Sybille Peters
- There are a number of idioms, metaphors and colloquial expressions that are quite pictorial. Examples:
- “alles in Butter” (translation: “all in butter” meaning everything is ok)
- “ein Brett vor dem Kopf haben” (translation: “have a plank in front of your face” meaning you overlooked the obvious)
- Some excessively long words are absurd and funny. Seriously! Who can put so much into one compound word? Examples:
- Schienenersatzverkehr (translation: “rail replacement traffic”, usually used for buses that temporarily replace a train)
- See this clip with the awesome Austrian actor Christoph Waltz and Jimmy Fallon for more examples (Side note: I have never ever had use for the word “Waldeinsamkeit”. But “Sitzpinkler” can be quite useful, just don’t call your boss this unless it’s behind their back.)
- If you are a native English speaker you have only one gender for articles. It’s always “the” (e.g. the dog, the cat, the door). In French you have 2 (le chien / la porte), meaning masculine and feminine. If you want to be really challenged, we have 3 (masculine, feminine and neuter), e.g. “der Hund” / “die Tür” / “das Boot”. More is always better. So, learn German. ;-)
- To make it worse, we don’t just have 3 genders, we have 4 cases, but that’s another story.
- Once you master the language, you may find the various dialects in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, etc. amusing, charming (or annoying) and challenging. It can even be a challenge to us who speak German sometimes.
The German language reflects our nature. Both good and bad. And don’t believe people who tell you, Germans have no sense of humor. We do. Other German speaking folks (e.g. Austrians) do too, see 2b.
Also, read this charming article, that I found linked in another answer: Why we should learn German | John le Carré
Note that German is also spoken in other countries, not just Germany, e.g. Austria, Switzerland etc.
