You are an expat new to Berlin. You have processed official documents, found an apartment, so what’s next? Learning the German language!
You learn the basic pronunciation and grammar rules, and practice everyday. Everything is going smoothly until you come across a word that does not have a direct translation in English. Kummerspeck? There’s a word that means “excess weight gained from emotional eating.” In fact, there are quite a few words in German without an English equivalent. Check them out!
Fernweh
Feeling homesick for a place you have never been to
Backpfeifengesicht
A face badly in need of a fist
Packesel
The person who is stuck carrying everyone else’s bags on a trip
Weltschmerz
Mental depression or apathy caused by comparison of the actual state of the world with an ideal state
Torschlusspanik
The fear, usually as one gets older, that time is running out and important opportunities are slipping away
Fremdschämen
The horror you feel when you notice that someone is oblivious to how embarrassing they truly are
Erklärungsnot
The state of having to quickly explain yourself
Treppenwitz
The things you should have said but only occur to you when it is too late
Vergangenheitsbewaeltigung
The struggle to come to terms with the past
Rabenmutter
A bad mother
Have you encountered other German words without an English equivalent?
