When you're talking about a vivid involuntary mental movie, you could just call it a "mental movie," or some "cinema of the mind," but "Kopfkino" says the same thing in a single word and sounds awesome. Pick it when you want to describe the experience of seeing a movie inside your head not because you're daydreaming, and not because you're inventing your own details, but because your head seems to be spontaneously creating its own movie based on whatever you're hearing or reading.

Since "Kopfkino" is extremely rare in English, you'll probably want to gloss it for your non-German-speaking listeners. That is, define it immediately as you use it, like this: "The Harry Potter books gave me some amazing Kopfkino (cinematic scenes inside my head)." Or, if glossing it would sound awkward, just give enough context so your listeners can understand it, like this: "The Harry Potter movies were great, but I miss my own personal Kopfkino from reading the books."

You may want to capitalize it to indicate that it's a German noun. Let's be open to treating it like a common noun later on, with a lowercase letter, but for now, I'm seeing it only capitalized in English print online.

Lastly, note that according to German speakers, "Kopfkino" can carry a negative tone, suggesting a vision that's unwelcome or even disturbing: "Ew, I didn't need that Kopfkino." But it can also carry a positive tone, like in the two examples below.

"[Naomi Alderman's] style is... unique... Seriously, the Kopfkino she can put into your head is breathtaking."
— Reddit user Duchess of Waves, Reddit, 2023

"For me as a founder that [triggered] a Kopfkino of one day [the Mega Screen in Times Square] saying: "Nasdaq congratulates you on your listing under ticker name 'EVRP.'"
— LinkedIn user Jan Dzulko, LinkedIn, 2022

has this page helped you understand "Kopfkino"?

Awesome, I'm glad it helped!

Thanks for letting me know!
If you have any questions about this word, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

study it:

Explain the meaning of "Kopfkino" without saying "mental movie" or "theater of the mind."

try it out:

Talk about a book or a series of books that gave you an incredible Kopfkino.

If that book has been made into a movie, have you seen it, and has it warped your personal Kopfkino?

If you like, use this space to write. (To save your work, copy and paste it into an email or a document.)

before you review, play:

Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.

This month, our game is "Sarah In Dip a Day!"

I'll give you some song lyrics that contain a sophisticated word or phrase—but I'll swap it out for what you might hear if you didn't know that word or phrase. 

Your job is to find the spot where the lyrics quit making sense, then reinterpret those words as the artist actually wrote them. 

Here's an example:

"I'm on a one-way street,
My fall from grace complete,
But I feel that there's a hazard hanging over me.
But I take away the feeling that I can't see,
And now you say to me
Sarah in dip a day."
—Amaranthe

Here, the meaning breaks down at "Sarah in dip a day," which should read "Serendipity."

Try this one today:

"I could teach you how to speak my language, 
Rose ate a stone.
I swear this life is like the sweetest thing
I've ever known."
—Drake

If you need some clues, highlight the hidden white text below.
   1. The part that needs to be changed is..."Rose ate a stone"
   2. The term that's being sung means..."anything that helps you understand, decode, or unlock something that had been mysterious"
To see the answer, scroll all the way down!

review this word:

1. The opposite of a KOPFKINO could be

A. a daydream.
B. a real movie.
C. a total disappointment.

2. If you're reading a novel and your Kopfkino shuts off, maybe that's because _____.

A. you've stopped seeing the characters as human
B. you've gotten bored, or the text has gotten hard to understand
C. you're so engaged in the story that the real world has disappeared

Answers to the review questions: 1. B 2. B Answer to the game question: "I could teach you how to speak my language,  Rosetta stone. I swear this life is like the sweetest thing I've ever known." —Drake

a final word:

I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words. From my blog: On vocabulary...       36 ways to study words.       Why we forget words, & how to remember them.       How to use sophisticated words without being awkward. On writing...       How to improve any sentence.       How to motivate our kids to write.       How to stop procrastinating and start writing.       How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count. From my heart: a profound thanks to the generous patrons, donors, and sponsors that make it possible for me to write these emails. If you'd like to be a patron or a donor, please click here. If you'd like to be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.