{"id":12089,"date":"2020-10-30T13:09:08","date_gmt":"2020-10-30T13:09:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/?p=12089"},"modified":"2020-10-30T13:09:08","modified_gmt":"2020-10-30T13:09:08","slug":"untranslatable-german-feierabend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/untranslatable-german-feierabend\/","title":{"rendered":"Untranslatable German: Feierabend"},"content":{"rendered":"

Es ist 17:00. Endlich! Feierabend<\/em>. (It’s 5 pm. Finally! End of the work day.) Time to go home, or go by the Kneipe <\/em>(bar) and get a\u00a0Bier\u00a0<\/em>(beer) to relax and wind down. A typical, almost stereotypical German\u00a0Brauch\u00a0<\/em>(tradition). And\u00a0Feierabend\u00a0<\/em>is the untranslatable word here. Let’s look at what it means and what perhaps could be an English equivalent.<\/p>\n

A Celebratory Evening<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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Feierabend (Image by Rikyelle Momo Nguematio at Commons.wikimedia.org under license CC BY SA 4.0)<\/p><\/div>\n

The\u00a0Feierabend\u00a0<\/em>is the end of the work day<\/strong> – as the Duden<\/em><\/a> defines<\/a> it: Freizeit im Anschluss an den Arbeitstag\u00a0<\/em>(leisure time subsequent to the work day). And it really is just that.<\/p>\n

It can be used<\/strong> by itself to say that the workday comes to an end:\u00a0Feierabend<\/em>! If you tell Kollegen <\/em>(colleagues) this, you’re basically telling them: “Come on, let’s call it a day”. Or you can say that you are “calling it a day” with: Ich mache Feierabend<\/em>! (“I am doing the end of the day!” – freely translated to “I’m ending the work day and I’m leaving!”). But what does\u00a0Feierabend\u00a0<\/em>mean?!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Feier\u00a0<\/em>means “party”, and\u00a0Abend\u00a0<\/em>means “evening”. So a literal translation of the\u00a0Feierabend\u00a0<\/em>is “party evening<\/strong>“. It is related to\u00a0Feiertage\u00a0<\/em>(holidays), which are days of\u00a0Ruhe\u00a0<\/em>(rest). Many times, like the\u00a0Heiligabend\u00a0<\/em>(“Holy Evening”, Christmas Eve, the night before Christmas Day)<\/a>, the\u00a0Feiertag\u00a0<\/em>preparations already begin the evening before, so that’s the\u00a0Feierabend<\/em>, the evening before a day of rest. That meaning stuck, and the word Feierabend\u00a0<\/em>simply became a word to describe the time after work. With the 9-5 work day, which is also normal in Germany, the\u00a0Feierabend\u00a0<\/em>normally begins at\u00a017:00 Uhr\u00a0<\/em>(5 pm).<\/p>\n

To my knowledge, there is no English equivalent that catches the meaning of\u00a0Feierabend\u00a0<\/em>in one word or with the exact same meaning.\u00a0Feierabend\u00a0<\/em>is specifically associated with resting, winding down, leaving the work day behind and enjoying the evening. The closest comes the simple “end of the day”. But really, the feeling is expressed in different ways, like “calling it a day”, or saying “I’m off” instead of ich habe Feierabend <\/em>to indicate that you’re not supposed to be working. This brings us to Feierabend\u00a0<\/em>as a\u00a0Pr\u00e4fix\u00a0<\/em>(prefix)!<\/p>\n

Feierabendbier<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n
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Feierabendbier<\/em>! (Image by Quentin Dr at Unsplash.com)<\/p><\/div>\n

It is very common in Germany to have a\u00a0Feierabendbier\u00a0<\/em>(Feierabend beer) after work. Washing the stress and work pressure down with a refreshing, cold\u00a0Pils<\/em>. That’s a great preposition for many Germans! And the word\u00a0Feierabend\u00a0<\/em>gives this specific Bier\u00a0<\/em>that meaning of relaxation. In that way,\u00a0Feierabend <\/em>can do that with many things. Feierabendlauf<\/em> (end-of-day run), Feierabendspiel <\/em>(end-of-day game), you can come up with many fun things to do after work! And you can use\u00a0Feierabend<\/em> as a\u00a0Pr\u00e4fix\u00a0<\/em>there.<\/p>\n

Did you know about the word Feierabend<\/em>? Do you have a good English equivalent for it? Please let me know in the comments below!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

Es ist 17:00. Endlich! Feierabend. (It’s 5 pm. Finally! End of the work day.) Time to go home, or go by the Kneipe (bar) and get a\u00a0Bier\u00a0(beer) to relax and wind down. A typical, almost stereotypical German\u00a0Brauch\u00a0(tradition). And\u00a0Feierabend\u00a0is the untranslatable word here. Let’s look at what it means and what perhaps could be an English…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":110,"featured_media":12138,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3,8,913],"tags":[8670,445003,337679,172],"class_list":["post-12089","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-language","category-traditions","tag-office","tag-untranslatable","tag-untranslatable-german","tag-work"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t