German splits books into Belletristik and Sachbuch. Fine writing, and matter-book.
English calls the second category non-fiction — defined by what it is not. German names it for what it contains.
words
The company shutdown
Betriebsferien. Many German companies close entirely for a fixed period, commonly in summer or between Christmas and New Year, with the works council agreeing the dates. Nobody is covering. Nobody is on call. The building is shut.
The matter-worker
The German title for a caseworker or clerk translates literally as matter-worker. The person who works the matter.
Not an officer, not an associate, not a representative. The job is named after the thing being handled.
Due care
Sorgfalt — care, diligence. German liability turns on whether the required care was exercised in the conduct of the work. A person who followed proper procedure and still caused harm stands differently in German law from one who caused none but skipped it.
The state of the matter
German legal reasoning separates the Sachverhalt — the state of the matter, what actually happened — from the rechtliche Würdigung, the legal assessment of it.
The facts are established first, as a distinct step, with their own section in the judgment. Only then does anyone argue about what they mean.
The structure of a German court decision is the structure of Sachlichkeit.
Clarifying the facts
Sachverhaltsaufklärung. Clarification of the facts. German procedural law obliges a court to establish what actually happened before applying any rule to it, and the phase has its own name and its own stage in the judgment. The facts are settled first, as separate work.
The thank-you note
After an American interview, a pitch or a meeting, a note follows. Its content is conventional and everybody knows it. Sending it is read as care. Not sending it is noticed.
Keeping score
Money talks. Show me the money. Put your money where your mouth is. What’s the number? It’s not about the money — it’s about the money.
American expressions in which the figure stands for the assessment. Compensation is discussed openly and read as a verdict.
Process for process’s sake
Checking the box. Going through the motions. Paperwork exercise. Compliance theater. Four American expressions for procedure performed without purpose, and all four are dismissive. The vocabulary for hollow process is far richer than the vocabulary for good process.
Celebration evening
Celebration-evening. The German word for the end of the working day, and there is no English equivalent because English has no word for the thing.
Ich mache Feierabend — I am making Feierabend — is a complete sentence and a complete explanation. The day’s work is over, and what follows is not called leisure or free time. It is called a celebration.