# 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:** 5
**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 2, 2010, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-are-difficult-to-translate/558957/81 "2010-11-02T12:17:31Z")
I thought of another English word that is difficult to explain, because it has so many different meanings: the verb “get”. Again, this dates back to when I was studying in Quebec, and one of my québécoise roommates who was studying English asked me to explain the word. It quickly became difficult to explain. I’d never thought of it before, but it’s a verb with an awful lot of meanings: - It can mean “to have” (“I’v got my iPad with me.”) - It can mean “to understand.” (“By George, I’ve got it!”) - It can be used as an affirmative: (“You’ll be home at 9 pm, understood?” “Got it.”) - It can be a command/imperative (“Get out!”). - Per Elaine on Seinfeld, it can be an idiom for “you’re not serious” or “Really!” (that same “Get out!”). - It can be an intensifier: “Let’s get going”. - It can mean an obligation: “I’ve got to do my homework.” - It can be an auxillary verb, to mean things like “finish”: “I’ll get it done”. - It can be used in the same sentence in different meanings: “I’ve got [obligation] to get [do] my homework done.” Not that all of those different meanings can’t be translated, but that it’s a hard word because it has so many different meanings. It may be that this is a difference between Romance languages and Germanic ones, because I think I read once that German does have a cognate for “get” that has a similar range of meanings. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-are-difficult-to-translate/558957/82 "2010-11-02T12:25:11Z")
> [@nani](#): > > I recently had to translate the word “fluffer” for a foreign friend of mine. That took a few sentences. If your friend comes from a country with a porn industry, there will surely be a word or short phrase in his language that means the same thing. You, personally, might not know the word, but it exists. Finding out the word may require consultation with someone in the industry. ---
**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 2, 2010, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-are-difficult-to-translate/558957/83 "2010-11-02T13:00:42Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > I have never encountered “esperar por” meaning “to look forward to”, just “esperar”. If you want to emphasize that you’re awaiting it eagerly, instead of just waiting for it, you use appropriate adverbs: > > Espero las Navidades con muchas ganas: I’m really looking forward to Christmas. > Espero las Navidades con ansiedad: I’m looking forward to Christmas, but I’m also nervous about them - family drama for the lose. > Esperaremos a las Navidades para darle el regalo: we’re not giving him the present until Christmas. Thanks, Nava, that fits my experience much better than what robert\_andrews claimed. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-are-difficult-to-translate/558957/84 "2010-11-02T13:04:30Z")
> [@smileybastard](#): > > Well Yes and no are hard to translate into Chinese, but I think that has more to do with Chinese. Irish and Scottish Gaelic have no word for “yes” or “no”. Of course, since most, if not all, Gaelic speakers these days are bilingual they are familiar with the English word. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-are-difficult-to-translate/558957/85 "2010-11-02T13:24:18Z")
> [@Noel\_Prosequi](#): > > 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.) Seems to me that this is far more about cricket culture than English language, having to do with how much of the rules are unwritten, and how breaking those unwritten rules is perceived. So I think how easy it is for any person to understand would have far less to do with their native language and far more to do with their native sports culture. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-are-difficult-to-translate/558957/86 "2010-11-02T13:33:45Z")
> [@Blake](#): > > But that’s not a translation by the sound of it. If you need to distinguish a cowherd from a cowboy then the word doesn’t mean cowboy, it means cowherd. Cowboy has a very specific meaning, encompassing someone working in remote areas, living rough, indepedent, physically strong, works mostly on horseback, undertakes branding and castration and so forth. A cowherd could be a 90 year old woman who can hardly walk who goes home to her house every single night or a 10 year old child, and that alone shows that the words aren’t equivalent. > > Note that the Australian “stockman” and the Argentinian “gaucho” are near perfect translations of cowboy, aside from nationality of course. So it’s not like the word can’t be translated at all. The only reason you may need to specify it is because “vaquero” has come to mean “cowboy” in 99% of cases. You know, sort of like we say “indio del Oeste” and “indio de la India”, with my apologies to **Anaamika** ; two different meanings, same word; or like we use additional words to differentiate “wait” from “await”. If you say vaquero, it means cowboy unless otherwise specified (and it’s more likely to mean “gunman-with-a-colt” than “cowherd”). And a 90yo grandmother from Soria is a lot more likely to undertake branding and castration (although admittedly of pigs) than a movie cowboy… > [@Kobal2](#): > > On the upside, it was fun to do in a puzzle sort of way, and I learned quite a bit of ancient, medieval or quaint vocab in the process of navigating around the issue. On the downside, I doubt the majority of players know what half of the words we ended up using actually mean, or even realize they’re not made-up words 😕 A friend was chucking about how “some moron called a piece of armor a ‘quijote’ in the Spanish version of WoW”. “Oh”, say I, “would that be some sort of heavy-armor leggings?” “😕 Uh, actually, yes” “Guess where did Don Alonso Quijano pick his nom-de-guerre” “:smack: D’oh!” ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-are-difficult-to-translate/558957/87 "2010-11-02T14:50:51Z")
This Wikipedia entry contains lots of examples of the various ways that languages do or do not use words for “yes” and “no”: > **[Yes and no](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yes_and_no)** > > Yes and no, or similar word pairs, are expressions of the affirmative and the negative, respectively, in several languages, including English. Some languages make a distinction between answers to affirmative versus negative questions and may have three-form or four-form systems. English originally used a four-form system up to and including Early Middle English and Modern English has reduced to a two-form system consisting of yes and no. It exists in many facets of communication, such as: eye bl... There’s a link at the bottom of the article to the entry for “untranslatability” which discusses many of the issues brought up in this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-are-difficult-to-translate/558957/88 "2010-11-02T15:18:30Z")
> [@amanset](#): > > Similarly Swedes often struggle and use the word ‘funny’ instead. But that is because we have one word that covers both meanings (and means _peaceful, calm_ in Danish and Norwegian). ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-are-difficult-to-translate/558957/89 "2010-11-02T16:16:12Z")
> [@amanset](#): > > 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. I have never heard of “cowboy” being used in that manner, so I’m going to say “no”. It does, however, make me think that the phrase “cowboy diplomacy” could be easily misunderstood. Though I think the most recent President Bush could fall under either possible meaning of the phrase. ---
**Author:** ![TNWPsycho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/47e85d/32.png) [@TNWPsycho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TNWPsycho)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-are-difficult-to-translate/558957/90 "2010-11-02T16:37:55Z")
Hmong doesnt really have any words for “that, am, and,” and a few other small English words. Since i’ve been with a hmong girl for over a year and know quite a bit of Hmong i can speak with her parents and stuff. I always add in an English “and” or “that” which im sure only confuses them 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Bytegeist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@Bytegeist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bytegeist)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-are-difficult-to-translate/558957/91 "2010-11-02T19:17:35Z")
> [@Bytegeist](#): > > How do the Chinese reply to simple yes/no questions? > [@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. Sensible enough. I’m trying to think of cases where that convention would break down, say when there is no “main” verb handy, but those cases might be pretty contrived. Still, let’s have a go. I ask you in English, “Did you write to or talk to your professor?”, and I intend it as a yes/no question. That is, I just want to know whether you took **either** action. As long as you did one of them, I don’t care which it is. So, valid replies include “yes” and “no”, and might in fact be all I want. This might also be how you’d prefer to answer the question, if you want to be coy and reveal as little information as possible. Now let’s look at this little interaction in Chinese. (Or Japanese, or Latin, or the like.) Is there a concise way a Chinese responder could say “One of your verbs applies, but I’m not saying which”, corresponding to “yes”, or “None of them apply”, corresponding to “no”? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-are-difficult-to-translate/558957/92 "2010-11-02T20:10:31Z")
> [@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. There are many ways in Latin of simply affirming or denying in response to a yes/no question without referring back to a pivotal word in the question, but nothing like a simple dyad like yes/no. Traupman cites a case in which an interlocutor asks for a response of either _sīc_ or _minimē_, but generally you repeat a word from the question or use one of a whole slew of contentless affirmations or denials. There is no one pair of words that is understood to be the essence all affirmations and denials. ---
**Author:** ![Neur0mancer\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/46a35a/32.png) [@Neur0mancer\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neur0mancer_1)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-are-difficult-to-translate/558957/93 "2010-11-02T20:22:14Z")
> [@ramel](#): > > I’ve just been reading this [Ten Most Difficult Words in the World to Translate - ALTA Language Services](http://www.altalang.com/beyond-words/2008/10/12/ten-most-difficult-words-to-translate/) list of foreign words that are most difficult to translate into English. Then I started wondering if there are any words in English that we all use, but which have no equivalent in a foreign language or require a lot of effort to translate. > > Does anybody know any examples? The word “privacy” is extremely difficult to translate into Russian. It’s easy to explain “secrecy”, “ownership”, “isolation”… but hard to get the whole notion of privacy across, even with multiple sentences. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-are-difficult-to-translate/558957/94 "2010-11-02T21:06:21Z")
> [@Blake](#): > > But that’s not a translation by the sound of it. If you need to distinguish a cowherd from a cowboy then the word doesn’t mean cowboy, it means cowherd. Funnily enough, our word _buckaroo_, which is just a more colorful way of referring to the same concept as _cowboy_, is an Anglicization of the Spanish _vaquero_. So, though the Spanish word may refer simply to the occupation, it comes into English as an even more romantic term for an already romanticized archetype (whose referents often don’t deal with cattle at all). ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-are-difficult-to-translate/558957/95 "2010-11-02T21:28:40Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > 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. You can say that something is “litchno”(“personal”). It doesn’t mean quite the same thing to me, but I guess it would have the same effect. If you asked me for someone’s private medical information, I could say “tova e _litchna_\* informatzia! Gledai si rabota!” (“That’s personal information! Mind your own business!”) But yeah, it isn’t exactly the same thing. \*feminine form to match the noun. ---
**Author:** ![Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hypnagogic_jerk/32/4252_2.png) [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypnagogic_Jerk)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-are-difficult-to-translate/558957/96 "2010-11-02T21:32:14Z")
> [@AutumnLeaves](#): > > \*Noix \*means walnut, but sometimes that just means nut. Got it? 😛 I guess the best way to describe it is that walnut is the default nut, and other things are a varations of that. To me _noix_ means any kind of nut (or shelled fruit, as **Kobal2** points out); if you want me to think walnut you have to specify _noix de Grenoble_. Once again this may be usage variation between different French-speaking countries. > [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > I’m not pretending to say I’m familiar with all other constitutional systems, so there may be countries where the Legislature doesn’t have a say in the appropriation of public funds - however, I have to say I’m sceptical of the concept. So am I; it seems to me that the idea that the monarch may not spend the realm’s funds only according to his will is one of the first constitutional checks and balances to appear in a system as it moves away from absolutism. > [@Kobal2](#): > > My stab at it : “Le sexe c’est sympa et le plaisir ça fait du bien”. Could work, but “sympa” is an especially franco-French term which may not work for **matt\_mcl** ’s purposes. This said, I’m wondering whose slogan this is. > [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > When I asked francophone students about it, the standard answer was something along the lines: " ‘Fair play’ doesn’t translate. It’s more than just following the rules." Now that I think about it, I’m not sure how I would translate “fair play” into French. The _Trésor_ does have an entry for [fair-play](http://www.cnrtl.fr/definition/fair-play) (it recognizes both the hyphenated and unhyphenated forms) with a remark that its place in the French language is controversial. > [@glowacks](#): > > Potatoes being called “pomme de terre” in French has always greatly amused me. _Patate_ is also correct. > [@](#): > > 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? “Chauve-souris” literally means “bald mouse”, not rat. ---
**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-are-difficult-to-translate/558957/97 "2010-11-03T00:18:13Z")
> [@Bytegeist](#): > > (Or Japanese, or Latin, or the like.) Is there a concise way a Chinese responder could say “One of your verbs applies, but I’m not saying which”, corresponding to “yes”, or “None of them apply”, corresponding to “no”? I don’t speak Japanese well, but I can imagine (on the “no” side) a speaker saying “違います” (literally, “you are making a mistake”, but commonly used to mean “no”), or more colourfully “それじゃないよ”, meaning “no way!” Or “まだ” meaning “not yet”. ---
**Author:** ![tellyworth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/977dab/32.png) [@tellyworth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tellyworth)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-are-difficult-to-translate/558957/98 "2010-11-03T01:02:22Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > It’s because Indians (from India) have a reputation for being shoddy workmen; this is wrong and racist stereotype. A poorly installed fusebox was described as “It looks like it was put in by Indians” as[the D of E put it](http://www.hypersyl.com/forums/topic/906-prince-philip-the-duke-of-edinburgh-racist-bastard-or-comic-genius/). And the British sense of humour being what it is, Indians quickly becomes cowboys. Counter to this: “cowboy” is fairly common in Australian English to refer to careless workmen. “Indian” is not. I’d guess this use of cowboy comes from the sense of lawlessness and lack of command. Re the earlier claim about cowboy being unique to American English, Australian English has three words that have the same or similar meaning: stockman, drover, and bushranger. The last is specific to an outlaw, so I guess a subset of cowboy. ---
**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 3, 2010, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-are-difficult-to-translate/558957/99 "2010-11-03T01:46:22Z")
> [@Bytegeist](#): > > Sensible enough. I’m trying to think of cases where that convention would break down, say when there is no “main” verb handy, but those cases might be pretty contrived. > > Still, let’s have a go. I ask you in English, “Did you write to or talk to your professor?”, and I intend it as a yes/no question. That is, I just want to know whether you took **either** action. As long as you did one of them, I don’t care which it is. So, valid replies include “yes” and “no”, and might in fact be all I want. This might also be how you’d prefer to answer the question, if you want to be coy and reveal as little information as possible. > > Now let’s look at this little interaction in Chinese. (Or Japanese, or Latin, or the like.) Is there a concise way a Chinese responder could say “One of your verbs applies, but I’m not saying which”, corresponding to “yes”, or “None of them apply”, corresponding to “no”? Actually, I do find it difficult to literally translate this sentence into Chinese. My Chinese must be rusting away from years of disuse. I have a hard time coming up with a good translation for “write to” and “talk to” as used in the context of this sentence that won’t sound awkward. The best I can do is “Did you contact your professor?” (你聯絡了你的教授嗎？) In Cantonese, probably literally the equivalent of “Did you find your professor?” (你有冇搵你個敎授呀？) (I’m not completely sure if “to find” 找 can be used in this sense in standard Chinese) For your question though, I think depending on how the question is phrased, the equivalent of generic verbs such as “to be”, “to do” and “to have” would cover many cases in general. Other dopers less rusty in Chinese might be able to chime in with other examples. ---
**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 3, 2010, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-are-difficult-to-translate/558957/100 "2010-11-03T05:01:49Z")
> [@Sleel](#): > > Polite fictions are more elaborate. You can’t just say that you’re “busy,” you have to make up some obligation, because simply not wanting to go, or wanting to have some time to yourself are not acceptable reasons. But we have this in English as well. Sure, if you have an acquaintance who invites you somewhere, you can just say “Oh, I’m kinda busy that night,” and if you have a good friend, you can tell them, “Nah, I don’t feel like going out.” But if it’s a relationship in between those, it’s a little bit rude to not give an excuse, don’t you think? > [@Bytegeist](#): > > Still, let’s have a go. I ask you in English, “Did you write to or talk to your professor?”, and I intend it as a yes/no question. That is, I just want to know whether you took **either** action. As long as you did one of them, I don’t care which it is. So, valid replies include “yes” and “no”, and might in fact be all I want. This might also be how you’d prefer to answer the question, if you want to be coy and reveal as little information as possible. > > Now let’s look at this little interaction in Chinese. (Or Japanese, or Latin, or the like.) Is there a concise way a Chinese responder could say “One of your verbs applies, but I’m not saying which”, corresponding to “yes”, or “None of them apply”, corresponding to “no”? > [@hibernicus](#): > > I don’t speak Japanese well, but I can imagine (on the “no” side) a speaker saying “違います” (literally, “you are making a mistake”, but commonly used to mean “no”), or more colourfully “それじゃないよ”, meaning “no way!” Or “まだ” meaning “not yet”. Nitpick **hibernicus** , 違います is literally “it’s different,” it’s 間違います that literally means “you’re making a mistake.” But otherwise your no’s sound good. On the yes side, you could probably answer “Yeah, I did it,” to a question with two verbs if you want to be vague about it. But the question itself would be a little odd. If someone said “Did you write to or talk to your prof?” it would sound like the questioner wants a specific answer. I think it’s more common to ask if you contacted her. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-are-difficult-to-translate/558957.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-are-difficult-to-translate/558957.md?page=6)