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GERMAN WORD OF THE DAY

German word of the day: Krisenmodus

If you want to talk about the past 12 months in Germany, you'll definitely need to know this word. In fact, it's recently been crowned the "word of the year" for 2023.

Christian Lindner Olaf Scholz Robert Habeck
Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP), Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) and Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) sit together in the Bundestag. The three senior ministers have reportedly reached a budget deal after a court ruling threw spending plans into chaos. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Michael Kappeler

Why is Krisenmodus the word of the year – and what does it mean?

Der Krisenmodus, as you might be able to guess, translates as “crisis mode”. It denotes an all-hands-on-deck period where things feel like they are teetering on the brink of disaster and only careful planning and good crisis management can steady the ship.

If you look back at the past year – or even the past three years – it would be fair say that crisis mode has become the new state of normality.

Whether it’s the shock of the Covid pandemic to the outbreak of war in Ukraine and the Middle East, spiralling energy prices or impending budget doom, Germany’s government has lurched from one crisis to another – and much of the time has been tackling several at once.

That’s why, when it came to selecting the word of the year for 2023, there was only one that the German Language Society (GfDS) could pick.

According to GfDS CEO Andrea Ewels, German society has been in “crisis mode” since 2020, hurtling through the pandemic, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a domestic education crisis, and Hamas’ October 7th attack on Israel.

“The state of emergency has become a permanent state,” she said. “This triggers fear, insecurity and powerlessness in people. These feelings dominate everyday life and you don’t know what’s to come.”

So if you, like many, are ending the year on a slightly pessimistic note, it’s fair to say you’re not the only one. 

What’s the “word of the year” all about?

Selected by a panel of linguists and media experts, the word of the year has been an institution in Germany since the early 1970s, capturing the Zeitgeist of different eras in German history with just a handful of popular idioms. 

Every year, the GfDS judges sift through hundreds or even thousands of entries to pick out the words that seem to reflect the spirit of the year in question or hold a deeper significance. This is much more an important than how often a word is used in a certain year – though the popularity of a word does play a role.

READ ALSO: What do Germany’s top 10 words of the year say about 2022?

A woman consults the Duden German dictionary

A woman consults the Duden German dictionary. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Wolfgang Kumm

This year, there were 1,800 entries to choose from.

The first ever word of the year way back in 1971 was “aufmüpfig” – a word that doesn’t appear to have stood the test of time, possibly because the more anglicised “rebellisch” (or rebellious) has taken its place.

Other words of the year that have cropped up over time include Besserwessi in 1991 – a term referring to seemingly snobbish and know-it-all West Germans after reunification – and GroKo in 2013, an abbreviation for the Grand Coalition of the CDU and SPD. 

What were the runners up? 

As you might expect, the two runners up were also highly topical. 

The first, “Antisemitismus”, refers to a rise in anti-Semitism in the wake of the October 7th Hamas attacks on Israel and Israel’s bombardment of the Gaza Strip. 

The second, “leseunfähig” (unable to read), refers to the dire scores that German pupils achieved in the latest Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) study, which ranks 15-year-olds around the world in maths, literacy and science. 

In a damning indictment of German schools and academic attainment, the most recent PISA rankings saw the performance of pupils in Germany decline dramatically since 2019, with German media describing the results as a “PISA-Schock.” 

In reading, pupils dropped a massive 18 points from 498 to 480 – so it may come as no surprise that “leseunfähig” was a prominent idiom in this endless crisis year. 

READ ALSO: German school pupils plummet to ‘lowest score ever’ in international rankings

How to use Krisenmodus

Dieses Jahr hat mich so müde gemacht. Wann wird der endlose Krisenmodus endlich vorbei sein?

This year has made me so tired. When will the endless crisis mode finally be over?

Krisenmodus soll das Wort des Jahres sein. Keine große Überraschung, oder? 

Crisis mode is apparently the word of the year. No big surprise there, right? 

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GERMAN WORD OF THE DAY

German word of the day: Sommersonnenwende

This German word marks the changing of seasons, and the longest day of the year.

German word of the day: Sommersonnenwende

Die Sommersonnenwende, pronounced like this, is the German term for the summer solstice, which is the day that marks the meteorological beginning of summer in Germany and the northern hemisphere.

Alternative names for the day are Sommer Solstitium, which comes from the Latin term, and Mittsommer.

Like so many great German words, the term for the summer solstice is a compound noun which translates quite literally. It’s made up of three simple words: Sommer (summer), Sonnen (sun) and Wende (turn or turnaround).

So the name for the summer solstice in German is meant to remind you that this is the day that the sun ends its journey northward in the sky, and turns around.

As you can probably guess, the winter solstice is called die Wintersonnenwende.

You might recognise the term Wende from another compound noun that got a fair amount of attention in recent years – Energiewende, which means energy transition, has also been used to describe Germany’s big picture plans to phase out fossil fuel use.

The summer solstice usually falls on June 21st or 22nd. But it fell on June 20th this year, due to 2024 being a leap year.

How is ‘die Sommersonnenwende’ observed in Germany

Humans have taken note of, and celebrated, the summer solstice for thousands of years.

Archaeologists suggest that Stone Age cultures were already able to determine the day. Evidence of this was uncovered in 2004 at the site of a 7000-year-old solar observatory found in Goseck in Saxony-Anhalt.

Among Germanic tribes, the summer solstice was celebrated with pagan folk festivals that often included fire rituals.

After Christianization of the region, the Catholic Church tried to abolish the pagan solstice traditions – eventually designating the day for a memorial day for John the Baptist (June 24th), and adopting the fire as a symbol for Jesus Christ. 

Most of the original solstice traditions have been lost, but some are being reinvigorated for tourism, especially on the Baltic Sea coast.

More broadly, the long daylight hours experienced in the weeks before and after the summer solstice, offer a chance to stay out or do outdoor activities late into the evening. There are also a number of music festivals around Germany at this time of year.

READ ALSO: How to make the most of Germany’s long summer days

Use it like this:

Die Sonne geht so spät unter, es muss die Sommersonnenwende sein.

The sun is setting so late, it must be the summer solstice!

Haben Sie dieses Jahr Pläne, die Sommersonnenwende zu feiern?

Do you have plans to celebrate the summer soltice this year?

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