I once
> tried to explain (in German) to some Germans why this is an
absurd idea for
> English.
Exactly my point. Every second time in Latin translation I have to
hear: we have this word in German, but the German word for it
is...
Just note how words that are in very common use in other
languages (international words) are either not used in German
or enjoying just limited use, often in certain specific contexts.
E.g., a German will not say Okkupation, he will rather say
Besatzung. He will prefer "auswandern" to "emigrieren". The
word Exploitation does not exist in German, to the best of my
knowledge, and it could be that they do not understand it, when
used by a foreigner (I have not tried :-))). The German word for it
is Ausbeutung. Same with words like cosmos, whose German
correlate is Weltraum, Weltall. And so on.
> Of course it's because of the very high percentage of common
words in
> English not built on native stems.
Yes. German is more genuinely Germanic. So it is a much
better source of information when studying Germanic
languages. This does not quite apply for English.
Just my humble opinion.
Eva