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Sure, I'd need to know all languages in the world to say which are untranslatable or not. But what I can say is that these languages introduced these words, pe

Sure, I'd need to know all languages in the world to say which are untranslatable or not. But what I can say is that these languages introduced these words, perceptions, themes and discourses into worldwide discussion. In Latin-derived languages the English words I mentioned are either directly imported or very new. One example: in Spanish and Portuguese the word "assedio" has appeared as a substitute for harassment. But this is a very recent phenomenon, until recently wife-beating wasn't even a crime in some Spanish/Portuguese speaking countries.

nohaydeprobleme 4y ago
I checked a couple of bilingual dictionaries, and found your insight interesting that it looks like there is no precise direct translation for "bullying" in French or Spanish, but only multi-word translations like those in the submitted article. In French, there is "harcèlement" for harassment, but according to WordReference.com, the closest one-word translations for bullying are "harcèlement" or "intimidation" (which appear closer to harassment and intimidation in English) [1]. Similarly, according to SpanishDictionary.com, the closest translation of bullying is the Anglicism "el bullying," with "intimidación" also used as a close but not exact equivalent [2]. Similarly, the closest equivalent to "accountability" according to WordReference is "responsabilité," with Spanish similarly using "responsabilidad" as its closest equivalent according to SpanishDictionary. Perhaps "responsabilité" and "responsabilidad" can carry the same connotations as the English word for "accountability" depending on the context, but it's true that there are no entries for standalone words in French or Spanish in these dictionaries that carry the exact associations as "accountability" in English. [1] https://www.wordreference.com/enfr/bullying https://www.wordreference.com/enfr/bullying [2] https://www.spanishdict.com/translate/bullying https://www.spanishdict.com/translate/bullying

nohaydeprobleme 4y ago

I checked a couple of bilingual dictionaries, and found your insight interesting that it looks like there is no precise direct translation for "bullying" in French or Spanish, but only multi-word translations like those in the submitted article. In French, there is "harcèlement" for harassment, but according to WordReference.com, the closest one-word translations for bullying are "harcèlement" or "intimidation" (which appear closer to harassment and intimidation in English) [1]. Similarly, according to SpanishDictionary.com, the closest translation of bullying is the Anglicism "el bullying," with "intimidación" also used as a close but not exact equivalent [2]. Similarly, the closest equivalent to "accountability" according to WordReference is "responsabilité," with Spanish similarly using "responsabilidad" as its closest equivalent according to SpanishDictionary. Perhaps "responsabilité" and "responsabilidad" can carry the same connotations as the English word for "accountability" depending on the context, but it's true that there are no entries for standalone words in French or Spanish in these dictionaries that carry the exact associations as "accountability" in English. [1] https://www.wordreference.com/enfr/bullying https://www.wordreference.com/enfr/bullying [2] https://www.spanishdict.com/translate/bullying https://www.spanishdict.com/translate/bullying