I thought this was sort of interesting
One thousand linguists were surveyed to find out the world's most difficult words to translate. They came up with three.
1. Ilunga
Language: Tshiluba from the southeastern area of Congo
Meaning: a person who is ready to forgive any abuse for the first time, to tolerate it a second time, but never a third time.
2. Shlimazl
Language: Yiddish
Meaning: a chronically unlucky person.
3. Naa
Language: Japanese from the Kansai area of Japan
Meaning: to emphasize statements or agree with someone.
The BBC News Online reports that although the definitions of these three words seem fairly precise, they don't convey the local references and culture that are integral to understanding their real meaning.
"Probably you can have a look at the dictionary and...find the meaning," Jurga Zilinskiene, head of Today Translations, which carried out the survey, told the BBC News Online. "But most importantly, it's about cultural experiences and...cultural emphasis on words."
you know what else I learned that was interesting? on npr, this office work slang term, "to have a salmon day". as in, you spend all day fighting the current(alternately: swimming upstream), only to get screwed in the end.
yay for learning stuff. also, I got a get fuzzy page a day calendar for half price. it's rather tight.
1. Ilunga
Language: Tshiluba from the southeastern area of Congo
Meaning: a person who is ready to forgive any abuse for the first time, to tolerate it a second time, but never a third time.
2. Shlimazl
Language: Yiddish
Meaning: a chronically unlucky person.
3. Naa
Language: Japanese from the Kansai area of Japan
Meaning: to emphasize statements or agree with someone.
The BBC News Online reports that although the definitions of these three words seem fairly precise, they don't convey the local references and culture that are integral to understanding their real meaning.
"Probably you can have a look at the dictionary and...find the meaning," Jurga Zilinskiene, head of Today Translations, which carried out the survey, told the BBC News Online. "But most importantly, it's about cultural experiences and...cultural emphasis on words."
you know what else I learned that was interesting? on npr, this office work slang term, "to have a salmon day". as in, you spend all day fighting the current(alternately: swimming upstream), only to get screwed in the end.
yay for learning stuff. also, I got a get fuzzy page a day calendar for half price. it's rather tight.