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The untranslatable words that you love | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Fabrizio Pentaglot Senior Member BelgiumRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4994 days ago 103 posts - 157 votes  Speaks: Italian*, EnglishC2, French, SpanishB2, Portuguese | Message 57 of 61 29 December 2011 at 8:24am | IP Logged | ||||||||
We have the same kind of "gana(s)" in Sardinian as well, which is actually nothing really surprising as the language is strongly influenced by Spanish: "no tengu gana de/e..." :) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| anjathilina Diglot Newbie United States Joined 6416 days ago 33 posts - 106 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: Spanish, Mandarin Studies: Hindi | Message 58 of 61 29 December 2011 at 9:40pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
Japanese has ありません (arimasen) and the more informal ない (nai). 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| ReneeMona Diglot Senior Member Netherlands Joined 5147 days ago 864 posts - 1274 votes Speaks: Dutch*, EnglishC2 Studies: French | Message 59 of 61 30 December 2011 at 3:32pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
The same expression exists in Dutch (zin hebben om) and French (avoir envie de), though the French one has a broader meaning than the Dutch one. English "to feel like" usually translates it just fine. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| vikramkr Diglot Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5881 days ago 248 posts - 326 votes Speaks: English*, Portuguese | Message 60 of 61 05 January 2012 at 1:25am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Saudade in Portuguese and kolay gelsin in Turkish.
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| kyssäkaali Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5365 days ago 203 posts - 376 votes Speaks: English*, Finnish | Message 61 of 61 05 January 2012 at 4:18am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Finnish "jaa" comes to mind. Kind of a way of answering a question or commenting something without actually answering/commenting. Although you can also say "jaa" and then afterwards answer the question / comment on the situation. :D A variant of this is "jaa-a":
A: Tuuks se meille? B: Jaa-a, sen ku tietäis. (A: Is he coming over? B: Jaa-a. If only I knew.) The "aa-a" sound by the way is hard for foreigners. :D It's a long [a] followed by a short [a], the first of which kind of rises and dips into the second. Also I'm sure this is mentioned here, but the verb "jaksaa". It can be translated a zillion different ways, but means roughly "to have the willpower / strength / determination to do something. A: Mee töihin. B: Emmä jaksa. (A: Get a job. B: I don't [jaksa]). In that example you could translate it ex. "I don't feel like it" or "I can't be bothered". But also if you're really full and can't eat anymore food, you say that you don't "jaksa". Gotta do something but can't be damned to get off your ass = "en jaksa". Playing a game but can't be bothered to finish it because you've been playing for so many hours that it's gotten dry and choreish = "en jaksa". Etc etc etc! I really can't believe I went 16 years without this verb in my life, it's so useful! Also, others will definitely disagree, but English is also missing an equivalent for the noun "ikävä", which is usually translated as "longing" or "yearning", but the word itself covers so much more ground. You can yearn for someone: "Mul on ikävä sua" = I miss you (literally "I have ikävä for you") But things can also be or look "ikävä". A bad or unfortunate situation can be "ikävä", at which point the word is being used as an adjective. Also if someone for example falls off their bike and breaks the hell out of their arm, then the paramedic that rushes to the scene can comment to this individual that his/her arm looks "ikävä". This "pitiful" or "unfortunate" connotation also shows up in expressions like "ikävä kyllä" (unfortunately), "sepä ikävä" (what a pity!)" etc. In an addition to all that, a verb derived from this word, "ikävystyttää", means "to bore". Mua ikävystyttää = I'm bored. Quite a word, that "ikävä"! There's also lots of Finnish words related to drunkenness, rowdiness, etc. that lack English equivalents :D Among others: örveltää - general verb for doing things while drunk, negative connotation äpöstää - to eat food while drunk enough that table manners and silverware are forgotten rääppiäiset - a gathering where you call your friends over the day after a party or social event to eat leftover cake/chips/soda/etc. together hiprakka - the phase before actual true intoxication where the drinker smiles more and is more talkative, after which begins the stage where you build up to an actual state of intoxication (nousuhumala) followed by intoxication (humala) (humala and nousuhumala can also be considered the same stage) laskuhumala - the stage that comes after intoxication (humala) when drinks begin to run out, the drinker starts to get tired and may end up in a bad mood, may start crying and cursing his shitty life, may kill himself etc. :-D nousuhumala means literally more or less "rising state of intoxication" and laskuhumala "falling state of intoxication" ALSO: The word "sisu" gets thrown around a lot as intranslateable, and I've seen Finns fighting about how that's not true and that the word can be translated simply as "guts", as in "you've got guts" (="you're brave"). The untranslateble part comes from the fact that "sisu" carries a connotation of aside from bravery, also stubbornness, hardheadedness, even stupidity, refusal to give up the fight NO MATTER WHAT regardless of what happens, and it is for this reason that "sisu" is so tied to the Finnish "talvisota" -Winter War and overall to the Finnish spirit itself and truly is quite untranslateable. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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