As a student of German, I always have people say to me that German is a hard and difficult language. There certainly is a seed of truth in that. German is undoubtedly a less melodic language than Italian. It generally has harsher sounds and it quite inevitably calls to mind National-Socialism and Angela Merkel. Nonetheless, I personally think that German also has pleasant sounds, but I find it quite hard to convey them through a virtual page. For this reason, I’ll limit myself to explaining why I find a language like German extremely fascinating.
The basic principle of German is that every word can be linked to others in order to put across a certain message. It is quite a flexible language in terms of vocabulary – as opposed to English, I think, where vocabulary is extremely varied but one word generally sounds ‘good’ only with a few others – and it is extremely inflexible in terms of grammar. One of the major problems is represented by cases, which, despite being just four, become quite tricky when combined with three different genders – masculine, feminine, and neuter – and several distinctions, especially in the case of adjectives, which take different endings according to what comes before. Were I to say ‘happy people’ and ‘the happy people’, there would be a final ‘n’ which would distinguish between one ‘happy’ and the other.
As far as syntax goes, periods can be extremely long and they generally save up the verb for the end, which might seem at first absolutely illogical. Paradoxically enough, in German it is fundamental to listen to the end of the sentence rather than its beginning, because that’s where the verb usually is – at least in subordinate clauses. In languages such as English or Italian, it is not even necessary to end sentences in order for the other person to understand our message, so there is definitely a great gap between those and German.
That being said, my post intended to illustrate a couple of examples of how German creates words which I find fascinating – and also quite untranslatable. I’m not simply referring to the fact that gloves are in German ‘handshoes’ (die Hand = hand; der Schuh = shoe; der Handschuh = glove) or to the fact that a refrigerator is a ‘cool cupboard’ (der Schrank = cupboard/wardrobe; kühl = cool; der Kühlschrank = refrigerator). Here are a few German words which evoke wonderful ideas and which I find particularly intriguing.
1. die Ellenbogengesellschaft (literally, "elbows-society")
The basic principle of German is that every word can be linked to others in order to put across a certain message. It is quite a flexible language in terms of vocabulary – as opposed to English, I think, where vocabulary is extremely varied but one word generally sounds ‘good’ only with a few others – and it is extremely inflexible in terms of grammar. One of the major problems is represented by cases, which, despite being just four, become quite tricky when combined with three different genders – masculine, feminine, and neuter – and several distinctions, especially in the case of adjectives, which take different endings according to what comes before. Were I to say ‘happy people’ and ‘the happy people’, there would be a final ‘n’ which would distinguish between one ‘happy’ and the other.
As far as syntax goes, periods can be extremely long and they generally save up the verb for the end, which might seem at first absolutely illogical. Paradoxically enough, in German it is fundamental to listen to the end of the sentence rather than its beginning, because that’s where the verb usually is – at least in subordinate clauses. In languages such as English or Italian, it is not even necessary to end sentences in order for the other person to understand our message, so there is definitely a great gap between those and German.
That being said, my post intended to illustrate a couple of examples of how German creates words which I find fascinating – and also quite untranslatable. I’m not simply referring to the fact that gloves are in German ‘handshoes’ (die Hand = hand; der Schuh = shoe; der Handschuh = glove) or to the fact that a refrigerator is a ‘cool cupboard’ (der Schrank = cupboard/wardrobe; kühl = cool; der Kühlschrank = refrigerator). Here are a few German words which evoke wonderful ideas and which I find particularly intriguing.
1. die Ellenbogengesellschaft (literally, "elbows-society")
This is a concept which gained particular significance thanks to expressions such as ‘homo homini lupus’ or, in Hegelian terms, ‘Spiritual Animal Kingdom’ (‘das geistige Tierreich’). Basically, it is the concept on which today’s Capitalist society is based, namely that of fierce competition. In an ‘elbows-society’, individuals elbow their way among their fellows in order to prevail over the masses. This is an idea which is conjured up by one word in German, and this is why I find it fascinating.
2. die Prinzipienreiterei (literally, "principles-cavalry")
This is a word which I found in Theodor Fontane’s Effi Briest and which is particularly useful in the depiction of one of the major characters, i.e. Baron von Innstetten, the eponymous character’s husband. This term describes a nearly obsessive clinging to principles, be they self-imposed or dictated by society. This means therefore that a person presenting this feature will not be able to act independently, but he or she will always have to recall social norms before deciding which course of action is the one to follow. In the case of Innstetten, he finds out that his wife betrayed him over six years before and he feels obliged to confront his former rival in a duel – besides distancing her from their family. This is of course because it was socially necessary to challenge somebody to a duel if they offended you, especially when it was to do with a problem which law did not address.
3. das Fingerspitzengefühl (literally, "fingertips-feeling")
This term expresses what is generally called savoir faire or in some cases it just means tact, but I find the German word much more evocative and interesting.
4. der Ohrwurm (literally, "earworm")
Although this term might evoke quite unpleasant images, in colloquial German it indicates that sort of song which is extremely catchy and ‘gets in to your ear’ quite easily. Once again, the German seems to be much more metaphorical and evocative than other languages.
5. das Fernweh (literally, "distance-pain")
This term basically describes a sort of longing for far away countries, even though some people claim that it describes instead a longing for countries you’ve never visited. The Duden dictionary describes this term as ‘Sehnsucht nach der Ferne, nach fernen Ländern’, namely as a ‘longing for distance, for distant countries’.
2. die Prinzipienreiterei (literally, "principles-cavalry")
This is a word which I found in Theodor Fontane’s Effi Briest and which is particularly useful in the depiction of one of the major characters, i.e. Baron von Innstetten, the eponymous character’s husband. This term describes a nearly obsessive clinging to principles, be they self-imposed or dictated by society. This means therefore that a person presenting this feature will not be able to act independently, but he or she will always have to recall social norms before deciding which course of action is the one to follow. In the case of Innstetten, he finds out that his wife betrayed him over six years before and he feels obliged to confront his former rival in a duel – besides distancing her from their family. This is of course because it was socially necessary to challenge somebody to a duel if they offended you, especially when it was to do with a problem which law did not address.
3. das Fingerspitzengefühl (literally, "fingertips-feeling")
This term expresses what is generally called savoir faire or in some cases it just means tact, but I find the German word much more evocative and interesting.
4. der Ohrwurm (literally, "earworm")
Although this term might evoke quite unpleasant images, in colloquial German it indicates that sort of song which is extremely catchy and ‘gets in to your ear’ quite easily. Once again, the German seems to be much more metaphorical and evocative than other languages.
5. das Fernweh (literally, "distance-pain")
This term basically describes a sort of longing for far away countries, even though some people claim that it describes instead a longing for countries you’ve never visited. The Duden dictionary describes this term as ‘Sehnsucht nach der Ferne, nach fernen Ländern’, namely as a ‘longing for distance, for distant countries’.
"Das Leben ist zu kurz, um Deutsch zu lernen."
"Life is too short to learn German."
Most people prefer German as their second language because of opportunities that are spread over the German speaking land in this world. Thanks for your incredible article. This information was very useful to me. German classes in Chennai
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