What is the most difficult word to translate?
Ilunga
Interestingly, the hardest word in the world to translate is Ilunga. This word belongs to the Luba-Kasai or Tshiluba language, which is spoken by more than 6 million speakers in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
What English word cant be translated?
1. Awkward. Awkward is the perfect word to describe that peculiarly British blend of embarrassment, discomfort and uncertainty that arises most often in social situations when someone has said something that they shouldn’t.
What are some words difficult to translate?
Here are ten words that are particularly difficult to translate:
- Mamihlapinatapei. From Yagan, the indigenous language of the Tierra del Fuego region of South America.
- Jayus.
- Prozvonit.
- Kyoikumama.
- Tartle.
- Iktsuarpok.
- Cafuné
- Torschlusspanik.
What words have no rhymes?
There are many words that have no rhyme in the English language. “Orange” is only the most famous. Other words that have no rhyme include: silver, purple, month, ninth, pint, wolf, opus, dangerous, marathon and discombobulate.
Does English have untranslatable words?
You may also be aware that there are words that simply don’t translate well out of or into certain languages. This is even true for English.
Why are some words difficult to translate?
When translators come across such a word, they usually describe it so that it makes sense in the target language. But some words pose more difficulty than others due to interesting cultural differences. Here are ten words that are particularly difficult to translate:
What are the most difficult words in English?
As a follow up to our article on confusing words, here are ten of the most difficult words in English. 1. Literally If you know a language purist, watch out. Misuse of this word has been known to raise people’s blood pressure. ‘Literally’ means, “in a literal sense”, or “what I’m saying is not imagined, but truly happened as I’m saying it.”
Is Serendipity a difficult word to translate?
Even for professional literature translators this word represents a challenge. Serendipity is any discovery that’s unexpected yet fortunate. You can also call it a lucky find, coincidence or accident. The word has been voted as one of the ten English words that were hardest to translate in June 2004, by a British translation company.
What is the world’s most untranslatable word?
From the Tshiluba language spoken in south-eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, this word has been chosen by numerous translators as the world’s most untranslatable word. Ilunga indicates a person who is ready to forgive any abuse the first time it occurs, to tolerate it the second time, but to neither forgive nor tolerate a third offense.