Hello everyone,
Welcome back!! Door number 9 of the 2025 Advent Calendar and behind this door is a little vocabulary snack waiting for you that I’m almost sure 90% of you don’t know.
There’s words that just fly below the radar, but this one.. this one is a 6th generation stealth jet.
Stealth… I wasn’t too sure about stealth, but this is tremendously stealth, I can tell you that. They say it’s so much stealth, they can’t find it, even if they’re looking for it. I don’t know about that. I’ve seen it.
It’s hard to see, but I’ve seen it. Very few people see it, but it’s nice when you see it. It’s very nice, in fact. It’s beautiful, frankly.
Okay, seriously though, today I want to tell you about….
die Kulanz
And before we take a look at it, I actually want to check my hypothesis about how many of you know this, so here’s a little poll:
And now, let’s take a look.
So, die Kulanz and the adjective kulant are basically words for a business or company being nice when they don’t have to.
For example, you take out a subscription somewhere and you forget to cancel in time before it renews for another year. You email the company and ask if you can still cancel and they’re like “You know what… it’s fine.”
Or you book a no cancellation hotel room but then your significant other finds out about it and you can’t go on that .. uh… business trip. So you ask the hotel if you can cancel and they’re like “You know what… you’re good. Money’s on the way.”
This is Kulanz. A business taking a loss of some kind in your favor even though based on their terms and conditions they don’t have to.
- Aus Kulanz haben wir Ihnen den vollen Kaufpreis zurückerstattet.
- As a gesture of goodwill, we refunded you the full purchase price.
- Ich kann da nur meinen Teamleiter fragen, ob wir da aus Kulanz was machen können.
- I can only ask my team lead if we can do something out of goodwill.
I’m actually not sure what the best translation is, as none seem to match the tone.
Kulanz sounds official, bureaucratic and a bit dry, and it’s not as “loaded” as a gesture of goodwill and not as friendly as courtesy.
I’d say in daily life, the adjective is a bit more common anyway.
- Die waren echt kulant, sie haben alles erstattet.
- The were really nice/accommodating, they refunded everything.
But note that being kulant is NOT about being nice or accommodating in the sense of fulfilling special requests. Like arranging for a vegan option on the breakfast menu or something like that. Kulanz is not about “going the extra mile”. It’s about driving you back a bit or all the way and letting you out, if that makes sense.
If you’re in a dispute with some customer service rep and you feel like it’s not going to go your way, you can maybe change tone of voice and ask nicely if there’s maybe possibly the option for the company to be kulant just this one time, even though you fully understand they don’t have to do that.
It’s not like it’s a secret passphrase that unlocks the refund, but it’s definitely a good one to know. Customers are people, customer service people are people, and their team leads are also people. And people can choose to be nice.
Now, where does the word Kulanz come from?
Some of you might have guessed based on sound that it comes from French. The origin is the French verb form coulant, which means something like flowing. And the Germans for some reason borrowed it and started using it in a sense of “easy going” in the business context. And the funny thing is… in French, it doesn’t even mean that. But there was this period in parts of Germany, when French was the “in”-language, kind of like English is today.
An old restored Call of Duty twitch stream from that era was like “Mon Dieu, incroyable, ich bin fast gestorben wegen dem merde. Faites attention, frères. Links links, da ist dieser Fils de pute”.
So basically, Germans imported kulant, made up a meaning for it and then created the noun Kulanz and today, it may get you your money back :).
And that’s it for today.
Let me know in the comments if you knew this term already or if you have any questions about it. And if you have any nice Kulanz-stories please let me know. How’s it in your country? Like… what are the odds of getting some Kulanz? In Germany, it’s not that bad, especially if it’s a smaller business and it definitely feels nice.
So yeah, share in the comments if you feel like it, have a great day and I’ll see you tomorrow.
I am French and when you asked us about whether we experienced Kulanz, I thought it meant diarrhrea, which we refer to colloquially as “la coulante” :) interesting Germans gave it a business pitch!
Lolololol, amazing. But it does not only mean diarrhea, right? Or is that the super dominant meaning in daily life?
Merci :)!
Coulant means “flußig” but when it is used as the noun “la coulante”, it refers specifically to diahrrea. Depending on the region, some also use “la courante”. Other synonyms: la cagagne, la chiasse, la gastro. Sorry for such a shitty topic ;)
No need to be sorry :)
“la gastro”… that’s funny too, because “Gastro” is the super common German short form for the “food and beverage” sector. Like bars and restaurants etc.
– Ich arbeite in der Gastro.
– Die Gastrobranche hat eine Steuervergünstigung gekriegt.
By the way, je suis très heureux qu’il y ait au moins une personne de France ici sur mon blog. C’est super rare d’entendre quelqu’un de France, alors que nous sommes voisins.
I am actually living in Germany since 2013 and follow your blog since 10 years or so. I recommend it to any new German learners I meet and also to more advanced people that like to have the etymology and backstories of the words. Merci pour ton super boulot :)
I want to thank those who have given so generously to allow sponsorships for those, such as myself, to continue learning! Emmanuel hat ein fantastisches Programm geschaffen!
Hallo,
Some typos:
“but then significant other finds out about it” (but then your significant other finds out about it)
“they refunded everything” (the refunded everything)
Definitely didn’t know the word, but I have experienced Kulanz in Germany – back in 2020, I booked a non-cancellation hotel room in Stuttgart only to not be able to go because of “it that shall not be named” (you know, the C-word)… well, the hotel refunded the cost, so that was Kulanz…
Bis bald!
Yeah, that’s a perfect example actually.
I think if I were describing an instance of Kulanz in English (AE), I’d most likely just say “they cut me a break.” Not sure there’d be an adjective or word for it that would be very specific.
I agree.
It somehow reminds me of “galant”. The suffix “lant” is probably a thing.
The -ant ending is a French (or Romance language) verb ending that’s similar to -ing. There are many words with it, some of which also exist in English
– signifikant
– arrogant
– vacant
– exuberant
– interessant
– tolerant
The noun version is “-ance” in English and “-anz” in German.
I had 8 am tickets to visit the Reichstag in Berlin, the morning after we arrived late afternoon from USA. I hadn’t had time to understand the city yet (it being my first time there), and therefore made several mistakes getting there. We arrived at 8:10. I kept thinking about the letter I had received months before, which clearly stated that people who were late, would not be admitted. I told the man at the desk that I was very late snd very sorry, and he extended Kulanz and let us in. How cool is that?
Nice example!
Heutzutage tendieren Unternehmen in den USA eher zur Enscheißifizierung als zur Kulanz. Keine Überraschung, dass wir auf Englisch kein einzelnes Wort wie Kulanz haben lol. C’est magnifique que vous en avez une.
Auf Deutsch kannst du eigentlich “Scheißifizierung” sagen für “enshittification. No need for the extra “en” and it sounds a bit too much like “Entshcheißifizierung”, which would be the opposite.
At first I thought that you were talking about the “Green Flash”. Yes, I know, way off.
I’ve only see in once. It’s best seen at sunset with a clear view of the horizon, usually on a beach.
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gr%C3%BCner_Blitz
At the end the article says you can also see it with the moon in play. That would be ausgezeichnet.
And a blue flash – the article has a video from the Alps in Austria.
Wow, davon habe ich noch nie gehört. Wenn ich das jetzt mal erlebe, dann weiß ich, wie es heißt.
In 1962, I was 22 years old and lived in Germany. I visited Frankfurt one day. I stayed too late and missed the last train back to Ludwigshafen. I walked around late at night until I found a small hotel. I told the manager that I was a student with very little money (very true) and asked if I could have a room for that night. He agreed to let me stay. That was true Kulanz, and I greatly appreciated him.
Cinimod66 –
What were you studying? And where?
My dad worked for the State Department and in 1966 we moved to Frankfurt. I was 16. On weekends I’d take the street car downtown. Loved the goulash soup and apple strudel.
Ah, those were the days my friend.
I was in graduate school at MIT to study chemistry. That summer I was a participant in the International association for the exchange of students for technical experience. I worked at BASF in Ludwigshafen for 6 weeks, and then participated in their Ferienkurs for 4 weeks. 50 students from other countries 50 German students and 50 German students. A fantastic experience.
That does sound fantastic.
Thanks for sharing.
Technically, that’s not really Kulanz :). You two didn’t have a contractual relationship before, so his letting you stay was more like a present. It’s awesome of course, but Kulanz implies that there is some business going on already.
Must have been a really nice moment, since the memory stuck with you all this time :)
Thank you, Emanuel, for that helpful clarification.
I think both “as a courtesy” and “as a gesture of goodwill” are good translations for “aus Kulanz.” Even though “courteous” and “goodwill” have stronger emotional meanings in general usage, in these phrasings when used in business, they don’t really have an emotional connotation. It’s just a way of saying exactly that, “We don’t have to do this, but we’re doing it anyway to make this person happy, in the hopes that it’s good for our reputation and repeat customers.”
Btw, I don’t feel like it’s that common in the US. Generally speaking when the refund policy says no, I find that the company also says no. But maybe I have just had bad experiences or I’m not good at negotiating.
my experience is that the more “layers” there are between you and the business leader, the harder it is to get kulant behavior. Most customer service reps just don’t have the authority to extend it and they certainly are trained not to bother their superiors with, like, anything. You’d have to insist on escalating all the way while still being nice enough for people to like you. But sometimes, there is some company policy about it, then you have a chance.
I would probably translate it as a courtesy. The word sounded familiar but I couldn’t come up with a meaning so I voted no. “As a courtesy, we’ll reimburse you for your extra costs” sounds normal to me. There are also “courtesy cars” that the dealership might let you drive while they fix your car (which they probably broke while doing an oil change)
I recently finished a big fight with my former (German) Internet provider where I got roped into a bad extended contract because their sales rep lied to me. 6 months and many annoying phone calls later I finally got most of the extra costs back and the contract cancelled. I’m not sure if it was Kulanz or fear of a lawsuit/consumer protection action. In the end I got what I wanted by emailing them instead of calling. They didn’t mention Kulanz in any of the emails, but I’m sure they weren’t native speakers either. As a side note, never call or accept something through a call. Get everything in writing.
Actually the only email I have with Kulanz in it is the small print from some Movie ticket orders where they offer a refund “aus Kulanz” if you’re sick and can’t make it.
Might be technically a case of Kulanz, but the word is not something you need to mention to do it, since it’s not a legal term. In this case, I would not really say that they were “kulant”. For me, that usually implies that they’re friendly and accommodating. Maybe they start with “We’re really sorry, but there’s nothing we can do” and then they come around. A months long back and forth where you have to chase them down basically is not really accommodating enough to be called “kulant”, in my opinion anyway.
Just tried to buy a bra on the internet, and it turned out to be too small (although it had no wires, which was why I picked the Vermont Country Store as the seller). I reported my problem to them, and they sent me the next size up, no charge, and said just donate the unusable one somewhere. Definitely Kulanz.
I’ve bought items from Vermont Country Store – it’s like that! Another company known for its friendly customer service is Chewy, which sells pet supplies – no bots, just human pet-loving employees! When I’ve mentioned that I no longer need a certain pet food due to the death of a cat, they’ll send flowers or – even – a hand-painted picture of a cat. If it turns out that your pet suddenly decides to refuse the food it once adored, Chewy suggests you donate the leftover food to a food bank or animal rescue organization. No wonder I love doing business with Chewy!
Yup. I do love companies that are like that. And I do think it’s good for business medium term. It’s just hard to measure with KPIs or something “trackable” so you don’t really know the “value” of sending a customer a second bra for free. Might be 10x the value of the bra because the customer will spread the word.
Too many words. Why sentence of five 10 lines become 1.000???
Wth???
What is your point?
It’s resonates with the Cajun French concept of “Lagnaippe” a little something extra given by a merchant as an expression of good will.
Oh, that’s not Kulanz is you just “go the extra mile” in some way. Kulanz is mostly used in a wide context of refunds and the like.
I bought some horse tack at Bernie Brothers in Ireland. When I got back to the U.S. I found out the type of girth I bought was cotton and prone to ripping. The Bridle that I bought had the nose band cut off and I felt like the quality wasn’t as good as it should’ve been. I wrote to the company asking to exchange the girth for a leather one and was willing to pay the extra amount it would cost. Bernie Brothers had great Kulanz by sending me another bridle of better quality and a leather girth- gratis! They then called me from Ireland and asked if I was happy with the items. What a way to make me a happy customer!
Wow, that is really next level customer service. Even I feel like buying from them now, just because it sounds so good :D.
Now we know how they have stayed in business in Ireland since 1880!
Forgive, forgiveness maybe?
Nah, that sounds way too emotional for me.
Very cool word! And even though this post isn’t about the French language, I felt like adding that in French coulant can also have a meaning of easy-going or even accommodating, conciliant or indulging. I see it best in the expression Laisser couler. which means Letting it pass/go. But it is broader than the business context here.
Ah interesting, so I guess the Germans imported this broader sense and then used it in the niche of commerce. Do you use this at all for the meaning I described though? The dictionary said that French has different terms for “Kulanz”
“a gesture of goodwill” sounds like a good translation, it implies that there was no obligation but they chose to do it anyway. “Goodwill” in this context isn’t strongly friendly, it’s just a way of saying “we don’t accept that we have any obligation to do this”.
I think of it as customer mercy. And I have experienced it, recently.
A newspaper allowed me a “free” cancellation, although I missed the deadline. Which was a new experience.
When I first came here, subscriptions were notorious for discretely auto-renewing in perpetuity, leading to large interest-bloated demands.
I think the law has been improved over time, so opting out no longer requires excessive sleuthing, nor stressing about a random Lastschrift.
In English I definitely think mercy is a better word than pity, which is the word I thought of. Pity only means they are expressing sadness at your distress rather than actually doing something about it. And I can’t think of another phrase that captures it better.
Pity = Mitleid
Mercy = Gnade, Barmherzigkeit
You doing it better and shorter. Are you native?
Yes, I am. Oh, I forgot “Mitgefuehl” or empathy.
I think both of those would probably sound a little too emotionally freighted for Kulanz (I hadn’t heard it either… maaaybe kulant at some point? But I don’t think I understood it if so). As a couple of others have noted, “as a courtesy” of “gesture of goodwill” read about right as far as I can tell.
Yeah, that’s prime example for them being kulant. I love it when that happens. Reminds you that we’re all human and all the systems and rules we built are just a framework we need to organize our chaotic, impulse driven nature, but we don’t have to apply them if we don’t want to.
Now that I know what it meas, I can say that I have frequently experienced “Kulanz” in various settings and countries. My mantra is “It never hurts to ask” even in the US, where once I didn’t even have to ask – I was stopped for speeding, immediately admitted that I had been so upset about something I didn’t notice my speed, and while the cop went back to his car to check my driving record, I burst into tears. Cop came back, saw me sobbing, and just gave me back my license, and no ticket. Does an individual action qualify as “kulant” or does it have to be an organization?
Yeah, that’s definitely a good example for being “kulant”!
One more note on Kulanz/kulant: Google translated “It never hurts to ask” as “Fragen kostet nichts.” Short and sweet.