{"id":9979,"date":"2018-06-26T17:39:33","date_gmt":"2018-06-26T17:39:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/?p=9979"},"modified":"2018-06-26T17:39:33","modified_gmt":"2018-06-26T17:39:33","slug":"untranslatable-german-words-der-nichtskonner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/untranslatable-german-words-der-nichtskonner\/","title":{"rendered":"Untranslatable German Words: Der Nichtsk\u00f6nner"},"content":{"rendered":"

What does\u00a0Nichtsk\u00f6nner\u00a0<\/em>mean?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\"\"<\/a>

Bunch of Nichtsk\u00f6nner<\/em>! What were these construction workers thinking? (Image by Nick Agus Arya at Unsplash.com)<\/p><\/div>\n

The Duden gives us a straightforward definition:<\/p>\n

“jemand, der sein Fach nicht beherrscht; St\u00fcmper”<\/em><\/p>\n

(Someone that has not mastered their discipline; bungler)<\/p>\n

So that would give us a definition straight away! Done! Well, not quite.<\/p>\n

Nichtsk\u00f6nner\u00a0<\/em>is a word you could hear here and there, whereas bungler is not really used a lot. It also has a somewhat different connotation.<\/p>\n

What would be a literal translation of\u00a0Nichtsk\u00f6nner<\/em>?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Nichtsk\u00f6nner\u00a0<\/em>literally means “somebody able to do nothing”, so it is quite simple and straightforward: somebody that is not able to do anything. Obviously, it is used in context with a specific discipline in mind – within that discipline, they have no competence at all, and are therefore a\u00a0Nichtsk\u00f6nner<\/em>. Such an exaggeration makes sense in German culture, that is generally known for its precision and perfectionism in small details.<\/p>\n

How would you use\u00a0Nichtsk\u00f6nner\u00a0<\/em>in a sentence?<\/strong><\/h2>\n