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Nick Walker

Abseil In both languages this means to rope oneself down a rock face or some similar vertical surface, usually used in the context of rock-climbing. Abseiling is popular in the Bavarian Alps, but one is advised to practise  at the Outward Bound School in Sai Kung beforehand.
Aspirin Aspirin is the name of the world's best-selling (and Hong Kong's second best-selling) painkiller, which was invented by the German chemist Felix Hoffmann 1899.
Angst A vague fear or sense of disquiet, likely popularised by the works of Austrian theorist Sigmund Freud  around 1920.
Beer garden The German spelling is Biergarten, but the idea is the same.
Bratwurst As the Germans say: 'All good things in this world come to an end, except for sausages, which come to two.'
Dachshund A small dog originally bred in Germany that has the proportions of a  bratwurst, and is  popular in Hong Kong.
Delicatessen The modern German spelling is Delikatessen, but wherever you find one, you're sure to find various kinds of sausage, originally from Germany if you're lucky.
Doppelganger Literally 'double-goer' and means lookalike, usually spelt in English without the umlaut.
Ersatz Means 'replacement' or fake, and is derived from the German ersatzteil meaning spare or replacement part). Used in a fairly derogatory sense.
Fest A useful suffix for much anticipated events in both the English and German-speaking worlds.
Flak Derived from Flugabwehrkanone,  which literally translates as aircraft-defence cannon. Used in English in a figurative sense, as in: 'The sales manager was getting  flak from his boss for not meeting his quota'.
Frankfurter Goes well with sauerkraut (another well-travelled German food), but quite a different shape from the ...
Hamburger Which is invariably made from beef in Germany or anywhere else.
Hamster Small rodent  often kept as a pet.
Kaput Out of order, broken. The German spelling has an extra 't'' on the end.
Kindergarten The first German word that most  children  learn.
Kitsch Means cheap, sentimental and/or gaudy, especially pertaining to items of popular culture.
Lager Most common form of beer in Germany, and  across the world. Almost all of the beer sold in Hong Kong is lager.
Muesli A  healthful breakfast cereal derived from Swiss-German recipes that include oats, wheat, raisins and hazel nuts.
Ostalgie The nostalgia that begun to emerge in recent years for products and lifestyle of the former East Germany, and the former Eastern Bloc generally.
Poltergeist A mischievous ghost in the habit of knocking household objects over, usually intentionally.
Rottweiler A breed of dog, named for its town of origin, Rottweil  in southwestern Germany, where the Romans bred these  'war dogs' nearly 2,000 years ago.
Schadenfreude Glee at the misfortune of others. This chilling noun has overtaken the traditional English expression 'Roman holiday', which used to refer to the pleasure derived from watching someone else's suffering - and has its origins from the delight of spectators watching the gladiatorial gore-fests at Rome's Coliseum.
Uber (or uber) Used  as a  superlative, as in the uber-modern shopping small was teeming with cool youngsters from Wong Tai Sin. A suffix much employed by magazine journalists, and hipsters trying to fit in with the zeitgeist (below).
Wanderlust The yearning to travel, a term first recorded in English dictionaries in 1902.
Zeitgeist Literally the 'spirit of the time', and means just that, as in: 'Wong Kar-wei caught the handover anxiety zeitgeist with his edgy 1994 masterpiece Chungking Express.' Or: 'The 1990 power ballad, the Wind Of Change, recorded by The Scorpions, rode the zeitgeist of dramatic political changes in Eastern Europe.'



German in the  English-speaking world