Summary

The website content humorously explores the peculiarities and idiomatic expressions of the German language, revealing its systematic nature and surprising humor through compound words and unique idioms.

Abstract

The article "My Top 10 German phrases That are hilarious in English" delves into the humorous side of the German language as perceived by non-native speakers. It challenges the stereotype of German as an angry and humorless language by showcasing its systematic approach to word formation, such as compounding, which can create words like "Handschuh" (glove) from "Hand" (hand) and "Schuh" (shoe). The author shares personal experiences of finding German both systematic and amusing, emphasizing how compound words can be intuitive for learners. The article also presents a list of ten humorous German idioms, such as "Du gehst mir auf den Keks" (you go me on the cookie), which literally translates to "you drive me crazy" in English. These idioms demonstrate the creativity and wit embedded in the German language, often leading to laughter or confusion among new learners.

Opinions

The author suggests that the internet often misrepresents German as an unfunny and overly serious language.
The systematic nature of German, with its compound words, is seen as both amusing and logical, making the language easier to understand for new learners.
Germans are portrayed as having a unique sense of humor, as evidenced by their creative and sometimes bizarre idioms.
The article pokes fun at the exaggerated portrayal of Germans in popular media, such as the stereotypical image of a German screaming "KRANKENHAUS" for hospital.
The author believes that German idioms, while seemingly nonsensical when translated literally into English, add a layer of richness and humor to the language.

My Top 10 German phrases

That are hilarious in English

So, you have spent sometime online and most probably know by know that the internet loves to joke about how unfunny German language is and how it sounds very angry and serious.

I remember this video in which multiple people say the word “hospital” in their native language, French, Spanish, English, Italian and then comes the German with his Lederhosen and beer and screams “KRANKENHAUS” to the camera in a very exaggerated way. After seeing such videos you would think to yourself: “Wow, with such an angry language no wonder Germans have no humour!”. Well my friend, you are very wrong!

My experience with German has multiple phases, the most iconic two phases are: This is such a systematic language!, This language is just funny!

To explain the systematic aspect of the German language you should know that in German you derive new words by means of compounding (that sounds complicated, I know). A word in German can be built by combining two or more words (written together with no spaces in between). For example:

Handschuh (glove): Hand (hand) + Schuh (shoe) — Gloves are called hand shoes in German.

Schildkröte (turtle): Schild (shield) + Kröte (toad) — shielded toad is the official name of a turtle in German. But for some reason a slug is just a naked snail:

Nacktschnecke (slug): Nackt (naked) + Schnecke (snail).

This makes German a very easy language to understand for new learners, because they can guess the meaning of the compounded words, from the original ones. This also allows Germans to be creative with their words, “Donaudampfschifffahrtselektrizitätenhauptbetriebswerkbauunterbeamtengesellschaft” is considered one German word with 80 letters (because the Germans can).

But for some reason, Germans use the weirdest idioms in their daily life. If you are new at learning German and you hear these idioms, either you will laugh uncontrolled or you will have the weirdest most bizarre look on you face. and here are my top 10 idioms in German:

Du gehst mir auf den Keks

English: you go me on the cookie

Meaning: you drive me crazy

Ich verstehe nur Bahnhof

English: I understand only train station

Meaning: i don’t understand

Das Leben ist doch kein Wunschkonzert

English: Life is not a request concert

Meaning: you can’t always get what you want

ich zeig’s dir, wo der Frosch die Locken hat

English: I’ll show you where the frog has its curls

Meaning: I’ll show you how it is done

Unter aller Sau

English: under all pig

Meaning: it is very bad

Ich glaube, ich Spinne

English: I think I spider

Meaning: I cannot believe

du hast nicht alle Tassen im Schrank

English: you don’t have all the cups in the cabinet

Meaning: you’re crazy

ich glaube, Mein Schwein pfeift

English: I think my pig whistles

Meaning: Blow me down

Alles für die Katz

English: everything for the cat

Meaning: all for nothing

Klappe zu, Affe tot

English: close the lid, the monkey is dead

Meaning: end of story!