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| Thread: Untranslatable words from your own language or any other |  This thread is pages long: 1 2 3 4 · «PREV / NEXT» |
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JoonasTo
Responsible
Undefeatable Hero
What if Elvin was female?
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posted May 22, 2014 04:34 PM |
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Edited by JoonasTo at 16:35, 22 May 2014.
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그끄저께 - the day 3 days after, kyggyzokke
글피 - the day 3 days prior gylphi
artu said:
JoonasTo said:
Same thing, it's called "pommittaa" "to bomb" in Finnish.
That sounds rather like using a stock word as a figure of speech, not a specified word. Without context, if I see the word pomittaa on a piece of paper, it won't mean "Someone who calls you on your cell and hangs up so that you call back," it will mean, "to bomb," right?
The finnish word for Radar is "tutka" which originally only meant a "stick used to test if the ice is thick enough to walk on".
Oh yeah, I quess that's a word that doesn't exist in other languages too.
PS: screw you HC for not knowing korean letters
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frostysh
Bad-mannered
Famous Hero
WHY?
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posted February 13, 2017 11:40 AM |
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I think there is no words that cannot be translated - Why? Because the structure of the human brain is basically the same (as it was for a ~2 millions years, well yeah somebody will say Nah! ~500k! but screw it  ). Hypothetically if you have a good "brain-scanner", you can decipher any meaning of the word in the any language that you want.
So I can switch on my imagination, and imagine how in the future will be created a universal quantum-cyber-translator (QCT - cool sounds! It is brand! ) for a humanoids. With animals, will be problem, because their brain have the similarities but still they have a different brain. Well perhaps I am too harsh in this case, anyway. ..
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Dies_Irae
Supreme Hero
with the perfect plan
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posted February 13, 2017 11:55 AM |
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@frostysh: not the point of this topic 
The German word verschlimmbessern is a funny example. The German language already has a thing for combining words to form something new, and this is no exception. It can be explained as 'making it worse while trying to fix it'. Kaputtreparieren is a version of this, 'breaking something while trying to repair it'.
A Dutch example is pijpenstelen. If we say "het regent pijpenstelen" we mean that it's raining a lot. The English equivalent is "cats and dogs".
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AlHazin
Promising
Supreme Hero
النور
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posted February 13, 2017 01:21 PM |
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Again, this is all artu's fault:
Cualcacino: the mark left on a table by a cold glass. (Italian)
Sobremesa: the time spent after a meal discussing with the persons you shared it with. (Spanish)
Dépaysement: the feeling that comes from not being in one's home country. (French)
Mangata: the roadlike reflection of the moon on the water. (Swedish)
Waldeinsamkeit: the feeling of being alone ine the woods. (German)
Pochemuchka: a person who asks a lot of questions. (Russian)
Iktsuarpok: the feeling of anticipation that leeds you to keep looking outside waiting for someone to come. (Inuit.
Komoreb: sunlight filtering through trees' leaves.
Jayus: a so poor and unfunny joke that one can't help but laugh. (Indonesian)
Pana Po'o: the act of scratching your head in order to help you remember something you have forgotten. (Hawaiian)
Goya: the transporting suspension of disbelief that can occur i.e in good storytelling. (Urdu)
Khalwee: (like in Khomeini) the feeling of being content by being alone. (Algerian, actually in academic Arabic the word means "alone")
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Nothing of value disappears from this world, it will reappear in some shape or form ^^ - Elvin
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Maurice
Hero of Order
Part of the furniture
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posted February 13, 2017 01:44 PM |
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AlHazin said:
Sobremesa: the time spent after a meal discussing with the persons you shared it with. (Spanish)
There's a similar expression in Dutch, "uitbuiken". Literally it means relaxing after a meal in order to allow the body to properly let the meal set in and start digesting it.
And we have the term "Jacob's ladder". It's the rays of sun that you can see scatter through the clouds when the sun is only piercing through it in a few random spots. If I am not mistaken, it's a Christian reference, indicating something like a ladder into the heavens (as if you could ascend the rays of light  ).
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PandaTar
Responsible
Legendary Hero
Celestial Heavens Mascot
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posted February 13, 2017 07:00 PM |
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AlHazin said:
Sobremesa: the time spent after a meal discussing with the persons you shared it with. (Spanish)
In Portuguese, that word means dessert. It's, of course, tied to the situation/food after the main course of a meal. Also, either in Portuguese or Spanish, you have the time you rest after a meal, called Sesta. Not confound with Sexta, which means Friday, and reads the same way.
One of our most beautiful non-translated words is Saudade or plural Saudades. Saudade is a state of a feeling that you are missing something dearly, related to something that you love and that had an important role in your life. It can be people, a place, but it's mostly regarding to people or situations in which you would like to relive again, have around you again or see again. The poor English cousin would be 'miss you'. In a conversion, people here says that "We are with Saudades of someone/something" or "Feeling saudade of someone/something". Not originally a verb, but have adjectives such as Saudoso(a), when a person in a state of feeling saudades.
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"Okay. Look. We both said a lot of things that you're going to regret. But I think we can put our differences behind us. For science. You monster."
GlaDOS – Portal 2
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Zenofex
Responsible
Legendary Hero
Kreegan-atheist
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posted February 13, 2017 08:10 PM |
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Sounds similar to nostalgia.
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AlexSpl
Responsible
Supreme Hero
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posted February 13, 2017 11:13 PM |
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Valetsika mikitsits - to pretend that you are not capable of doing a task.
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AlexSpl
Responsible
Supreme Hero
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posted February 13, 2017 11:38 PM |
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Edited by AlexSpl at 23:45, 13 Feb 2017.
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For those interested in pronunciation:
How to pronounce
If you have employees from Russia, or Belarus, you may say to them:
"Stop valetsika mikitsits", and they will work harder.
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Trogdor
Legendary Hero
Words in a custom title
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posted February 15, 2017 02:51 PM |
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PandaTar said:
One of our most beautiful non-translated words is Saudade or plural Saudades. Saudade is a state of a feeling that you are missing something dearly, related to something that you love and that had an important role in your life. It can be people, a place, but it's mostly regarding to people or situations in which you would like to relive again, have around you again or see again. The poor English cousin would be 'miss you'. In a conversion, people here says that "We are with Saudades of someone/something" or "Feeling saudade of someone/something". Not originally a verb, but have adjectives such as Saudoso(a), when a person in a state of feeling saudades.
The Welsh have their own translation of Saudade called Hiraeth
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"Through the power of the dollar you can communicate with the dead." - Artu
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PandaTar
Responsible
Legendary Hero
Celestial Heavens Mascot
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posted February 15, 2017 08:54 PM |
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Edited by PandaTar at 20:58, 15 Feb 2017.
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Zenofex said:
Sounds similar to nostalgia.
There's also Nostalgia in my language. They feel a bit similar for a foreigner, but people here know when using each one. It's one of those words you tell they are very different, even if they look similar somehow. ^_^ As a comparison, as Nostalgia you feel a bit like that sometimes and the feeling vanishes, Saudades is said to only increase as time passes by. It's a common word used when people we love die.
The Welsh are cool then.
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"Okay. Look. We both said a lot of things that you're going to regret. But I think we can put our differences behind us. For science. You monster."
GlaDOS – Portal 2
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Geny
Responsible
Undefeatable Hero
What if Elvin was female?
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posted February 16, 2017 08:07 AM |
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AlexSpl said:
For those interested in pronunciation:
How to pronounce
If you have employees from Russia, or Belarus, you may say to them:
"Stop valetsika mikitsits", and they will work harder.
I speak Russian and it took me a couple of minutes to even understand the root of that. If someone were to say that to me to make me work harder, I'd just stare at them like they were idiots.
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AlexSpl
Responsible
Supreme Hero
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posted February 16, 2017 07:07 PM |
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Quote:
If someone were to say that to me to make me work harder, I'd just stare at them like they were idiots.
Very interesting, as it translates as stop being idiots  Though, it's quite informal, and meant to be said by someone you wholeheartedly respect.
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Geny
Responsible
Undefeatable Hero
What if Elvin was female?
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posted February 16, 2017 07:10 PM |
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Quote:
Very interesting, as it translates as stop being idiots
... In what language?
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AlexSpl
Responsible
Supreme Hero
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posted February 16, 2017 07:15 PM |
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Edited by AlexSpl at 19:16, 16 Feb 2017.
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Belarusian dialect, but Russians can understand it too.
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AlexSpl
Responsible
Supreme Hero
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posted February 16, 2017 07:43 PM |
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I first heard that phrase (valetsika mikitsits) from my P.E. when I was studying in Belarusian boarding school.
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Geny
Responsible
Undefeatable Hero
What if Elvin was female?
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posted February 16, 2017 07:53 PM |
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Quote:
but Russians can understand it too.
How sure are you about that?
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AlexSpl
Responsible
Supreme Hero
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posted February 16, 2017 08:01 PM |
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Pretty sure I understood it right away after Stepanych, as we called him, my physical-educator, said it. It was quite unforgettable experience.
Valetsik = fool, idiot.
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Geny
Responsible
Undefeatable Hero
What if Elvin was female?
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posted February 16, 2017 08:22 PM |
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That's the word I got. (even though it's not at all what it originally means, but slang so yeah)
What's the other one?
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AlexSpl
Responsible
Supreme Hero
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posted February 16, 2017 08:29 PM |
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Mikitsits - to be as Mikita, or Nicolai. That means, not to be yourself, to pretend that you are an abstract Mikita the Fool, to simulate.
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