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The Awful German Language (1880)

(faculty.georgetown.edu)
187 points nalinidash | 4 comments | 16 May 25 04:09 UTC | HN request time: 0.837s | source
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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.

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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.
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InsideOutSanta ◴[16 May 25 08:56 UTC] No.44003194[source]▶
This is true, but some German compound words acquire a meaning that doesn't simply derive from their component words. Well-known ones include Kindergarten and Weltschmerz. This is often the case for domain-specific terms (Gestaltpsychologie, Bildungsroman).
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WalterBright ◴[16 May 25 17:05 UTC] No.44007688[source]▶
Don't forget:

    gefingerpoken
    mittengraben
    springewerk
    blowenfusen
    poppencorcken
    spitzensparken
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1. bitwize ◴[16 May 25 18:41 UTC] No.44008602[source]▶
Please keep still and watchen astaunished the blinkenlights.
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2. lisper ◴[16 May 25 18:53 UTC] No.44008701[source]▶
Das blinkenlights. ;-)
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3. bitwize ◴[16 May 25 21:41 UTC] No.44010014[source]▶
That was actually from the faux English sign that German computer operators put in their facilities.
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4. lisper ◴[16 May 25 23:29 UTC] No.44010712{3}[source]▶
Heh. TIL.