Some of Heidegger’s awkwardness is an artifact of translating German compound words into English

Evidence

For non-German readers, it should be added, some of the awkwardness is an artefact of translation. German welcomes monumental word constructions, but in English they tend to come out as long hyphenated lines, trundling along like mismatched railway carriages. The Question of Being, for example, is an elegant Seinsfrage in German. But even German cannot comfortably accommodate Sich-vorweg-schon-sein-in-(der-Welt) als Sein-bei (innerweltlich begegnendem Seienden), or ‘ahead-of-itself-already-being-in-(the-world) as being-together-with (beings encountered within the world)’. — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café, 205

Categorization

• DEFINE: Explains that compound-word structure makes German-friendly constructions look clumsy hyphenated monsters in English — useful orientation for all non-German readers.
• SEED: Possible angle: ‘Why German philosophy reads worse in translation’ — the compound-word morphology difference and how it distorts reception of whole traditions.
• XREF: connects to: Heidegger’s apparent unreadability partly stems from translation friction between German and English — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café: Freedom,…, 205

Broader Connections

• Heidegger’s apparent unreadability partly stems from translation friction between German and English #corroborates (0.95) — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café, 205