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66 replies

Żal
In Polish it means a feeling of sadness, regret, being unable to accept the reality. It's often compared to grief, but it's not confined to losing someone. When you look at the past, regretting your life choices, you feel żal.

1

I'm having real trouble thinking of any in Estonian that truly don't have a good translation, there's only one I can think of on the spot like this.

Midagi läbi ussimunni ajama - Literally translated: to drive* something through a worm's dick. Commonly used in car repairs and other similar contexts: Some space is super narrow and you need to put something it through exactly at the correct angle. Can be used with "goes through" as well (käib läbi ussimunni), but even then it's generally still describing some sort of activity, not someone literally walking through a tight spot. I can't think of an English expression that's truly equivalent, though I could just be missing something.

* ajama itself means to drive as in "drive insane" or "steer a herd of cattle", not "drive a car". But also "sitta ajama" = "to bullshit".

3

German: Konjunktiv I and II. Most people first learning German will hear the Konjunktiv II in its usage similar to a subjunctive in english ("Wenn das so wäre" - "If it were that way"), but it does so much more. You can switch full sentences to the Konjunktiv II, but that immediately implies that you doubt the statement being presented. For instance, if you say "er hätte es vergessen", you're essentially saying "he allegedly forgot it, but I really doubt it", just by using the Konjunktiv II.

Then, there's the Konjunktiv I, which is similar, but instead of voicing your disapproval, you're staying completely neutral. Taking the example from before, it would be "er habe es vergessen", with which you're saying, "he allegedly forgot it, and I neither support nor disavow that statement" - again, all only with a change of verb form. It's wonderful when you're relaying something someone else said without adding your own evaluation.

4

お疲れ様 (good job+"you look tired"+"I an acknowledging this and presenting recognition of your effort")

Keigo modifiers. ご覧 vs 見る. They both mean "look". One is, somehow, more polite.

Kansai dialect. しばいたろか ("wanna get smacked?" but it's playful) or まいど ("thanks" but also "nice to see you again" and "hello" but only in specific contexts between specific people. Mess it up and you'll probably hear the other Kansai term previously described.)

10

Sisu. Its a mix of courage, determination, resilience, keeping your nerve, doing a scary or difficult thing even though you know that odds of succeeding are low. Its also done quietly, no complaining or boasting about it. You can mutter some curse words quietly to yourself.

Closest English word for it might be "guts" or "grit". But those don't really explain it completely.

Finnish.

10
boonhetreply
sopuli.xyz

As your southern neighbour, I knew someone would have to mention sisu.

Now someone needs to explain Finland's national emotion, vitutus.

5
Flukereply
feddit.uk

I know this one. From the title of the movie about one of your lads exacting cinematic vengeance on Nazis.

Beautiful stuff. 💛

3
lemmy.ml

Gezellig in Dutch. Used to describe a situation that's cosy and fun togetherness. Can also be used to describe a place that looks inviting (to have that good time in). I guess 😃

10
feddit.online

Russian is more productive than English, so there's a bunch of "we just smushed a bunch of prefixes and suffixes on it" words that don't have a great English equivalent, like недоперепить -- to drink quite a lot but not succeed at drinking too much. I don't think we properly have листопад which is the equivalent of "snowfall" but for autumn leaves. I really miss успевать -- to successfully have enough time to do something. There's also кипяток -- water that has been boiled but then slightly cooled, like 200-205 degrees F. The canonical examples are тоска , which is a kind of melancholy longing, and авось which expresses optimism but I basically never heard anyone actually say.

31

As someone who speaks the exact bare minimum amount of Russian to get by in Estonia (so basically hello, please, thank you, fuck you, good bye), there's a couple Russian words of the "not in front of your babushka" type that IMO lose a bit of character when translated to the English phrases that mean the same thing:

похуй - universal answer whenever someone raises a concern

хуйня - very versatile word

I'll let you do the honor of translating them.

2

I think авось has a general meaning similar to "god willing", or "with some luck", not simply some optimism. Like "авось успеем" -> "with some luck, we can make it in time". I do agree it's an old-fashioned word which I haven't really heard in a while.

3
Mantzy81reply
aussie.zone

Never hearing anyone express optimism feels like a very Russian stereotype.

22

Javertus. (Danish)

It's a thing that sticks out, and you don't know what it is, but it has the function of sticking out. Like a naturally occurring bulgy peak or other unknown long shape coming out of something else.

It's most often used as slang for penis, but otherwise it might be found on trees or wooden objects.

7
lemmy.dbzer0.com

In Spanish.
Sobremesa, the period you stay at the table after lunch or dinner having a coffee or some drinks while chatting.

Aprovechar, is basically the opposite of to waste. So depending on the context is to take advantage of something, to make the most of, make a good use, give a second use or reuse leftovers for something else.

46

The old-school English word for aprovechar was "thrift" or being thrifty. These days I hear it used mostly in the specific sense of saving cash. I don't often hear it much anymore in terms of conserving resources, but that is where it came from, and if you use it in that sense people will understand you.

As for sobremesa, that's not something I've enjoyed enough for it to have its own word, unfortunately.

1
piefed.social

Fjøs is where farm animals are kept. "Barn" is more general and translates to "Låve", while Fjøs doesn't really have an English translation.

Nisse is a mythological creature that is part goblin, part santa, part Gnome, but not really either of them. They're usually benign and pretty cool.

Hygge (noun) /hyggelig (adjective) means having a cosy, lighthearted or fun atmosphere, usually in company of others

EDIT: By the way, Nissen lives in the Låve

11
piefed.social

Hygge became too popular so that's started making it's way into English. Hopefully that one sticks around. The pronunciation will never be correct though. Nisse sounds awesome though.

What's the difference between a Låve and a Fjøs?

5

Fjøs is specifically where animals are kept. Låve is more generic, but it's usually where you store stuff such as hay and produce. Sometimes the two are combined into one building and It's common to refer to the ground floor as Fjøs, and the floor above as Låve.

4

Buddhist devs meditate frequently on the differences and similarities between this and self

11
lemmy.world

Guten Appetit! (German term equivalent to "cheers" for drinking - but for eating.)

17
lemmy.world

That one is really interesting, because a lot of languages has it, from guten apetit, through dobrou chuť to itadakimasu. But english was out of school that day I suppose.

14
Nomecksreply
lemmy.ca

English stole 'Bon Apetit" from French fair and square!

18
Mantzy81reply
aussie.zone

As English often does - if it makes sense in another language and is easy for English speakers to understand the context it's used, they're quite happy stealing it. Especially French.

7

That's because English isn't a language, it's three other languages in a trenchcoat, stealing stuff from every other language.

1

itsdakomasu

Did you mean itadakimasu?

Because that is what you say in Japanese when you start eating but interestingly it doesn't mean "Guten Appetit" (basically "have a nice meal") but "I am (thankfully) going to receive (a nice meal)". While "Guten Appetit" is about others who are eating alongside you, "itadakimasu" is about the speaker.

2

Good appetite?

Oh, looked it up, it's not used in the same manner as German, i never knew 😃

2
ani.social

Does it count if English just steals your words?

Schadenfreude, Zeitgeist, Weltanschauung, Kindergarten.

37

The problem is when they steal a word and then change the meaning.

3
404reply

Doppelganger, wanderlust, poltergeist...

19
Denjinreply
feddit.uk

Lightning being the literal translation but used in the same way as fast.

3

I always assumed lightning war was just a way of making it sound more interesting, I didn't realise blitz just meant lightning

1

Zeitgeist works well as "spirit of the times"; Weltanschauung as "worldview"; and Kindergarten as "pre-school".

2

Angst, although that one became more of a false friend: Fear of the unknown vs Teenage BS

3

It's what every language does, to some extent. You'd really struggle to say, "I was working from home, sending emails and providing feedback, and during a meeting with my team and the marketing manager, the internet died" in German without stuffing the sentence to the brim with English loanwords.

1
gruereply
lemmy.world

"Linner" in English, as the obvious counterpart to "brunch."

2

"Lanche" is completely separate entity from "jantar" (dinner).

When mixed, we call it a "lanche ajantarado" (dinnery lanche).

After that we can have "ceia" which is a late, after dinner meal.

1
piefed.social

It's just the noun-form of the verb "kakeru", in this context, to pour or splash a liquid, with the intensifier "bu" in front of it to suggest it's done forcefully. Like in bukkake udon, where the broth is splashed onto the udon noodles.

4

It also has a certain other, rather more precisely defined, meaning.

3

Hinh in Burmese. The closest equivalent is curry, and while all curries are hinh, not every hinh is curry. It basically means something you eat with the rice.

1

Doch Zwedgsche (this fruit is often translated as sour cherry but it isnt a sour cherry) Zipfelklatscher

German and high german dialects

1

You could at least describe the words... not everybody speaks German

7

Keeping in mind that any and all concepts in this world can be explained and understood by anyone and everyone - and that when this is untrue, only a lack of language and experience are at work - these do not have straightforward counterparts in English with the exact same nuance, I think:

Japanese
潔い、木漏れ日、懐かしい、いただきます、ごちそうさま、よろしく、お疲れ様、儚い、ぼけ、つっこみ、花見、紅葉狩り

Swedish
Mångata, lagom, fika, smörgåsbord, ombudsman, klämdag, skadeglädje, orka (verb or exclamation)

Hungarian
Meglehetős(en), káröröm

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