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Show HN: Words that don't translate

18 points by stephsmithio 8y ago

stephsmithio 8y ago
Recently, I’ve been running into more words that only seem to exist in a single language. Words like kaizen, ikigai, and karoshi in Japanese…or, lagom and fika in Swedish, which are not directly translatable to other languages. As I have learned more about these “untranslatable” words, I’ve found that they often give a glimpse into that particular culture which I think is pretty cool. I wanted a way to discover more of these words, and even compare them across cultures. So today, I built this searchable web app of words that don't translate (as part of the 24h startup challenge).
nordify 8y ago
I don't know if all the words in this list qualify. Some of them exist in other languages as specific words as well. For example: Fremdschämen To be embarrassed by something somebody else did German Myötähäpeä in Finnish (alongshame when literally translated)
- stephsmithio 8y ago
  Great point! I've heard this from a few people so I'm debating adding a column for languages where that particular word does actually translate.
jansan 8y ago
In Japan I learned the word "fukujoushi", which the dictionary translated as "death during sexual intercourse (with a woman)". The last part really cracked me up.
- stephsmithio 8y ago
  Oh nice! I feel like Japan has the best words. I'll add this one in. Interesting that the gender was specified.
manx 8y ago
I actally thought of creating such a list myself a few days ago. Very nice to see this here! One improvement I immediatly thought of: Usually you cannot say/know that one word cannot be translated to ANY other language, because nobody knows all languages. But what you actually can know is that a word in one language does not exist in one other language. You know that if you speak these two languages. So storing triples makes more sense, I think. Example: Because I speak german and french, I can surely say that the german word 'satt' (meaning: not hungry anymore) does not have an equivalent in french. But I have no idea if it exits in japanese. Someone else knowing german and japanese has to fill this gap. There are also duplicates in your Database like 'Kummerspeck'.
- stephsmithio 8y ago
  Thank you! Yes, I've had this feedback since launch that some people are finding words that do indeed translate to a few other languages. I'll think about how to edit this. Thanks for calling out the duplciates1
DictumMortuum 8y ago
I speak Greek. Ανάγκη = need/necessity. Φιλοξενία = hospitality. Πνεύμα = spirit. Ok, it may mean breath, too, but only in songs or poems. If might raise some eyebrows in everyday speech. Usual word for breath = ανάσα or more uncommonly, πνοή. Σωφροσύνη = prudence? That's the only one that doesn't translate perfectly. For words that really don't translate (to English at least) look up καημός, παλικάρι, μεράκι .
- stephsmithio 8y ago
  Gotcha. That's helpful to know and I'll edit it. Thank you for the suggestions as well. Will add them to the database!
xdrosenheim 8y ago
Not really sure what you mean with "that don't translate". Is it ANY other language? Because then the Norwegian "Avspasere" has a Danish translation "Afspadsere" as seen in The Danish Dictionary: https://ordnet.dk/ddo/ordbog?query=afspadsere https://ordnet.dk/ddo/ordbog?query=afspadsere
- stephsmithio 8y ago
  I've been hearing that more and more. I think it's fair. What I was going for is words that can't really be described by another word. If you were to translate them, you'd end up saying multiple sentences. It seems like similar languages like Danish and Norwegian have some similar words.

18 points by stephsmithio 8y ago

Recently, I’ve been running into more words that only seem to exist in a single language. Words like kaizen, ikigai, and karoshi in Japanese…or, lagom and fika in Swedish, which are not directly translatable to other languages. As I have learned more about these “untranslatable” words, I’ve found that they often give a glimpse into that particular culture which I think is pretty cool. I wanted a way to discover more of these words, and even compare them across cultures. So today, I built this searchable web app of words that don't translate (as part of the 24h startup challenge).

nordify 8y ago

I don't know if all the words in this list qualify. Some of them exist in other languages as specific words as well. For example: Fremdschämen To be embarrassed by something somebody else did German Myötähäpeä in Finnish (alongshame when literally translated)

stephsmithio 8y ago
Great point! I've heard this from a few people so I'm debating adding a column for languages where that particular word does actually translate.

jansan 8y ago

In Japan I learned the word "fukujoushi", which the dictionary translated as "death during sexual intercourse (with a woman)". The last part really cracked me up.

stephsmithio 8y ago
Oh nice! I feel like Japan has the best words. I'll add this one in. Interesting that the gender was specified.

manx 8y ago

I actally thought of creating such a list myself a few days ago. Very nice to see this here! One improvement I immediatly thought of: Usually you cannot say/know that one word cannot be translated to ANY other language, because nobody knows all languages. But what you actually can know is that a word in one language does not exist in one other language. You know that if you speak these two languages. So storing triples makes more sense, I think. Example: Because I speak german and french, I can surely say that the german word 'satt' (meaning: not hungry anymore) does not have an equivalent in french. But I have no idea if it exits in japanese. Someone else knowing german and japanese has to fill this gap. There are also duplicates in your Database like 'Kummerspeck'.

stephsmithio 8y ago
Thank you! Yes, I've had this feedback since launch that some people are finding words that do indeed translate to a few other languages. I'll think about how to edit this. Thanks for calling out the duplciates1

DictumMortuum 8y ago

I speak Greek. Ανάγκη = need/necessity. Φιλοξενία = hospitality. Πνεύμα = spirit. Ok, it may mean breath, too, but only in songs or poems. If might raise some eyebrows in everyday speech. Usual word for breath = ανάσα or more uncommonly, πνοή. Σωφροσύνη = prudence? That's the only one that doesn't translate perfectly. For words that really don't translate (to English at least) look up καημός, παλικάρι, μεράκι .

stephsmithio 8y ago
Gotcha. That's helpful to know and I'll edit it. Thank you for the suggestions as well. Will add them to the database!

xdrosenheim 8y ago

Not really sure what you mean with "that don't translate". Is it ANY other language? Because then the Norwegian "Avspasere" has a Danish translation "Afspadsere" as seen in The Danish Dictionary: https://ordnet.dk/ddo/ordbog?query=afspadsere https://ordnet.dk/ddo/ordbog?query=afspadsere

stephsmithio 8y ago
I've been hearing that more and more. I think it's fair. What I was going for is words that can't really be described by another word. If you were to translate them, you'd end up saying multiple sentences. It seems like similar languages like Danish and Norwegian have some similar words.