German words - great ones you just don't find in English
Published: 19 Apr, 2012 CET.
Updated: Thu 19 Apr 2012 11:02 CET
For our latest Local List, we came up with Germany's best untranslatable words. It was a long list, but we whittled it down to our favourites. Any words you think we should've included?
This was not a difficult Local List to compile – Germans have literally hundreds of words that don't exist in other languages.
That's partly because of their wonderfully-logical habit of attaching words to one another like stickle-bricks - to make new, unwieldy creatures like Donaudampfschiffahrtsgesellschaftskapitän - but also because Germans just have very peculiar, precise notions that they prefer to describe in a single noun.
Top 12 words you won't find in English!
For instance, who knew that a husband who stays out too late might need a particular word to describe the gifts he needs appease the disgruntled wife who threw his dinner away?
Check out our list to find out what that word is!
The Local/bk
Comments
See Also
This was not a difficult Local List to compile – Germans have literally hundreds of words that don't exist in other languages.
That's partly because of their wonderfully-logical habit of attaching words to one another like stickle-bricks - to make new, unwieldy creatures like Donaudampfschiffahrtsgesellschaftskapitän - but also because Germans just have very peculiar, precise notions that they prefer to describe in a single noun.
Top 12 words you won't find in English!
For instance, who knew that a husband who stays out too late might need a particular word to describe the gifts he needs appease the disgruntled wife who threw his dinner away?
Check out our list to find out what that word is!
The Local/bk
Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.
Please log in here to leave a comment.