←back to thread

The Awful German Language (1880)

(faculty.georgetown.edu)
186 points nalinidash | 2 comments | 16 May 25 04:09 UTC | HN request time: 0.602s | source
Show context
rawbert ◴[16 May 25 06:21 UTC] No.44002326[source]▶
As a developer working in a German company the question of translating some domain language items into English comes up here and there. Mostly we fail because the German compound words are so f*** precise that we are unable to find short matching English translations...unfortunately our non-native devs have to learn complex words they can't barely pronounce :D

Most of the time we try to use English for technical identifiers and German for business langugage, leading to lets say "interesting" code, but it works for us.

replies(18): >>44002397 #>>44002459 #>>44002514 #>>44002534 #>>44002678 #>>44002701 #>>44002803 #>>44002985 #>>44003209 #>>44003272 #>>44003276 #>>44003429 #>>44003432 #>>44005478 #>>44005580 #>>44006867 #>>44007883 #>>44008646 #
marcosscriven ◴[16 May 25 08:22 UTC] No.44002985[source]▶
I think the issue of German compound nouns is seriously overegged. In almost all cases, it’s essentially the same as English, except with some spaces. It’s not like suddenly a short compound word expresses something that couldn’t be in English.
replies(10): >>44003194 #>>44003252 #>>44003401 #>>44003464 #>>44003598 #>>44003753 #>>44006295 #>>44006980 #>>44007613 #>>44010526 #
sharpshadow ◴[16 May 25 10:38 UTC] No.44003753[source]▶
Windschatten is an exception.
replies(1): >>44004535 #
1. Bost ◴[16 May 25 12:18 UTC] No.44004535[source]▶
Yes, "windshadow" one is more descriptive than "slipstream". (At least for me.)
replies(1): >>44008740 #
2. lisper ◴[16 May 25 18:56 UTC] No.44008740[source]▶
"Rain shadow" is a common idiom in English. "Wind shadow" is not because English has multiple dedicated words for this concept, including "lee" [2] as well as slipstream.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rain_shadow

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windward_and_leeward