There is no German word for "self-aware"(old.reddit.com)
4 pointsby amai8 months ago6 comments
  • amai8 months ago
    Interestingly Wikipedia links the article of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-awareness

    with

    https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Objektive_Selbstaufmerksamkeit

    I have never heard anyone using the ladder word.

  • rini178 months ago
    I ran into similar issue with compassion. In English it is "a social feeling that motivates people to go out of their way to relieve the physical, mental, or emotional pains of others and themselves"

    In German and Slovak (my first language) and presumably others, it is usually translated into kind of remorseful feeling NOT directly related to the motivation to go out of one's way. And it just can't be explained and it drives me crazy recently.

    • bonki8 months ago
      What's your problem with "Mitgefühl"?
      • pchangr8 months ago
        That is closer to “empathy” than compassion. Compassion has no reason other recognizing the other person as “human”. “Mitgefühl” seems closer to understanding how the other person feels and therefore acting on it.. empathy.

        Perhaps you could think of similar to the concept of “charity”. Doing beneficial things to others.. just because.

  • herbst8 months ago
    It's a context thing. When I say selbstbewusst it can very well have the meaning of self-aware and also would be perceived as that.
  • bonki8 months ago
    What's wrong with "selbstwahrnehmend"? It's literally (pun slightly intended) a literal translation of "self-aware" and doesn't have the ambiguity that "selbstbewusst" comes with.
  • Tomte8 months ago
    We have “selbstreflektiert” which seems to be close enough.
  • beardyw8 months ago
    Does English have one word for self aware?