Tag: german

aljofares:

Tbh the idea that German is an angry or ugly language is just French propoganda to divert attention away from the fact that French sounds exactly like when your dog is choking on some plastic wrapper he found somehow

I was going to make a post complaining about the kids in my German class not being confident in German spelling by this point in German 2 but I misspelled the word in my tags so I guess I don’t really have a point do I

unknown-blob:

iamprobablywriting:

thatswhywelovegermany:

sciencebranchblues:

thatswhywelovegermany:

sleenonme:

thatswhywelovegermany:

linguistikforum:

thatswhywelovegermany:

thiswontbebigondignity:

thatswhywelovegermany:

latveriansnailmail:

thatswhywelovegermany:

Honestly, as a German I can not quite understand the obsession of the English speaking world with the question whether a word exists or not. If you have to express something for which there is no word, you have to make a new one, preferably by combining well-known words, and in the very same moment it starts to exist. Agree?

Deutsche Freunde, could you please create for me a word for the extreme depression I feel when I bend down to pick up a piece of litter and discover two more pieces of litter?

    • um = around
    • die Welt = world
  • die Umwelt = environment
    • ver = prefix to indicate something difficult or negative, a change that leads to deterioration or even destruction that is difficult to reverse or to undo, or a strong negative change of the mental state of a person
    • der Müll = garbage, trash, rubbish, litter
    • -ung = -ing
  • die Vermüllung = littering
    • ver- = see before
    • zweifeln = to doubt
    • -ung = see before
  • die Verzweiflung = despair, exasperation, desperation

die Umweltvermüllungsverzweiflung = …

This is a german compound on the spot master class and I am LIVING

#my german is still too basic for this but I desperately want a compound word for how much these compound words piss me off

  • das Monster = monster
  • das Wort = word
  • der Groll = grudge, anger, malice, rancor

der Monsterwortgroll = …

Monsterwortbildungsimitationsunfähigkeitsverzweiflungsgroll

  • die Bildung = formation
  • die Imitation = imitation
    • un- = un-, in-
    • fähig = able
    • -keit = -ility
  • die Unfähigkeit = inability

der Monsterwortbildungsimitationsunfähigkeitsverzweiflungsgroll = anger about the inability to imitate the formation of monster words

What I’m curious about: If a German person came out with the word

‘Monsterwortbildungsimitationsunfähigkeitsverzweiflungsgroll’

would a German listener just instantly know what they were on about, and get the highly specific meaning of the monster word?

Yes, without a second of thinking. Because saying the word takes time so the listener understands the word while it is being said.

Serious question—if you don’t know/can’t remember the actual word for something, if you make up a compound word that gets the point across (such as saying “kindhund” when you mean puppy), will native speakers generally applaud your effort or think you sound ridiculous?

A native speaker will understand, will acknowledge that you have understood that principle of the German language, and will probably think ‘how cute’.

My foreign exchange student did that all the time when she couldn’t remember words. It was awesome, I understood her perfectly, and I’m still in awe at how well she picked up on How To German. So feel free to make your own compound words whenever you need!

Once I didn’t know the word for the heater so I called it a “Heizungsapparat.” My host family thought this was the funniest and cutest thing. Turned out “Heizung” was all I needed to say.