Language extends beyond words on a page or speech. In fact, each language is so unique because it represents the culture and the history of its speakers.
Here is a link to a fascinating article that covers many words which cannot be translated to English, often because they represent an element of culture which does not exist amongst anglophones:
so cool!
very interesting!
amazing article!
I love this it makes you think about just stuff like language translation differences, make people experience the world different across cultures, I would love to be able to swap bodies with people in different cultures and live a day in the life.
me too that would be so cool
every time i read a translated book i always feel like im losing some of the essence of the text… a fun example i remember is how in harry potter ‘i am lord voldemort’ was supposed to unscramble to be tom marvolo riddle and translators had a really hard time with that esp in chinese/japanese.
Always found stuff like this interesting!
The idea seems so strange yet amazing at the same time
It’s fascinating how certain words in one language can carry layers of meaning and nuance that are difficult to translate directly into another language.
Example:
In English we talk about our native language - that is, the language which we have learnt from birth, and which is sometimes called our mother tongue. (Some people are raised speaking two or more languages from birth, of course, so they have >1 native language. In this sense, one’s native language is more than about simple fluency in that language - it becomes part of who one is. This is relevant for what follows.)
In Russian one refers to the language one has spoken from birth as one’s родной язык (rodnoy yazyk) - literally native language or native tongue. This is the same way in which you would refer to your native country, where you were brought up - родная страна
(rodnaya strana) - country is feminine gender, so the adjective takes a different ending, but it’s the same sense.
BUT - Russians also refer to family and even close friends as родная - which implies a sense of closeness, familiarity and intimacy. So you might say of a very dear girlfriend - она моя родная. There is no direct translation of this into English that involves a single word.
And another example from Russian.
To a Russian the simple statement he loves his wife is potentially ambiguous, especially in a setting where there are several couples present - whose wife does he love?!
So in Russian you must say он любит свою жену - he loves his own wife, to be perfectly clear about the relationship!
just had a read as I wanted to see if a welsh word that came to mind was on your list… and it is!! number 9! Never been able to translate ‘hiraeth’ when someone asks me what it means!!
I love this example. I could talk all day about this!