Articles
Ubiquity
Volume 2025, Number January (2025), Pages 1-6
Communication Corner: Words That Don't Translate into English
Philip Yaffe
DOI: 10.1145/3712579
Each "Communication Corner" essay is self-contained; however, they build on each other. For best results, before reading this essay and doing the exercise, go to the first essay "How an Ugly Duckling Became a Swan," then read each succeeding essay.
The better you become as a good expository (non-fiction) writer, the more you appreciate just how challenging (and rewarding) it is to produce good expository text. Most treatises on good writing seem to presume that you are writing for native speakers of the language in which you are writing. However, often this is not the case. If you are not a polyglot, poor translation could lead to poor outcomes.
Most ACM publications, and notably Ubiquity, have wide international audiences for whom English is a second, or even a third language. Addressing many readers in a language not their own requires particular attention on the part of the writer.
I recall many years ago walking into a five-star hotel in the south of France. As is frequent in hotels of this standing, there were many boutique shops selling premium goods (jewelry, clothing, watches, etc.) at premium prices. Once such shop had a little sign in the window in both French and English. Apparently, the French text was the original, while the English was a translation. How did I know? Because the English text had four mistakes in it. Seven words and four errors? Clearly, the English text hadn't been translated (or reviewed) by a native English speaker. Three of the errors were simple spelling mistakes, but one of the words used simply wasn't English.
One of the joys (and pitfalls) of learning languages is discovering words or short phrases that simply don't translate into your native language, in this case English. There are three fundamental reasons for this:
- The structure of the language allows things to be said in ways that just wouldn't look right in English.
- A word in another language may have a broader meaning than the equivalent in English, and vice versa. Thus, if the word has four potential translations into English, you must find which of the four correctly does the job. Or if any of them do.
- The untranslatable word or phrase relates to some historical, political, or social event relevant to the people who speak the language but irrelevant to English speakers.
STRUCTURE OF THE LANGUAGE
I live in Belgium and am fluent in French. On several occasions I have been asked to translate a Belgian company's annual report into English. I quickly ran into a stumbling block. The annual report frequently referred to "Joe Blogs, le responsable de," which directly translates into "Joe Blogs, the person responsible for." This just doesn't sound like English. It could be translated as "Joe Blogs, the person in charge of," but this still doesn't work. In English, if you say, "the person in charge of," there is the negative connotation that he or she simply isn't important enough for you to know their official title. In French, there is no such negative connotation. Therefore, every time I came across the phrase le responsable de, I had to call the company to get the person's official title.
How can French get away with saying "the person responsible for" whereas in English you can't?
It's because in French, the definite article is used much more frequently than in English. For example, "I go to school" in French is "I go to the school." The definite article "the" is obligatory. Likewise, "I like Chinese food" in French is "I like the Chinese food." And so on. This insistence on the use of the definite article makes something like "the responsible" perfectly normal in French, and perfectly peculiar in English.
BROADER MEANING OF WORDS
I was once translating an advertisement about a new kind of tennis racket from French into English for a major sales campaign that would be launched in the United States. I had little trouble extolling the racket's various virtues, but when the whole thing was wrapped up in the phrase "le rendement du racket," I was stumped. In English, the basic meaning of rendement is something like "yield" or "return on investment." Neither of these seemed appropriate to adequately encapsulate what was being hailed as a major leap forward in tennis technology. Other possibilities included "efficiency," "output," "productivity" etc. But, again, none of them seemed adequate. I don't recall what term I finally settled on. What I do remember is that finding it was a very painful procedure.
HISTORICAL, POLITICAL, OR SOCIAL RELEVANCE
Most of us are probably familiar with the expression "carry coals to Newcastle" which means doing something pointless or useless. Why? Because early in the Industrial Revolution, the city of Newcastle in England was one of the first major producers of coal used to power the new steam-driven machines that were changing the world. Carrying coals to Newcastle would have been useless and pointless because Newcastle was the source of coal.
The same idea exists in numerous other languages. But as in English, there are expressions more closely related to local experiences. For example, Hungarians prefer to "take water to the Danube" (a major river that passes through Hungary), and Spaniards "take oranges to Valencia" (a major orange-producing region of Spain). However, for some strange reason, Germans "bring owls to Athens."
Another interesting aspect of languages is words that should exist in English, but don't.
For example, English has the verb "to facilitate," which means to make something less difficult. But what is the antonym (opposite) of facilitate? It should be "to difficultate" or something of the like, but it isn't. In English no such word exists; however, in Spanish it does. Facilitar means to make something less difficult, while dificultar means to make it more difficult.
In English we talk about someone being ambitious or having ambition, usually as a virtue. However, there is no verb in English to express this. You cannot say "to ambition" something, but in many other languages you can. In French, the verb is ambitionner while in Spanish it is ambicionar.
Speaking of virtue, to say someone possesses integrity is a high compliment, but in English you can't say "Caroline is integral" or something similar to affirm her integrity because no such adjective exists. However, in French it does. So, in French you can say both "Patrick possède de l'intégrité" (Patrick has integrity) and "Patrick est intègre" (Patrick is incorruptible). Bizarre, isn't it?
For fun, here is a short selection of words used in other languages that leave English speakers speechless.
- Arabic
Ya'aburnee: Translates to "May you bury me." In practice, it is the declaration of one's hope that they will die before another person because to live without that person would be unbearable.
- Danish
Hygge: The pleasant, friendly, intimate feeling associated with sitting with close friends around a warming fire in the winter.
- French
Dépaysement: The positive or negative feeling that comes from not being in a familiar place, notably outside one's own country.
- German
Drachenfutter: Translates to "dragon fodder." It refers to the gift a husband gives his wife to make amends for staying out too late or having engaged in some kind of inappropriate behavior.
Kummerspeck: Translates to "grief bacon." It refers to the weight a person gains from emotional overeating.
Schadenfreude: The pleasure one feels from another person's pain.
- Japanese
Arigata-meiwaku: Something someone does for you as a favor that you didn't want them to do which then goes dramatically wrong, but for which social convention requires you to express gratitude anyhow.
Bakku-shan: A beautiful woman, but only when viewed from behind.
- New Guinean
Mokita: A truth everyone knows but no one ever talks about.
- Portuguese
Desenrascanço: Translates to "disentanglement." It refers to the art of using whatever means at your disposal to extract yourself from a difficult situation.
- Scottish
Tartle: Hesitating while introducing someone because you have forgotten his or her name.
- Yiddish
Schlemiel, Schlimazel: Both words mean someone prone to bad luck, but with a nuance that can best be explained by an example. The schlemiel is the stereotypic clumsy person who spills his coffee. The schlimazel is the person on whom it is spilled.
So, what does all of this have to do with becoming a better writer and a better speaker? Actually, more than you might imagine.
Becoming a better writer or speaker requires keen attention to vocabulary. As much as possible, you should always try to use words that most keenly express what you want to say and to which your readers and listeners will react as closely as possible in the manner you want them to. In the sage words of Mark Twain, both an eminent writer and public speaker: "The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug"
To be brutally honest, this is an edited version of what Twain actually said because it is rather more impactful than what he actually said, probably because he never expected what he actually said to become a stand-alone quote. What he actually said is: "The difference between the almost right word and the right word Is really a large matter—'tis the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning."
Even Mark Twain can be improved upon.
Author
Philip Yaffe was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1942 and grew up in Los Angeles, where he graduated from the University of California with a degree in mathematics and physics. In his senior year, he was also editor-in-chief of the Daily Bruin, UCLA's daily student newspaper. He has more than 40 years of experience in journalism and international marketing communication. At various points in his career, he has been a teacher of journalism, a reporter/feature writer with The Wall Street Journal, an account executive with a major international press relations agency, European marketing communication director with two major international companies, and a founding partner of a specialized marketing communication agency in Brussels, Belgium, where he has lived since 1974. He is the author of more than 30 books, which can be found easily in Amazon Kindle.
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