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Sometimes I see translations of selbstbewusst as confident, arrogant or selfish. I would like to know if this word has a negative or positive denotation. If I call someone of selbstbewusst, is it a compliment or not?

Em1
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user42912
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  • Wenn Du jemanden selbstbewusst nennst, dann solltest Du am besten wissen, ob Du es wertend verstanden wissen willst oder beschreibend, und wenn wertend, wie. – user unknown May 27 '13 at 22:19

7 Answers7

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Generally, "selbstbewusst" has a positive connotation and I've rarely heard it used in a negative way.

It could be used as an euphemism for arrogant or selfish, however. Tone and context would help you decide if that's the fact.

Joachim Sauer
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Selbstbewusst is chiefly approving.

Er präsentiert[=zeigt] sich sehr selbstbewusst.

If you want to imply that the confidence is rather negative you have to state that the confidence is exaggerated. This is possible by simply saying that the confidence is too much:

Er zeigt sich zu selbstbewusst.

Alternatively you can say that the confidence conveys arrogance or similar:

Sein selbstbewusstes Auftreten wirkt manchmal eher arrogant.

Em1
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Selbstbewusst may also refer to self-awareness, meaning the ability to get something straight in one's own mind. At an extreme extent this may lead to selfishness.

Still I hardly hear it being used for anything but confident in everyday language while living in Germany. The only common negative connotation was pointed out nicely by Em1.

So in conclusion I'd say that callin someone selbstbewusst can be regarded a compliment.

Phi-leap
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Context is everything and I'm not a native speaker, so as a result I most likely would consider the entire sentence before concluding as to whether the word's connotation is positive or negative.

EDIT: However, two native speakers have said that they have rarely heard the word with a negative connotation, so take our answers with a grain of salt; it could have a negative connotation, but rarely ever does.

Dustin
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  • then this word can have both denotations, positive and negative, depending of the context? – user42912 May 27 '13 at 08:08
  • Depending on the sentence in which the word is used, I would believe so. – Dustin May 27 '13 at 08:10
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    I have rarely (maybe even never) heard this word in a negative connotation. – heinrich5991 May 27 '13 at 08:39
  • @heinrich5991 Thanks for the heads-up! – Dustin May 27 '13 at 08:41
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    @user42912 No, it never has a negative DEnotation. Denotation is the dictionary definition of a word, and I doubt you will find any dictionary that gives "arrogant" or "selfish" as part of the definition. By the way, many people -- though obviously not you -- are tripped up by the false friend "selbstbewusst" <--> "self-conscious", just something to keep in mind perhaps. – Eugene Seidel May 27 '13 at 11:57
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    It is a false "false friend". See my answer and german wikipedia http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selbstbewusstsein Don't be fooled by the false friend hoax. – Franz Kafka May 27 '13 at 16:17
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    What "hoax"? If you know the meaning of the word "self-conscious" then you know that it is not congruent with the meaning of selbstbewusst. However, many people wrongly assume that it is. – Eugene Seidel May 27 '13 at 17:13
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    Both "selbstbewusst" and "self-conscious" have one meaning in everyday speech, and a different meaning in psychology. And a "self-conscious" person in the everyday meaning is quite the opposite of "selbstbewusst"; a "self-conscious" person is one who is aware of all their faults and expects everyone to notice them all the time. – gnasher729 Aug 11 '14 at 00:18
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The answer is: It's something positive. If someone says you are "selbstbewusst" in 99% it's something positive.

Aside: People with the property "selbstbewusst" are human who are sure about their skills and are not afraid to go some risks.

"Selbstbewusstsein": "Knowledge of your self"

Cagatay Ulubay
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Falls das Wort "selbstbewusst" heutzutage dabei ist, eine negative Konnotation anzunehmen, habe ich es als Muttersprachlerin noch nicht mitbekommen.

Dafür gibt es ja schon selbstzufrieden/arrogant/hochnäsig oder was auch immer. Das bedeutet etwas ähnliches, aber in negativerer Weise.

Takkat
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user2975
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Actually the real meaning of the word is more along the lines of self-conscious / self aware, but in recent years it has mostly been used a synonym for confident. A tipical example hereof are low-lifes acting over confident / cocky and being refered to or referring to themselves as selbstbewusst in a positiv way. This makes the whole expression quite paradox, as overestimating one's own abilities is the exact opposite of self-conscious / self-aware. Hence, I would say most uses of the term selbstbewusst are negativ, even if not intended by the person using the word.

If I call someone of selbstbewusst, is it a compliment or not?

While lower educated people do often use it as an honestly meant complement (e.g. you're not afraid of tackling this task), I would be very cautious if an intellectual superior used that word to describe you, as it may mean that you are lacking skills, but at the same time are bragging about begin the best.

To give you an answer to your question: It depends on the social (social class & education) context, but, contrary to the other answers given, it may well have a negativ touch.

A important quote from the wikipedia article on Selbstbewusstsein to back up my statements (please read the whole article, it also gives examples of Kant's and Hegel's holistic interpreations of the word, which do not only focus on the positiv side):

Die affirmative (positive) Konnotierung im allgemeinen Sprachgebrauch des Begriffs verstellt den reinen Wortsinn: Denn ein Modus des Selbstbewusstseins in diesem Sinne wäre beispielsweise nicht nur der Stolz, sondern ebenso die Scham.

Translation (feel free to improve):

The affirmative (positive) secondary meaning (connotation) of this term, which is used in common language, changes its pure literal sense: E.g. a mode of the term Selbstbewusstsein may not only be proudness, but also shame.

EDIT (some current uses of the term selbstbewusst, resulting from the discussion):

I found a Ph.D. thesis in the area of artificial intelligence from 2002. In chapter 3.2.6 Selbstbewusstsein is defined very broadly with no hint to any positiv or negativ side effects. You could summarize it, as Eugene said, as seiner selbst bewusst. This logically makes the term self-aware no "false friend" of selbstbewusst, as it is still used in its literal meaning.

Franz Kafka
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    Comments? Here we go: selbstbewusst is not used "to make fun of people". Selbstbewusst is not differently used in different social classes. Selbstbewusst, furthermore, do not have different connotation when used by different social classes. And there isn't any negative touch in common use of the word. The rare exception are given above. Can't tell about the "real meaning in former times" but etymology wasn't asked in the question. Conclusion: -1. Sorry. – Em1 May 27 '13 at 14:47
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    We live in "these days". And we have to live and accept with what people understand in "these days". And I never lived in "other days" so I do not know any other meaning of *selbstbewusst". – Em1 May 27 '13 at 14:59
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    "These days"™ only refers to a whole sub generation misusing the word, which does not automatically make the correct meaning invalid. Selbstbewusst broken down is self-aware and is "wrongly" used as confident. Some social classes pick up expressions with less vetting, thus you have to differentiate between who is using the word. – Franz Kafka May 27 '13 at 15:05
  • Do you have any sources for the claim that "selbstbewußt" means "self-concious"? Because I can't find any hint of that (just places that mention them as false friends!). Also: the "other" meaning of "selbstbewußt" that I can find is "conscious of the self" in a philosophical sense ("Who am I?"), which could be translated of "self-confcious" but still isn't meant in the "negative" sense. – Joachim Sauer May 27 '13 at 15:30
  • @JoachimSauer I answered without reading the german wiki entry first, but it covers my answer quite well - e.g. it differentiates between the "common" use and how Kant and Hegel understood it "correctly". You have to read the whole article, but here one excerpt backing up my statements: Die affirmative (positive) Konnotierung im allgemeinen Sprachgebrauch des Begriffs verstellt den reinen Wortsinn: Denn ein Modus des Selbstbewusstseins in diesem Sinne wäre beispielsweise nicht nur der Stolz, sondern ebenso die Scham. See http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selbstbewusstsein for more. – Franz Kafka May 27 '13 at 15:46
  • @FranzKafka: well, then we probably just differ in one point: I don't think that any of those two meanings (the original, philosophical one and the "newer", colloquial one) is "more correct" than the other. Like thousands of other words, "Selbstbewußtsein" has multiple meanings and none of them is "wrong" in any meaningful sense of the word. It's just that the colloquial one is more widely used (and has thus turned into the "primary" one). – Joachim Sauer May 27 '13 at 15:49
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    Language is a very democratic thing... maybe the most democratic of all. So if everyone says "A", and mean "B" and 9 out of 10 understand "B" correctly, then A is probably "B". Luckily, in a democracy everyone is entitled to his or her own connotation. That said, you do yound very "selbstbewusst" with regard to your education and your intellect. Now, is that a compliment or an insult? I don't know... difficult to decide. – Emanuel May 27 '13 at 16:19
  • @Emanuel If democracy is the new rule for language, then German is going down the shitter. E.g. 99/100 people (on the inter-web) write standart instead of standard. Does that make it correct? I don't think so. Micro-democracy always sucks, because to many thugs make too hasty or emonatially based decisions. – Franz Kafka May 27 '13 at 17:04
  • @JoachimSauer "'conscious of the self' in a philosophical sense ('Who am I?'), which could be translated as 'self-conscious'": In current English usage, "self-conscious" is a synonym for "awkward", "tongue-tied", "shy", "embarrassed", etc. It is not used to denote awareness of self. – Eugene Seidel May 27 '13 at 17:20
  • Spelling is not language. Spelling is an agreed on system to capture language in writing. Agreed on by commissions and a good thing. But language was there long before spelling and despite spelling there are still dialects. So.. if language wants to change, you can try your best to prevent that change from happening but in the end, majority will prevail. – Emanuel May 27 '13 at 17:22
  • @JoachimSauer Interesting point that the English version self-conscious in common use spills over to the negativ side, and the German one to the positiv side :-) – Franz Kafka May 27 '13 at 17:25
  • @Emanuel Very true. 100% right one that one. But the perceived majority (internet crowd) may not always be a good indicatior for the general population. Best example is this whole Q&A dialog. – Franz Kafka May 27 '13 at 17:31
  • Can we find agreement that "Selbstbewusstheit" when used in the context of philosophy may have a meaning different to common sense usage? We should clearly say so in this answer. – Takkat May 27 '13 at 17:43
  • @Takkat Not an expert on philosophy hence do not know if philosophers may use selbstbewusst that way. But in ordinary usage, what you are thinking of would be expressed by seiner selbst bewusst. – Eugene Seidel May 27 '13 at 17:46
  • Conceded. We would need to do a investigation or present credible sources on the use of selbstbewusst to find out. btw: @Takkat: thanks for the deletion... I meant to write a comment and was wondering where it went :) – Emanuel May 27 '13 at 18:22
  • Found one interesting use in a Ph.D. thesis in the area of A.I.. More will follow. – Franz Kafka May 27 '13 at 19:57
  • Regarding the latest edit of this Answer: (1) Whatever may be said about Selbstbewusstsein, this Question asked about the adjective selbstbewusst, not the noun. (2) I don't think anyone here claimed that "self-aware" is a false friend of selbstbewusst, thus I am puzzled at the reference to "self-aware" -- in any case I am not commenting here on whether it is indeed such a false friend. – Eugene Seidel May 27 '13 at 20:36
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    Ich glaube ich bin Franz Kafka ähnlicher Meinung, dass "selbstbewußt" heute vor allem als "selbsteingenommen" gebraucht wird - genau von den 90%, die auch Emanuel zu kennen scheint. Dass diese das auch noch positiv werten ändert nichts an der divergierenden Einschätzung was das Wort überhaupt bedeuten soll. Ein schüchterner, zurückhaltender und bescheidener Mensch kann sehr selbstbewusst sein - die Masse assoziiert aber mit selbstbewusst einen testosteronstrotzenden Büffel von Mann, der mit dem Kopf durch die Wand will und es wahrscheinlich auch hinbekommt. – user unknown May 27 '13 at 22:28
  • Please do abuse comments for extended discussions. For further clarification use [chat] or edit posts to incorporate resolved issues. Thank you. – Takkat May 28 '13 at 06:10
  • WTF???????????? – Carsten S Feb 27 '15 at 15:49