared areas in and around the building such as staircases, hallways, driveways, etc.”

The word is also used in a broader sense to convey, for example, a returning week of responsibility for some communal task like cleaning a kitchen.  

Leave it to German speakers to be so efficient, they even have a word like Kehrwoche which exemplifies their structured behaviour and efficiency.

READ ALSO: The 10 false friends German and English speakers keep muddling up