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johnslat · Posted: Mon Jun 28, 2004 10:28 pm Post subject: Lost in Translation

I just received this via e-mail:

"THE MOST UNTRANSLATABLE WORD IN THE WORLD

IN WORLDWIDE POLL OF PROFESSIONAL TRANSLATORS

And the winner is ilunga

A word In the Bantu language of Tshiluba for:

A person ready to forgive any abuse for the first time; to tolerate it a second time; but never a third time

"Googly, spam and gobbledegook" are most the untranslatable words in English.

�There is no such word as googly in Lithuanian", confesses researcher

Googly, spam and gobbledegook have been voted among the most untranslatable words in the English language, in a worldwide poll of a thousand professional translators and interpreters.

But the most untranslatable word in any language, reckon the translators, is ilunga, a word in the Bantu language of Tshiluba for a person who is ready to forgive any abuse for the first time; to tolerate it a second time; but never a third time. And I suppose we all know that kind of person.

It narrowly outpointed shlimazl, a Yiddish word for a chronically unlucky person and radioukacz, a Polish word for a person who worked as a telegraphist for the resistance movements on the Soviet side of the Iron Curtain. And both finished well ahead of klloshar, the Albanian word for loser, which, perhaps fittingly, came in last place.

The most untranslatable word in the English language was reckoned to be plenipotentiary, which even many native English-speakers may not know means a special ambassador or envoy, invested with full powers.

Whimsy, bumf and serendipity (the faculty of making happy and unexpected discoveries by accident) were other words among the top ten.

The survey was conducted by Today Translations, a London-based translation and interpreting agency, which asked a thousand of its linguists across the world to nominate the words that they found hardest to translate.

�My own vote would have gone to googly, says Jurga Zilinskiene, the managing director of Today Translations, who worked as an interpreter herself before founding Today and becoming an award-winning businesswoman.

�People sometimes forget that an interpreter, for example, must translate not just from one language to another but from one culture to another, says Zilinskiene, 27. �Sometimes, the equivalent idea just does not exist in both cultures. I am from Lithuania, for example, and we simply do not have googlies in Lithuania.

Indeed, confesses Ms Zilinskiene, although she knew that googly was something to do with cricket she could not have told you for certain that it was, in fact, an off-breaking ball with an apparent leg-break action on the part of the bowler.

Other foreign words to make the top 10 included naa, a Japanese word used only in the Kansai area of Japan to emphasise statements or agree with someone, and pochemuchka, the Russian word for a person who asks a lot of questions.

Today Translations uses a worldwide network of over 1,500 professional linguists to provide translation and interpreting services. After asking a thousand of this network to nominate words that were problematic to translate, it then asked 50 of them to vote for just one of the top contenders.

Linguists taking part in the poll were native speakers of languages ranging from English and French to Turkish, Ukranian, Chinese, Dari, Farsi, Amharic, Pushto, Somali, Tamil and many others.

THE RESULTS IN FULL

THE TEN FOREIGN WORDS THAT WERE VOTED HARDEST TO TRANSLATE

1. ilunga [Tshiluba word for a person who is ready to forgive any abuse for the first time; to tolerate it a second time; but never a third time. Note: Tshiluba is a Bantu language spoken in south-eastern Congo, and Zaire]

2. shlimazl [Yiddish for a chronically unlucky person]

3. radioukacz [Polish for a person who worked as a telegraphist for the resistance movements on the Soviet side of the Iron Curtain]

4. naa [Japanese word only used in the Kansai area of Japan, to emphasise statements or agree with someone]

5. altahmam [Arabic for a kind of deep sadness]

6. gezellig [Dutch for cosy]

7. saudade [Portuguese for a certain type of longing]

8. selathirupavar [Tamil for a certain type of truancy]

9. pochemuchka [Russian for a person who asks a lot of questions]

10. klloshar [Albanian for loser]

THE TEN ENGLISH WORDS THAT WERE VOTED HARDEST TO TRANSLATE

1 plenipotentiary
2 gobbledegook
3 serendipity
4 poppycock
5 googly
6 spam
7 whimy
8 bumf
9. chuffed
10. kitsch

The Guardian Monday June 14, 2004

Regards,
John

cimarch · Joined: 12 Jun 2003 Posts: 358 Location: Dalian

My favourite one is fictional . It may be based on an ancient Japanese word but it's from a Terry Pratchett book, 'Interesting Times', I think.
"The sound of a sword being unsheathed behind you when you THOUGHT all your enemies were dead". Shocked

Roger · Joined: 19 Jan 2003 Posts: 9138

The French have contracted a whole phrase into a single word:
"Jemenfoutisme" - it means, "I don't care" but in a colloquial manner.

gtidey · Joined: 18 May 2004 Posts: 93

mines geordie: "haway"

hurry up/lets go/seriously?/dont be silly

now thats a word

mjed9 · Joined: 25 Oct 2003 Posts: 242

Interesting post. I would have thought that "irony" would have been in there somewhere.

However ...

ilunga · Joined: 17 Oct 2003 Posts: 842 Location: China

Watch yourself John. This is your first strike Wink

Kurochan · Joined: 01 Mar 2003 Posts: 944 Location: China

Ever try explaining "nerd" to Chinese people? They're like, "Oh, so that's good, that's good, right?" And you have to say, "Well ... no...."

"Camp" and "campy" are two more that are really hard to explain to Chinese. I had to appeal for help on an Asian cinema web site when I was trying to explain the current appeal of "Saturday Night Fever."

My friends's dad speaks Arabic, and he said there is a word that disappears when it is conjugated, because of its spelling and conjugation rules. He said when you try to say the phrase "To take shelter during a sandstorm" and make it imperative, basically you've got to drop all the letters, so you can't say the word. True, or is he pulling our legs?

Sekhmet · Joined: 05 Apr 2004 Posts: 329 Location: Alexandria, Egypt

The most un-translatable word I've ever come across is the Arabic word "naimen". Its a word that people use when omeone has changed something about their personal appearance. Not just haircuts, but shaves, and even showers apply!!!!!

So living in a hot country when having a shower is an almost hourly experience, that word could get kinda overused.... Very Happy

johnslat · Posted: Thu Jul 01, 2004 10:41 pm Post subject: Time to hit the showers

Dear Sekhmet,
Judging from my experience of some of my students in Saudi Arabia, I'd have to say that showering was not often an hourly - or even a daily - experience.
Regards,
John

Lynn · Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Posts: 696 Location: in between

What is this word to describe my "friend"

She will never admit she is wrong. She will never apologize. She doesn't laugh at herself. She gets defensive.

Is it,"She lacks humility?" is that the right word?

Gordon · Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Posts: 5309 Location: Japan

johnslat · Posted: Fri Jul 02, 2004 3:27 am Post subject:

Dear Lynn,
A bit slangy, but how about "uptight"?
Regards
John

leeroy · Joined: 30 Jan 2003 Posts: 777 Location: London UK

dmb · Joined: 12 Feb 2003 Posts: 8397

How about a Turkish example.

Cekoslavakyalastirdıgımızdanbirimisiniz. Yes its one word

It means something along the lines of 'Are you one of these people that we couldn't Chechoslavakianize'

Magoo · Joined: 31 Oct 2003 Posts: 651 Location: Wuhan, China

Kurochan-strange you should say that. I had a class, today, and the word nerd came up. The Chinese for computer nerd is diannao chong, or computer insect. I refused to explain in Chinese, but my students caught on immediately. You're right, though-one of the most appealing aspects about a boy is his high academic marks. Spits, picks his nose, never looks at a girl, but just watch him flex his A-grades! Yeesh!