I'm trying to be more expressive and nuanced in my German. In English, I can answer the question "How's it going? How are you?" in three different levels of energy:
Indifferent/Lukewarm:
- "It's not so bad (but I've seen better days...)"
- "Nothing much really."
- "I'm feeling so-so."
Neutral/Polite:
- "I'm doing good. (And you?)"
- "All is well (thanks for asking)."
- "I'm fine (nothing to worry about)."
Enthusiastic:
- "I feel great!"
I feel that Neutral/Polite and Enthusiastic answers can be captured in German as,
Neutral/Polite:
- "Mir gehts gut."
- "Alles gut."
- "Alles in Ordnung ist."
Enthusiastic:
- "Ich fühle super!"
The first two of my Indifferent/Lukewarm replies can be literally translated as "Es geht nicht zu schlecht" and "Nicht viel, wirklich" but I'm not sure if it gets across what my English replies convey.
Of course, a lot of this would depend on the speaker's body language and other contextual factors too but, in general, how do I imply a certain malaise/discomfort/detachment when answering "Wie geht's?" ?