# English words that are difficult to translate. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 31, 2010, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-are-difficult-to-translate/558957 "2010-10-31T05:43:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Gukumatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/74df32/32.png) [@Gukumatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gukumatz)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-are-difficult-to-translate/558957/41 "2010-11-01T00:03:22Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > Its called a “missed call” where I am from. And here’s it’s called a “pager/paging call.” > [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > What about _taxi_. I’ve heard that most languages have no native word for _taxi_, and so they just use the English word. Likewise \*OK \*has entered many foreign languages, with no native equivalent, making it the worlds most widespread word. That’s interesting. Norwegian does - “drosje” - but we use that and taxi interchangeably. (And I’d argue that the Danish word “hyggelig” - which is also in Norwegian - can be adequately translated with “nice.”) ---
**Author:** ![Bytegeist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@Bytegeist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bytegeist)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-are-difficult-to-translate/558957/42 "2010-11-01T00:32:04Z")
> [@smileybastard](#): > > Well Yes and no are hard to translate into Chinese, but I think that has more to do with Chinese. All right, you’ve got me curious. How do the Chinese reply to simple yes/no questions? ---
**Author:** ![Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiendish_astronaut/32/3295_2.png) [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-are-difficult-to-translate/558957/43 "2010-11-01T00:41:57Z")
I’ll bet you nobody can find a word for a baby kangaroo in any other language except English. (It’s a “Joey” BTW) ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-are-difficult-to-translate/558957/44 "2010-11-01T00:43:06Z")
Perhaps. But I’ll bet you very few languages take very long to say “baby kangaroo” all the same. Who cares if it’s one word or a few? ---
**Author:** ![Waffle\_Decider](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/77aa72/32.png) [@Waffle\_Decider](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waffle_Decider)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-are-difficult-to-translate/558957/45 "2010-11-01T01:19:48Z")
> [@Bytegeist](#): > > All right, you’ve got me curious. How do the Chinese reply to simple yes/no questions? You repeat the main verb. It goes something like this: Q: 你吃了飯沒有？(Have you eaten yet?) A: 吃過了． (Have eaten.) or A: 還沒有吃. (Have not eaten) I believe Latin is similar as well. ---
**Author:** ![robcaro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@robcaro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robcaro)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-are-difficult-to-translate/558957/46 "2010-11-01T01:22:58Z")
Sometimes I watch English language movies with Spanish subtitles. Well, very often, the translation is not accurate. They translate something entirely different than what is said. Sometimes very funny. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-are-difficult-to-translate/558957/47 "2010-11-01T01:27:13Z")
> [@Bytegeist](#): > > All right, you’ve got me curious. How do the Chinese reply to simple yes/no questions? (Since no-one else has answered you yet) I think this came up on SD before. That answering a direct question with “no” is considered very rude (perhaps in cantonese/madarin the equivalent of “no” is actually something more like “refused” or “incorrect”). ETA: I see someone that actually knows something about the Chinese has already answered 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-are-difficult-to-translate/558957/48 "2010-11-01T01:42:28Z")
> [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](#): > > I’ll bet you nobody can find a word for a baby kangaroo in any other language except English. > > (It’s a “Joey” BTW) Not even in any Australian aboriginal languages? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-are-difficult-to-translate/558957/49 "2010-11-01T01:44:32Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > … > Here’s my contribution – a common phrase, not a word: _to look forward to_. There is no precisely equivalent phrase or word in Spanish. You can _anticipate_, but that lacks emotional content. I’ve sometimes resorted to circumlocutions like _think about an event which will happen in the future while feeling some happiness about the prospect of that event…_. Um, what about esperar? “Espero por la navidad.” “I’m looking forward to Christmas.” ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-are-difficult-to-translate/558957/50 "2010-11-01T01:45:47Z")
> [@Waffle\_Decider](#): > > You repeat the main verb. It goes something like this: > > Q: 你吃了飯沒有？(Have you eaten yet?) > A: 吃過了． (Have eaten.) or > A: 還沒有吃. (Have not eaten) > > I believe Latin is similar as well. Irish too. ---
**Author:** ![BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bcef8e/32.png) [@BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-are-difficult-to-translate/558957/51 "2010-11-01T01:49:53Z")
> [@Waffle\_Decider](#): > > You repeat the main verb. It goes something like this: > > Q: 你吃了飯沒有?(Have you eaten yet?) > A: 吃過了. (Have eaten.) or > A: 還沒有吃. (Have not eaten) > > I believe Latin is similar as well. That’s how it works in Japanese as well. There are words for yes and no, but you don’t hear them as much as repeating the verb. In fact, translating hai as yes can be misleading sometimes, because one of the acceptable words for saying “I’m listening to you while you talk” is hai. So while you might think the person is agreeing with you, in reality it’s just showing that you’re being understood. I guess English works like this to a certain extent, in that you can say yes to someone while you listen and not necessarily be agreeing, but you have to think about all the meanings of “yes” before this becomes clear. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-are-difficult-to-translate/558957/52 "2010-11-01T02:14:31Z")
> [@robert\_andrews](#): > > Um, what about esperar? > > “Espero por la navidad.” > > “I’m looking forward to Christmas.” Ignorance fought – thank you! In the parts of Mexico where I lived for several years, no one ever came up with this phrase when I tried to explain to them what _looking forward to something_ meant. _Espero **por** _…very interesting. May I ask in what part of the Spanish-speaking world you have heard that this is used? ---
**Author:** ![glowacks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/glowacks/32/5548_2.png) [@glowacks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glowacks)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-are-difficult-to-translate/558957/53 "2010-11-01T03:12:50Z")
> [@BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](#): > > That’s how it works in Japanese as well. There are words for yes and no, but you don’t hear them as much as repeating the verb. In fact, translating hai as yes can be misleading sometimes, because one of the acceptable words for saying “I’m listening to you while you talk” is hai. So while you might think the person is agreeing with you, in reality it’s just showing that you’re being understood. > > I guess English works like this to a certain extent, in that you can say yes to someone while you listen and not necessarily be agreeing, but you have to think about all the meanings of “yes” before this becomes clear. I definitely remember that there were various ways that “hai” was translated in Spirited Away. While I am not aware of much Japanese, it was readily apparent what the word meant from context and that there is no set phrase in English that expresses the word that works in every context. However, I don’t think it’s “untranslatable” - it just depends heavily on context. – It’s fairly standard that there is no specific word for “yes” in Latin, and is the reason why Romance languages have such varied words for it. “Oui” comes from “ille” (that), I’m assuming through a process similar to how “grenouille” came to be pronounced. To me at least, those words rhyme or are very close. Spanish “Si” comes from “sic” (thus). Occitan is named after its word for yes, “oc” which is derived from “hoc” (this). Thus apparently the fashion was in Latin to use one of those words to indicate agreement, and it caught on differently in different areas. The fact that a word for “yes” doesn’t exist in other languages too makes me feel as though the existence of the word “yes” is not nearly as fundamental to a language as it feels to us. – In general, languages generally will not have words for flora and fauna completely unlike those in the area the language developed, and will have to either use the local words or use some sort of long descriptions. Potatoes being called “pomme de terre” in French has always greatly amused me. I also recall that French has the word for “rat” in its word for “bat” (the flying mammal), and Google tells me it’s “chauve-souris” or “bald rat”; is it just a coincidence that the English words rhyme? ---
**Author:** ![Noel\_Prosequi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b19c9b/32.png) [@Noel\_Prosequi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noel_Prosequi)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-are-difficult-to-translate/558957/54 "2010-11-01T04:21:32Z")
The concept of “fair” noted by **Northern Piper** is something I was going to chime in with. This is a word whose meaning is so derived from culture that absent the culture it is extremely hard to explain. Why was it “unfair” of Greg Chappell to instruct his bowler to bowl underarm in the last ball of the game when underarm bowling was quite legal? (If you don’t understand this cricket reference, ask any New Zealander. And enjoy the subsequent tirade.) Moving on, my suggestion of a word that is not translatable without enormous explanation and glossing - “truthiness”. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-are-difficult-to-translate/558957/55 "2010-11-01T04:24:28Z")
The whole thread about women being “the fairer sex” is just full of linguistic minefields. Fairer meaning paler? More attractive? Versus foul? Winds? What? ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-are-difficult-to-translate/558957/56 "2010-11-01T04:43:12Z")
Bulgarian doesn’t have words for “privacy” or “cheese”. For “privacy”, you can say “litchno prostranstvo”, which literally means “personal space”, but it doesn’t really convey what privacy really means to me. There are only two kinds of cheese widely available in Bulgaria, cirene (which is like feta) and kashkaval (a mild yellow cheese). If you want to talk about cheese in general, there isn’t really a good word. I’ve heard “cirene” used for this purpose, but…cheddar isn’t cirene. It doesn’t convey the concept of cheese. I once tried to explain to my counterpart about “homesickness”. She didn’t get it. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-are-difficult-to-translate/558957/57 "2010-11-01T04:56:08Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > Bulgarian doesn’t have words for “privacy” or “cheese”. So… no Bulgarian could ever possibly comprehend the subtleties of [“The Farmer in the Dell”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Farmer_in_the_Dell)? The implications this has on relating to certain Presidential Administrations is staggering. > [@](#): > > For “privacy”, you can say “litchno prostranstvo”, which literally means “personal space”, but it doesn’t really convey what privacy really means to me. It seems any Western culture would also need a concept of private _information_, if only to satisfy both Western cultural taboos and Western standards of basic healthcare. (In short, there have to be Bulgarian proctologists.) _That_ is a lot of what privacy means. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-are-difficult-to-translate/558957/58 "2010-11-01T07:05:36Z")
> [@Palo\_Verde](#): > > It’s hard to translate the word ‘fun’ into Polish. The closest they have means more like ‘enjoyment.’ I tried to tell people that fun is a more lighthearted enjoyment, more exciting than just plain enjoyment. > > “That roller coaster ride was so enjoyable” No, it was FUN! Similarly Swedes often struggle and use the word ‘funny’ instead. I have had many an exchange like this: - Did you enjoy last night? - Yes, it was funny. - Huh? ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-are-difficult-to-translate/558957/59 "2010-11-01T07:08:41Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > How about the simple word “cowboy” ? > It’s unique to American English. > Sure, most languages have words or short phrases that mean “a farmer who raises cows”. > > But I’d bet in no other language does the word include the American essence: the wild-west , the open range, and above all: pride and freedom. > Remember the old cigarette ads for the Marlborough Man? “Cowboy” describes him perfectly and says it all. > Can any other language pack all that imagery into one word? Do Americans ever use it in the way Brits do: a cowboy job is one that is done very poorly by someone that clearly had no idea what he is doing? A cowboy being someone that would perform such a cowboy job. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-are-difficult-to-translate/558957/60 "2010-11-01T07:45:39Z")
> [@glowacks](#): > > It’s fairly standard that there is no specific word for “yes” in Latin, and is the reason why Romance languages have such varied words for it. “Oui” comes from “ille” (that), I’m assuming through a process similar to how “grenouille” came to be pronounced. To me at least, those words rhyme or are very close. Spanish “Si” comes from “sic” (thus). Occitan is named after its word for yes, “oc” which is derived from “hoc” (this). Thus apparently the fashion was in Latin to use one of those words to indicate agreement, and it caught on differently in different areas. That’s fascinating. Thank you. It also lets me mention a wonderful French word which has no equivalent in English : _si_. The French \*si \*essentially means “Yes, and you’re wrong” all in one word. Not only is it a great word to be terse with, it provides a good answer to questions in the form of “Don’t you like X ?” which in English are a bit confusing semantically. If I answer yes, does it mean I do like X, or that I agree that I don’t ?! Whelp, with _si_, no ambiguity. “Yes, I like X and thinking I don’t is wrong”. Children love it too. “Did not !” “Did too !” becomes a string of rapid fire “Non !” “Si !” 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-are-difficult-to-translate/558957.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-are-difficult-to-translate/558957.md?page=4)