427

For example, you put yourself through university by studying hard and working full time. Then someone says, you should thank god for giving you the strength. Like wtf do you mean, I busted my ass day in and day out but I'm supposed to thank god for it?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] angrystego@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

It does mean literally health.

[-] cerebralhawks@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 day ago

Thanks. I saw someone else say that, and then I used Apple Translate (what's built into my computer) to translate it. I'm part German but I'm not from Germany and I don't speak German. I know a couple dozen words, mostly thanks to Rammstein, but my father taught me gesundheit.

Funny thing about languages, and I'm not sure English really does this. You sneeze in Germany, people say "health," but what they mean is, "to your health" or similar. In Japan, you might be called an "otaku", which is sort of a badge of honour in the west, as it is taken to mean you are a fan of something and very knowledgeable on the subject. In Japanese, it just means "house" or "your house" — as in, you never leave it. If someone calls you "otaku" in Japanese, they're saying you never leave your house, you're a basement dweller, you need to touch grass, and so on. Sure, in the west you can be a "homebody," someone who prefers to stay at home, but not a "home." It's also early, so while I know a couple dozen words in German and like 5 dozen words in Japanese, English is my first language and it may very well have similar terms, I'm just blanking right now.

[-] angrystego@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

Yeah, you're right, the implied meaning can be better translated with more words than the litteral one. And it's nice to encounter a fellow German-through-Rammstein student ❤️‍🔥 (Mein Herz Brennt)

this post was submitted on 21 May 2026
427 points (96.3% liked)

Asklemmy

54391 readers
489 users here now

A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions

Search asklemmy 🔍

If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!

  1. Open-ended question
  2. Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
  3. Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
  4. Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
  5. An actual topic of discussion

Looking for support?

Looking for a community?

~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_A@discuss.tchncs.de~

founded 7 years ago
MODERATORS