Discussion topic

[ivyfic]

I've been reading Eastern wisdom literature (the Bhagavad Gita, and now the Tao Te Ching--which is interesting on the subway, let me tell you). In both these, especially the Gita, there are some words that aren't translated, because no English word encompasses the entirety of the idea (moksha, karma, dharma, etc, and tao, yin, yang, etc).

So this had me thinking--what words in English are untranslatable? There must be some, though I don't really have the perspective to know what they are. When I was studying French, I noticed that there was no equivalent for "home." The closest was "chez moi," which means where I live, but without those overtones of belonging that are in the English word.

What do you think are the untranslatable words in English?

Comments

[chuckro.livejournal.com]

I think cultural connotations are the big issue. Even if the word can be translated, the implications can't. So words like "cool", which has a lot of slang implications that "good" or "popular" can't convey.

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

Last night we learned the word "cheveré," which in the dictionary is translated as "great," but is really a widely used slang term used like "cool." But yeah, as words like that have specific cultural connotations (just think of "rad"), they don't really translate.

Also, I was like oh! That's what that means! Stevie Wonder says that in the beginning of "Don't You Worry Bout a Thing."

[firynze.livejournal.com]

Hmmm. I'm going to have to think about this. One of the ways i knew I was "getting" Japan was when I realized that I understood certain untranslatable terms. But it's so much harder to tell what those terms are in your own language/culture...

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

I'd probably have to find a non-native speaker to learn. I did ask one of my friends who learned English in school what it sounded like before she understood it.

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

(I've also been asked by a Swedish friend what Swedish sounds like. I said lilty German.)

[moonlightalice.livejournal.com]

This is tangential, but I remember reading an article about Harry Potter and how the most difficult part of that book to translate wasn't the wizard lingo, but the whole concept of "houses"--a boarding school concept pretty much limited to England.

[bigscary.livejournal.com]

ehhhhhhhhhh. Yale has them and to a lesser extent MIT, as do a lot of the England-mimicing boarding schools here.

[moonlightalice.livejournal.com]

This was about translation. As in, to non-English-speaking countries.