Inspired
by a comment by a Listverse contributor on a recent list dealing with
Untranslatable words, I decided to submit my first official Listverse list on
words that represent concepts which are hard to translate from English into
other languages. The fact that there’s hundreds of words that are only found in
English shouldn’t surprise you at all. The Oxford English Dictionary lists over
250,000 distinct words, not including many technical or slang terms, making
English one of the richest languages (if not the richest) in terms of
vocabulary. Below some examples of words that represent a challenge when
attempting translation. Many of them now serve as loanwords to other languages.
10.
Pimp
Before
all our Multilingual folks start complaining, allow me to clarify that I’m referring
to the transitive verb (not the noun): “pimp”, which roughly means “to
decorate” or “to gussy up”. This verb was made popular by T.V shows like: Pimp
My Ride. Although this term was to pay homage to hip-hop culture and its
connection to street culture, it has now entered common, and even mainstream,
commercial use. The Spanish slang “Pompear”, used in a few Latin-American
countries, evolved as a direct derivation with a close meaning.
9. Auto-tuned
We
are all familiar with those unnatural, robot-pitched voices coming out of
singers over the last 10 years or so. So much so that we’ve coined a term for
it (unlike most languages). This adjective describes a “singer” whose off-key
inaccuracies, and out of tune mistakes, have been digitally disguised so that
it appears to perform perfectly. Because it is a relatively new term the
adjective is pretty much untranslatable.
8. Trade-off
This
term describes a situation in which one must lose some quality in exchange for
another quality. It involves a decision in which a person fully understands the
advantages and disadvantages of each choice. The term is particularly difficult
to translate into any language without using over 5 words or explicitly
explaining a scenario
7.
Spam
It
is unlikely that you don’t know the definition of spam, but here it goes
anyway. Spam is the use of electronic messaging systems to send unsolicited
bulk messages indiscriminately. No other language has a single, non-derivate
word for this concept, in fact the word spam itself is in common use in most
languages as a loanword. Spam is, of course, also a term for a canned meat. Delicious.
6. Bromance
Here
is a kind of a retro-term that is no longer in common use. Coined in the 90′s,
this term describes a very intimate but non-sexual relationship between two (or
more) men. In many cultures, including American, Bromance is mistaken for
homosexuality and therefore no other culture has coined a term to describe this
unusual relationship. Although the term can be described in most languages, no
language other than English has a word for it.
5. Facepalm
This
popular term describes the gesture of slapping the palm of one’s hand to the
face, in a show of exasperation. The term is in common use in the English
language, but, surprisingly, no other language seems to have an original term
for this fairly common act.
4. Kitsch
Kitsch
defines any art that is considered an inferior copy of an existing style. The
term is also used in a more free manner when referring to any art that is
pretentious, outdated or in bad taste. With the single exception of German
(from whence it comes to English) the term is untranslatable into any language.
3.
Gobbledygook
This
word is defined as any text containing jargon, or especially convoluted
English, that results in it being excessively hard to understand, or even
incomprehensible. The term was coined in 1944, by former US Representative
Maury Maverick (pictured above). Even for professional literature translators
this word represents a challenge.
2. Serendipity
Serendipity
is any discovery that’s unexpected yet fortunate. You can also call it a lucky
find, coincidence or accident. The word has been voted as one of the ten
English words that were hardest to translate in June 2004, by a British
translation company. However, due to its sociological use, the word has been
exported into many other languages.
1. Googly
A
googly (a term in the game of cricket) is a type of delivery bowled by a
right-arm leg spin bowler. The googly is a major weapon in the arsenal of a leg
spin bowler, and can be one of the bowler’s most effective wicket-taking balls.
It is used infrequently, because its effectiveness comes mostly from its
surprise value. The term is so exclusive to the English language that the
Wikipedia article about is not available in any other language. If it were to
be translated to a language like, perhaps, Spanish the word would come out
like: “Tiro de Cricket curvado hecho por un tirador con la derecha.” or Curved
Cricket shot made by a bowler with its right hand.
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