Sunday, May 26, 2019

Learned Words from Professor Bernhardi

thoughts from your fave german student 


It's interesting how a list of words I did not know ended up being quite reflective of the heart of this piece. Enjoy reading this list, making some discoveries, and learning some German!

empfangen - to receive/ to welcome

das Bedauern - sorrow/regret/repentance

beleidigen - to insult/affront/offend

entschlossen - determined/resolute/strong-willed

der Vorschlag - proposal/suggestion/offer

berührt - touched/deeply moved/ disturbed

heftig - fierce/violent

stoßen - to push

enttäuscht - deeply disappointed/crestfallen

verlegenheit - embarrassment

schlau - clever

der Sitzungssaal - boardroom/conference room

der Unsinn - nonsense/rubbish
Un is a prefix shared by German and English speakers, used to negate something. Sinn means sense or meaning. Negate that, and you get nonsense. German has some pretty cool un words. One of my favorites is Untier. Tier means animal, and Untier ("un-animal," if you will) means monster or beast

die Kraft - power

einladen - to invite round

die Störung - disturbance/disruption

die Unterstellung - allegation

die Ankündigung - announcement/notice

der Antrag - proposal/offer

schuldig - guilty/culpable/blame worthy
Remember Entschuldigung? That's what you say when you bump into someone or need to get through. It's like the casual "sorry!" we use in English. Isn't it interesting how a simple phrase can hold as heavy a meaning as guilty or blame worthy?

das Urteil - verdict/sentence

abstimmen - to vote

die Abteilung - ward

das Bedürfnis - need/want

merkwürdig - strange/odd

der Heilige - saint

gebieten - to command/to demand

die Selbsttäuschung - self-delusion/self-deception

das Mitleid - pity
One of my favorite things about German is that smaller words get pushed together to create bigger words. This is an interesting one. Leid means suffering or sorrow. Mit means with. Mit + leid = suffering with. 

die Grenzen - limitation

die Gelegenheit - opportunity/occasion

der Nachtrag - addition/addendum
Nach means after

die Einbildung - imagination/fantasy
Ein means one, or a, Bildung can mean creation.

wahrscheinlich - probably/likely
Wahr means true or real

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