I mean, yeah. This is an important part of the German language. They create composite words to describe a thing, and learning to break it down into its constituents is a fundamental part of reading German.
Hilfeleistungslöschgruppenfahrzeug
Hilfe - help
leistung - performance
Hilfeleistung - assistance
lösch - delete, extinguish
gruppen - group (team, department)
löschgruppen - (fire) extinguishing team or department
fahr - drive
zeug - thing
fahrzeug - vehicleAssistance Extinguishing Team Vehicle
Now translate
Donaudampfschifffahrtselektrizitätenhauptbetriebswerkbauunterbeamtengesellschaft
We were Americans driving through Europe and the late '90s.
It was before Google translate and before Google maps. I had an HP PDA with translation app on it. I had purchased language packs for the countries we were visiting.
Down the highway we go. This beautiful black and white sign appears in the side of the road. It was 10-12 ft square with a skull and crossbones. Below the skull was a VERY long word.
We laugh nervously. What the hell was that? Yeah right?
After driving for a little while another one. Fuck. I don't know is the serious?
Another one. Now I'm breaking out the PDA and trying to remember the alphabet soup underneath the Grimm imagery. It doesn't have any idea what I'm talking about. We'll see another one coming up and we debate sitting in front of it until I get a chance to get it into the translator.
It was probably the longest compound word ever created to express the term drunk driving.
How a normal Mexican American misunderstands via conversations with actual Germans...say you got an avocado... Now add salt, its a saltiavocado. Add vinegar, its a saltyvinegaravocado. Now step on it while running and you just "slippedonavinegaravocado" or you had an "avocadoslip".
I call bullshit. Bullshit doesn't come.
German infamously has a lot of long compound words but for those who struggle with them I have a question (I’m curious and there’s no judgment here - I totally understand that it’s hard): Canyoureadthissentenceeventhoughtherearenospaces? What about Orangecatsittingonamat? If yes, is it difficult in German due to having a smaller vocabulary in a new language, or something else?
Come on, I know there's Germans about. What the hell does it say lol? Here's what Claude says:
The fire department's rescue and firefighting group vehicle... It transports firefighters, ladders, tools, hoses... (text cuts off)
So I am guessing "Hilfeleistungslöschgruppenfahrzeug" is "rescue and firefighting group vehicle?"
Google translate says "the rescue firefighting group vehicle"
Yes, these compount words might be the reason why we couldn't get rid of the damn Nazis for good: After the Second World War, we Germans ourselves probably didn't understand what the purpose of the "Entnazifizierungsbehörde" (authority to combat National Socialist ideology) was and, accordingly, could not really grasp why it was so important. A serious mistake that still has consequences to this day, unfortunately...
/s, obviously
