Googly Shlimazl Gobbledegook, Experts Say

If you ever wondered which words are hardest to translate into other languages, well, now you can know.

Comments

[mobile]

Toute votre base sont appartiennent ? nous.

Ihre ganze Unterseite sind geh?ren uns.

Toda su base es pertenece a nosotros.

Al uw basis is behoort tot ons.

Tutta la vostra base ? appartiene a noi.

Toda sua base ? nos pertence.

??? ? ???? ??? ????? ?????? ?? ???.

????????? ???? ????????? ??????????? ? ???.

???????????????????

?? ?? ??? ????? ??? ??.

????????????

[Lemuel]

Mobile, you forgot:

V?etky V? z?klad?a je patri? n?m.

[The Lonewacko Blog]

"pochemuchka, the Russian word for a person who asks a lot of questions."

It looks like it was just translated. Or, literally: a person who's always asking 'why?'

Since 'base' in English refers to the bottom of something as well as a military base, you just need to bear in mind which meaning it has in context and translate accordingly.

[The Lonewacko Blog]

Harder Russian words to translate - or at least ones requiring a bit of context - would be the word for post-revolution street urchins (forget) and Soviet-related compounds like kolkhoz, komsomol, samizdat, etc.

[brooklyn dave]

That's the wonderful thing about all the languages of the world...it's not like changing into a different pair of jeans.....more like going from a kimono, to a dashiki to a muumuu, to a tuxedo. Each language has it's own special identity and soul. There's a word in Yiddish called machutainiste. It's what two mothers-in-law are to each other...the name for their relationship. In Ukrainian, there is a word paskudnik...a total, despicable, lousy bastard with a shitty attitude. In Napoletane dialect there is a tendency to call people derogatory terms by the names of fruits and vegetables citrolu, finucchio, & mulugnane. In 19th century Ireland the British knew that to destroy the native Gaelic language was to destroy part of the Irish people's soul (don't want to go on that tirade). As much as I appreciate languages I am all for immigrant communities becoming as fluent as they can in English as quickly as possible. This over bi-linguification (in NYC it's more like 7 or 8 languages) is ridiculous. It keeps the immigrant communities down and it hampers the larger community. Grant it, I am not for the same attitude that was prevalent in the last century where the European immigrant were made to feel ashamed of his language and culture. There is a sane middle ground. One does not have to give up the old to learn the new.

[a pedant]

"Kitsch" (no. 10 on the list) is not English, but German. Stupid gits.

[Jason Ligon]

The Canadians have an advantage in some respects.

The Japanese 'naa' (they say 'ne' in Kanto), is terribly similar to the Canadian 'eh?'

[drf]

"Ihre ganze Unterseite sind geh?ren uns"
???????

"'Kitsch' (no. 10 on the list) is not English, but German. Stupid gits"

like schadenfreude? or kindergarten? or "savoir faire"? what's wrong with that?

and on the list, the dutch "gezellig" is on the list for "cosy". that's one of those dumb small-language words that "can't be translated". argh. kinda like the viennese "gemuetlich" or the danish "hyggelig(t)". yeah whatever. lars. go suck on a gurkerl.

[Patrick]

What a silly (yet interesting) contest. I can come up with several that are just as "difficult" - I think anyone who happens to know two or more languages can. And as for "googly", technical jargon like that should not even be considered.

Mobile, just curious, what came between Japanese and Chinese up there? All I get are little placeholders.

[tzs]

I'm surprised at the "naa" (Kansai dialect.) That's just a variant on the standard "ne" in normal Japanese (theoretically just as hard to translate.)

(Patrick, my Apple shows Korean between the Japanese and Chinese.)

I remember working with some Japanese colleagues on a presentation and wrangling over how to translate certain Japanese business terms. I remember some of them we just left alone because of the difficulty of translation.

[J (another J)]

Want to complicate things even further? Try translating full phrases, with localized meanings and connotations.

[Douglas Fletcher]

What we really need is some kind of serious device to translate communications between the sexes. I mean, come on, a couple of middle-aged diplomats in suits can see eye to eye easily enough, but try and figure what the hell that chick at the bar in the red blouse is really saying, god help you.

[MALAK]

One word Americans will never understand: Soccer

[Timon]

What the hell...?

[Nike Air Max 1 90 Thea]

het is zinvol