My Shiny New Favourite German Words.

Living in a flatshare with German students, and working in a mildly crazy "Team" of teachers means I get exposed to a lot of German words that they don't exactly teach you in university. This is just going to be a short post of the best ones I've come across so far, enjoy, learn and repeat. If possible, adapt into your own language's vocabulary and use on unwitting natives in your own country.

1) Gammeln. 

      This is a fantastic verb which according to dict.leo translates as "to bum around". To avoid any awkward confusion, its better explained as what you do when you spend the best part of your day in jogging trousers/pyjamas, a hoodie and your biggest, fluffiest socks (or hausschuhe). You might venture outside, but only to the local Aldi. Being seen by friends in that state is embarrassing, but no worries, I can now at least explain the excuse for my state.

2) Weinchen. 

      Wein is...well, wine. "Chen" is a quirky part of the German language; a suffix one can add to the end of most nouns to indicate that its smaller. So weinchen is a small amount of wine. The lovely girls that live in my building taught me this word very quickly, and its a key bit of vocab before a night out with them.

3) Ätzend.

     This is a word that loosely translates as "god-awful". So not very positive but it sounds cool!

4) Wichteln.

     This is the german term for "secret santa". It is named after a small implike figure in Germanic folklore called a Wichtel (or a wight in English, not to be confused with their evil purpose in Tolkein's books) who slyly do helpful things around the house at night. Cute, eh?

5) Voll die Spassaktion!

     Couldn't possibly not put this in! This is a phrase one of the girls in my building (she'll know who she is, if she reads this) uses all the time, usually after instantaneously planning a flat party and accidentally inviting a bus load (literally, once) of people. It means "what a fun activity", but sounds way cooler (!) auf Deutsch.

6) So ist das Leben.

     A favourite phrase of one of the friendliest (if slightly crazy) teachers at school, it means "such is life" and I hear it roughly 3 times a day when at school, usually more though. Generally used at the end of a debate with another teacher but directed at me, for unknown reasons.

7) Ebenso/gleichweis

     These words mean "you too!". So if when you're leaving a shop you say to the cashier "schönen Abend noch" (have a good evening) he or she will reply with one of the above. The first time I heard gleichweis I misheard it as "ja, ich weiss", (yes, I know) which I thought was a bit dismissive, but being a scared little foreigner with no trust in her own german language ability I didn't question my own interpretation for a while. 

8) Schwätzen

    The dialect that is spoken around the area of my school uses this little gem in place of "reden" (to talk). Longer and considerably harder to pronounce and conjugate, but hey, convenience isn't high on the list of priorities when it comes to German dialects, and personally I prefer it. It's cute, don't you agree? 

9) beknackt

     I'm not sure what this literally translates as but it kinda means like 'messed up', or 'daft'. But don't quote me on this. I have yet to venture to use it myself. 

10) Pennen

        Slang for sleep, means the same as "to kip" in English. 

Hope you liked this! Next blog post up: Christmas in Trier - Voll die Spassaktion!!