Questions tagged [german]
For questions related to the German language.
81
questions
1
vote
5answers
728 views
Having decision making power over someone's assets
I am trying to translate the German word "verfügen" or "Verfügung" in its legal sense into English. In dictionaries, I only find the translation of "to dispose" or "disposition", as in the "power of ...
1
vote
1answer
38 views
Is there a rule for the (non-)capitalisation of Schadenfreude and sauerkraut? [duplicate]
The Cambridge Dictionary capitalises Schadenfreude but does not capitalise sauerkraut. What is the BrE rule for this (other than looking it up in a dictionary or style guide), if any?
NB: According ...
3
votes
2answers
86 views
English translation of german bureaucratic term: “Weglegesache”
The German bureaucratic term Weglegesache is used in German public administration to refer to documents that they are forced to keep for a certain amount of time, but which are very unlikely ever to ...
9
votes
1answer
208 views
The “prickmouse” and the “butcher's broom”
I sometime go for walks in the wood near where I live, and in the undergrowth, beneath the oaks and pines, you'll find an evergreen prickly shrub which is called pungitopo in Italian. The word is ...
1
vote
3answers
51 views
is “Lighting the spark for XYZ” a meaningful phrase in english? [closed]
I am trying to translate or rather come up with an English expression for the German "den Funken überspringen lassen" for a title of an academic paper. My best solution so far is "Lighting the spark ...
1
vote
1answer
105 views
Phrase for “changing street side”?
Imagine you're walking on a pedestrian path, you see a shady person coming towards you and you cross the street to continue walking on the other side.
In German, there's a short and easily ...
94
votes
9answers
25k views
Why Third 'Reich'? Why is 'reich' not translated when 'third' is? What is the English synonym of reich?
Why is Nazi-Germany commonly referred to as "The Third Reich" in English? Why is reich not translated when Dritten ("third") is?
And what is the English synonym of reich? Realm?
Austria (Republik ...
0
votes
1answer
56 views
Formatting English Translation in Foreign Dialogue
This short paragraph of German dialogue needs to be translated into English within a larger work:
“Zurück bleiben! Fenster schliessen!” Stay back! Close the window! shouted the man on the roof.
...
2
votes
1answer
62 views
Is “diversified” really a suitable translation for what Germans call “abwechslungsreich”?
I need a word to describe a meeting or conference or other event which was the opposite of boring due to the variation of activities there.*
German language has abwechslungsreich, literally rich-of-...
20
votes
8answers
7k views
How can I say I can't guarantee information I'm about to give is correct?
In German, there's an idiom that goes like "Nagel mich nicht darauf fest" (literally, "don't nail me down on that!") usually followed my some kind of information that is given without complete ...
2
votes
1answer
59 views
Better way of saying “national character”?
Is there a better way to express what is meant by “national character” or is there a good term that gets close to the German word “Volkscharakter”? I'm looking for a word that captures “the true ...
4
votes
6answers
192 views
“Durch den Wind sein” in English
How would you translate "Ich bin etwas durch den Wind" into English?
"Durch den Wind sein" means having scattered or not fully coherent thoughts, not having full presence of mind (Geistesgegenwart), ...
0
votes
1answer
46 views
“Body Leasing”: Is it English?
In my country, we sometimes call working arrangements where one company "leases" individual employees to another "body leasing".
"Body" and "to lease" are obviously English words of good standing, ...
14
votes
5answers
1k views
Origin of ending a sentence with a preposition-German separable verbs?
One thing I've noticed about the usage of ending a sentence with a preposition is how similar the construction is to German separable verbs. With German separable verbs, the prefix is often a ...
1
vote
2answers
92 views
Is the verb suffix -en (as in light->lighten) rooted in German?
Is the verb suffix -en (as in light->lighten) rooted in German? German verbs in their infinitive form always end in -en.
-2
votes
1answer
35 views
Go and come as verbs and the ommitting of and
I have a question relating to the verbs "come" and "go" plus another verb. Why do americans say come sing with us (for example and not come AND sing with us (as is the norm in English English. Like ...
3
votes
2answers
231 views
Does English have a saying for “The person who orders something is the one has to pay for it”?
In German, we have the saying Wer bestellt, bezahlt, which translates
literally into Who(ever) orders, pays in English. Is there a
corresponding English idiomatic expression or proverbial refrain for ...
1
vote
2answers
134 views
is “predatory capitalism” a correct word? [closed]
Jean Ziegler invented the German word Raubtierkapitalismus for huge companies without ethics and morality. For example Amazon, Google and Facebook.
What are similar words in English? Best would be a ...
2
votes
1answer
177 views
Two different german words (“Raum”, “Zimmer”) both translates to “room” [closed]
I'm searching for an English translation of "Raum" and "Zimmer". It is related with this question. Is a translation to two different words possible? Or is it only "room"?
To put this more into ...
2
votes
5answers
189 views
English idiom equivalent to the German Gretchenfrage “wie hast du's mit…?”
In German, a Gretchenfrage is:
Compound of Gretchen (diminutive of the given name Margarete) and "Frage" "question". In reference to Goethe's "Faust" (published 1808), where the character of ...
1
vote
1answer
74 views
“Buchungsangebot mit Option” translation to English
I wonder whether I'm on the right Forum.
I need the translation of the German concept "Buchungsangebot mit Option" into English. It's about hotel rooms reservation.
I understand "Buchungsangebot mit ...
1
vote
1answer
77 views
Is it ok to use “to stream” for downloading/consuming?
In Germany there is a habit to use the verb stream for consuming a video stream from the Internet.
I don’t like this very much and I am wondering what you think about it as a native English speaker. ...
16
votes
3answers
3k views
Why is it “Rhine”, but “Rhenish”?
Being a native German speaker, I just came across the word "Rhenish" (as a translation of German "rheinisch", belonging to the Rhine).
I am a bit confused about this, and am at a loss for the proper "...
6
votes
2answers
623 views
How old is the proclamation: “Here comes the bridegroom”?
Long before the German composer, Felix Mendelssohn, composed the “Wedding March” in 1842 for Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Richard Wagner’s wrote the chorus “Here Comes the Bride” in ...
2
votes
2answers
148 views
Word for someone who studies to become a teacher
A friend of mine is currently writing her thesis in teaching methodology of mathematics. We are searching for an appropriate translation for the German word 'Lehramtsstudierender'. This is a person ...
1
vote
1answer
251 views
What nouns of German origin should be given capital letters?
On another post an interesting fact has just been discovered about the OED's treatment of nouns adopted into English from German (loan-words).
A lot of them e.g. Nazi are spelled with a capital ...
2
votes
1answer
74 views
What is the origin of “smiddock”?
Pennsylvanian English: smiddock
Put your middle finger behind your thumb and flick it against your arm — or better, someone else’s. I believe this is usually called a thump nowadays.
But when I was ...
2
votes
1answer
263 views
Etymological link between “shall” and “will”? [closed]
"X shall happen" means "X is (strongly) expected to happen" ("X wird geschehen") or "X is hoped for to happen" ("X soll geschehen")
German "Ich will, dass X geschieht" means "I want X to happen" (...
1
vote
0answers
69 views
Why the writing and reading in English are different? [duplicate]
I do not encounter so big problems with the English language although I'm not a native English speaker. But I'm curious why some languages (like English or French) are written different from the way ...
2
votes
1answer
148 views
How to translate the german word “Motiv” (= Beweggrund)
I want to translate the german word "Motiv" (with the meaning "Beweggrund") to English.
A sentence in english would be
People have various ... to do sport
What would be the most appropriate ...
1
vote
2answers
379 views
Is there an English equivalent to the German word “Substanzwissenschaftler”?
As a German statistician, I distinguish between statisticians and "Substanzwissenschaftler" (my best translation so far substantive researchers). While the former know which regression model should be ...
13
votes
2answers
2k views
Is there one word for fat gotten from stress eating (Kummerspeck)?
In German, there is the word Kummerspeck, which literally translates to sorrow lard and means:
the fat gained from stress eating
Is there such a word in English? I never found any.
2
votes
1answer
134 views
Does the origin of the auxiliary “shall” lie in the medieval blood-money practice of wergeld?
Perusing some 19th-century grammar books for another purpose, I came across an interesting etymology:
"According to Grimm 'shall' or 'skal' is the preterite or perfect of a verb meaning 'to kill'. ...
1
vote
2answers
1k views
What is a good synonym for “appointment”? Is “date” one of them?
TL;DR:
If I use “date” for “appointment”, is it unmistakably understood?
If not, is there a shorter word for “appointment”?
In German, there’s Termin, from Latin terminus (“boundary, limit”), for ...
0
votes
0answers
58 views
What's up with umlauts in English? [duplicate]
I've been seeing words with umlauts in prominent publications - for example The New Yorker spells re-election like this:
reëlection
What's going on?
20
votes
3answers
6k views
Why didn't “spiel” get spelled with an “sh”?
The pronunciation for "spiel" allows for either "speel" or "shpeel". The "shpeel" pronunciation is significantly more common where I live (American Midwest) and I'm curious why "spiel" didn't get the ...
2
votes
2answers
360 views
Respective Use of “Respective” in English of German Speakers
Can anyone familiar with English use by German speakers explain the use of "respective" as in the list of examples below?
I see this frequently from German government bureaucrats and the like, and ...
7
votes
5answers
1k views
Word/expression for a German “Ausflugscafé” - a cafe mainly catering to people taking a walk
In Germany, there are many cafés (often combined with restaurants) that are
located in a nice setting, typically close to, but a bit outside the next settlement (or inside a small village)
mainly ...
-1
votes
1answer
104 views
Can “heavy duty” mean violently (in german: heftig)? [closed]
In Starcraft2, a RTS game, one of the characters says "heavy duty", and in german it's translated to simply "heftig" (which, to me can be simply translated to "heavy")
Now, i think the Blizzard team ...
4
votes
1answer
173 views
Use definite article or not in conjunction with a German institution's name which contains a strongly declined article?
Picture some German university's arthistory department, and its official title would be "Kunsthistorisches Institut". "Kunsthistorisch" is an adjective, and "kunsthistorisches" is its nominative case. ...
20
votes
10answers
3k views
Describe that someone’s explanation matches your knowledge level
In German, in the context of knowledge transfer from one person to another (or to a group) you can say
Du hast mich gut abgeholt. (literally translated You picked me up well)
This sentence means ...
3
votes
1answer
125 views
Usage of an established German term in an English presentation [closed]
Is it better to use the German word "Energiewende", when referring to changes to the whole energy market or should one rather translate it into the proper English translation 'energy transition'. If I ...
2
votes
4answers
7k views
How would you call someone who is working part-time as a student (Werkstudent in German)
I'm struggling finding a term for a job rank for a part-time working student to use it for my CV or in general in the whole interview process: In Germany we don't only have interns, but something ...
2
votes
1answer
101 views
Translation of the German “Gesetz entschärfen”
I am trying to translate the sentence
Da die USA ihre Gesetze bezüglich Marihuana entschärft haben, wurde auch in Deutschland eine Debatte angestoßen.
and arrived at:
Since the USA [verb]ed ...
3
votes
2answers
2k views
What would you call “Public Viewing” (people watching football match) in English?
I recently had to find out that the German term "Public Viewing" basically means something completely different in English, than in German. Now I'm looking for a term that English native speakers ...
3
votes
3answers
747 views
Non-chess usage of “patzer”?
I've heard the word patzer used to describe an incompetent or amateurish chess player. Is it ever used in a non-chess context?
1
vote
1answer
367 views
What is the proper suffix to change bildungsroman into an adjective? [closed]
In this case I am wondering what suffix would be the best use for bildungsroman when trying to characterize a memoir.
3
votes
5answers
479 views
Adjective for 'being able to use magic' or 'being able to cast spells'
Playing a German pen & paper RPG I noticed that they are using an adjective 'zaubermächtig' for which I could not find an appropriate English equivalent. The best I could come up with is being ...
-1
votes
1answer
478 views
A word for source of energy, enthusiasm, etc [closed]
I need an single awesome word for following features -
For these features -
the group of person or objects filled with lots of energy
source of unstoppable energy
the one who start with great effort ...
7
votes
2answers
207 views
Looking for a translation of a German expression “mit an Sicherheit grenzender Wahrscheinlichkeit”
In German language you use an expression mit an Sicherheit grenzender Wahrscheinlichkeit to say that you are almost one hundred percent sure/certain.
A particularity of that expression is that it has ...
