663
submitted 1 year ago by SchrodingersPat@lemmy.ml to c/memes@lemmy.ml
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] meowMix2525@lemm.ee 11 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

A more direct or literal translation of Geschicklichkeit would probably be something like or skilledness or skillfulness. Other words with the -lichkeit ending that might be more familiar are Freundlichkeit (friendliness) and Brüderlichkeit (brotherliness)

(So there are actually two endings here. -lich is cognate to english -ly, though -ed can also work. -keit is equivalent to english -ness)

The base word, Geschick, translates to 'skill' on its own. The difference is that it ~~strictly~~ (edit: apparently not) behaves as a countable noun, as in you can have a number of skills, just as you can have a number of friends, of brothers, etc. It doesn't work when describing a quality or property someone may possess, so that's where the suffixes come in.

It's the difference between "there's a lot of friend here" and "there's a lot of friendliness here"

~~In English, skill is an exception to a rule. It can be used in both ways, without the help of suffixes. German, on the other hand, doesn't generally make that kind of exception in the interest of maintaining consistency.~~ edit: seems this exception is actually a similarity between English and German, though perhaps German slightly prefers the longer form in cases such as this one.

The Germans are probably going to roast me for this but that's my understanding from just under 2 years of learning and a brief series of googles.

[-] Karyoplasma@discuss.tchncs.de 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

countable verb

noun

I'm German and I just use whatever sounds better and "Geschicksproblem" would sound even more like you just had a stroke. Also it's kinda part of the meme to make words as long as possible because it's funny.

Geschick and Geschicklichkeit are pretty much synonymous. Maybe Geschicklichkeit suggests a bit more that the natural skill is enhanced by technique and training, but that's it.

[-] meowMix2525@lemm.ee 6 points 1 year ago

Welp, I tried. German grammar eludes me again. Thanks for the info though! and for catching that error :)

this post was submitted on 14 Nov 2023
663 points (96.5% liked)

Memes

45731 readers
1256 users here now

Rules:

  1. Be civil and nice.
  2. Try not to excessively repost, as a rule of thumb, wait at least 2 months to do it if you have to.

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS