Are German nipples the worst?

[Crackerofdoom]

I just learned the word for nipples in German is Brustwarzen

The literal translation is "breast warts"

Is this the worst direct translation or are there more out there?

I had a French colleague who could communicate rapidly and fluently in English, if he was at a loss for an English word he'd just use the French and wait a moment while I found something with the same root

I queried once a word a Spanish friend was using, it was entirely correct but nothing a British person would typically use in conversation. He said if he didn't know a word he'd change the ending of the Spanish to something more English and hope for the best! Think it was changing words ending in -idad to -ity

I want a word that conveys the mental image of "overweigt corsetted moral outrage"

bauch einziehen - pulling in one's belly

@boldlygoingsomewhere
It's lovely isn't it!
I am from the Ruhr. My grandparents spoke Frisian and dialect (Niederdeutsch and Westfalian), Dutch was a contact language at school and English the 1st MFL. I am trying to learn Norwegian at the moment...

I work in English with largely non-native English speakers and often come a cropper with my English skills.

Someone suggested that we "prepone" a meeting and I was so confident this wasn't a word in English.

5 minutes on the internet and it turns out it is a real word with an origin in Indian English and is the opposite of postpone.

Actually pretty sensible but I had never heard it

coffeetable
can't quite see the "moral outrage" meaning there....

Dutch:

Kikker = frog
Kikkervisje = tadpole - little frog fish

@IllegalFred

jakubmarian.com/kill-two-birds-with-one-stone-in-european-languages/

I love that!

Curious about the countries where they use killing 2 doves. Would that be seen as a positive thing?

Whereas 'tadpole' is apparently 'toad head'

Any Greek people on MN?!

I'm not sure about the dove translation, in a lot of languages dove and pigeon are the same word

Can anyone recommend any good resources for learning spoken German? I really wish I'd learnt it at school - I don't even have a grounding in the basics - and I'd love to start learning now.
I'm not very good at learning via written material - I managed to pick up some Spanish using CDs that I could listen to in the car. I'd love any audio suggestions for learning German. Thank you :)

I love this thread thank you OP. Reminds me of a German boyfriend I once had .

I can't add anything from European languages, but I know a little Tamil.

My grandparents used to use kum a la tay (no idea how it is spelt) for when someone made a fool of themselves. It translates to 'egg on your head'.

I grew up speaking German and Dutch, and am not offended by this thread, just entertained.

You know how some people love crosswords? To me (and lots of you) language is a bit like a riddle, it is fun to figure it out. Etymology is always interesting too

I'm learning Danish with duolingo

FutureLearn has a starter German course.

My humble contribution is that the Welsh for carrot is moron

and although the Germans use Karotten, they also use Mohren.

FutureLearn has a starter German course it also has two very good courses on Dutch and Frisian from the university of Groningen.

Möhren is what I use (north) , DH uses Karotten (south)

Also interesting is the fact that in German and Finnish, Wednesday is mid-week: Mittwoch and Keskivikko. I think it may be the case in some other languages too.

@stella47
I enjoyed the Michel Thomas CDs when I started. He teaches a bit about the evolution of the language and the relationship with English on the way which is interesting

I recall from Welsh lessons at school many years ago, that you have a cupful of tea. A cup of tea would be a cup made out of tea. Similarly you poured tea into the cup. Pouring tea in the cup meant that you were standing in the cup pouring tea.

did not see any of it as german bashing. More appreciation of the intricacies and joy of language

I agree - it is a celebration of the delightful little idiosyncrasies which make languages such a joy!

Prokupatuscrakedatus

entrüsten? 'disarming' being offended/huffy?

If I've insulted someone, I want to know how, so I can save it up and do it again deliberately next time, rather than accidentally this time.

You are a woman after my own heart, DGRosetti

stella47

Duolingo provides free online courses in many lnguages