German compound words - pleasure for polyglots and where to meet polyglots

Problem
I was reading the instructions on a garment when I came across the German word for cotton: baumwolle. I looked at it and thought, I know the word baum, don't I?

Answers
Baum is tree in German. Wolle is wool. So now I /we know three words from the one compound word:

German - English
baum - tree
baumwolle - cotton
wolle - wool

English - German
cotton - baumwolle
tree - baum
wool - wolle

A more well-known compound word is kindergarden.

German - English
kinder - child
garten - garden
kindergarten - kindergarden (Americans would say pre-school)

English
child - kinder
garden - garten
kindergarden / pre-school - kindergarten

German - English
hosen - trousers (medieval hose)
lederhosen - leather trousers
leder - leather

English - German
hosen - trousers
leather - leder
leather trousers - lederhosen

German is largely composed of compound words.

You will see more on wine bottle labels.

German - English
trochenbeerenauslese - dry berry selection (sweet wine)
aus - out
auslese - picked out / selected
beeren - berries
trocken - dried

English - German
berries - beeren
dried - trocken
out - aus
picked out / selected - auslese

Chinese also has compounds words.

So does English. What about telephone, and microscope?

Pure pleasure for the polyglot.

You can practise deciphering and dissecting German compound words when travelling to :
Austria
Germany
Switzerland

In England and Europe many products such as food and electrical instructions are translated into multiple languages. I find that a little knowledge of German also helps me to translate Dutch.

Meetings for polyglots (speakers or learners of several languages) are held in London, England and Singapore and other countries. Look on Meetup to find a group or create your own.

Useful Websites
Austria
https://www.austria.info/uk

Germany
http://www.germany.travel/en/index.html

Singapore
visitsingapore.com

Switzerland
https://www.swiss.com

UK
visitbritain.com

POLYGLOTS WORLDWIDE
https://www.meetup.com/topics/polyglot/

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.