Native german speaker here. I have been wondering how difficult it is to learn and understand compound words in German. Also, do you yourself make up your own when needed?
I make up my own compound words, when I play the game “Codenames”.
How do you even play that game in other languages without compound words?
While it’s “clunky” it makes it super easier for a non native speaker to figure out what is meant by it. I personally love how straightforward the language is like ambulance -> krankenwagen (sick car) make sense intuitively.
When I was starting to learn German, I found it quite intimidating, but once I started having a grasp of the language, I found it actually pretty easy. The trick is just being able to recognize the subwords. Take a word like Arbeitsunfähigkeitsbescheinigung: once you know Arbeit and Schein, it already starts being easier to see the meaning.
Fähigkeit would probably also be useful to know for that one.
