February 22, 2006
Untranslatable Words

My friend Dan, mentioned before re 40x365 and altered books, is collecting words that can’t be easily translated from one language to another for a project called untranslatable/

He’s put out a call for submissions that I want to pass along:

I would like collect examples of words that are untranslatable and provide a web-based publishing outlet for them to be found.

I am most interested in single words (lacuna) which require phrases, paragraphs, or pages of explanation to try and give a reasonable approximation of their full meaning, but am open to considering anything at all (really, try me) that fits (or answers to, or responds to) the notion of untranslatability.

When submitting, please include:


  1. the native language the word (or phrase) appears in
  2. the target language(s) into which it is known to be untranslatable
  3. as much explanation as you feel is necessary to communicate the full meaning of the word, possibly using a standard dictionary attempt which fails miserably as a starting point (or not, as you see fit)

or, for submissions that don’t fit this idealized set of guidelines, a brief note explaining your submission’s connection to the concept of untranslatability.

Submissions can be as casual or scholarly as your experience dictates, the format I’m planning will allow multiple approaches to the same translation challenge.

Please address submissions to your favorite word, whatever that may be, at logolalia.com.

The URL is http://www.logolalia.com/untranslatable/

Please circulate this call as widely as possible, to anyone in any country or field of endeavor who might have examples to share. This is an open an ongoing call. I will attempt to accommodate all native and target languages to the best of my abilities.

I submitted a few words today. If you can think of some, Dan would be happy to have them.

Posted by kuri at February 22, 2006 10:21 PM

Comments

Did you give him なつかしい?

Posted by: UltraBob on February 22, 2006 11:22 PM

Although natsukashii (なつかしい) was the first one I thought of, I didn’t give him that one. I handed in amaeru, wa, wabi-sabi, honne and tatemae

Posted by: Kristen on February 22, 2006 11:29 PM

Oh fine, let mine go as 文字化け and leave yours in nice looking properly formed kana.

Posted by: UltraBob on February 23, 2006 06:50 AM

What about the word that means the taste of Japanese food that includes soy, mirin etc. It is amai or umai - or something similar.. not sure of the actual spelling.

Posted by: T on February 23, 2006 01:51 PM

Bob, it all looks like mijibake to me, depending on which browser I use. I hope you’ll send Dan natsukashii even though I’m terrible to you.

Tracey, the word you’re thinking of is umami, the “mouthfeel” flavor that comes from msg, beef, and aged cheeses, too. That’s a good one. You should send it to Dan!

Posted by: Kristen on February 23, 2006 02:10 PM

I’m slightly too lazy to submit anything. The open e-mail format you are to send it in is intimidating too, but mostly its just laziness.

Posted by: UltraBob on February 23, 2006 03:12 PM

Tat,

I think the flavor that you’re referring to is umami, which has now been classified as the taste of protein and normally found in things like miso soup.

http://www.sciencefriday.com/pages/2005/Jul/hour2_072205.html

The link included here is for NPR’s Science Friday program, which talks about the new taste.

HTH,

Ando

Posted by: Ando on February 24, 2006 02:53 PM

japanese is the king of the one word phrase that’s hard to translate.

how about genki or yoroshiku just to get started?

Posted by: travis on March 6, 2006 10:06 PM
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