Mir ist erst vor kurzem ueberraschend aufgefallen, dass es im Englischen den Begriff sympathisch anscheinend nicht so richtig gibt. Im Deutschen hoert man ja andauernd "jemand ist mir sympathisch". Ich habe in verschiedenen Woerterbuechern nachgeschlagen, finde aber keine passende Uebersetzung. Die meisten schlagen pleasant oder friendly vor. Das beschreibt meiner Meinung nach aber sympathisch nicht wirklich. Der Vorschlag "to take a liking to someone" kommt dem am Naehesten, aber kein Mensch verwendet das im taeglichen Gespraech hier. Jemanden sympathisch finden ist ja denke ich doch sehr subjektiv. Obwohl jemand auesserst nett und freundlich sein kann, kann ich denjenigen noch immer unsympathisch finden, ohne eine gute Erklaerung dafuer zu haben. Finden Englischsprachige nun niemand (un)sympathisch wenn sie jemanden zum ersten Mal kennen lernen?
It surprised me recently to notice that there doesn't seem to be an English equivalent for the German word sympathisch. You can hear it all the times in German. People always say how they find someone sympathisch or the opposite, unsympathisch. I tried to look it up in several ditionaries, but couldn't find a good translation. Most suggest pleasant or friendly. However, that doesn't get the meaning across the right way. The suggestion to take a liking to someone sounds the best, but nobody is using that expression here in their daily conversations. To find someone sympathisch is a very subjective feeling. Although a person can be very nice and friendly, I still could find him unsympathisch and have no reasonable explanation for that. Do English speaking people don't categorize people into sympathisch and unsympathisch when they meet someone for the first time?
Thursday, December 27, 2007
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7 comments:
I think if I found someone sympatisch I'd say something like "He's/She's a likeable person". I guess for unsympatisch English speakers would try to be a bit diplomatic and maybe say "not my cup of tea" or "not my type".
I classify people like that when I meet them, though I guess I just don't have a word for it. I would say that someone rubbed me the wrong way, or they had something "off" about them. Or, conversely, I would just think they seemed pretty cool.
I guess I'd say we're on the same wavelength, or we're not on the same wavelength, depending.
Yes, we definitely classify people when we meet them - either we're interested in seeing them again, or we're not. "Likeable, cup of tea, same wave length, or we seem to have a lot in common."
I'm reading a novel by a British author at the moment, and in it a character says something along the lines of "he was immediately sympathique to me, or as I guess we English would say, sympathetic".
So maybe the English have a word for it, but we Americans/Canadians don't?
Christina: You might be right with trying to be more diplomatic in English;)
Heidelbergerin, anonymous, and Victoria: I like all your suggestions as a substitute for symphatisch, but like so often it doesn't really translate the exact meaning.
Martina: I guess symphatic or sympathetic is related to it, but still means something different. I kind of noticed it when my students had to read a story with the word symphatisch and I didn't give them the meaning, thinking it's the same in English (confused it with symphatetic).
Bek, what do think about the expression "being fond of someone"? Andrea
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