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The untranslatable words that you love | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| a3 Triglot Senior Member Bulgaria Joined 5068 days ago 273 posts - 370 votes  Speaks: Bulgarian*, English, Russian Studies: Portuguese, German, Italian, Spanish, Norwegian, Finnish | Message 41 of 61 28 November 2011 at 1:03pm | IP Logged | |||||
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in Bulgarian А if pronounced with the right intonation means "Answer me the question I have just asked". Translated e.g.:
-What are you going to do about it? -(no answer) -Ah? 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Luai_lashire Diglot Senior Member United States luai-lashire.deviant Joined 5640 days ago 384 posts - 560 votes Speaks: English*, Esperanto Studies: Japanese, French | Message 42 of 61 28 November 2011 at 11:28pm | IP Logged | |||||
I love that you said this, Iversen, because it actually gives an example of yet another complication of this situation. Earlier on, someone mentioned "beauf" as meaning a quintessentially French, conservative individual. Well, in English, we would in fact call this person "A proud French Frenchman from France", and while it may not convey exactly the same nuance, this phrasing (which is very popular when disparaging something) has its own charm and emotion to it. What I like about learning languages is that it exposes me to so many subtleties and nuances like these. Though the meaning may be very close, if you know both then you can finally find a way to express that miniscule difference. But when a phrasing like this is already widely in use, then most of the time we won't import new words just to cover that tiny gap. So that's why you can find something close, but not exactly the same, in most languages. That difference just isn't important enough most of the time. One of the fun things about studying other cultures is that often, there will be tiny differences that were important enough to them to make many words about, that you have only one word for. The classic example of the many Inuit words for snow comes to mind. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Ari Heptaglot Senior Member Norway Joined 6394 days ago 2314 posts - 5695 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, Cantonese Studies: Czech, Latin, German | Message 43 of 61 29 November 2011 at 7:02am | IP Logged | |||||
The same is true in English, Swedish, Mandarin, French and Cantonese, though you might have to replace the vowel by "E" in some of the languages. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Ari Heptaglot Senior Member Norway Joined 6394 days ago 2314 posts - 5695 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, Cantonese Studies: Czech, Latin, German | Message 44 of 61 29 November 2011 at 7:16am | IP Logged | |||||
As classic as it is wrong, I'm afraid. Obligatory LanguageLog link. They (or at least some of them) do have thirty-two demonstrative pronouns, however, which is a lot more exciting, if you ask me. 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| a3 Triglot Senior Member Bulgaria Joined 5068 days ago 273 posts - 370 votes Speaks: Bulgarian*, English, Russian Studies: Portuguese, German, Italian, Spanish, Norwegian, Finnish | Message 45 of 61 29 November 2011 at 4:00pm | IP Logged | |||||
Is it safe to assume that 9 out of 10 English speakers know that word? 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| WentworthsGal Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4700 days ago 191 posts - 246 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Swedish, Spanish | Message 46 of 61 29 November 2011 at 4:48pm | IP Logged | |||||
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For me at least, in this country (England) I've found that it's just a lazy way of saying "what?" "pardon?". Pronounced like the English letter "A" as in a-b-c. I've found that it could often be written as "eh?" in fictional books etc, altho I can't guarantee that was the pronounciation the author had in mind. I guess another variation of the "a" sound is "huh?". I would say that "a" is more of a sound rather than an actual word itself, altho I'm sure others might say otherwise...
1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Dr. Daneeka Triglot Newbie United States Joined 4919 days ago 6 posts - 9 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French Studies: Mandarin | Message 47 of 61 27 December 2011 at 9:32pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I'm surprised that no one's brought up the often used Persian word تعارف (taarof), a term which has no English equivalent. It's kind of hard to explain; it refers to that polite self-sacrifice that one does so that someone else can enjoy something. It also, in a broader sense, refers to the unspoken code of manners and politeness that is associated with Iranian culture.
1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Humdereel Octoglot Groupie United States Joined 4790 days ago 90 posts - 349 votes Speaks: English, Spanish*, Arabic (Levantine), Arabic (Egyptian), Arabic (Written), Turkish, Persian, Urdu Studies: Russian | Message 48 of 61 27 December 2011 at 11:44pm | IP Logged | |||||
I've been reading this thread but for some reason "taarof" never came to me. It's been used by some of my Persian-speaking friends quite often, and I remember using it once. Cool to see it brought up. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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