Congo word 'most untranslatable'
By Oliver Conway
BBC News
The world's most difficult word to translate has been identified as "ilunga" from the Tshiluba language spoken in south-eastern DR Congo.
It came top of a list drawn up in consultation with 1,000 linguists.
Ilunga means "a person who is ready to forgive any abuse for the first time, to tolerate it a second time, but never a third time".
It seems straightforward enough, but the 1,000 language experts identified it as the hardest word to translate.
In second place was shlimazl which is Yiddish for "a chronically unlucky person".
Third was Naa, used in the Kansai area of Japan to emphasise statements or agree with someone.
Although the definitions seem fairly precise, the problem is trying to convey the local references associated with such words, says Jurga Zilinskiene, head of Today Translations, which carried out the survey.
"Probably you can have a look at the dictionary and... find the meaning," she said. "But most importantly it's about cultural experiences and... cultural emphasis on words."
The speed at which simultaneous interpreters work only adds to the difficulty of trying to explain words with complex meanings.
And technical jargon, often found in politics, business or sport, has difficulties of its own.
Miss Zilinskiene's own bete noir is "googly", a cricketing term for "an off-breaking ball disguised by the bowler with an apparent leg-break action".
But then many people find cricket incomprehensible anyway. Naa.
2011-03-21
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Still the health concerns mar the overall positive
ReplyDeletesides of this economic growth as people take their health problems as the cost of development which
is indeed pretty higher. As well as in this article I am going to
explain why and how to use it to cultivate hair - According to dermatologist Marianne ODonoghue
its the most proven supplement for growing a prolonged mane.
You repeat the exact same procedure maybe once or twice every week.
Since ages coconut oil has been used for curing
skin as well as hair problems as it has anti fungal and anti bacterial properties.
Exactly what the oil does is clean and exfoliate your hair follicles, help make your bloodstream circulate better all around your head and in return
boosts the process involving hair growth and acts as being a supercharger for making your hair get bigger.
My website - olive oil for hair