Words hardest to translate: Encyclopedia II - Words hardest to translate - The list by Today Translations

Words hardest to translate - The list by Today Translations

Words hardest to translate (Today Translations, June 2004) was a list of words reported as being the world's most difficult words to translate. The British company surveyed 1,000 linguists to create the list. According to Jurga Zilinskiene, head of Today Translations, the difficulty in translating the words identified by the survey is not finding the meaning of these words, but conveying their cultural connotations and overtones. Not all of the words on the list were legitimate. Some of them turned out to be mistakes and hoaxes.

The following list present the words hardest to translate as claimed by Today Translations. Daggers (†) lead to the definition of the word in the wiktionary project. The first is the absolute list, containing the ten words hardest to translate all over the world, independent of linguistic context:

1. Ilunga: Bantu language of Tshiluba 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." However, there is no independent evidence that the word actually means what the translation company claims. When asked for confirmation by one reporter, representatives of the Congo government recognized the word only as a personal name. Furthermore, the translation company failed to respond to inquiries regarding the survey.
2. Shlimazl (שלימזל): Yiddish for a chronically unlucky person. (Cf. Schlemiel). (NOTE. In colloquial Italian, it is very common to use the word sfigato with exactly the same meaning, in Dutch and German one says pechvogel, also used in colloq. German is the word schlamassel, if you are in an unlucky situation)
3. Radiostukacz: Polish for a person who worked as a telegraphist for the resistance movements on the Soviet side of the Iron Curtain. It is not a real word, only a mistake or a hoax.
4. Naa (なぁ or なー): Japanese word only used in the Kansai (関西) area of Japan, especially in Osaka (大阪府), to emphasize statements or agree with someone.
5. Altahmam (التهمام) †: Arabic for a kind of deep sadness.
6. Gezellig †: Dutch for cosy (room, house, chair, etc.), pleasant (evening spent with friends), friendly (atmosphere).Gesellig German for spending time with friends.
7. Saudade †: Portuguese for a certain type of longing.
8. Selathirupavar † (செல்லாதிருப்பவர்): Tamil for a certain type of truancy.
9. Pochemuchka (почемучка): Russian for a person who asks a lot of questions (usually a kid).
10. Klloshar †: Albanian for loser. Could be derived from French clochard.

The following list shows the ten English words supposed by the same company to be the hardest to translate:

1. Plenipotentiary †
2. Gobbledegook †
3. Serendipity †
4. Poppycock †
5. Googly †
6. Spam †
7. Whimsy †
8. Bumf †
9. Chuffed †
10. Kitsch †

However, plenipotentiary has perfect equivalents in several Romance languages (e.g., Portuguese plenipotenciário and French plénipotentiaire), as it is common with words of a Latin origin. Finnish uses direct calque from Latin as täysivaltainen. Serendipity has originated equivalents in some other languages (e.g., Portuguese serendipicidade and French serendipicité). Spam has somehow become an international word, keeping its English form. Kitsch is itself a German word that has spread to many other languages and is still in common use in the German-speaking countries.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "The list by Today Translations", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki