50 Hilarious Reasons Why The German Language Is The Worst
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.
This post may include affiliate links.
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!
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."
Here Germany makes much more sense. Why make up a new word when you can repurpose old ones? Gloves really are “hand shoes.”
Sechs is german for six and sound almost like sex. Vier means four in german and sounds like fear. And fünf is german for five.
The French say "How are you called?" when they want to know your name. I suppose it's like asking "How do I get your attention?" really.
Brilliant, although it's a purposefully complicated joke name :D Fahrradständer is a real German name for a bicycle stand, above says something in line of "climate protection enforcing device securing place" ;)
I'd go with "Klugscheißer" (clever-pooper), don't know what that word above is supposed to mean.
And if you REALLY want to confuse them: Use Russian. They have two more cases.
For your information, German isn't shouted aggressively by Germans at all. We imply that from the second world war because of how the Gestapo were. If you say the above German word normally, it sounds quite nice.
Never ever in my quite long life have I heard anybody use that word lol.
Whoa! Same in Finnish, pesukarhu. I guess it comes directly from German.
Emphasis on the first syllable- possible grave bodily harm court case coming your way, emphasize the last part and you're good.
Well when you really think about the word "butterfly", is it a sexy word? Butter. Fly.
Note: this post originally had 86 images. It’s been shortened to the top 50 images based on user votes.
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
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
Waving a rolling pin doesn’t exactly scream “let me hug and kiss you” either.
Depends where the Italians or Arabs are from, in my mind. Levantene Arabic, for example, is soft and beautiful.
Ole Peder Amrud Hagen follower
Ole Peder Amrud Hagen lol
to be fair, most languages sound harsh and angry when you don't speak or understand the language.
danielw lol
carmelosf15 -
I agree with the arabians, but Italian, really? They sounds like they're always kind, like grampas cuddling you and filling you of food.
Not when they're arguing. :o)
Jéssica Gomes yes
I speak Italian, and I can confirm that it sounds no less aggressive when you're used to it. Then again, as an Italian, we're pretty aggressive by nature.
Chocoholic lol
Chocoholic good
This comment has been deleted.
Indeed. Italian is probably the most beautiful of all languages.
I think italians just totally dont understand what another is saying, and so they result to some secret italian sign language.
Eh! Oh! Eh! Eh! Oh!
Oh, German! It's the wurst! ...I'll go
German here. That is actually funny.
I read most of those with the voice of Rammstein's lead singer, I'm laughing so hard crying
Rammstein ist not the best example how german sounds...
I remember when another kid brought rammstein in for my German teacher to hear... fun times mix, right there. I also remember once, when she had to detour through a back hallway before coming to our class. you know. "The" hallway. she had this shocked facial expression that itself would translate into "OH MY GOODNESS".
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
I read it with the voice of the actor playing Hitler in this video (don't mind the subtitles it's just that as a scientist this video is in my favorites).
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
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
Waving a rolling pin doesn’t exactly scream “let me hug and kiss you” either.
Depends where the Italians or Arabs are from, in my mind. Levantene Arabic, for example, is soft and beautiful.
Ole Peder Amrud Hagen follower
Ole Peder Amrud Hagen lol
to be fair, most languages sound harsh and angry when you don't speak or understand the language.
danielw lol
carmelosf15 -
I agree with the arabians, but Italian, really? They sounds like they're always kind, like grampas cuddling you and filling you of food.
Not when they're arguing. :o)
Jéssica Gomes yes
I speak Italian, and I can confirm that it sounds no less aggressive when you're used to it. Then again, as an Italian, we're pretty aggressive by nature.
Chocoholic lol
Chocoholic good
This comment has been deleted.
Indeed. Italian is probably the most beautiful of all languages.
I think italians just totally dont understand what another is saying, and so they result to some secret italian sign language.
Eh! Oh! Eh! Eh! Oh!
Oh, German! It's the wurst! ...I'll go
German here. That is actually funny.
I read most of those with the voice of Rammstein's lead singer, I'm laughing so hard crying
Rammstein ist not the best example how german sounds...
I remember when another kid brought rammstein in for my German teacher to hear... fun times mix, right there. I also remember once, when she had to detour through a back hallway before coming to our class. you know. "The" hallway. she had this shocked facial expression that itself would translate into "OH MY GOODNESS".
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
I read it with the voice of the actor playing Hitler in this video (don't mind the subtitles it's just that as a scientist this video is in my favorites).