Last week during a chat I was having with a French friend of mine the conversation came to a halt and switched
gears after he hit a language road bump. In his best English he was trying to explain to me why he his car had been
sitting in the garage for so long and what steps he was taking to fix the problem. There was one word that gave him
great trouble because he didn’t know how to describe it in English and had he been able to I probably wouldn’t have
known what was wrong with the vehicle anyway. My knowledge of mechanical error on cars stinks.
Anyhow,
anyone with a foreign friend who speaks English as a second language has probably reached a point in their
conversations where the lines, "I don’t know how to describe it… or There isn’t a word for it in
English…" has come about. For all the words that don’t translate directly there are a few notable ones
according to this language
fun site, that have given the world’s best linguists difficulty in translating. The list is as follows:
- ilunga (Tshiluba word for a person who is ready to forgive any abuse for the first
time; to tolerate it a second time; but never a third time) - shlimazl (Yiddish for a
chronically unlucky person) - radioukacz (Polish for a person that worked as a Telegraphist
for the resistance movements on the Soviet side of the Iron Curtain. - naa (Japanese
word only used in the Kansai area of Japan, to emphasize statements or agree with someone) - altahmam (Arabic for a kind of deep sadness)
- gezellig (Dutch
for cozy) - saudade (Portuguese for a certain type of longing)
- selathirupavar (Tamil for a certain type of truancy)
- pochemuchka (Russian for a person who asks a lot of questions)
- klloshar (Albanian for loser)
If you’re all geeked up about these words and want to
know the top 10 most difficult English words as well head to this site packed with language
facts and oddities. It’s a pretty cool way to spend the holiday if you happen to have the day off.
(Photo from contemporary art site. Piece by Jon Campbell.)