Which of the following German words do you know?

English as a Second Language What do you want to talk about?
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We all learn English but how many words of other languages do we know or at least recognize? Let’s start with a list of German words. Which of them do you know?

  • Bratwurst

  • Kindergarten

  • Schnaps

  • Angst

  • Schadenfreude

  • Glühwein

  • Achtung :warning:

  • Doppelgänger

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My 13 year old’s results:

Bratwurst ?

Kindergarten - yes

Schnaps - no

Angst - no

Schadenfreude - no

Gluhwein - no

Achtung - no

Doppleganger - yes

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By the way, I knew them all, though I sort of had to guess on Gluhwein. How about adding zeitgeist, kitsch, and wunderkind to the list?

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How about adding diesel to the list?

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lol Luschen. are you a hard core non alcoholic; not accepting the word “schanpps”? In a live chat forum lately I met a women from Kentucky that confirmed this word exsited also in US-english.

And how about the word “Kraut”?

Oh and btw: this is what dict.leo.org knows about “Schnaps” : schnapps - LEO: Übersetzung im Englisch ⇔ Deutsch Wörterbuch

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I actually had a bad experience with 100 proof peppermint schnapps in college, so I try to steer clear of the subject! :stuck_out_tongue:

But on an alcohol note, I always got a kick out of the name Liebfraumilch. I don’t think anyone is the US would name their wine “loving mother’s milk”.

edited - I guess it is actually “Dear lady milk”, or more precisely “Virgin Mary milk”, which seems even odder!

“Kraut” is another word that made frequent appearances in those low budget WWII films of my youth, though always as a slur term, never the food item. Sauerkraut is quite popular in some parts of the US, but I only like it on Rueben sandwiches.

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I think another German (although originally it was a French word), might be Delikatessen. As far as I remember Kevin Trudeau uses the word on one his motivational cassettes from the late 90s.

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