German Language Stack Exchange is a bilingual question and answer site for speakers of all levels who want to share and increase their knowledge of the German language. It's 100% free, no registration required.
Sign up to join this community
Does the word "Erlebnis" stand alone?
I would like to get a tattoo of that word, representing how important it is to have true EXPERIENCE in my life, not just floating through, but really living it. Would I have to put the word into a sentence or phrase for that to come across accurately, or can I simply use the word? (Similar to how someone would tattoo the word "Believe")
Alternately, would Erlebnisse work as well? Which one would better represent that message?
An Erlebnis is a single experience or adventure you had, so it doesn’t fit the desired theme, which seems to resemble carpe diem or live life to the fullest / … max. Erfahrung, on the other hand, is the experience or expertise someone gathers over time, but can also stem from single events. Without context and article it’s more easily associated with older and wiser people. Within a proper phrase or sentence, it may become clearer, but as single words, please get inked neither one.
I don’t understand why anyone would put a word or phrase in a language they don’t understand (well enough) onto their skin permanently, but at least the OP is asking first (unlike most people who choose arbitrary sinograms).
Here are some suggestions that use leben ‘to live’ or (das/ein) Leben ‘(the/a) life’ in one way or another; erleben is more like ‘to witness’.
My top recommendation would be Lebenslust.
I have lowercased initial verbs, but uppercasing them is of course fine, especially since many instances of the infinitive leben can also be understood as a noun.
I would not leave it alone, it sounds kind of "empty" to me (native german speaker).
You can't compare it to "Believe" since "believe" is the imperative of a verb (to believe), related to the noun "belief"
In correlation to that, The noun "Erlebnis" and the verb "erleben" could form the imperative "Erlebe", which is already better but still kind of naked, as if something was missing.
Personally, I think "Lebe" (Live) sounds even better, I'll come back and add more if I think of something good :-)
I think the main reason this does not work well has already been touched by @BarthyB: in English, the imperative, infinitive and sometimes even the noun are spelled the same. This way one can get a lot more "dimensions" from writing a single word - in German, this does not work as well as there are more inflections.
If you really want to use a single word this way, I would probably opt for the imperative (e.g. "lebe!"), but this IMO sounds off for "erlebe!".
If you have
ERLEBNIS
tattooed on your body, it will stand there without any context. Nobody will know that you translated the english word »experience« into German.
The meaning of »Erlebnis« is:
Erlebnis
A remarkable event that someone experienced.
These are examples for events, that may come up in a native German speaker's mind, when he/she hears the word »Erlebnis« without any context:
A ride on a roller coaster.
First time in your life watch crystals grow through a microscope.
Go to a restaurant and have an extraordinary meal.
Watching the performance of an artist in a circus.
But Erlebnis can also be:
In a commercial:
»Mit der Bahn reisen ist immer ein Erlebnis«
“Traveling by train is always a remarkable event”
Written in a biography:
Die Erlebnisse seiner Kindheit prägten sein ganzes Leben.
His childhood-experiences shaped his whole life.
So, to summarize it, you can say that »Erlebnis« is something that happens to you in a more or less passive way. You can do things to let »Erlebnisse« arise. You can go to the circus, to the restaurant, or enter the roller coaster. You can look through the microscope or buy a train ticket. But this initial act is not the »Erlebnis« itself. The »Erlebnis« is the thing that happens to you after you initiated it.
And even more passive: An »Erlebnis« can also happen to you without any initiation from you. You did not initiate your own childhood. But you experienced »Erlebnisse« as a child. To be robbed is a very remarkable »Erlebnis«, but it comes to you without any active initiation by you.
Another translation of »experience« is
Erfahrung
Frau M. hat viel Erfahrung mit Kindern.
Mrs. M. is very experienced with kids.
Der Besuch dieser Ausstellung war eine tolle Erfahrung für mich.
Visiting this exhibition was a great experience for me.
I think »Erfahrung« works better as a tattoo than »Erlebnis«, but I guess it's still not what you want.
Others already gave you lists of alternatives (for which you didn't ask), and I don't have better German suggestions than they had.
My suggestion is to use the english word. It has exactly the meaning that you want and most people you will meet will be able to understand it.
