Okay I agree then on nicking Umwelt since it has a different meaning.
Since we’re discussing language and HN is a place to discuss, are you sure Fingerspitzengefühl is too difficult? The "ei" and "tz" sounds in Zeitgeist also make it a difficult word.
Yes I am sure! Zeitgeist: many (some) anglophones know that the German Zeit is "time" and geist looks similar to ghost and that riffs with spirit and off we trot. Besides it is generally pronounced (the spirit of the time) as something like "zyt'gyst". I lived in West Germany for a few years as a child so I go in with the tz sound on the initial Z. I have never heard anyone get the geist bit wrong. We are well used to weird diphthongs.
Fingerspitzengefühl suffers from being a bit much for us. We like it verbose but there is a threshold.
We have a word: floccinausillihillipillification (I may have misspelt it) which means something daft and was dreamed up by a Victorian gent. Can't be bothered to look it up. It was a bit silly (hilly etc) and was probably a response to a conversation like this 8)
OK lets have a go: finger (must be finger) ... spitz (I know that means point or peak - I've skied on a few - but most anglophones don't) ... engefühl (no idea). I'll guess at "fidget spinner"
... search ... how wrong can I be! - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fingerspitzengef%C3%BChl and also that article is talking complete and utter bollocks when it states that word as an English borrow word. We love to pinch other languages words and concepts but Fingerspitzengefühl is too long, even for me.
At 20 letters it's a suitably 'difficult' word even if it were actually an English one with familiar pronunciation. It being a German compound word makes it's usefulness to the general English speaking population highly questionable.
I would bet money that 2/3 or more of the people I know, keeping in mind that my technical acquaintances are only a small fraction, don't know Zeitgeist enough to pronounce it properly or even give a definition for it if asked.
I believe loan words only happen when the word makes some level of sense to speakers of the new language. Like, wander lust is almost understandable as English.
Fingerspitzengefühl is complex enough that I'd assume people who never studied German can't even split it into the words it comes from, to guess how to pronounce it.
Since we’re discussing language and HN is a place to discuss, are you sure Fingerspitzengefühl is too difficult? The "ei" and "tz" sounds in Zeitgeist also make it a difficult word.