Reise Know-How Sprachführer German Slang - the real German: Kauderwelsch-Band 188 E-Book

Elfi H. M. Gilissen

• Herausgeber: Reise Know-How
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Serie: Kauderwelsch
• Sprache: Deutsch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2015

Seitenzahl: 147

Beschreibung

In Deutschland leben Hunderttausende Menschen aus allen Kontinenten. Für sie ist die alltägliche deutsche Umgangssprache oft ein Buch mit sieben Siegeln. Kauderwelsch German Slang erklärt ca. 2000 Begriffe und Wendungen aus dem umgangssprachlichen Vokabular der Deutschen. Die lockere Sprache des Alltags - so, wie sie nicht im Wörterbuch steht. In englischer Sprache! Kauderwelsch Slang verrät die lockeren und flapsigen Ausdrücke der Alltagssprache, die saftigen Flüche, mit denen die Menschen ihrem Ärger Luft machen, die Sprache der Szene und der Straße. Mit Kauderwelsch Slang kann man den landestypischen Humor verstehen, in den Jargon der nächtlichen Großstadt eintauchen, Einheimische beeindrucken und natürlich Leute kennenlernen. Auch Fortgeschrittene können hier noch viel Neues entdecken. Im Register sind etwa 1000 Slang-Begriffe aufgelistet, die in klassischen Wörterbüchern kaum zu finden sind. Kauderwelsch Sprachführer von Reise Know-How: handlich, alltagstauglich, für über 150 Sprachen.

Leseprobe

Contents Contents of Kauderwelsch Audio(separately available)

Preface / IntroductionTrack 1

Accompanying Audio Material

How To Use This Book

Say It In GermanTrack 2

Very Peculiar: Denglisch!Track 3

German DialectsTrack 4

Colloquialisms & Idioms

Yes. Maybe. Sure.Track 5

– a collection of affirmatives

No! No Need! As If!Track 6

– all the replies meaning ‘no’

Great! Not Bad! Wow!Track 7

– when you just love it

Shit! No Good!Track 8

– if it’s a bunch of crap

Kiss My Arse! Who Cares!Track 9

– whenever you could’t care less

Really? Full On! Stunning!Track 10

– for amazing moments in life

Feel Great! Excited! Lucky Me!Track 11

– when you’re spirits fly high

Exhausted! Wrong! Screwed Up!Track 12

– if everything turns into chaos

Hilarious! Joke! Fooled!Track 13

– for all more and less amusing encounters

Nonsense! Huh? No Clue!Track 14

– when puzzled about all that bullshit

Chat, Gossip & WhingeTrack 15

– when you can’t keep still

Shut Up! Bigmouth! Spit It Out!Track 16

– if you want the talk or the silence to stop

Crazy! Driving Me Nuts!Track 17

– whenever someone drives you really mad

Furious! Enough!Track 18

– when it’s all a bit too much

Get Lost! Or Else ...Track 19

– a collection of last warnings

Pissing Your Pants?Track 20

– about the scared and the cowardly

Arseholes, Bitches, Idiots & OthersTrack 21

– all the fancy curses for both sexes

Cash & WorkTrack 22

– the hard-earned crust

Partytime! Get Plastered!Track 23

– for a good night out

Munch, Devour & EatTrack 24

– about having something solid to eat

Chatting Up & Knocked BackTrack 25

– for the lovey-doveys

Friends & SweetheartsTrack 26

– for good friends and lovers

About the Body & IntimacyTrack 27

– let’s talk about sex

Annex

Sources & Further Reading

Index

The Author

Colophon

Preface

Germans have no humour, are always overly formal and uncomfortably blunt. These comments are just as stereotypical as the statement that Germans continuously eat sauerkraut, earning them the post-war nickname ‘Krauts’.

Of course there’s a grain of truth in these observations. Germans do eat sauerkraut in certain regions and seasons. And yes, they don’t have the dry British sense of humour, nor do they generally go for the American slapstick approach, but they certainly do have heaps of humour. It’s just exclusively expressed in the German language, and if you’re not a great connoisseur of their language, you’ll undoubtedly miss out on subtleties like humour.

The majority of Germans have rather poor English skills compared to their neighbours, especially Holland and Scandinavia. Even though they (almost) all learnt it at school, their great love for precision which results in their famous high-quality cars and zillions of other pieces of craftsmanship ‘made in Germany’, does inhibit them when asked to use foreign language and communication skills. In the workplace and in social life, they tend to come up with many excuses, why their English is no good and they prefer to speak German.

The Queen’s English surely feels as uptight and serious as its standardised German counterpart Hochdeutsch. Whereas the use of local languages and dialects is nowadays no longer suppressed on British TV or radio, Hochdeutsch mostly remains a must in the German media. Regional dialects don’t have a big place in media presence.

Apart from dialects you also have rules about class and the politically correct way of speaking. However, people in the street do not always express themselves in such a polished way, and even less so when at home, down at the pub or among friends. It’s therefore hardly surprising that one can’t grasp the jokes being cracked without some serious study of straightforward familiar and outright rude German language. The key to being able to read between the lines is to familiarise yourself with the colloquial expressions and idioms in German.

This little language guide introduces many naughty and funny expressions Germans use in their day-to-day lives when having a casual chat amongst colleagues at work, communicating with family and friends, roaming pubs, bars and clubs, flirting and engaging in sexual relations and when angry or annoyed. The guide can also be of help when you watch a German crime series on TV which is full of rude language. Have fun getting to know the Germans better this way!

Yours, Elfi H. M. Gilissen

Accompanying Audio Material

You can purchase the accompanying Kauderwelsch Audio to this book from on our internet shop as a downloadable file in MP3 format through the URL https://www.reise-know-how.de/produkte/kauderwelsch-aussprachetrainer-und-audio/audio-german-slang-mp3-4672

Alternatively, it is also available on audio CD through the URL https://www.reise-know-how.de/produkte/kauderwelsch-aussprachetrainer-und-audio/audio-german-slang-audio-cd-1859

How To Use This Book

The book is mainly meant to promote a better understanding of German colloquialisms and idioms. Even though this eventually can also be helpful to express yourself in German in a less formal manner, I advise you to be very cautious when making use of the rude vocabulary introduced in this book. In regard to the swearwords, bear in mind that until you fully know which expression is appropriate in what type of situation, you are better off not using them yourself – unless you are really looking for a fight. Insults are rarely taken as a mere joke! Even though the English equivalents give you a good idea about the degree of rudeness, we have annotated the rudest ones with a small number one (¹).

In italics and square brackets [literal!] you’ll find literal translations of German expressions and idioms, which can be useful to comprehend their original meaning and have some fun analyzing the play on words.

In the following chapters you’ll find some simple guidelines to the standard pronunciation of German and a brief guide to the distribution of local dialects in Germany.

In the annex at the end of the book, I have listed sources and further recommended reading, if you’d like to dive further into the world of German idioms and / or dialects.

Say It In German

„Deutsche Sprache, schwere Sprache“, meaning ‘German language, difficult language’ is what Germans use to say, when someone is struggling with their native tongue. This may be true about the grammar, but when it comes to pronunciation it’s far more predictable than English. Just take a moment to familiarise yourself with these basic rules and the first step towards perfect German pronunciation is made! The essentials are:

Short vowels

All German vowels have both a long and a short version. The short version is used when a single vowel is followed by any combination of two (or more) consonants, for example: bb, ch, ck, ll, mm, tz, sch, pf ...

a

like

‘u’

in ‘h

u

m’example:

Macker

bloke / boyfriend

e

1) like

‘e’

in ‘w

e

t’example:

lecken

to lick;

2) or like

‘e’

in ‘comm

e

nt’ when it’s the second letter in the prefixes

‘ge-, be-, ver-’

and in words ending with

‘-e’

or

‘-e-’

plus one consonant, such as

‘-el, -em, -en, -er, -es, -et ...’

example:

beschissen

shitty

i

like

‘i’

in ‘b

i

g’example:

ficken

to fuck

o

like

‘o’

in ‘b

o

ther’example:

Kotze

puke

u

like

‘u’

in ‘p

u

ssy’example:

Muschi

cunt

Long vowels

The long version is pronounced when a single vowel is followed by only one consonant or an ‘h’ plus another consonant. The following ‘h’ always remains silent. If the same vowel is doubled, it’s pronounced like a long vowel as well:

a / ah / aa

like

‘a’

in ‘l

au

gh’example:

wahnsinnig

crazy!

e / eh / ee

similar to

‘ai’

in ‘r

ai

se’ or

‘a’

in ‘m

a

ze’, but without the softening

‘i’-

sound at the endexample:

abgedreht

bewildering

i / ih

like

‘ee’

in ‘b

ee

r’example:

Asi

antisocial person

o / oh / oo

like

‘o’

in ‘lawnm

o

wer’ without pronouncing the

‘w’,

but instead stretching the

‘o’

longerexample:

Kohle

money / coal

u / uh

like

‘oo’

in ‘n

oo

dle’example:

Hupen

tits

‘Umlaut’ aka the double dots

Typically German are those vowels with double dots, which also differentiate short and long pronunciation. The same rules as for short and long vowels apply.

ä

1) short like

‘e’

in ‘w

e

t’example:

beschränkt

limited;

2) for long version stretch to ‘w

eee

t’example:

gähn!

boring!

ö

1) short like

‘u’

in ‘s

u

rf’example:

beömmeln

to laugh;

2) for long version stretch to ‘s

uuu

rf’example:

grölen

to holler

ü

1) short like

‘ue’

in ‘m

ue

sli’ (but much stronger)example:

Müll

rubbish;

2) for long version stretch to ‘m

uuee

sli’example:

Hühnerkacke

shit

Two different vowels in a row

A common combination is a vowel followed by a ‘u’:

au

similar to

‘ou’

in ‘cl

ou

d’, but shorterexample:

Braut

chick / bride

äu / eu

like

‘oi’

in ‘m

oi

st’example:

Mäuse

money / mice

Apart from these combinations you have

‘ie’

and

‘ei’,

which are often mixed up by native English speakers:

ei

like

‘i’

in ‘bl

i

nd’example:

geil

hot / cool / horny

ie

like

‘ee’

in ‘b

ee

r’example:

angeschmiert

fooled

Consonants

The consonants b, r, sh, t, v, w and x can basically be pronounced the same as in English without creating awkwardness, but others are a little bit more tricky:

ch

the famous

‘ch’

does really not have an equivalent in English; just imitate German speakersexample:

Weichei

wimp

chs

like

‘x’

in ‘si

x

’; mostly at end of a wordexample:

Wichser

wanker / jerk

g

1) at the end of a word in Northern Germany same as a

‘ch’

(see above)example:

knuddelig

cute;

2) at any other position in a word usually like

‘g’

as in ‘

g

reen’;also at the end of a word in Southern Germany, Austria and Switzerlandexample:

Gesabbel

drool

j

generally like

‘y’

in ‘

y

ou’example:

jammern

to wail

s

1) like

‘s’

in ‘ro

s

e’ at the start of a word followed by a vowel and in the middle of a wordexample:

Möse

cunt;

2) like

‘ss’

in ‘bo

ss

’ at the end of a word and when used as double

‘s’

example:

krass

crass

ß

equivalent for a double-s, pronounced like

‘ss’

in ‘bo

ss

’example:

Scheiße

shit

sch

like

‘sh’

in ‘

sh

op’example:

bescheuert

stupid

sp/st

1) at the end or in the middle of a word like in ‘

sp

orts’ or in ‘

st

ation’example:

knuspern

to crunch,

astrein

perfect(ly);

2) at the start of a word pronounced like

‘shp’

or

‘sht’

example:

spitze!

top!,

Ständer

erection

tsch

like

‘ch’

in ‘mu

ch

’example:

Quatsch

blather

(t)z

like

‘ts’

in ‘lo

ts

’example:

Dez

head

Exceptions

The above is only true for strictly German words. The spelling in this book is mainly Hochdeutsch, unless it’s never pronounced like that and therefore I’ve omitted the unspoken vowels to increase your chances of a correct pronunciation.

Words borrowed from English, French or some other language are not quite pronounced like in their country of origin, but rather with a typical German accent. For example, French: Champagner, Journalist, Restaurant, Charmeur, Garage; Italian: Radicchio, Gnocchi, Ruccola; Greek: Tsatsiki, Gyros, Pita; Turkish: Döner, Kebap etc.

However, an exception in itself is ‘y’, which can in rare cases be a consonant, but mostly appears as vowel:

y

generally like

‘ue’

in ‘m

ue

sli’example:

Typ

(odd) bloke

Very Peculiar: Denglish!

Denglisch? Well, for those of you who are not familiar with this term, it’s the use of English words in German, but with a bit of a ‘twang’. Most of these terms have their origin in the world of IT, marketing, economics, lifestyle, drugs, sports, music and music videos. Denglisch is often not appreciated by language purists, who are only too happy to point their finger at those who use these kind of terms. But in the end, they can scream and shout all they want – you can’t police the way people use language!

All Denglisch terms in this book are marked with a (*) for easy recognition.

Nouns

Most of the English nouns that are used in German only need a German article, are capitalised and have a German accent added to its pronunciation; a new German word is born! Typically, these terms have less connotations when used in German, unlike their English origins. Some examples: die Connection*[influential friends, phone line or link between things/people],das Casting*[actors, performers; not cast in a mold, throwing],das Dinner*[meal in restaurant or at someone’s house for special occasion; not an ordinary family meal!],das Outfit*[clothing] ...

Since das Handy* looks like an obvious English word, Germans amusingly may think, that it’s the correct English term for mobile phone! Another faux-ami is der Body*, which describes a one piece underwear garment for women (similar to a bathing suit) in German!

However, the plural is often formed in accordance with German pluralisation customs. The article for plural is always die and the plural ending may vary. Some get ‘-en’, like die Beautyfarm(en)*, die Mailbox(en)*. Words ending in ‘-er’ typically do not obtain a plural ending (only their article will change to plural), like der Bestseller*, der Blockbuster*, der Computer*, der Eye Catcher*, der Global Player*, der Insider*, das Wellness Center*. Others don’t have a plural at all (you cannot even apply the plural article): das Brunch*, das Catering*, das Coming Out*, das Internet*, das Recycling*, der Shit* ... Sometimes the usual English ending on ‘-s’ is applied for plural: das Briefing*, der Hype*, der Job*, das Meeting*, der One-Night-Stand*, der Quickie*, die Party*, der Song*, das Team*, der Workflow*, der Yuppie* ...

In the last spelling reform in Germany 1999 (effective since 2005) it was decided that also English nouns, which consist of more than one word can now be either jointed together with a hyphen or simply be spelled as one word just like typical compound words in German: das Desktoppublishing* or Desktop-Publishing*, die Midlifecrisis*or Midlife-Crisis*, das Happyend* or Happy-End*, die Sciencefiction* or Science-Fiction* ...

Having proper German articles already indicates that they are inflected just like German nouns in accordance with the gender of the noun (definite or indefinite) and possibly one of the four cases needed within the sentence structure.

Der Song* war in den Top Tens* / Toptens* der letzten Monate unter den ersten fünf!

For the past few months this song has been amongst the first five of the top ten!

Note: den -s: definite, plural, accusative case.

Die Story* hat schon so’n Bart!

That’s ancient history!

Verbs

A bit more reworking is required for popular English verbs used in German since they firstly need to have the German infinitve ending -en. For example: brunchen*[to eat brunch],chillen*[to chill out, relax],checken*[to understand],downloaden*[to download from the internet],killen*[to kill / stop],pushen*[to push ideas],raten*[to rate (in the Top Ten)],toppen*[to top / exceed, be better],updaten*[to update data / software, on gossip],windsurfen*[to windsurf],zappen*[to zap aimlessly through TV-channels] and some with irregular verb endings like tricksen*[to trick] or ordern*[to order goods].

The German term for ‘to send an SMS’ is either SMSen* or to make it pronouncable with an inserted ‘i’: simsen*. ‘To email’ can also be expressed in two ways: mailen* or e-mailen*.

More complex Denglisch words even get typical German prefixes: abchecken*[to check],einchecken / auschecken*[to check in / out (flight / hotel)],anturnen / abturnen*[to turn on/off interest],aufsplitten*[to split],auspowern*[to waste energy on a task / sport],verlinken*[to link website] or they are reflexive: sich outen*[to out yourself as a lover / hater of something].

Now they have a proper German infinitive ending they are most certainly inflected just like a German word!

Wir haben gestern lecker gebruncht*.

We had a nice brunch yesterday.

Das turnt* mich einfach ab.

That simply turns me off.

Ich hab mir die Datei downgeloaded* / gedownloaded*.

I downloaded the file.

There are two was to create the past tense for downloaden*: The first approach follows the example of the correct German equivalent runtergeladen, which is the past participle of the separable verb runterladen (= ich lade die Datei runter). The second approach recognises that you cannot actually separate the English word like that and therefore the past participle for non-separable verbs is formed.

Denglisch verbs can be used as nouns as well and are then capitalised as per usual in German:

Das Einchecken* am Flughafen nervt!

The check-in at the airport is nerve-racking!

Adjectives

The most prominent example for a Denglisch adjective in idiomatic German is cool*, which means ‘hip’, ‘in’, ‘great’ etc., but never physically cold! When used in German it’s inflected like any German adjective, including the comparative and superlative forms.

Das war ‘n absolut cooles* Event*!

That was an absolutely cool event!

Note: Event is for big events only, like a rock concert, the Queen visiting ...

cooler* als das coolste* Gefährt

cooler than the coolest vehicle

The opposite exists as well: uncool*, whereby the un- is pronounced like traditional German! More Denglisch adjectives are for example: overdressed / underdressed*, tricky*, trendy*, hip*, in*, stoned*, high*, spaced*...

German Dialects

This book cannot show all the dialect varieties of German colloquialisms, but concentrates on idiomatic language that has been in use for many years and will most likely continue to be used in German as if it were Hochdeutsch (standard German). However, even though the use of dialects is not as widespread as it used to be at the beginning of the 20th century, people will never cease to spice up their standard German with regional expressions. Let’s therefore take a look at some of the regional dialects:

The north

The dominant north-western dialect is Plattdüütsch (Plattdeutsch)