Untranslatable Foreign Words

Discussion Open Forum
41

Don’t really know if it is. Slang in Chinese is very location specific, and most slang terms and swearing are in the local dialect. That is why a lot of this is impossible to translate or a bit meaningless after translation.

I hear “Oh my gosh!” a lot in American films. If the equivalent phrase in Chinese was translated into English as this for an Irish audience, it would sound extremely odd, as you will never hear an Irishman use the phrase “Oh my gosh!” But presumably Americans do, and therefore the translation works for an American audience.

42

Funny, you should mention that. Seems there’s a Taiwanese professor down in Kaohsiung who specializes in Yiddish. Go figure.

betelnutblogger.blogspot.com/200 … ogist.html

english.www.gov.tw/index.jsp?act … cnaid=9867

43

[quote=“Rascal”]Kindergarten
“children’s garden” - a pre-school/play-school[/quote]
I don’t know about elsewhere, but in NZ “playcentre” has, as I understand it, basically the same meaning as kindergarten. Although kindergartens in NZ are more structured, more like schools but for the really young.

Although “angst” has taken on another meaning in English. It’s not so much fear, as anxiety and general teenage “I hate my parents” type feelings.

44

The most untranslatable word in German is “Weltschmerz”. It’s the same in English and describes a profound sadness about the state of the world in general.
And of course there is “Gemuetlichkeit”.

45

[quote=“t.ukyo”]The most untranslatable word in German is “Weltschmerz”. It’s the same in English and describes a profound sadness about the state of the world in general…
And of course there is “Gemuetlichkeit”.[/quote]

And then there’s ‘‘gefilte fish’’!

46

About “sanba”: My Chinese friend used to call the demon boss lady of the place we were saying, “sanba”. He said it with piercing eyes behind her back whenever she did something demon-like. He translated it as “bitch”, and I think his translation was spot on.

I heard “sanba” (bitch) comes from International Women’s Day falling on March 8.

This was in Jiangxi Province, so I doubt whether the meaning is exactly the same here in Taiwan, but it’d be worth checking out.

Other words which I find hard to translate:

“dodgy” (Australian English) - Americans always seem to not have a clue what I’m talking about when I say something or someone is dodgy. Even after an explanation and they think they have it, they still don’t use it correctly. Strangely, Japanese friends who I explain it to get it almost instantly. Japanese has a similar word, I believe, can’t remember what it is. Something you buy can be dodgy, someone you meet can be dodgy, a situation can be dodgy, a plumbing repair job can be dodgy, a dark alley can look dodgy etc. What a fun word.

“I reckon” - People seem to get stumped on this one too. Here are two examples:

“I reckon I’m gonna fail this exam.”

(I think)

A: “I reckon Taiwan beer tastes like shit”
B: “I reckon!”

(I think then I agree)

Also, from Japanese:

“Natsukashi”

This is the most awesome-est word ever and I think we should import it into English. I’ve never had Japanese classes before, but I hear a lot of Japanese and I think I have a fair grasp on this word. But someone correct me if I’m wrong.

“Natsukashi” is said with an exclamation when you see something that you haven’t seen for ages and reminds you of the past (your childhood, good memories with friends on a trip etc.) It’s something you say when you see a cartoon from your childhood, go back to somewhere where you spent a vacation, find some food in a store that you always used to eat when you were a kid etc.

In English we’d say “nostalgic”, but we don’t usually say “Nostalgic!” in these types of situations, we usually have to say “Oh, I haven’t seen this in ages. This takes me back to my childhood!” Natsukashi is so much better.

47

FYI, dodgy’s not just Australian English :wink:

48

I also think 爽 (shuang3) is probably my favourite difficult-to-translate-into-English Chinese word. It’s pleasure, but of the indulgent or sometimes naughty kind. There is no single word in English that can be used as in such a versatile way to denote this. For example 你吃得很爽 is so simple, yet I wouldn’t like to try and make a good English translation. I suppose it’s a bit like ‘you’re lovin’ (eating) that, aren’t you?’. 爽 also forms great phrases such as 暗爽(secretly getting your kicks?), as well as my personal favourite 爽一下 . Ahem, best leave that one untranslated.

Regarding 三八 (sanba), I may not be aware of all the subtle nuances of this word, but surely sometimes it corresponds to ‘camp’ in English, for example when man does a slightly ‘girly’ action or dresses up in outrageous clothes, etc. Yup my gf calls me that quite often.

Six years ago I learnt some Thai (love that langauge) and think the concept of levels of formality according to social relations is interesting. I know other languages have this too, and English does too to some extent of course. Anyway, for example, at the time I thought it was funny that there was a word ‘daek’ which as far I can tell just means ‘eat/drink’ , yet is very coarse, almost like swearing… anyway you wouldn’t say it when there are elders around etc. English has words that denote eating in a coarse way: stuff (your face), guzzle, and so on, but they seem to be more descriptive of eating in a particular way, rather than actually being rude or ‘nanting’ words in themselves. Languages are interesting…

49

[quote=“tetsuo500”]“Natsukashi” is said with an exclamation when you see something that you haven’t seen for ages and reminds you of the past (your childhood, good memories with friends on a trip etc.) It’s something you say when you see a cartoon from your childhood, go back to somewhere where you spent a vacation, find some food in a store that you always used to eat when you were a kid etc.

In English we’d say “nostalgic”, but we don’t usually say “Nostalgic!” in these types of situations, we usually have to say “Oh, I haven’t seen this in ages. This takes me back to my childhood!” Natsukashi is so much better.[/quote]
Sounds kind of like “a blast from the past”!

50

It’s more like that whole drawn-out “Holy shit!”/“Oh my god!” that comes out when you, say, hear a song from years ago that you haven’t heard since, or bump into someone you haven’t seen in years. There’s not really a dedicated word or phrase for it, but that’s what it is.

51

I’m sure dodgy was used, a heck of a lot, in the BBC series Minder. Arthur Daley being a dodgy dealer. I was asked about the meaning and the spelling of the word,dodgy, last night by a local.