Looooooooooonggermanwords?

Clark   Monday, June 06, 2005, 16:35 GMT
Hallo, darf ich mich vorstellen. Ich bin Clark.
Mein deutsch ist nicght gut aber ich learnen.

I'm studying German, one question i have is, why does words in German have to be so bloody long. Some words have 20 or so letters, this makes it very confusing to understand the meaning.

check this word out:

Donaudampfschiffahrtsgesellschaftskapitaenskajuetenklinenputzergehilfe

yup that is one single word.


Is there an easy way to break up the words?
Sander   Monday, June 06, 2005, 16:41 GMT
Thats a special ability of Germanic languages (which English has completely lost)

Though German doesnt have the longest Germanic words,Dutch has,your right about it being confusing,the best solution is to just look for words you recognise and try to separate them.
Travis   Monday, June 06, 2005, 16:49 GMT
Sander, nah, you can still do the same thing in English. The matter just is that in English you normally separate compound word components with spaces or dashes, which you don't normally do in German, Dutch, or the North Germanic languages. Of course, though, that's fundamentally just an orthographic matter, and has little to do with the underlying language in question itself.
Sander   Monday, June 06, 2005, 16:50 GMT
Really?Strange...
Fredrik from Norway   Monday, June 06, 2005, 16:56 GMT
Donaudampfschiffahrtsgesellschaftskapitaenskajuetenklinenputzergehilfe

in Norwegian:

Donaudampskipsselskapskapteinskahyttvaskehjelp!

But so long words are just as rare in Norwegian as in German. Both we and the germans would rather say:

Cleaner for captainĀ“s quarter on a ship belonging to the Danube Steam Shipping Company.
Sander   Monday, June 06, 2005, 16:59 GMT
randjongerenhangplekkenbeleidsambtenarensalarisbesprekingsafspraken
=
(the agreements for the negotiations concerning the salary of public servants who decide on the policy for areas where unemployed youth is allowed to hang out)

See ,those long words actually make space!
Fredrik from Norway   Monday, June 06, 2005, 17:04 GMT
I just love your exampel Sander!
Sander   Monday, June 06, 2005, 17:05 GMT
LOL Really?Why?
Clark   Monday, June 06, 2005, 17:11 GMT
how do you know when to break up a word though?

I did managed to get the hang of numbers :)

zweihundretauchunddreisig = 238
vierthousantfunfhunfreteinundsectsig = 4561
andre in south africa   Monday, June 06, 2005, 17:14 GMT
kampioenwaatlemoenkonfytmakertententoonstellingtoegangskaartjieknipper ;)
Jan   Monday, June 06, 2005, 17:15 GMT
randjongerenhangplekkenbeleidsambtenarensalarisbesprekingsafspraken

Those are just aggregations of a whole bunch of words ( You won't find them in the dictionary , let alone a book or so ! I assure you ! )
Sander   Monday, June 06, 2005, 17:15 GMT
How long have you been studing German?
Sander   Monday, June 06, 2005, 17:17 GMT
=>Those are just aggregations of a whole bunch of words ( You won't find them in the dictionary , let alone a book or so ! I assure you ! )<=

?! Did anyone mention you could?
Clark   Monday, June 06, 2005, 17:18 GMT
i've only been at it for 1 month on my own. Mostly on the internet and some CD's i bought on ebay.

I really love the language. But its so difficult.
Jan   Monday, June 06, 2005, 17:19 GMT
the thread is called long words and those you mentioned aren't even words !