It is a typical example of the peculiarity of the German language to form complex words, describing subtle concepts and rare emotional nuances.
When the Poles they get excited about fireworks, they talk in the best words about “fajerwerki”, a variant of the German word “Feuerwerk”. In Turkey drivers do everything they can to avoid traffic and get on the ‘otoban’, in other words on the ‘Autobahn’, a freeway. In Japan, anyone hired in a part-time position may not be guaranteed for life, but at least they have “arubaito”, i.e. “Arbeit”. In other words, he has a job.
From the Middle Ages until today, there are many words that the Germans “borrowed” into other languages. As the philologist and journalist points out Matias Heine to the German News Agency (DPA), “as a rule, when a word completes a hundred years of ‘loan’ in another language, it is most likely to remain forever”. The first “loans” were due to commercial exchanges, but also to wars or even to the (minimal compared to other European powers) colonial action by the Germans. Especially the chemical terminology it is German, to a great extent. A typical example is the word “Zink”, i.e. copper. We find it in English and French as “zinc”, in Italian as “zinco”, in Chinese as “xin”. But also the Greek word “Tsingos” is not far.
Second language in the EU
Today approximately 130 million people around the world speak German as their mother tongue. About 15.4 million learn it as a foreign language. In Europe German is now considered the second most widely spoken language, then English. They have the reputation of being a difficult language, but on the other hand they allow for great precision in expression. “These Germans have a word for everything…” monologued by homer simpson, protagonist of the popular American cartoon series The Simpsons, when his daughter was learning German and trying to explain to him the exact meaning of the word “Schadenfreude”.
“Schadenfreude” it is the joy for the sufferings of others, “cheirekakia”. It is a typical example of the peculiarity of the German language to form complex words, describing subtle concepts and rare emotional nuances. “Zeitgeist” is another such word, describing the “spirit of the age”, but in a way that is more substantial than the superficial record of simple “lifestyle”. Both “Schadenfreude” and “Zeitgeist” are now found very often in English texts. “Already at the end of the 19th century, English was a language particularly receptive to borrowings from other languages,” emphasizes Matthias Heine.
Who is learning German?
THE berena sommerfeld, head of the department for learning German as a foreign language at the Goethe Institute in Munich, points out that the most important motivation for learning the language is to study in Germany, but also to find a job. Of course, there are also students with special interests, for example “some want to learn German, so that they can read Goethe in the original, or because they join a choir and want to acquire and practice the correct pronunciation of German songs”, reports Verena Sommerfeld.
She says that German is a nice language. But when she is abroad, she often finds the local variations of the original German words even nicer. Maybe more melodious? A typical example, he says, he heard in Cameroon, when everyone started looking for “tosilam”. This is another compound German word: “Taschenlampe”. That is, “pocket lens”.
DW / Mia Bucher (DPA) / Editor: Yiannis Papadimitriou
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With a wealth of experience honed over 4+ years in journalism, I bring a seasoned voice to the world of news. Currently, I work as a freelance writer and editor, always seeking new opportunities to tell compelling stories in the field of world news.
