In English 'excited' usually means a positive thing - like, happy-excited.
I find the German 'aufgeregt' and 'gespannt' confusing - they're sort of neutral, or are they? Do I have to qualify in a sentence whether I'm happy or stressed-out/unhappy when using them, or is it all contextual?
@sarajw It's all about context. "Ich bin so aufgeregt!" Means usally "I'm so excited!". "Ich hab mich darüber aufgeregt" on the other side is "I was so upset about this".
You technically could understand the first sentence also as negative, but at least no native would ever phrase it this way as it's unclear and there are much better words for expressing negative emotions.
"Gespannt" on the other side is practically never negative. "Ich bin gespannt…" is either "I'm curious…" or "I'm looking for to…" more leaning to the first one. The negative word would be "angespannt".
@sarajw As others said “aufgeregt sein” – positively “excited”. “sich aufgeregt haben” – “being angry” about something. “Ich könnte mich aufregen, wenn sich jemand vor mir in die U-Bahn quetscht”. “Gespannt” is mostly being under “tension” (= ”Spannung”): “Ich bin gespannt, ob ich den Job bekomme.” You can be ”gespannt” about something positive, but it itself is not an inherently positive phrase, while “aufgeregt sein” is.
@yatil "That really wound me up" "Oh I was so wound up!" - to the point of being so wound up you might throw a punch, in the extreme, that sort of meaning.
@sarajw Hmm..."aufgeregt sein" means both but I'd say it usually has a negative connotation. "Gespannt sein" is neutral to positive. "Angespannt sein" is negative.
"Ich bin aufgeregt vor der Prüfung".
"Ich bin schon auf die Ergebnisse gespannt"
"Ich bin wegen der Prüfung angespannt".
@mxbck@sarajw@matuzo And streamers are ECHTZEITFLIESSSENDER accordingly. Star Trek, forget about the "mirror universe". This realm is where the real interesting stories are!
@sarajw It's very much depending on the context. The word stem "aufregen" could also mean "making me angry/upset", so it can be applied even in a negative light
@sarajw Just realizing that "aufgeregt" is up there in the league of extraordinary hard-to-translate-without-connotations gentlemen, together with "doch"
@sarajw I'm not envying anyone learning German and am so grateful of having learned German as a mother tongue, then English (using the Germanic parts as a kind of cheat code)
@sarajw “aufgeregt” can go both ways. You can be “aufgeregt” because you anticipate something nice like your birthday. But you can also be “aufgeregt” because of an exam.
@mvsde I've clarified now anyway just in case lol - saying it was in freude, not frust!
Languages, man.
I can't even fathom learning something completely different, from outside of Europe - so many false friends, double meanings, differences in tone, everything.
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