59 Comments
It's also commonly used in compound nouns. For example, 'Der Burgermeister' = 'The mayor', literally 'The citizen master'.
Also "Der Hausmeister" (building superintendent) - heard/saw this one a lot during my stays in Germany.
You're technically right—but as a native I rarely heard the word, which makes me doubt its worth as a vocabulary word.
I hear it every week ;D
"Sie sind die allerbesten Mannschaften
The main event
Die Meister'
Die Besten
Les Grandes Équipes
The Champions"
I don't know what you social standing is, but the word is on of the 10.000 most common words in German according to the Duden.
Every crafting company in Germany you ever worked with most probably had a Meister as boss. The compulsion to be Meister before you can found such a company was only removed a decade before for most crafts: Meisterzwang
If you really missed out on Meister Röhrich until now, it's time to freshen up that awkward German humor ;)
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Certainly the English translation "master" is lacking something, since the only job description for a "master" I can think of in American English would be the owner of slaves in the pre-Civil War era.
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Master continues to be used in American English to refer to a qualification for crafts that have an apprenticeship/journeyman/master training structure. Same meaning as in German. For example, carpenters, plumbers, barbers, etc.
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Yes, you make a point, but if just tell someone "He is a master", the other person will in all likelihood say, "A master what? And if someone asked you what your occupation was, would you say, "I'm a master!" without further qualification?
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In American English, at least, a foreman is usually the supervisor of a construction site, a factory crew, mining crew, etc. In other words, you don't have "foremen" in white collar settings like offices.
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I’d think “Der Meister” alone would mean “The champion” (of a championship in almost any sport) more commonly than it means “The master”. I’m glad to see that “The champion” is accepted, but am slightly confused as to why “The master” is being used as the main translation. (Posted here rather than reported because to me it doesn’t quite seem worth reporting as a “mistake”.)
Yes actually the athem of chamipons league mention "Die Meister" along with the words "Die Besten" maybe means like "the best of the best"
I don't know why you got downvoted for asking a question, have an upvote to bring you back up.
According to dict.cc there are a few translations for overseer, but none of them are Der Meister (http://www.dict.cc/?s=overseer)
Meister is a particular level of professional accomplishment, similar to the old word 'journeyman'. It indicates someone who has completed their apprenticeship or training in a particular trade. Trades, such as carpentry, are highly valued in Germany, and so people who have become Meisters are usually well looked upon.
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One can say master plumber, master carpenter, master mechanic, etc. to indicate high level of expertise.
I remember back when I was in elementary school, I was on a robotics team. One of the other teams called themselves the "Gear Meisters." This makes sense to me now.
Meister translates often to master ... in craftsmanship.
So, yes, the Meister is often the boss in German craftman's companies but Meister doesn't really translate to boss.
The Meister often won't come along for minor jobs but trust his Geselle/journeyman to do it. If problems arise you'll want to speak to the Chef/boss which often is the Meister.
The gaffer is someone in charge of a team of workers. You used to hear it a lot in the 70's now it seems to only be used as slang. We used to informally call our manager "the gaffer", which he pretended to dislike but I think he secretly enjoyed.
It's just one of many possible translations of Der Meister.
As for learning "common words"... I'm not sure I read anywhere that this site only teaches common words. You're under no obligation to remember it if you think it won't be useful. Chalk this one up to experience and move onto the next question.
While that may be true, gaffer is not used ...wait...ok I looked it up and it is used in British english...I forget that it's not just American english. No big deal, have a nice day. :-) http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gaffer
It is used in the U.S.A. in the theater/television industry. It is the head electrician on a production. The fabric tape used to temporarily tape wires and cables to the floor or uprights is called "gaffer's tape" in the industry.
Gaffartape (or gaffatape) is the word for duct tape in mine and several other countries
I'm half-Brit half-American and I was taught to spell it "Gaffa" by the Brits, haha :P But since it ends in a vowel, it sounds like "gaffER" when we say it, like "idea" sounds like "ideAR", for example. ;p
Gaffer's tape is used in the U.S. in the film/TV industry and is, as you said, duct tape.
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Note that "gaffer's tape" is not quite the same as duct tape, aka duck tape.
Yup, it's definitely a British word when used in that sense. We used to have a TV program called the Gaffer in the early 80s. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gaffer_%28TV_series%29
Thank you, Rammstein, for teaching me this.
I don't know if I'm being dim, but I'm a native Brit and didn't have know what 'foreman' meant. So it's another word for 'boss' or 'manager' in a construction context?
It's basically a blue-collar line-manager, overseeing a (usually small) team, reporting up to a more "white collar" manager above him. My dad used to be a foreman in a dairy, so it's not just construction. You get them in factories, warehouses etc. too. It's a word we use in Britain too, but it's maybe just fallen out of usage a little.
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Genau. Also in many blue-collar jobs, the supervisor of the front-line workers is a "foreman" or "shop foreman". I've never personally held such a job, but have several friends who have. I think that the foremen report to a "manager" or "supervisor".
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When I studied German half a century ago, we were taught two proverbs. 1) "Übung macht den Meister", like the English "Practice makes perfect." (literally, "makes the master"). 2) "Es ist noch kein Meister vom Himmel gefallen". Literally, no master has yet fallen from the sky - if one wishes to become very good at something, one has to work hard; it doesn't just happen.
Could this word be used for a person who is the best at a specific task? As in: "He is the cooking master!" "Er ist der Kochmeister!"
Can this word also be used for martial arts instructors? (Like a Sensei)
Not necessarily the best, but that he or she has reached a certain level in his or her craft. Both technically and also theoretically. It normally takes a period of time (years) after the apprenticeship is over, before you can even think about becoming one.
My son-in-law is a master plumber. There are certain plumbing jobs that, by code, must be done by either a master plumber or under the supervision of a master plumber. As Mariba66 said, it indicates a certain level of training and experience, but does not indicate a level of authority over anyone else.
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We probably wouldn't say "cooking master" in English. A better phrase would be "master chef".
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So if I wanted to piont someone in the direction of say the Master Carpenter who just so happened to be a woman, would she be "die Meister" or continue to be "der Meister" regardless of gender? (Assuming nom. form). If I'm way off base, what would the female equivalent be?
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For 'Select the missing word", both "der" and "die" are correct: DER Meister, DIE Meister, but Duo does not accept that.
I see that exercise.
You're right that die is not a valid distractor since die Meister is grammatically correct as well. I've removed it now.
Once the live site is updated, "select the missing word" choices should show only der Meister / das Meister, which has an unambiguous correct answer.
Would I be wrong in assuming the spirit of the word "Meister" is that of someone "running the show" so to speak. An example in English I can think of that has the word in it is "ring master"
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Meister can also refer to someone of exemplary or notable skill (in art or sports or crafts, e.g., a "master carpenter"). I think Meister has most of the meanings of the English "master", except perhaps in the context of slavery.
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It's probably mainly because, in this exercise, die Eule presents a German phrase (Der Meister) and asks us to translate it into English. So, die Meister would fail to accomplish that task.
If you had provided the English "the masters", you would have still been wrong, because the German phrase was singular, not plural.
In a listening exercise, you have to type what you hear -- if the voice says der Meister, you have to type der Meister, not die Meister.
