I'm a simple emigrant and I cringe at German in American films

Mostly I watch everything in English, and before, those attempts to render it into Russian used to give me secret pleasure: "Я БОрис прЕшол шпЕонеть". Foreign friends still ask what he said there, you know, with an accent? And I, the kind to soften it for them, would say that it's far from natural speech. Now the same fate is catching up with me with German. I somehow managed to dive from one stereotypically crude language into a second stereotypically crude language. Rewatching against the backdrop of "How I Met Your Mother," maybe you remember there was a love line with Victoria and the German Klaus—thank goodness it's not Hans. And he runs away from the wedding, and when asked why he replies, "Victoria is great, but she isn't his Lebenslangerschicksalsschatz, but only Beinaheleidenschaftsgegenstand." In loose translation: she isn't his "ideal destined partner," but only "almost what he needs, but not quite it." Naturally, I immediately suspected something was wrong. My German, of course, is closer to the level of Genau than Goethe, but I still didn't believe in the existence of these words, and I was right. Klaus in this scene uses not real German words, but the product of the show's writers' imagination. Although they are both made from real words, properly glued together. Therefore native speakers, even if they grimace and mutter what nonsense, will still understand their meaning. Literally these words look like this: Lebenslanger - schicksals - schatz = lifelong - fate - treasure or a term of endearment "dear". All together literally «the treasure of fate for life». Beinahe - leidenschafts - gegenstand = almost - passion - object. Literally «almost an object of passion». Romance just pours out of these words! So I don't want to break up families, but think about it: are you with Lebenslangerschicksalsschatz or with Beinaheleidenschaftsgegenstand? #language #curiosities Image via CBS