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German may be the most widely spoken language in the European Union, but let's be honest - it's just downright funny sometimes. We roasted French, so now it's time for the German language to have its turn.
People around the world learning how to speak German have long struggled with German's fearsome grammar, in which multiple funny words are stuck together to make more descriptive terms. This leads to things like long, aggressive store names and job titles, as well as migraines for tourists and expats in Germany. The spelling of these long German words is an even more sensitive subject.
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Since German is an ancestor to English, a lot of funny German words were passed down to us but changed in spelling over time. The original German forms of these words now have... Well, 'interesting' connotations. See for yourself below.
Oh, and just for the lols, here is the longest word in German - Donaudampfschifffahtselektrizitatenhauptbetriebswerkbauunterbeamtengessellschaft. Standing proudly at 80 letters, this word translates to "Association for Subordinate Officials of the Head Office Management of the Danube Steamboat Electrical Services" and is an absolutely real concoction of letters. Try not to break your tongue with it!
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However, according to Olly Richards, a polyglot and the founder of I Will Teach You A Language, German actually isn't too difficult to master.
"One of the main reasons German isn’t all that hard to learn is that German and English originate from the same language families and share more similarities than you probably realize," Richards wrote. "Both German and English are Indo-European languages that stem from the Germanic family of languages. About 40% of German vocabulary is similar to English vocabulary, which is good news for native English speakers!"
Richards said that pronunciation is also more straightforward than you might think and grammar is relatively easy to pick up thanks to recognizable patterns. "If we examine the phrases 'what is that?' and 'was ist das?', the connections are obvious."
Also, the polyglot thinks that it's is much easier to pronounce words phonetically in German than in English. "In English, letters often change sounds without any logical explanation. This isn’t the case in German."
"Although some aspects of German may seem difficult, once you break the language down, it's not actually that hard."
#10
Funny German Language
Juana 7 years ago
Why do the write the names of the languages and then throw in Mexico? For continuity they should have written Spanish. And a flag of Spain.
Daria B 7 years ago
I'm with you on this one. Nothing wrong with Mexico, but let's face it → the language is "Spanish", and it originated in Spain, therefore the continuity of this illustration was already broken at that part. Full stop.
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Cat Meow 7 years ago
Missing the H. And because I love surprises, here's my favorite surprise: 348030-589...a51e52.jpg 
Amanda Panda 7 years ago
I lived in Germany as a kid (dad was military) and we LOVED Kinder eggs! My sis brings them back when she travels there, and they still make me smile!
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Edeltraud Dent 7 years ago
Ich hasse den Gesichtsausdruck der deutschen Person beim Sprechen. I really hate the facial expression of the German person when speaking. We only look like that when we are really angry, just like all other people.
Slune 4 years ago
Yeah, but it is comprehensible. For people who are speaking a "softer" language, German sounds harsh, barking like and clipped.
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Enea 7 years ago
Surprise, the Roman languages and English have a word for surprise that sounds pleasant whereas the German word doesn’t. What's the point? That this is relatable to all languages (try looking up surprise in Hungarian or Czech)? Or that all German words sound aggressive? It's sad to see this stereotyping bullsh*t featured on Bored Panda.
Teresa Avizienis 4 years ago
Just out of respect for my high school German teacher: It should be Uberraschung! (Sorry - no Umlaut on my keyboard.)
Mariele Scherzinger 4 years ago
4 Romanic language (and one semi-Romanic, semi Anglo-Saxon) compared with one Germanic language. Sure - very balanced.... not! Why not 4 Romanic languages compared to 4 Germanic languages? (Such as Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, etc.)
Bezza Adugna 7 years ago
This is not the worst! "Cinderella" is "Aschenbrödel" or "Aschenputtel"! I mean seriously! This almost destroyed Cinderella for me.
Inga Viviane 4 years ago
You do know that Cinderella is a disney version of Aschenbrödel, which is the original thing. Asche is ash, brödel might be a derogative term for girl. So it might not sound that beautifully, but in the original Aschenbrödel they hack the girls' sisters feet partly off and so they bleed in Aschenputtels shoes.
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Julia NotMyLastname 7 years ago
Only a few letters longer. The only reason it looks so bad is because they made it look bad. All caps, the screaming meme, the exclamation point, if they did it to the other languages ut would look the same way. Also, there is a shorter word for it, wurndern, that they of course didn't use bc it wouldn't make German look bad.
Inga Viviane 4 years ago
Because all germans scream and shout constantly and sound like hitler. Ich kann gar nicht so viel essen, wie ich kotzen will.
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Ricardo Cerezo 7 years ago
"Mexico" is not a lenguaje but a country! In Mexico SPANISH is spoken.
Andreas Danzer 7 years ago
There is a H missing! ÜBERRASCHUNG! Not to confuse ÜBERARSCHUNG (Overassholing) doesn't mean really anything ... but we still could use it ... somehow ... 😂😂😂
Lubova Krylova 7 years ago
Well, sometimes, surprises can be as bad as they sound in German :)
Lelia Ungureanu 7 years ago
I couldn't say that at a party, i think the birthday guy/girl would freak out and maybe slap me :)
Cecilia Spidla 7 years ago
Instead of Mexico it should say Spanish, we're talking about languages, not countries :/
Cecilia Spidla 7 years ago
Instead of Mexico it should say Spanish, we're talking about languages, not countries
Richard Pickman 7 years ago
You missed the H letter, it's Überraschung, you stupid f**k. Educate yourself first.
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What do you think ?
Daisuke Meyer 7 years ago
Really? I mean...did you ever hear italian people talking to each other? It looks and sounds like they would hit each other the next second. Same goes for arab people
NMN 4 years ago
The shouting and the hands flying everywhere while talking, might have some harsh words too. You never know if they are angry or happy. Then they hug and laugh
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Beatrice Alighieri 7 years ago
I read most of those with the voice of Rammstein's lead singer, I'm laughing so hard crying
Daisuke Meyer 7 years ago
Rammstein ist not the best example how german sounds...
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Tiny Dynamine 7 years ago
Are any German speakers here annoyed that people say you sound aggressive? I've actually moved on from World War 2 films...
xXelch64Xx 7 years ago
I'm annoyed that in all movies of the present germans sound and look like nazis :D
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Eva Kranke 7 years ago
A lot of the translations are wrong! Furthermore it's useless, to compare German words with only Roman languages! But some of the examples are very funny! :D
Sadia Timmermans 4 years ago
I tought the same thing. I speak Dutch (Flemish to be precise) and a lot of the words I understood because they have a lot of similarities with my language, both Germanic languages. So comparing them with Roman languages seems odd.
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Frank Eric 7 years ago
So many wrong translations...like we don't say "Seidenkrawatte" we just say "Krawatte" - wich is not much different to the french, italian or spanish version. "Seide" is silk, but usually you don't name the material. And well "schmetterling" is a wrong word to describe the sound of the german language... If you pronounce "butterfly" like an army general it sounds hard as well. But you can say "Schmetterling" in a very soft way as well. And if you translate the meaning it says very small crushing wings, wich is much nicer than a fly wich sits on the butter :D Most of the examples are funny, but some are just wrong... or misspelled
danielw 4 years ago
Do air forces have a bootcamp-esque basic training? I want to see a hard bitten NCO screaming at airforce recruits, calling them butterflies now.
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Jill Rhoads 4 years ago
My parents literally thought that every street in Germany was name Einbanstrasse until they learned that it meant one way street. Needs to say they had a little hard time finding their car.
Janine B. 4 years ago
It's 4 a.m. here in Berlin and I'm lying next to my husband trying hard not to giggle too loud. 🤭🤭🤭
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Alun Palmer 7 years ago
I have played Scrabble in German. Scrabble is not really capable of easily forming long words, but there are plenty of short words in German, they are what they string together to make the long ones!
Nicola Tranchida 7 years ago
I'm German and I'm Italian. Some translations are wrong, but I love this kind of Unsinn. And... yes, 'Wenn hinter Fliegen Fliegen fliegen fliegen Fliegen Fliegen nach.' makes to me perfect sense. :D It means: When flies fly behind flies, flies fly behind flies.
Lidee Moril 7 years ago
German is the best language in the world. Much better than that stinky gibberish you call 'English'
Vicky Zar 4 years ago
That's preference. I like english more. I love reading in english. And I'm German.
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Jo Choto 4 years ago
The kids always used to ask me to say nice things in German, but in a shouting angry voice. For some reason they thought it was hysterically funny to have me shouting, "You are all great and I really love you" in German. I enjoy being multilingual, but I forget what it's like to look at a language from the outside sometimes.
danielw 4 years ago
I would like to introduce you to Amorite. too bad I don't speak it. (does anybody? dead languages are like that.)
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Dl B 4 years ago
My wife who lived in Germany for a couple years told me that once someone ask her for directions. She told them (in german) that she would take them "around the corner". She did not know that in german taking someone around the corner means to murder them.
Janine B. 4 years ago
😂 😂 😂 I love when that happens. Went to England with a friend. Entered a restaurant, he wanted to have the menu but asked for the map. Both means Karte in German. 😂
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Vitoria Silva Barbosa 5 years ago
I love this post and my room mate does too! I'm learning German right now (at this school: https://www.speakeasysprachzeug.de/en) and I am living with a German room mate. He wouldn't believe me as I've told him those odd German things so I found your post and showed it to him. Now as we are both done laughing like idiots I think your post might finally made him realize that I was right all along. Anyway thank you very much for the fun time we had.
Sophia Cai 6 years ago
One time my German teacher wrote something on the board and one guy asked, "Is that the WIFI password?" LMAO
Henny Hana 7 years ago
I always wanted to learn german. I failed the uni exam for that faculty *sob*. And until now all i can say is only ich liebe dich. Somehow it always amused my online german friends when i told them that. They always asked do i know the meaning? Yeah i do. But it's the only german i can. T_T
Nela Rothenbach 7 years ago
That's a good sentence to know in every language
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Maddie McBride 7 years ago
I'm being a giggly b***h in class over these posts, every one is looking at me like I'm crazy XDDD
Max L. 4 years ago
What are disney characters called in german ? Here (italy) hewy lewy dewy are qui quo qua.
Peter Mortensen 7 years ago
Quite funny - and full of misunderstandings and idiosyncrasies, but there it is! One thing, however: German spelling is straightforward, like Italian and Polish (but very unlike English and my own humble native language, Danish). When you´ve learned the basic principles ruling the relations between sounds and letters/letter combinations, you will find out that there are not very many exceptions.
Judi Michelle 4 years ago
Super interesting thing. While I was living in French speaking Africa I would frequently be asked if I was speaking German, when I was speaking to friends or colleagues in English. I suppose they sound super similar to someone who doesn't speak either. But when I was in Germany it didn't sound familiar to me at all lol
Ray Heap 4 years ago (edited)
See we will how viele Germanstudenten this picture understand can... sprache-5f...e10c7.jpeg 
Astrid Nineor 4 years ago
,is the chen part always there? (It is Ekorn in Norwegian)
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Richard Pickman 7 years ago
Complete b******t, f**k this post. Greetings to all German and Austrian people.
Mary Peace 4 years ago
I agree with your views, except for your language - if you see my point.
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Stefan Zimmer 7 years ago
How about some German (actualy Austrian) poetry? No vowels needed! http://www.lyrikline.org/de/gedichte/schtzngrmm-1230
Russell Ellwardt 4 years ago
I am not so sure how funny this actually is. If we complain, however, you'll, go, "Ha ha, those Germans have no sense of humour." If anyone posted a list of 'jokes' about the English language that tells of a similar amount of ignorance and stupidity, though, you'd all go berserk for sure. Think about it for a moment.
Russell Ellwardt 4 years ago
Show me another language with an infinite number of words! That's one of the big advantage of German. No idea why people think it is a difficult language. I mastered it at the age of two. And seriously, if you think German grammar is difficult, then try studying Polish.
*sigh*, The Yellow Teletubby 4 years ago
they really missed a chance with a pun with the name u_u could've been "50 Hilarious Reasons Why The German Language Is The Wurst" so disappointed in you BP u_u
Left Hans 7 years ago
Hi, I am Dutch and at times I work with German people for almost 5 years now in Germany. The truth and nothing but the truth........, The speak as if they want to dominate you and the world. Told them not to take an effort because experience learned that after trying it several times a new attempt wil not succeed.
Slune 4 years ago
Yeah, that's in their genes! Klugscheisser und Besserwisser.
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Cyril Froidevaux 7 years ago
At least German words are very explicit. Eg verschlimmbessern or Kummerspeck says it all. May be if you understand the language. All in all, I think French is the best language in the world.
Janine Randall 7 years ago
I was in the hospital once and the lady in the bed next to me only spoke German. Her friend came & visited her. I know it was a friendly conversation, but it is not relaxing to sit next 2 people having a conversation in German. I'd love to learn it though, just to test myself to see if I could.
Nick Gisburne 7 years ago
What is the expression for a German who corrects another German's grammar? Because in English you'd be a grammar nazi, which I expect is about the worst word you could use for a German! That has definitely got me wondering now!
Mary Peace 4 years ago
I have never heard anyone referred to as a Nazi, regardless of context, unless historically actually speaking of Nazis. I'm shocked. I heard someone refer to 'grammar police' when a word was spelt wrongly last week, so why not use that?
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Florian Rhymer 7 years ago
Eu sou alemao mas eu vou te xingar em portugues @Greta J sua babaca racista monolingual, piranha de merda!! hahahaha
Intensive Panda 7 years ago
Probably the most wonderful thing about German is that you can make up any word and it will be grammatically correct even without any sense For example: Rheinschifffahrtskapitänschullehrer = Teacher in a school for shipping captains on the Rhine river, while "Rhein" = Rhine, "Schifffahrt" = shipping, "Kapitän" = captain, "Schullehrer" = school teacher (or even more "Schul(e)" = school, "Lehrer" = teacher)
Nela Rothenbach 7 years ago
As long as you can name the correct article ;- p
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Frank Eric 7 years ago
No. It is totally OK to do so. We Germans - as it is known all over the world - don't have any sense of humour. So if we can't laugh about ourselves it is on you to do that ;-)
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Frank Eric 7 years ago
You are right, but you say "A-A" only to very VERY little children... If you would say "Ich geh mal A-A machen" (I need to go to the toilet) to an adult you would earn a big laughter or some strange glances :D
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Daisuke Meyer 7 years ago
Really? I mean...did you ever hear italian people talking to each other? It looks and sounds like they would hit each other the next second. Same goes for arab people
NMN 4 years ago
The shouting and the hands flying everywhere while talking, might have some harsh words too. You never know if they are angry or happy. Then they hug and laugh
Load More Replies... Beatrice Alighieri 7 years ago
I read most of those with the voice of Rammstein's lead singer, I'm laughing so hard crying
Daisuke Meyer 7 years ago
Rammstein ist not the best example how german sounds...
Load More Replies... Tiny Dynamine 7 years ago
Are any German speakers here annoyed that people say you sound aggressive? I've actually moved on from World War 2 films...
xXelch64Xx 7 years ago
I'm annoyed that in all movies of the present germans sound and look like nazis :D
Load More Replies... Eva Kranke 7 years ago
A lot of the translations are wrong! Furthermore it's useless, to compare German words with only Roman languages! But some of the examples are very funny! :D
Sadia Timmermans 4 years ago
I tought the same thing. I speak Dutch (Flemish to be precise) and a lot of the words I understood because they have a lot of similarities with my language, both Germanic languages. So comparing them with Roman languages seems odd.
Load More Replies... Frank Eric 7 years ago
So many wrong translations...like we don't say "Seidenkrawatte" we just say "Krawatte" - wich is not much different to the french, italian or spanish version. "Seide" is silk, but usually you don't name the material. And well "schmetterling" is a wrong word to describe the sound of the german language... If you pronounce "butterfly" like an army general it sounds hard as well. But you can say "Schmetterling" in a very soft way as well. And if you translate the meaning it says very small crushing wings, wich is much nicer than a fly wich sits on the butter :D Most of the examples are funny, but some are just wrong... or misspelled
danielw 4 years ago
Do air forces have a bootcamp-esque basic training? I want to see a hard bitten NCO screaming at airforce recruits, calling them butterflies now.
Load More Replies... Jill Rhoads 4 years ago
My parents literally thought that every street in Germany was name Einbanstrasse until they learned that it meant one way street. Needs to say they had a little hard time finding their car.
Janine B. 4 years ago
It's 4 a.m. here in Berlin and I'm lying next to my husband trying hard not to giggle too loud. 🤭🤭🤭
Load More Replies... Alun Palmer 7 years ago
I have played Scrabble in German. Scrabble is not really capable of easily forming long words, but there are plenty of short words in German, they are what they string together to make the long ones!
Nicola Tranchida 7 years ago
I'm German and I'm Italian. Some translations are wrong, but I love this kind of Unsinn. And... yes, 'Wenn hinter Fliegen Fliegen fliegen fliegen Fliegen Fliegen nach.' makes to me perfect sense. :D It means: When flies fly behind flies, flies fly behind flies.
Lidee Moril 7 years ago
German is the best language in the world. Much better than that stinky gibberish you call 'English'
Vicky Zar 4 years ago
That's preference. I like english more. I love reading in english. And I'm German.
Load More Replies... Jo Choto 4 years ago
The kids always used to ask me to say nice things in German, but in a shouting angry voice. For some reason they thought it was hysterically funny to have me shouting, "You are all great and I really love you" in German. I enjoy being multilingual, but I forget what it's like to look at a language from the outside sometimes.
danielw 4 years ago
I would like to introduce you to Amorite. too bad I don't speak it. (does anybody? dead languages are like that.)
Load More Replies... Dl B 4 years ago
My wife who lived in Germany for a couple years told me that once someone ask her for directions. She told them (in german) that she would take them "around the corner". She did not know that in german taking someone around the corner means to murder them.
Janine B. 4 years ago
😂 😂 😂 I love when that happens. Went to England with a friend. Entered a restaurant, he wanted to have the menu but asked for the map. Both means Karte in German. 😂
Load More Replies... Vitoria Silva Barbosa 5 years ago
I love this post and my room mate does too! I'm learning German right now (at this school: https://www.speakeasysprachzeug.de/en) and I am living with a German room mate. He wouldn't believe me as I've told him those odd German things so I found your post and showed it to him. Now as we are both done laughing like idiots I think your post might finally made him realize that I was right all along. Anyway thank you very much for the fun time we had.
Sophia Cai 6 years ago
One time my German teacher wrote something on the board and one guy asked, "Is that the WIFI password?" LMAO
Henny Hana 7 years ago
I always wanted to learn german. I failed the uni exam for that faculty *sob*. And until now all i can say is only ich liebe dich. Somehow it always amused my online german friends when i told them that. They always asked do i know the meaning? Yeah i do. But it's the only german i can. T_T
Nela Rothenbach 7 years ago
That's a good sentence to know in every language
Load More Replies... Maddie McBride 7 years ago
I'm being a giggly b***h in class over these posts, every one is looking at me like I'm crazy XDDD
Max L. 4 years ago
What are disney characters called in german ? Here (italy) hewy lewy dewy are qui quo qua.
Peter Mortensen 7 years ago
Quite funny - and full of misunderstandings and idiosyncrasies, but there it is! One thing, however: German spelling is straightforward, like Italian and Polish (but very unlike English and my own humble native language, Danish). When you´ve learned the basic principles ruling the relations between sounds and letters/letter combinations, you will find out that there are not very many exceptions.
Judi Michelle 4 years ago
Super interesting thing. While I was living in French speaking Africa I would frequently be asked if I was speaking German, when I was speaking to friends or colleagues in English. I suppose they sound super similar to someone who doesn't speak either. But when I was in Germany it didn't sound familiar to me at all lol
Ray Heap 4 years ago (edited)
See we will how viele Germanstudenten this picture understand can... sprache-5f...e10c7.jpeg
Astrid Nineor 4 years ago
,is the chen part always there? (It is Ekorn in Norwegian)
Load More Replies... Richard Pickman 7 years ago
Complete b******t, f**k this post. Greetings to all German and Austrian people.
Mary Peace 4 years ago
I agree with your views, except for your language - if you see my point.
Load More Replies... Stefan Zimmer 7 years ago
How about some German (actualy Austrian) poetry? No vowels needed! http://www.lyrikline.org/de/gedichte/schtzngrmm-1230
Russell Ellwardt 4 years ago
I am not so sure how funny this actually is. If we complain, however, you'll, go, "Ha ha, those Germans have no sense of humour." If anyone posted a list of 'jokes' about the English language that tells of a similar amount of ignorance and stupidity, though, you'd all go berserk for sure. Think about it for a moment.
Russell Ellwardt 4 years ago
Show me another language with an infinite number of words! That's one of the big advantage of German. No idea why people think it is a difficult language. I mastered it at the age of two. And seriously, if you think German grammar is difficult, then try studying Polish.
*sigh*, The Yellow Teletubby 4 years ago
they really missed a chance with a pun with the name u_u could've been "50 Hilarious Reasons Why The German Language Is The Wurst" so disappointed in you BP u_u
Left Hans 7 years ago
Hi, I am Dutch and at times I work with German people for almost 5 years now in Germany. The truth and nothing but the truth........, The speak as if they want to dominate you and the world. Told them not to take an effort because experience learned that after trying it several times a new attempt wil not succeed.
Slune 4 years ago
Yeah, that's in their genes! Klugscheisser und Besserwisser.
Load More Replies... Cyril Froidevaux 7 years ago
At least German words are very explicit. Eg verschlimmbessern or Kummerspeck says it all. May be if you understand the language. All in all, I think French is the best language in the world.
Janine Randall 7 years ago
I was in the hospital once and the lady in the bed next to me only spoke German. Her friend came & visited her. I know it was a friendly conversation, but it is not relaxing to sit next 2 people having a conversation in German. I'd love to learn it though, just to test myself to see if I could.
Nick Gisburne 7 years ago
What is the expression for a German who corrects another German's grammar? Because in English you'd be a grammar nazi, which I expect is about the worst word you could use for a German! That has definitely got me wondering now!
Mary Peace 4 years ago
I have never heard anyone referred to as a Nazi, regardless of context, unless historically actually speaking of Nazis. I'm shocked. I heard someone refer to 'grammar police' when a word was spelt wrongly last week, so why not use that?
Load More Replies... Florian Rhymer 7 years ago
Eu sou alemao mas eu vou te xingar em portugues @Greta J sua babaca racista monolingual, piranha de merda!! hahahaha
Intensive Panda 7 years ago
Probably the most wonderful thing about German is that you can make up any word and it will be grammatically correct even without any sense For example: Rheinschifffahrtskapitänschullehrer = Teacher in a school for shipping captains on the Rhine river, while "Rhein" = Rhine, "Schifffahrt" = shipping, "Kapitän" = captain, "Schullehrer" = school teacher (or even more "Schul(e)" = school, "Lehrer" = teacher)
Nela Rothenbach 7 years ago
As long as you can name the correct article ;- p
Load More Replies... Frank Eric 7 years ago
No. It is totally OK to do so. We Germans - as it is known all over the world - don't have any sense of humour. So if we can't laugh about ourselves it is on you to do that ;-)
Load More Replies... Frank Eric 7 years ago
You are right, but you say "A-A" only to very VERY little children... If you would say "Ich geh mal A-A machen" (I need to go to the toilet) to an adult you would earn a big laughter or some strange glances :D
Load More Replies... 
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