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Tag Archives: Curious Words

The German Heimat Posted by on Apr 4, 2018

The concept of Heimat is often referred to as a uniquely German concept that cannot be adequately translated – even though it seems like a fairly straight-forward word. On first glance, you see the word das Heim (home) in there, and although Heimat does mean home, this word talks about quite a different concept of…

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German Onomatopoeia Posted by on Jan 24, 2018

Today we’re going to look at onomatopoeia in the German language! The dictionary defines onomatopoeia as ‘the formation of a word from a sound associated with what is named (e.g. cuckoo, sizzle ).’ You might already be familiar with some of these words in English: Splash, boom, and many animal noises including miaow. Just like…

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Untranslatable German Words: Verschlimmbesserung Posted by on Oct 18, 2017

Guten Tag, and welcome to another ‘untranslatable words’ post! This is a series where we look at words unique to the German language, and try to find an equivalent English translation for them. So without further ado, today’s word is: die Verschlimmbesserung. What does die Verschlimmbesserung mean? Die Verschlimmbesserung describes an action that is supposed…

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The Curiosity of the German Word “Hochzeit” Posted by on Jul 27, 2017

In the series of curious German words, we look at words that for some reason don’t make sense. Check out Curious German Word Weg, for example. The word Hochzeit (wedding, literally “high time”) is pretty common. A wedding! Nothing special on face value. But pronounce it: Hochzeit. Hoch and Zeit put together. Do you notice something? Pronunciation The pronunciation of Hochzeit makes no sense…

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9 Uses For The German Word Scharf Posted by on Jul 12, 2017

Sometimes the smallest, simplest of German words can surprise with a multitude of meanings. It’s useful to look at these kinds of words in more detail, so that they don’t confuse so much when read or heard in real life. Today the German word we’re going to look at in more detail is the adjective…

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The Curiosity of the German Word “Weg” Posted by on May 4, 2017

Wegisweg. That is the Dutch word for Harry Potter’s Diagon Alley. Weg means “lane”, but also “away”. They sound exactly identical, though. The same word, weg, means the same both things in German. But they are pronounced differently. Why? This is what weg sounds like: This is what der Weg sounds like: Ok, I already hear you say: But Sten, there is a…

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