The image is from www.cambridge.org.
This week, let's take a look at one of the most well-known Germanisms in the English language: schadenfreude, commonly defined as "pleasure at the misfortune of others." This is the original German meaning. Apparently, the English language now even boasts an invented inversion of schadenfreude: freudenschade. It is supposed to mean "sorrow at another person's success" (see the English-language Wikipedia entry on schadenfreude.) This word hasn't made it back into the German vocabulary (and I suppose it never will, since it does not make much sense to a German speaker.)
The image is from www.cambridge.org.
1 Comment
dora
27/4/2014 06:56:46 pm
ich frage mich, wie die englischsprechenden Leute dieses Wort aussprechen, aber wieder sehr schön, sehr fleissig, liebe Frau Priebe!!!
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AboutThis is a blog about the traces German (my mother tongue) has left in other languages. Contributions from your language(s) are more than welcome! Mail me at b.priebe@aiic.net. Archives
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