{"id":10375,"date":"2018-12-19T16:11:20","date_gmt":"2018-12-19T16:11:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/?p=10375"},"modified":"2019-01-02T13:48:16","modified_gmt":"2019-01-02T13:48:16","slug":"christmas-new-year-in-untranslatable-german-words","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/christmas-new-year-in-untranslatable-german-words\/","title":{"rendered":"Christmas & New Year In Untranslatable German Words"},"content":{"rendered":"

Guten Tag and, since it\u2019s almost time, Frohe Weihnachten<\/strong> (Merry Christmas)! Weihnachten<\/strong> (Christmas) and Neujahr<\/strong> (New Year) is the time of the year when people experience a whole range of emotions, from excitement over receiving presents to annoyance about being in the company of certain family members, from feeling nostalgic and reflective about the year just gone – to feeling slightly worse for wear after the New Year\u2019s Eve celebrations! Whether you love or hate this time of year, it\u2019s hard to deny all of the feelings and atmosphere that come with it.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve been following this blog for a while, you\u2019ll know the German language is full of weird and wonderful words that perfectly sum up concepts and feelings that are difficult to describe or don\u2019t have a direct translation in English. We call this our Untranslatable German Words<\/strong> <\/a>series. So, just for fun (and to re-cap some of these amazing words!), here’s how the festive period might look in untranslatable German words. Click on the words to learn more about them.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Christmas & New Year In Untranslatable German Words<\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n
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Image via Pixabay.<\/p><\/div>\n

First of all, you might partake in Wichteln<\/strong> <\/a>with your work colleagues. Wichteln is the German version of Secret Santa.<\/strong> At the work Christmas party it\u2019s likely you\u2019ll experience a severe case of Fremdscham<\/a><\/strong> watching your boss dance for the first time. Fremdscham is that cringe-like feeling<\/strong> you get when you see someone make a fool of themselves. However, you might also experience Schadenfreude<\/strong><\/a> watching Colin from accounts get drunk and fall over on the dancefloor. Schadenfreude is that gleeful feeling<\/strong> you get when someone you don\u2019t like experiences misfortune.<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Image via Pixabay.<\/p><\/div>\n

On Heiligabend<\/strong> (Christmas Eve) and Weihnachten<\/strong> (Christmas Day) you\u2019ll hopefully be somewhere warm and cosy, surrounded by family and loved ones. You might be going back to your original\/family home or Heimat<\/strong><\/a>, which will bring about all kinds of feelings, including nostalgia. Christmas is the time when family come together, which is a wonderful thing! Oma (grandma) might squeeze your cheeks and call you a Zuckerschnecke<\/strong><\/a> because in her mind, you\u2019re still five years old. A Zuckerschnecke is a term of endearment<\/strong> that literally means \u2018sugar snail\u2019. One of your family members might end up being a Nervens\u00e4ge<\/strong><\/a>, and this could lead to heated family arguments and tantrums. A Nervens\u00e4ge is a \u2018nerve saw\u2019<\/strong> – someone who gets on (cuts) your nerves.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Image via Pixabay.<\/p><\/div>\n

At night, the fire might be on and you might have some Gl\u00fchwein<\/strong> (mulled wine) in your hands while you sit and watch Christmas films on the sofa. That feeling of warmth, love and comfort is what can only be described as Gem\u00fctlichkeit<\/strong><\/a>, a German concept that translates to \u2018cosiness\u2019<\/strong>, but is so much more than that! Click on the word to find out more about it.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

On Boxing Day, you might wake up and be a bit of a Morgenmuffel<\/strong><\/a> \u2013 a grump<\/strong> \u2013 after a late night and too many drinks. This is a great day to fulfil your duty as a Sesselpupser<\/strong><\/a> and sit in your armchair all day long. A Sesselpupser is a bit of a couch potato<\/strong>; the word itself literally translates to \u2018armchair-farter\u2019.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Image via Pixabay.<\/p><\/div>\n

On Silvester<\/strong> (New Year\u2019s Eve) you might be feeling reflective about the year just gone and making plans for the year ahead. This is where a feeling of Torschlusspanik<\/strong><\/a> might creep up on you. Literally \u2018gate-closing-panic\u2019,<\/strong> this is the feeling you get when you realise that the years are flying by and yet you still haven\u2019t done everything you wanted to do! Time to make a Neujahrsvors<\/span><\/strong>atz<\/strong> (N<\/span>ew Year\u2019s resolution) or two.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re at a New Year\u2019s Party, don\u2019t be surprised to find both an Alkoholleiche<\/strong><\/a> (or five) and a Kuddelmuddel<\/strong> in the morning. An Alkoholleiche is a person who has passed out from too much alcohol \u2013 literally an \u2018alcohol corpse\u2019<\/strong> – while a Kuddelmuddel describes the chaotic mess <\/strong>left after a party.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

New Year\u2019s Day represents a new beginning. Time to get out of the house and go for a walk \u2013 maybe into the woods to experience Waldeinsamkeit<\/strong> <\/a>\u2013 the feeling of being alone in the forest. What a great way to clear your head after all of the madness of Christmas, and to gently welcome in the New Year!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Image via Pixabay.<\/p><\/div>\n

Frohe Weihnachten und einen guten Rutsch ins neue Jahr. \ud83d\ude42<\/strong>
\n<\/span><\/span>Merry Christmas and a happy new year. \ud83d\ude42<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

Guten Tag and, since it\u2019s almost time, Frohe Weihnachten (Merry Christmas)! Weihnachten (Christmas) and Neujahr (New Year) is the time of the year when people experience a whole range of emotions, from excitement over receiving presents to annoyance about being in the company of certain family members, from feeling nostalgic and reflective about the year…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":119,"featured_media":10381,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[43,13005,95131,451644,13285,42221,376023,1166,13219,337679,257573,13,1401],"class_list":["post-10375","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-language","tag-christmas","tag-christmas-time","tag-german-language","tag-german-words","tag-happy-new-year","tag-holidays-2","tag-language","tag-new-year","tag-silvester","tag-untranslatable-german","tag-untranslatable-words","tag-vocabulary","tag-words"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/119"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10375"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10375\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10410,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10375\/revisions\/10410"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10381"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}