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There doesn't really seem to be a German word with the exact same meanings and connotations as the English word "awkward". How would you translate it in a sentence like "He's an awkward person" or "That was an awkward situation."?

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What is the exact meaning, and what are the connotations? – user unknown Aug 27 '11 at 13:56

5 Answers

up vote 7 down vote accepted

A situation can be unangenehm or prekär. Similarly a person can be unangenehm. Or schwierig, seltsam or unbeholfen.

I agree that there doesn't seem to be a word that captures the connotation of awkward 1:1. It depends on the situation.

That being said without knowing more about the context I'd translate the first sentence as

Er ist eine seltsame Person.

It sounds a bit weird though. Using schon makes the sentence a bit more elegant but being a native speaker unfortunately I can't give you a rationale for that.

Er ist schon eine seltsame Person/Persönlichkeit.

The second sentence could be

Das war eine unangenehme Situation.

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imo seltsam fits best, as it has the same unclear meaning and contextual character as awkward. awkward itself is a very weird term, not only because of spelling... – Hauser Aug 27 '11 at 11:41
up vote 1 down vote

Komisch:

Somewhat of a false friend with English. It means 'funny' but in the sense that funny can mean weird.

"Schau mal diesen komischen Typ an!"

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up vote 0 down vote

If you are in an awkward situation your feelings might be defined as Verlegenheit, e.g.:

Du hast mich in Verlegenheit gebracht.

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Man bringt jemanden in Verlegenheit. – Em1 Feb 2 at 13:41
I see. You have put me in an awkward situation...is that right? – Marty Green Feb 2 at 13:54
If you have a new question, please ask it by clicking the Ask Question button. Include a link to this question if it helps provide context. – Eugene Seidel Feb 2 at 14:35
The OP asked how you would translate "awkward situation" and I'm asking if "Verlegenheit" is a good match. – Marty Green Feb 2 at 15:54
Yes, awkward situation can be translated as being in an unangenehme or a peinliche Situation or simply being verlegen. What I just said is that in German you are brought into an awkward situation rather than put: "Du hast mich in Verlegenheit gebracht" - "jemanden in Verlegenheit bringen". This word, however, would not fit in context of awkward person. Schwierig (difficult) or unangenehm could be the right choice. When OP said there isn't really a German word, I disagree because unangenehm fits in most contexts. Well, this comment hast the quality of being an answer, now. – Em1 Feb 2 at 16:47
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up vote 2 down vote

What about merkwürdig in the sense of "somehow strange"?

The phrase

Er ist eine merkwürdige Person.

seems to fit, as well as

Das war eine merkwürdige Situation.

And for me, merkwürdig has - phonetically and also regarding usage - the exact same connotation as awkward.

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up vote 3 down vote

Regarding a situation:

  • heikel
  • unbehaglich
  • peinlich

depending on the context. For general usage, I think heikel fits best here together with unangenehm as suggested by musiKk.

As for a person, "linkisch" seems to fit as well.

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I really like "linkisch" as a translation. – Cass Aug 27 '11 at 10:21
I don't really care too much for linkisch. Maybe it's because I'm a lefty. ;) – musiKk Aug 27 '11 at 12:18
1  
@Cassandrexx: I find linkisch very strong and somewhat offending. In comparison, unbeholfen is a lot nicer. But of course it depends on the situation which connotation you want. – Hendrik Vogt Aug 27 '11 at 14:06
@Hendrik: I'd say "awkward" is pretty strong and somewhat hurtful when applied to a person, too. But of course you're right, it depends on the context. – Cass Aug 30 '11 at 13:30

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