German is usually known for its lengthy, tongue-twisting nouns (just have a go at saying the 44-letter word Schwangerschaftsnachsorgeuntersuchung – which, by the way, is by no stretch the longest word in the German dictionary). Yet that’s not why we have a soft spot for this language. We love it for its creativity and its laudable ability to vocalise the weird and the wonderful. In this article, we list our favourite peculiar phrases auf Deutsch.
1. Eierlegende Wollmilchsau (‘egg-laying wool milk sow’)
This mouthful of a phrase paints the picture of a creature that amalgamates a range of farm animals: There’s the hen that lays the eggs, the sheep that produces the wool, the cow that gives the milk, and the pig that provides the meat. In other words, this is a critter that covers a lot of bases. One English translation would be ‘all-singing, all dancing’. A bit less fanciful, don’t you think?
2. Kabelsalat (‘cable salad’)
You’ve mindlessly shoved your charging cables into a drawer and when you go to grab one out again, they’re all tangled up. You’ve got a cable salad on your hands! In English, you’d need to simply spell it out, as we don’t have a neat word for this like German does.
3. Schadenfreude (‘harm enjoyment’)
Many of you will have already stumbled across this loanword in English. This spectator sport has already made its official entry into the Oxford English Dictionary, which defines it as the “malicious enjoyment of the misfortunes of others”.
4. Fremdscham (‘foreign shame’)
We all know the feeling: You’ve witnessed something so mortifying, you can somehow physically feel the shame for the person at fault. You’ve got a case of second-hand embarrassment, or ‘foreign shame’ as they say in German.
5. Balkonien (‘Balconia’)
Where do you spend your holidays? While some might set off to an exotic island or book a city break abroad, others might stay closer to home – so close it’s right outside their patio doors. In most cities across Germany, flats tend to come equipped with a balcony (Balkon). In German, you can jokingly say that you’re spending your vacation in the fictive destination of Balkonien. There’s no exact equivalent in English, the closest being ‘staycation’ to refer to a holiday within your country of residence.
6. Eselsbrücke (‘donkey bridge’)
The true English translation for Eselsbrücke is ‘mnemonic’. The term originates from the use of donkeys in agriculture. Donkeys are said to be unable to judge the depth of water and therefore reluctant to wade through it, which proved problematic for farmers when their fields were separated by streams or brooks. The solution was to build bridges to allow the donkeys to cross. Today, the term refers to a route to a goal that requires extra effort or a diversion. Indeed, that’s exactly what a mnemonic is – you remember the mnemonic to ultimately remember something else.
One popular example is the planetary mnemonic ‘My Very Easy Method Just Speeds Up Names’, the German equivalent being ‘Mein Vater erklärt mir jeden Sonntag unseren Nachthimmel’.
7. Vokuhila
This unusual-sounding acronym refers to a hairdo that proved extremely popular in the 80s and, like many other fashion trends, has made a bit of a comeback in recent years. It stands for ‘short at the front, long at the back’ (in German: ‘Vorne kurz, hinten lang’). If you haven’t already guessed it, we’re talking about the much-debated mullet.
8. Muskelkater (‘muscle hangover’)
Let’s say you’ve been hammering the weights at the gym and you go home positively chuffed with your efforts. The next morning, however, it all comes back with a vengeance – you can feel yesterday’s exertion with every fibre of your body. This is a ‘muscle hangover’, rather blandly known in English as muscle ache.
9. Spesenritter (‘expenses knight’)
An expenses knight is a derogatory term for someone who lives it large at the cost of their employer – ordering fine wine on a company trip, always booking business class seats on the plane, or passing off a clothing purchase as work-related expenditure. In 1999, the German comedy film Die Spesenritter was released, which follows an accountant who leads a modest and unsatisfying life, all the while processing the juicy expense claims of his bureaucrat colleagues who live in the lap of luxury. The term’s origins predate this movie, however.
10. Sitzfleisch (‘sit-flesh’)
Dubbed a “professional compliment” by the BBC, the concept of Sitzfleisch refers to someone’s ability to stick to a task despite difficulties. Possible translations are endurance, stamina, perseverance and staying power. At the heart of it, it is the opposite idea of ‘having ants in your pants’. Interestingly, Yiddish has the same idea with the similarly spelled word zitsfleysh.
It’s not always best to stick to your word(s)
As the above shows, a word-for-word translation often fails to do justice to the original meaning. Much more than that, a literal rendition can produce positively bizarre results and confuse the target reader. When translating creative content, you need a professional who can seamlessly navigate between the two languages and who knows that what is entirely normal for one cultural group might be completely foreign to another.
At First Edition Translations, we’ve been in the business since 1981. We’ve had our fair share of translating editorial content and have even helped our clients bag some awards along the way. If you’ve got artistic, creative content that you want to share with a foreign audience, simply get in touch with our multilingual project managers.