# English expressions w/no eq. translation? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 30, 2003, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-expressions-w-no-eq-translation/151513 "2003-01-30T03:09:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![universe.zip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/a9adbd/32.png) [@universe.zip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/universe.zip)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2003, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-expressions-w-no-eq-translation/151513/41 "2003-01-30T22:14:48Z")
**Einmon** , depends on the sense in which you use “to blend in”. If you´re speaking of a recipe, you can say “einrühren” or “daruntermischen”. But I suspect you mean it as in “to blend in with the crowd”, and nope, there is no direct equivalent. You could say “sich anpassen”, “dazupassen”, but they don´t mean quite the same. “einblenden” exists, but it means “to fade in” (music, a film scene, a slide). I´m with **Popup** , it´s hard to find 100% equivalent words in any two languages. There are always some shades of meaning the other word doesn´t convey, but usually there are ways of expressing the concept in the other language. Some languages have distinctions other languages don´t have. Finnish has two different words for uncle - “setä” is you dad´s brother, while “eno” is your mother´s brother. Swedish distinguishes all grandparents - “morfar” (mother´s father), “mormor” (mother´s mother), “farfar” and “farmor”. And Russian, if I recall right, has a whole set of different names for the various in-laws, depending on whether they´re on the woman´s or the man´s side. So while it´s no problem to translate these into English (simply say “uncle” or “grandfather” without the finer distinctions), i´t can be hard to translate from English to such a language - imagine the text is about someone´s grandmother but you don´t know from which side… Vice versa with Finnish - it doesn´t have “he” and “she”, just one pronoun for both. Normally you can find out the sex of the person in question from the name or context, but I´ve come along some stories where this is used as a stylistic element, and you just can´t convey that ambiguity in English or German or hardly any other language. Russian has two different words for “blue” (the colour). Totally different. The Russian language doesn´t see sky-blue and dark blue as two shades of the same colour. (Correct me if I´m wrong, Russian speakers - it´s been a while.) But even with these examples you could argue you can convey the meaning in some other way. My favourite example of a concept that absolutely doesn´t exist in German (haven´t thought about English - but I can´t think of an equivalent now either) is the Spanish “cariño” (as an emotion, different from “amor”). “Te tengo mucho cariño” means more than “I like you”, but doesn´t necessarily mean “I love you”. You feel cariño for the person you love, of course, but you can also feel it for a very good friend, or a family member. It can be the love of a mother, or the love between good friends, but it isn´t the romantic love you feel for your SO. Does English have a word for this? If it does, well, then there´s another one that doesn´t have an equivalent in German 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2003, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-expressions-w-no-eq-translation/151513/42 "2003-01-30T22:16:55Z")
Let’s not forget all ‘false friends’. I will try to illustrate this. The following two phrases mean exactly the same in Swedish and English: Shall we go to my room Skall vi gå till mitt rum Me thinks that even readers with no further knowledge of Swedish, than a certain character of the Muppet Show, will see the similarities. The letter ‘å’ is pronounced in the same way as o in _go_. So now we come to the word eventually. In Swedish, _eventuell_ translates as ‘maybe’ or ‘perhaps’. With languages of the same roots, and quite a few words in common, this is just one example where it’s easy to trip up. BTW - where did all the other Swedish guys pop up from? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Badtz\_Maru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@Badtz\_Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Badtz_Maru)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2003, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-expressions-w-no-eq-translation/151513/43 "2003-01-30T22:25:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by universe.zip \* > My favourite example of a concept that absolutely doesn´t exist in German (haven´t thought about English - but I can´t think of an equivalent now either) is the Spanish “cariño” (as an emotion, different from “amor”). “Te tengo mucho cariño” means more than “I like you”, but doesn´t necessarily mean “I love you”. You feel cariño for the person you love, of course, but you can also feel it for a very good friend, or a family member. It can be the love of a mother, or the love between good friends, but it isn´t the romantic love you feel for your SO. Does English have a word for this? If it does, well, then there´s another one that doesn´t have an equivalent in German 🙂 \*\* I think an English equivalent would be ‘care’ as in ‘I care about you’. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2003, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-expressions-w-no-eq-translation/151513/44 "2003-01-30T22:25:28Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by universe.zip \* > [B\ is the Spanish “cariño” (as an emotion, different from “amor”). “Te tengo mucho cariño” means more than “I like you”, but doesn´t necessarily mean “I love you”.\_\* Easy. Darling. _Cariño_ is mostly used as a form of endearment: _¡Date prisa, cariño!_ translates to ‘Hurry up, darling!’ In three years of living there, with a Spanish woman, who’s also a Spanish teacher, I never heard her address her mother or sister that way. ---
**Author:** ![Suspenderzzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@Suspenderzzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suspenderzzz)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2003, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-expressions-w-no-eq-translation/151513/45 "2003-01-30T22:33:08Z")
Tellingly, the German language has no equivalent for the reviled (IMHO) expression “paycheck to paycheck”. (There are good reasons for that, but that’s getting off onto another subject.) ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2003, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-expressions-w-no-eq-translation/151513/46 "2003-01-30T22:43:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by universe.zip \* > Russian has two different words for “blue” (the colour). Totally different. The Russian language doesn´t see sky-blue and dark blue as two shades of the same colour. (Correct me if I´m wrong, Russian speakers - it´s been a while.) Correct. Plus, just to make life even more interesting, the phoeneme for “light blue” in Russian is also slang for “gay,” as in “homosexual.” (At least it was as of a few years ago; AFAIK that’s still the case, at least among my Russian-speaking friends here in the U.S.) ---
**Author:** ![universe.zip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/a9adbd/32.png) [@universe.zip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/universe.zip)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2003, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-expressions-w-no-eq-translation/151513/47 "2003-01-30T23:00:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by The Gaspode \* > \*\*Easy. Darling. > > _Cariño_ is mostly used as a form of endearment: _¡Date prisa, cariño!_ translates to ‘Hurry up, darling!’ \*\* The way you use it, you´re absolutely right. If you address a person with “cariño”, it means darling, my love, etc. And you wouldn´t say that to your mother, though a mother might say that to her little daughter. But the word has a second meaning, it´s an emotion. You can feel it towards someone. I´ve heard “te tengo mucho cariño” or “siento cariño por tí” from (female and male) friends who are very dear to me, female and male. You can say “te tengo cariño pero no te quiero” - which basically is the dreaded phrase “I love you as a friend, but I don´t really love you” 🙂 Or “te estoy cogiendo cariño” (yes, I am aware of the double meaning… you wouldn´t say that in Mexico, I suppose 😉 ) means something like “I´m starting to really like you” or “You´re starting to become a very important person for me”. **Badtz Maru** , “I care for you” goes in the same direction but is to weak IMO. “You are very dear to me” or “I like you very much” would be more appropriate, I think, but still… I can´t think of an expression that would convey that really deep feeling without romantic intentions. ---
**Author:** ![Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harvey_The_Heavy)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2003, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-expressions-w-no-eq-translation/151513/48 "2003-01-30T23:33:02Z")
> [@](#): > > My favourite example of a concept that absolutely doesn´t exist in German (haven´t thought about English - but I can´t think of an equivalent now either) is the Spanish “cariño” (as an emotion, different from “amor”). “Te tengo mucho cariño” means more than “I like you”, but doesn´t necessarily mean “I love you”. You feel cariño for the person you love, of course, but you can also feel it for a very good friend, or a family member. It can be the love of a mother, or the love between good friends, but it isn´t the romantic love you feel for your SO. Does English have a word for this? If it does, well, then there´s another one that doesn´t have an equivalent in German Sounds like _adore_ in English. Would sports terms like “Home Run” and “Struck Out” mean anything in other laguages (except perhaps in Japanese)? ---
**Author:** ![Einmon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Einmon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Einmon)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2003, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-expressions-w-no-eq-translation/151513/49 "2003-02-01T19:46:49Z")
**dorkusmalorkusmafia** No, _assimilation_ does not quite hit the point IMHO… As **universe.zip** quite correctly pointed out, I meant “to fit into a certain background”. I was really convinced the word existed in that sense in German, too. I even had several heated discussions with my friends and tried to convince them, too, that it did not only exist for film/music etc., but that you could use it in the aforementioned sense. I sometimes still use it, as now everybody knows what I mean 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Iteki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/eada6e/32.png) [@Iteki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iteki)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2003, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-expressions-w-no-eq-translation/151513/50 "2003-02-01T20:10:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by The Gaspode \* > \*\*Let’s not forget all ‘false friends’. I will try to illustrate this. The following two phrases mean exactly the same in Swedish and English: > > Shall we go to my room > Skall vi gå till mitt rum > \*\* Even falser friends of “direct translation” are: Knappa upp min blus. Button up my blouse. The swedish phrase, while directly translated, means the exact opposite of the english one. This has no doubt led to the end of many budding relationships (with her saying open my shirt, and him sadly closing it back up). 😃 ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2003, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-expressions-w-no-eq-translation/151513/51 "2003-02-02T00:03:58Z")
Another Spanish word is “estrenar” which means to use for the first time. “Estrenar unos zapatos” means to use a pair of shoes for the first time. The word has connotations which cannot be conveyed in English without writing a couple of paragraps. Spanish then does not have the distinction between home and house. To say “I am going home” you say “I am going to my house”. There is a rather awkward word for home as in “place where the family unit gathers” and it is the equivalent of hearth or fire. Medieval census counted “fires” rather than people and the word has carried over to mean home but it is very stilted and seldom used except in TV commercials. ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2003, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-expressions-w-no-eq-translation/151513/52 "2003-02-03T04:09:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by sailor \* > \*\*Another Spanish word is “estrenar” which means to use for the first time. \*\* Since my Spanish sucks, I assume that this word is the same as Portuguese “estrear.” I agree that we don’t have a perfect match for it, but I can live without that word. Perhaps in Spanish, it has some subtle connotations that speak volumes. I simply hear it in the sense you described (e.g. the missus saying “Vou estrear meu vestido novo!”). Oh and **sailor** , I’m curious, what’s the bogus Spanish “home” word? There is a word that is quite commonly used in Portuguese that would be useful in English: _saudades_. It is used as such: “Estou com saudades de você,” meaning “I miss you.” Unfortunately, this doesn’t really capture the full meaning. The word implies an emptiness in your heart that results from the absence of a person close to you. As far as the similarity traps go, my favorite has always been the word that sounds like “embarrassed” in Spanish and Portuguese. In Portuguese, “embaraçada” means entangled or embarrassed. The unfortunate Brazilian who is speaking Spanish, where almost all of the words are the same, soon finds out that “embarazada” means _pregnant_. Oops! ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2003, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-expressions-w-no-eq-translation/151513/53 "2003-02-03T06:48:01Z")
**minor7flat5** : Well, if a man is saying he’s so knocked up, I guess the audience would be able to tell what’s what from context, if only because they can empathize with the poor sap. 😃 Hm. This seems to be turning into a thread about the opposite of what the OP asked: Instead of swapping words that English has a hold on, the foreign-language Dopers are listing words and phrases that English has yet to assimilate. 😉 What a contretemps, to have all of these compadres swapping shibboleths while us monolingual mensch must trek through a veritable Sahara of lingo and idiom. (We are English. Your (tongue/idiom/lingo/dialect/language/lingua franca) will be (assimilated/subsumed/merged) with our own. Resistance is (futile/pointless/meaningless/hopeless/impossible). La CDs and der Fone are OK!) ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2003, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-expressions-w-no-eq-translation/151513/54 "2003-02-03T08:12:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by TheLoadedDog \* > \*\*“Naff” a little similar to the Australian “daggy”. “Naff” can mean goofy, unfashionable, silly, cheesy, awkward… Actually, it _is_ hard to explain exactly. > > Anything from an 80s haircut to a poorly done, garishly coloured modification to a “riceboy” car could be described as naff. \*\* As I’ve no idea what “daggy,” nor what an english 80s haircut, nor a “riceboy” is… that might be the least helpful definition I’ve ever read. ---
**Author:** ![universe.zip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/a9adbd/32.png) [@universe.zip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/universe.zip)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2003, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-expressions-w-no-eq-translation/151513/55 "2003-02-03T16:49:43Z")
two for the party people: 😃 _binge-drinking_ - can´t think of a German or Spanish equivalent that would have all the connotations. What about other languages? and my favourite Spanish word: _botellón_. (This may be restricted to Spain in use, and it´s rather new there - any Latin American dopers know it?) lit. translation “big bottle”, but meaning: a group of (young) people drinking noisily in the street or in a public park. definitely more connotations than just “public drinking” btw, **minor7flat5** - you can also _estrenar_ a new bed… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![ioioio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ioioio/32/316_2.png) [@ioioio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ioioio)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2003, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-expressions-w-no-eq-translation/151513/56 "2003-02-03T18:12:49Z")
Chinese and Japanese co-workers have expressed amusement at the phrase “get lost”. “How can one _get_ lost?” they ask. I don’t know how the phrase fares in non-oriental non-English languages. ---
**Author:** ![Amethyst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/919ad9/32.png) [@Amethyst](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amethyst)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2003, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-expressions-w-no-eq-translation/151513/57 "2003-02-03T20:27:44Z")
I remember visiting my relatives in Italy in 1979 and ‘You light up my life’ came on the radio. My cousin turned to me and said “Cose? La luce?” … she didn’t understand why they were singing about a light. During the same visit, the song ‘Le Freak’ was on the radio. She thought they were singing about Africa ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2003, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-expressions-w-no-eq-translation/151513/58 "2003-02-03T20:44:47Z")
_Binge-drinking_…the closest in Czech would be _parba_: a bender or a big party. Not exact, though. Bizzarely, there’s a word in Czech that has almost all the various English meanings of “to bullshit”-_ketcat_. Depending on how it’s used, it can mean to talk aimlessly about trivial matters for enjoyment, to kid someone, to be out and out lying, etc. etc. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2003, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-expressions-w-no-eq-translation/151513/59 "2003-02-04T15:43:58Z")
I finally remeber what I wanted tocontribute to this thread: about a week ago we were trying to find a translation for the English “patch”, as in “decorative embroidered pieces of fabric that are applied to the outside of clothing, and also sometimes used to repair holes.” We couldn’t find a precise translation in Esperranto, French _or_ German. ---
**Author:** ![universe.zip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/a9adbd/32.png) [@universe.zip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/universe.zip)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2003, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-expressions-w-no-eq-translation/151513/60 "2003-02-04T17:59:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sunspace \* > \*\*“patch”, as in “decorative embroidered pieces of fabric that are applied to the outside of clothing, and also sometimes used to repair holes.” We couldn’t find a precise translation in Esperranto, French _or_ German. \*\* German distinguishes the two uses of a patch - if it´s decorative, it´s an “Aufnäher”, if it´s for fixing a hole (eg. those leather patches at the elbows), it´s “Flicken” (or “Flecken”, older). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-expressions-w-no-eq-translation/151513.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-expressions-w-no-eq-translation/151513.md?page=4)