Main one missing from Norwegian is “harry” in my view.
It means. Ehm.. not cool, specifically in a sort of crass/low brow kind of way. Like I said, hard to explain.
Does Not Translate
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#92This is actually a pretty awesome resource! It was pretty interesting to see "-ish" on there. It never occurred to me that there's likely not an exact equivalent to "-ish" in other languages.
If you click to the reddit thread for that word, people mention translations in various languages. I saw this shared on reddit a few days ago, it's a cool idea but the actual words... there exist very few that are actually untranslateable. If you know more than one or two languages, you probably spot some of them pretty fast. (It's funny you mention specifically -ish, that's one of the words I was skeptical about and…
I find it very strange that this HN thread is full of people taking the website name hyper literally.
The about page mentions that this is a UI for the subreddit of the same name, which is focused on "Post quirky and niche words/phrases from foreign languages that can't easily be translated."
Personally the discussion for possible translations is far more interesting than the slightly misleading subreddit and site name.
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#93Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well, that’s unsurprising; nobody can know every expression in any language, even their native one. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/joie%20de%20vivre
Surprising to me. I’m an avid reader of books and news and movie watcher and I’ve never heard this phrase once. I also took 3 years of French, went to a 4 year college and I’ve reviewed lists of foreign phrases commonly used in English with my kids, all while somehow dodging this phrase for ~40 years!
Well, I’m 50 and I’ve heard it before. Maybe you just need to live for 10 more years ;-)
https://www.ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=Joie+de+vivr...
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#94I’m always wary of these lists, because if you search for the languages you know you always see that most of them are actually translatable and/or rare expressions that nobody uses.
Having checked my own language I'd describe the list not as being unable to translated outright, but of susinct ideas that are not normally expressed in English. A literal or detailed and contextful translation does not express the same "feeling" as in the native tongue, which you could argue as a what is impossible to translate.
Also, taking the website name literally leads to a very boring time. If we define translatable as having a surjection between languages then many commenters have shown examples of even the most difficult to translate phrases explained in a blog or article.
Instead the subreddit's description[0] is a far better description, and the discussion on each phrase about possible translations or similar ideas in different languages is a lot of fun!
[0]: Post quirky and niche words/phrases from foreign languages that can't easily be translated.
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#95I think that 'Fika' is an interesting one. In Spanish, or at least in Spain, 'to go for a coffee' implies the same things that 'fika' does. Nobody expects to buy coffee to drink at the office, or at home, as to talk and socialize is more important than the coffee itself. I guess that in English speaking countries it could mean literally to go to buy a cup of coffee and hurry back with the coffee to your desk. Wouldn'…
It looks to me like "fika" is just like "chilling." See, for instance, https://www.swedishfood.com/fika
However, unlike "chilling", "fika" does require you to be eating/drinking something for the definition of it to apply.
Sure, you could skip it, but any swede who hears that word will know that a break like it should be combined with some kind of drink and/or snack.
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#96(This was inspired by the Danish TV series Borgen)
Q: What's the Danish expression for "spin doctor"?
A: Spin doctor
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#97As of writing this, 53 Interesting Words in English That Don't Translate... "pearl-clutching" English speaker and I never heard this. If pearl-clutching counts, there's a million more words on Urban Dictionary I'm sure
Pearl-clutching is an established idiom that's at least a good deal older than me. Honestly it's more likely that you haven't heard it because it's getting dated than because it's recent. Usually I hear it in the context of someone getting up in arms about something they consider immoral. Often the implication is that they're either being overly prudish or there's something hypocritical or judgemental about it. Someone might clutch their pearls at the idea that condoms can be bought at the drug store. Or they might do so at the idea that their children may be going to school with the children of those sort of people.
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#98I've spoken English for years, but mostly online with foreign people or when abroad myself. But recently I started working a place here in Norway where all communication is in English. Speaking English but often in a Norwegian context, have made me sometimes grasp for these kind of words. Like "romjul" when trying to ask who is gonna be oncall this christmas. Or asking if people are going to "Syden" during their summ…
Syden sounds like "spring break" in the US.
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#99Earlier quoted context omitted.
> “Joie de vivre” is indeed translatable into English, and the translation is just “joie de vivre”. I’m a native English speaker and I’ve never heard of the expression “Joie de vivre”, so I don’t understand how “Joie de vivre” is the English translation of “Joie de vivre”.
Yeah, it's such a cliché. Using too many foreign words is such a faux pas, it reveals the bourgeois character of the speaker. No no no, a real connoisseur of the English language won't have such a lassaiz-faire attitude and accept just any fancy word du jour. That would be so gauche indeed. Au contraire I'm blasé at such attempts. The real English entrepreneurial avant-garde clique has so many choices a la carte, so…
"laissez-faire"*
"à la carte"*
"so much joi de vivre"*
"je ne sais quoi"*
"déjà vu"*
But well done for so densely packing French loan words (loan phrases?) into a single paragraph!
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#100Was interesting reading through the Swedish part because a lot of them were easily translatable into English or just straight up sentences.
The only ones I didn't know how to translate into English could likely be translated into another language.
Would be interested to now if anyone else here knows a proper translation for:
"Orka": closest I can think of is "can't be bothered". British English does have "arsed", but it is far too informal and can't be used on its own.
"Vabba": "Skipping work to watch your kid" and as the reddit thread for it says, if it had a straight translation it would be "CoCing" which wouldn't appropriate.