It’s quite interesting to see that Germans uses some phrases much more often than English, and that some words and concepts don’t even exist in English. For example, a very common German word is “Doch!” which sounds a bit like Homer Simpson’s “D’oh” and generally means the speaker disagrees with what was just said and wishes to contradict it. For example:
Person 1: “There is no way we are going make the train.”
Person 2: “Doch! We can, we have ten minutes.”
Or,
Person 1: “Portugal is the best team this year in the EM (football tournament).”
Person 2: “Doch! Portugal is overrated. Germany will win.”
Sometimes you even hear the word doubled, as in “Doch Doch!” My dictionary defines “Doch” as “but,” “however” or “yet,” but it’s somewhat different from each of those in its function, if not its meaning. I can’t think of an English word that serves this singular purpose. One can say “No…” or “I disagree” or “You’re wrong.” But we really don’t have a single word that expresses precisely what “Doch!” does. There are, doubtless, hundreds if not thousands of similar examples, but it’s particularly striking with a word used as often in one language as “Doch!” is that it has no counterpart in another.
5 July 2008 at 4:47 am
What about “Nonsense!”?
I do know what you mean about cultural terms not translating very well into English. We have a word in Japanese, “bachi,” that roughly translates into “what goes around comes around,” but it is much more superstitious than that in a way I can’t explain. I’m sure the Germans — and every other non-English-speaking culture — have a similar set of terms. It’s great!