I recall seeing something years ago saying 15-20% but can't relocate it. Any factual links on this much appreciated.
2007-07-09 04:25:55 · 9 answers · asked by Mark B 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
Based on my personal experience, as a rule of thumb you can say German words are on average 30% longer than English ones - but I couldn't find any authoritative web resources to back this :)
One source (in German - see link below) states that the average German word consists of 1,635 syllables versus 1,406 in English.
Wikipedia gives the longest English word, which has 30 letters, and the longest German one, with a whopping 80 letters.
I'd say the truth lies somewhere in-between ;-)
2007-07-09 06:04:11 · answer #1 · answered by spelkoen_in_uk 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They're not, particularly.
German does have the habit of aggluteration, ie combining shorter words into longer ones where English would use a phrase.
But the component words themselves are not really any longer. In fact, in English the shorter words tend to be of Germanic (ie Anglo-Saxon) origin, whereas the longer ones are from Latin. If you're a journalist for example, you are taught to use the Anglo-Saxon words like "small", "shut", "big" rather than the Latin words like "little", "closed", "large".
2007-07-09 12:16:31 · answer #2 · answered by Daniel R 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
As stated ,phrases in german are often compressed into one word. Some of my long time favourites; Handgepaeckschalter ; Ankunftsbahnsteig ; Fahrkartenausgabe ; Auskunftsstelle. Who could resist a Pflaumenauflauf.
2007-07-09 11:51:14 · answer #3 · answered by olgreybuzzard 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
On average, Germaqn words are shorter than English words but appear longer because they are combined in contexts where, in English, they would merely be juxtaposed.
2007-07-09 13:00:03 · answer #4 · answered by GrahamH 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I don't know but alot becasue in english we name things with more than one word (ie burger king) In German, they smush it all down into one new word . (ie Reichskristallnacht, meaning night of broken glass.) Also, they tend to use more letters to make one sound.
2007-07-09 11:31:07 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I play scrabble and I`m from Germany. And I think I`m not the only one who plays scrabble in Germany.
2007-07-09 12:23:14 · answer #6 · answered by Lilith Bohemian 4 · 3⤊ 1⤋
You know the answer.
jtm
2007-07-09 11:29:29 · answer #7 · answered by Jesus M 7 · 0⤊ 2⤋
Ever wonder why they dont play scrabble in Germany???
2007-07-09 11:33:49 · answer #8 · answered by dave s 2 · 2⤊ 4⤋
dont nachdontmuchenknowen
2007-07-09 11:32:17 · answer #9 · answered by briangimma 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋