In the German language, we have words that cannot be found in any other language.
I think everyone knows the word "Kindergarten".
It's used around the world, and I don't have to explain it.
But there are some other words you may not know and that might sound funny to you.
Let's see! There are some of them:
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There is something to look forward to in every language. But only in German is there a single word that defines this feeling:
Typical German word: Vorfreude (literally) translated to English it means "pre-joy".
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There is a dinner in every country.
Relatively early in the evening not much more than sandwiches and nothing warm: that is typically German.
Typical German word: Abendbrot...(literally) translated to English it means "evening-bread".
Nowadays, Abendbrot is an integral part of German culture. That's why every dinner/supper is often called that, even if nobody eats bread.
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Everyone knows homesickness. It's the feeling of his apartment
Missing friends and family when you're traveling.
The opposite of this feeling is the German word "Fernweh".
Typical unique German word: Fernweh...(literally) translated: "far- away-hurting"
You are at home and wish you were somewhere else.
That seems to be a very German feeling because the typical English translation for "Fernweh" is also a German word: "Wanderlust".
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The next typical unique German word: Brückentag...(literally) translated: "bridge-day".
Almost every employee is happy about a holiday. But isn't it annoying when the day off is a Thursday?
Although it would be nice to have a long weekend, you have to work on Friday.
That's why so many people take this day off - the bridging day. So they enjoy a four-day weekend.
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Everyone knows it: someone tells a story – and suddenly your mind starts to imagine everything in detail.
You no longer pay attention to what the other person is saying because a little film is running in your mind and a mental cinema has begun.
In German, we have a unique word for "films" like that:
The word is Kopfkino...(literally) translated "head cinema".
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Are there words that only exist in your language?
Let us know, please!
Replies
Hello! Rose. This is a nice post. It needs a lot of brainstorming to contributing such kind of posts, and this is why I skated over the post for a while. I have found many of English words which have no direct words in my native language. When I come across a new word while reading any book or article on the course of learning English, I always try to find out a best fit of the word from my own native language. It takes a lot of time to place a new word with an appropriate word meaning. Occasionally, it creates chaos or illusion if your choice of native words doesn’t fit properly. This is why learning a new language like discovering a new world. Well, to cut the long story short, some words flashes in my mind from my native language time to time, but right at this moment one word I can remember amongst these words. The word is AVIMAN. This word describes an emotional state when someone doesn't treat your demand or any desire righteously. You are not satisfied the way someone, suppose you son, reacted or meet your demand or wish. You are angry, but not such a level that you're going to cut off the communication, most importantly, you still love him. I was looking for an accurate substitute for the word in English, but I failed. I assume the same word is available other languages, the thing is I just don't know of about them, since I know only one language other than my native tongue Bangla!.
A poetic way of describing women's eyes is.....' Pakhir nirer moto chokh'....here eyes are compare with the nest of the birds!
There are a lot of words and word-combinations in all the languages that are called National Lexicon. Also, there are common ways for translating the notions of NL but not always they work satisfactory. For example, Ukrainian word "borsch" can be translated only in a descriptive way. The same we can say about a lot of so called cultural "nationalisms".
Hum......we eat ' Sak', in english it is leafy vegetables, one example is Spinach! But 'Sak' is Sak in my sense....we have a lot of varities of Saks, we eat Mula sak too ( leaves of raddish), it is tasty but you have to cook in our way!
We use 'Gamcha' to dry off, it is not towel, it is made of cotton, light weight.
'Kacher Churi', (bengles that we love to wear often with our traditional dresses), you may watch vedios on utube.
Rose, I wrote you a message, please see!
Hey Rose!
Very cool blog post. I wish i only could pronounce some of these german words haha...
I like that 'pre-joy' word; it's a funny concept.
I love this topic because, as it happens with some idioms, language always tells a lot about the culture of a country/community/tribe. For instance, we can notice this very well when we learn that inuits have lot of words for describing the different tones of white.
Now i just can think of one word that only exists in my language (spanish) and defines my culture. That's is 'Sobremesa', which is something we do after lunch (the weekends more often) that is to keep sitting at the table for a while after eating, and taking our time drinking a coffee or tea while chatting with the people with whom we shared the meal. Probably people of other cultures do that too, but they just didn't give it a word... Dunno. The thing is that in Spain we love to relax a bit after lunch (and no necessary taking a 'siesta', i personally never do that) :P
Hi, MARY.
'Sobremesa' means 'Nachtisch' in German. Literally translated, this means "after the table". We also use it instead of "dessert", even if we don't eat anything, just drink a cup of tea or coffee and talk awhile. I think the German word has the same historical meaning like your 'Sobremesa'. Just amazing!!!!
In my family, we are used to playing games after having a meal together. It's fun!
okay, we make and eat 'Pidha', there are many kids of Pidhas, Winter season is the time when people make a lot of varities of pidhas though we eat this sort of foodi all the year round. Pidha is translated as Cake but believe me, Pidha and your cake is totally different! We use rice flour to make them not wheat flour, we make mostly sweet pidhas with GUR but there are some spicy pidhas too.
In our language we describe eyes ( usually for women's eyes) as ' Potol Chera' ( Potol is a kind of vegetable), we also say 'Poddo lochon' (poddo is lotus flower), both means beautiful eyes....yes, we also describe as black or blue eyes like english language.
Hi, bet.
Very interesting.
I like it.
everything exist in every language
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