Time for one more language geek publish. And I believed this one might be a small publish about just a few idioms I’ve been studying at work. Listed below are my 5 favorite idioms I’ve learnt up to now working in Deutschland:
1. Den Wald vor lauter Bäumen nicht sehen: “to not see the forest for the trees”
Reading: Now we have the salad
This can be a enjoyable one I learnt after asking a colleague if she knew the place the wood (wie passend!) spoon was – it was sat proper in entrance of me within the drawer I had open. My colleague then informed me about this phrase and requested if we had an analogous model in English. I couldn’t consider something, however after analysis it seems we do say one thing comparable – studying German and English, all on the similar time!
2. Wem das Wasser bis zum Hals steht, der sollte den Kopf nicht hängen lassen: “He who has water up to his neck shouldn’t let his head drop”
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This was stated to me after a little bit of Scheiße occurred at work (which I’ll in all probability inform you about when the time is correct.. oooh, suspense), nevertheless it’s fairly a pleasant little phrase just about which means “keep your head held high!”. There are completely different variations – the one I heard had the German phrase “Mist” as an alternative of water, and I additionally discovered the phrase “Scheiße” used once I googled it. Good picture for you there.
3. Das ist mir Wurst: “That’s sausage to me”
That is one I’d examine and heard about when finding out German, and after a 12 months in Hannover and never listening to it getting used, I believed it was maybe an outdated idiom so thought finest to not use it. Nevertheless, at work, this phrase is used rather a lot – so maybe it’s extra of a dialect factor. Right here although, they pronounce “Wurst” a bit of extra like “Wurscht”/”Worscht” because of the accent. It just about means “I don’t care”.
4. Jetzt haben wir den Salat: “Now we have the salad”
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Presumably my most favorite idiom. While Germans say “now we have the salad”, we’d in all probability say “shit has hit the fan”. I fairly prefer it as a result of, not solely is it a bloody helpful phrase, nevertheless it additionally means that as we English audio system would suppose it’s dangerous if literal shit hit a literal fan, the Germans suppose all has gone downhill if they’ve salad… Come on, guys, salad isn’t that dangerous!
5. Ich mache mich jetzt auf die Socken: “I make myself now on the socks”
You in all probability don’t have a clue what that literal translation means there until you recognize the phrase itself. This literal phrase with socks means “Ich mache mich auf den Weg” – principally, “I’m setting off now”. I used to be taught this enjoyable phrase simply final week as I usually take my sneakers off at work (it’s comfier!) so once I stated “Ich mache mich jetzt auf den Weg” my colleague thought it’d be good to show me the sock model as a result of I’m at all times strolling round in my socks…
Isn’t German such a enjoyable language?!
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