German is a West Germanic language and mainly spoken in Central Europe. Being one of the three official languages of Luxembourg, the German language is widely spoken in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, South Tyrol (Italy), German-speaking community of Belgium, and Liechtenstein.
German is the third widely taught language in both the US after Spanish and French and the EU after English and Russian.
The German language derives most of its vocabulary from the Germanic branch of Indo-European language family. Talking about its similarity with the English language, they are closely related and share many words. Such similar words are known as cognates.
Let’s check out some everyday words in the English language that are Anglo-Saxon (Germanic) in origin.
- Father ~ der Vater
- House ~ das Haus
- Hand ~ die Hand
- Son ~ der Sohn
- Grass ~ der Gras
- Man ~ der Mann
- Name ~ der Name
- Book ~ der Buch
And many more!
While many English words have similarity with German words, there are some German words that have no English equivalent which means that are almost untranslatable into the English language.
Let’s take a glance at them, one by one.
STURMFREI
“A situation when you are at home without your parents.”
Now, in English language, one can describe this situation by saying “home alone” or “party time.” Talking about the word STURMFREI, it is equivalent to the saying, “when the cat’s away, the mice will play.”
VERSCHLIMMBESSERN
“Making something worse in an honest attempt to improving it.”
Well, almost everyone has done this before. You gave your best shot to fix something, but failed unfortunately. There is no equivalent word or phrase in English language for VERSCHLIMMBESSERN.
ERBSENZÄHLER
“Describes an individual who is obsessed with details and a bit of a control freak.”
On splitting, the word ERBSEN means “peas,” and ZÄHLER means “tally.” This German word has no English equivalent and is used to describe an individual who always strives to make everything perfect down to the tiniest of peas.
KUMMERSPECK
“Excess weight gained from emotional overeating.”
Well, we all have one friend put on weight due to emotional overeating. Now, in English, what would you call such person? There is no equivalent that can define KUMMERSPECK, which literally translates to “sorrow bacon” because it is what happens when one loses job or faces a break up. Simply put, when one suffers from general unhappiness.
ZUGZWANG
“A compulsion to make a decision.”
There is no English equivalent to translate ZUGZWANG. This German word describes the situation when you feel immense pressure to make a crucial decision. Earlier, the work is used to describe the feeling of a chess player who is in a position or situation to move only with loss or severe disadvantage.
Closing Point
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