So I’m reading The Liar’s Tale by Jeremy Campbell and he remarks that, while there is a French word for “dog,” the French have “no proper concept for ‘pet.’” (pg. 267) It reminds me of my brother telling me about a Russian gentleman with whom he worked: His claim was that the Russians have no concept/word for “challenge.”
I am left dumbfounded by these assertions; but, look at the words we don’t have in English. I have read that in Japan some things have “wabi,” that is, they have a flaw that creates an aesthetically pleasing/complete whole. Cindy Crawford’s birthmark gives her wabi, as I understand the word. It certainly explains why beauty contestants, while beautiful, never do it for me; however, runway models, who often seem to have goofy imperfections, send me reeling. They’ve got wabi coming out the wazoo.
Of course English has co-opted many foreign words to fill unsatisfied needs: Gestalt, Zeitgeist, and Schadenfreude being three good examples from the German language. Je ne sais quois and entrepeneur (sp?) are probably good French examples, along with tatonnement and perhaps rapproachement.
So, just for fun & edification, what other untranslatable words & phrases can you think of. Both from another language to English, and from English to another language. Don’t be shy!
Lagom. It’s a Swedish word meaning something like just right. As in ‘lagom varmt’ (just the right heat) or ‘lagom stort’ (just the right size). It’s a very good word and is untranslatable. I even know one English person (a friend of mine’s parent) who named their boat “Lagom” because they like the word so much. It’s kind of difficult to explain exactly how it is used though, because it’s a very versatile word and can be used differently in different contexts.
I nominate mamihlapinatapei, a word from the Fuegian language of Tierra del Fuego, which describes “looking into each other’s eyes, each hoping that the other person will initiate what both want to do but neither chooses to commence”.
The Guinness Book of Records defines this as “the most succint word”, I believe.
I read somewhere about the Russian word razbliuto, which is the feeling you have for someone you used to love but no longer do. That’s a pretty cool word.
Fair Dinkum, Australia. The best I can do is say it is used somewhat like the American expression “no shit”, in that it can be a question about the authenticity of something - “No shit?” = “Fair Dinkum?” almost exactly. It can also be an affirmation of the truth of a statement, and several other meanings.
Best the Aussies come along and define it further.
There’s a great Onion article that translates Canadianisms into “American.” I love the translation of eh? as “that which you have just said, is it not true?”
More seriously, I like cavoli riscaldati, an Italian phrase for any attempt to revive a dead love affair. Literally translated, it comes out as “reheated cabbage.”
And the French esprit d’escalier, for that witty retort that comes a moment too late.
Uff da (which I have no idea how to spell). A Scandinavian word originally, now common in the upper midwest of the U.S., it’s kind of akin to “yikes,” but definitely has more nuance.
Kapsones! A Dutch, but really more of an Amsterdam word. [not in the Dutch-English dictionary]
I miss that so much in English. It means something like ‘big headed’ and living above your means. Eg: Someone constantly remarking about his latest, expensive purchases. : “I just bought my new Ferrari and my wife thinks it doesn’t fit with her new fur coat. Maybe I should buy her that new diamond bracelet, to appease her”.
I don’t have the correct spelling of it, but a friend of mine had a book of words that don’t translate in it, and the one I remember was fisschling or something like that. A german word that meant “screwing something up that you ordinarily wouldn’t, but since somebody’s standing there watching you do it, you screw it up.”
That’s pretty much it Lamar Mundane. A variation on the same theme is to describe something as dinkie di.
I’d say though that it’s used far more frequently in movies, books, television shows etc to portray “stereotypical” Australians than it is in real life. I don’t think I know anyone who actually uses the phrase.
I remember reading somewhere that there is Japanese word meaning something like “the unpleasant feeling of being in debt to someone.” Not “debt” in the strict monetary sense, but in the sense of having been given a gift or a favor that you haven’t yet had the chance to reciprocate. Any Japanese speakers recognize this?
I’ve heard some English speakers use “please” that way, especially in the South. I mean they use “please?” for “pardon me,” in the sense of “could you say that again?”
Something I overheard today, struck me as being made up of apparently normal English words, but meaningless outside computer jargon, and probably untranslatable to other languages was.
“Tar that zipped jar file to tape.”
There is a phrase in Spanish, or at any rate Mexican Spanish: ‘tener ganas de’. When I was an exchange student, all the exchange students in town spontaneously kept the word ‘ganas’ when speaking English to each other, as in:
“Hey, do you have ganas to go downtown and go shopping?”
It means approximately ‘a desire’ but that’s not right. Maybe ‘urge’ or ‘inclination’. But with more oomph.
Gigil (hard “g” sounds, as in “Google,” and the “i”'s both sound like “ee”). I think it’s a noun, but I’m a bit thrown off because of Tagalog (Filipino) grammar. Anyways, it’s that feeling you get when:
You see a kid (or anyone) that’s so cute that you want to pinch/slap them. Yes, we Filipinos can go beyond a simple cheek pinching. Those poor children get hurt.
Someone’s (or something’s) behaviour is getting on your nerves and it’s taking every ounce of energy for you to not do anything.
It may be of interest to note that when this word is pronounced, it is often done with teeth clenched.
Wow, I could contribute so many to this. My Indian mother has a whole series of cryptically complex agricultural methaphorical phrases that I think are meant to express some idea or the other. Or knowing my my mother, inculcate a moral. Anyway, the most mystifying ione s “Baswan the bala” (well, the “the” was added by me but it’s Baswan [short Konkani conjunction] bala) and it translates literally to “where the oxen goes, the tail must follow.” To me it neither makes sense nor is it translatable as an idea into English. Another great one that used to be hurled at us when she’s particular irate was “hizadi” which literally means “eunuch” but the idea she’s trying to convey is completely different (if you’ve seen hijras around Bombay).
