LISTEN
PRACTICE
CHALLENGE
Start learning to track your progress 0 / 70%
70%

unausgesprochenenunspoken

Unausgesprochenen translates to "unspoken." It's a compound word that beautifully captures the essence of hidden feelings and unaddressed issues.

In the song, Yvonne Catterfeld sings about "all den unausgesprochenen Fragen" (all the unspoken questions). This word is particularly enticing because it hints at the deeper, uncommunicated emotions and thoughts that often exist in relationships, making the listener curious about the story behind these untold words.

"Schwarz auf Weiß" (Black on White) is about a relationship where the words have stopped working. The verses describe two people sitting between the lines of what they say to each other, sharing the same fears and unspoken questions without ever admitting it, feeling things but wasting the words meant to explain them, and pushing the anger down instead of dealing with it, until they barely recognize each other anymore.

The chorus asks for something plain and undeniable: put it in black and white. Take the time, wait for the chaos to settle and the curtain to lift, then write down what actually remains once the noise is gone. It's a request for honesty in writing rather than another conversation that talks past the point.

The second verse widens the idea, understanding breaks down because everyone keeps projecting who they expect the other person to be, instead of seeing who they really are, so nothing about the relationship feels true anymore. The repeated closing line, just "black on white," leaves the request hanging: say it plainly, or don't say anything at all.

Yvonne Catterfeld is a German singer, actress, and television personality, born on December 2, 1979, in Erfurt, in what was then East Germany. She first won public attention in 2000 as the runner-up on the singing competition Stimme 2000, which led to a recording contract and her debut single, "Bum," in 2001.

That same year, she also became a familiar face on German television, taking a lead role in the long-running soap opera Gute Zeiten, schlechte Zeiten. Her breakthrough as a singer came in 2003 with the single "Für Dich," an international number-one hit that helped push her album Meine Welt to major success.

She followed it with the albums Farben meiner Welt and Unterwegs, which produced further hits including "Du hast mein Herz gebrochen" and "Glaub an mich." Over a career spanning more than two decades, Catterfeld has sold hundreds of thousands of records, making her one of Germany's best-selling solo artists, while also building a parallel career in film and television that has earned her acting award nominations.