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

Mostly I watch everything in English, and before, those attempts to render it into Russian gave me a secret pleasure: “Я БОрис прЕшол шпЕонеть.” Foreign friends still always ask, well, what did he say, right, with an accent? And I’m the one who would gently tell them that it’s far from natural speech. Now the same fate is catching up with me in German. I somehow managed to dive from one stereotypically coarse language into a second stereotypically coarse language. I’m rewatching it against the backdrop of How I Met Your Mother; maybe you remember there was a love plot with Victoria and the German Klaus, and immediately, “thanks that it’s not Hans.” And he runs away from the wedding there, and when asked why he answers something like, “Victoria is great, but she isn’t his Lebenslangerschicksalsschatz, but only Beinaheleidenschaftsgegenstand.” In a loose translation: she isn’t his “ideal destined partner,” but only “almost what he needs, but not quite.” Naturally, I suspected something off right away. My German is, of course, closer to the level of Genau than Goethe, but I still didn’t believe the existence of these words and I was right. Klaus in this scene is not using real German words, but the product of the writers’ invention. Although they consist of real words, which are glued together correctly. Therefore native speakers, even though they grimace and say 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 just with Beinaheleidenschaftsgegenstand? #language #curiosities Image via CBS