:)

Here's a new German song by two collaborating artists, Sinu and Haller! 🎶🎵

The song Linien (engl.: lines) addresses family dynamics, generational trauma and breaking the cycle.

Grammatically, it's rather easy to understand, but there is a couple words and expressions that might trip up German learners.

i noticed that as a non-native german speaker i can often figure out much faster what other foreigners are trying to say, either because i remember struggling to find a fitting word and just saying one with similar meaning hoping it would make sense or because you get very good at guessing based on the context when you have limited vocabulary, like how my italian boss said "der Raum zum Wechseln" and i instantly got it even though that's not how you would usually say "changing" when talking about changing clothes, or how i can understand what my mom is trying to say in german even when it would not make sense in either of the languages because i somehow know how she got there, i know the meaning she's trying to convey even if the words themselves are not quite right for it, which is fascinating to think about

also!! a "mistake" i am quite fond of is when people translate a phrase directly from their native language, a girl in my class once said we should "das Licht öffnen" because that's one way of saying it in her native vietnamese

i wonder how often i have said something like that and not realized it, i still catch myself referring to words like "Hose" and "Schere" in the plural when i don't mean to because there's no singular for them in my language so that's how i think of them. the fact that these nouns are somehow always feminine and thus actually very similar to their plural form is NOT helping lmao

same case for grammatical gender which i find SO interesting. i remember watching videos about how the language we speak changes the way we think and how grammatical gender influences the way we view animals and inanimate objects

like i can say "der Kopf" correctly and then immedately refer to it with "sie" in the next sentence if i'm not paying attention. i think it's because i know the rules as i memorized them (Artikel + noun), but when i think of an actual head first thing that comes to my mind is the feminine form, regardless of the word i'm using, as if in my mind the object itself was feminine and not the word

wow sorry for the rant i just love languages i love communicating with different people and i love german! such a fun and beautiful language

For instance, after the German national team's disgraceful exit from the World Cup this year, the news reported on how they arrived back in Germany with their "noch-Trainer"

* well then.

* ain't nothing you can do about it.

* well how about that then.

* you brought that upon yourself dude.

* it is what it is.

* that was completely to be expected.

* tja.

* tja.

* tja.

* tja.

* tja.

* tja.

a messy and incomplete list

nachvollziehen (v.) -- to understand, but less empathetic. i.e. i see the steps that brought you to that conclusion, but i don't understand you.

doch (interj.) -- you're wrong and really it's the opposite of what you said. often said with a healthy dose of sass. i.e. "this isn't a good movie." "doch. (it is)"

frech (adj.) -- somewhere between naughty and sassy and silly. when you're being a bit of a brat, you're being frech.

dreist (adj.) -- audacious, but far more colloquial. when you have the goddamn audacity, you are dreist. i.e. to park that far over the line is dreist as hell

heimat (n.) -- home, but stronger. a home is wherever you have built a life, but heimat is where your roots are. heimat is where you feel pangs of nostalgia when you go to visit your family for christmas and see the shop at the corner.

weltschmerz (n.) -- literally 'world-pain'. the world sucks and sometimes you just sit and feel the pain of it all. that's weltschmerz.

existenzberechtigung (n.) -- the right to exist, often in a comedic context. i.e. pineapple on pizza has absolutely no existenzberechtigung.

fernweh (n.) -- literally 'far-ache'. the opposite of homesickness, the desire to go far away. i guess wanderlust is similar, but that is also a german word, and this is more painful and visceral

schweigen (v./n.) -- the act of not speaking. silence, but more deliberate. the palpable feeling that people are withholding their voice.

kaputtreparieren (to brake repair)

It's similar to verschlimmnessern, but usually used when something is a little broken, and by trying to repair it, it was actually made worse.

Taking pleasure in the suffering of others

for your next poem/story

Angsthase - "fear-bunny"; scared person

Backpfeifengesicht - “a face badly in need of a fist”; when another person’s bad behavior makes one angry—so angry that one wishes they could punch the offending person in the face

Fremdschämen - feeling embarrassed by another person’s humiliating public behavior, especially when this action reflects badly on you

Freudenschade - a mirror image of schadenfreude; it means the feeling of sadness one gets upon learning of someone’s good fortune

Glasklar - crystal clear

Lebensmüde - the feeling of being weary of life

Leidenschaft - sufferingship; passion

Luftschloss - "air-castle"; a dream that only exists in your head

Pusteblume - "blow-flower"; dandelion

Schadenfreude - "harm-joy"; the feeling of pleasure one feels from learning of the misfortunes of others

Schön - beautiful

Schreiben - to write

Sehnsucht - the melancholy feeling of longing for someone (or something) once deeply loved, but now gone forever

Traurig - sad

Verschlimmbessern - "to worsen better"; to accidentally make something worse while trying to improve it

Waldeinsamkeit - "forest solitude"; a feeling of quiet serenity while being alone in the woods

Wandern - to walk or hike

Weltschmerz - "world-pain"; world weariness and suffering from the world and its inadequacy

Zauberhaft - enchanting

Zeitgeist - "time-spirit"; the cultural and intellectual climate of a specific era

If any of these words make their way into your next poem/story, please tag me, or send me a link. I would love to read them!

Ich will unbedingt deutsch lernen aber ich habe nicht genug Zeit und Energie. Ich bin Universität studentin und ich habe auch eine Arbeit. Ich bin müde und gestresst oft. Ich versuche im Sommer Deutsch lernen. :)

unbedingt -- absolutely/at all costs

Die Nachricht (Singular: The message/piece of news)