German is a beautiful language that has a lot of words that cannot be translated into English unless you’re describing them (which I will do below). There are no equivalent words in the English language, which makes them a lot more special. You can find my favourites below.
Word | Literally | Meaning |
Das Fingerspitzengefühl | The feeling in your fingertips | To have empathy with other people |
Die Schnapsidee | A liquor-idea | Either an amazing idea you have when drunk, or an idea that seems sostupid that the person who thought of it must have been intoxicated! |
Die Waldeinsamkeit | The forest-loneliness | The feeling you get when you are alone in the wild, with just naturearound you. |
Torschlusspanik | Gate-shut panic | The feeling that time is running out, often for a life goal such as havingchildren or finding ‘the one’. |
Dornröschenschlaf | Beauty sleep | When someone or something is not responding to you – or showing littlesign of action. |
Gemütlichkeit |
| Feeling warm, cosy, relaxed and comfortable. For example, sitting bya warm fire with some friends. |
Scheinheilig |
| Someone who is pretending to be friendly and nice, but is actually verysneaky and coy. |
Fremdschämen |
| To be ashamed in somebody elses place, for example when your friend sayssomething stupid, and you stand next to them being ashamed in their place. |
Treppenwitz | Staircase-wit | A brilliant response or comeback you think of after you have walked awayand are ‘halfway down the stairs’. |
Schadenfreude | Malicious pleasure | To take joy in somebody else’s pain or misfortune. For example, whenthe kid you never liked at school got punished by the teacher. |
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