Words that only exist in some languages (Philological Room) Language Learning Forum

Words that only exist in some languages
Tags: Meaning of words \| Vocabulary learning
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Language Learning Forum : Philological Room

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Piotr1981
Diglot
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Poland
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Speaks: Polish*, English^C2
Studies: Spanish, Italian

Message 81 of 97

02 August 2010 at 1:34pm | IP Logged

There is an extremely popular word in a rather colloquial register of Polish, namely "załatwić". In Poland we often joke that it's probably only found in Polish :D It has a few meanings but the one I'm referring to is "to get something done, usually by means of taking advantage of a legal loophole, or simply by breaking the law in a rather subtle way". "Kombinować" can have similar connotations.

I wonder if perhaps "fix" can convey a similar meaning?

There are 3 very frequently used indefinite numerals in Polish, which are usually a true pain in the neck for anyone who tries to translate them.
These are: "kilkanaście" ("between 11-19"), "kilkadziesiąt (roughly "between 30 and 90) and (rougly "between 200 and 900"). While the second and the third can be translated into English by means of "(a few) tens of" and "(a few) hundreds of", finding an equivalent for "kilkanaście" is more tricky and I've seen quite a few option depending on what is counted.
I wonder what the exact range of "decena" in Spanish and "decina" in Italian is although I rather suppose that it's too close to 10 be used as equivalents in these languages.
Earlier someone mentioned a word for "a nigh and a day". Luckily, Polish has it too ("doba").

Edited by Piotr1981 on 02 August 2010 at 1:43pm
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eumiro
Bilingual Octoglot
Groupie
Germany
Joined 5278 days ago
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Speaks: Czech*, Slovak*, French, English, German, Polish, Spanish, Russian
Studies: Italian, Hungarian

Message 82 of 97

02 August 2010 at 2:15pm | IP Logged

Przemek wrote:

Tally wrote:

In Hebrew there is a word called 'fraier', which means someone who lets other people get ahead of him, or he waits patiently while other people go etc. :)

In Polish we also have a word "frajer" (read: fraier). The meaning is the same. Now I know where it comes from.

The word 'frajer' exists in the Slovak language too and will be pronounced just like the Polish word. However, it means quite opposite.

Basically 'frajer' is a boyfriend (while 'frajerka' is a girlfriend). But it can be also someone, who is apparently better than the others, or at least trying to show it. For example driving faster on the highway or riding a bicycle without using his hands or just being dressed "too well".

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eumiro
Bilingual Octoglot
Groupie
Germany
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Speaks: Czech*, Slovak*, French, English, German, Polish, Spanish, Russian
Studies: Italian, Hungarian

Message 83 of 97

02 August 2010 at 2:23pm | IP Logged

DaisyMaisy wrote:

My favorite word right now is Schadenfreude (sorry, probably bad spelling - I don't speak German!). It's a great word to encapsulate how I feel about my manager being demoted after years of incompetence and being a generally obnoxious personality....ah but I digress....

Is there no English equivalent for Schadenfreude? In Czech it is 'škodolibost', in Slovak 'škodoradosť'.
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Teango
Triglot
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United States
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Speaks: English*, German, Russian
Studies: Hawaiian, French, Toki Pona

Message 84 of 97

05 October 2010 at 12:15am | IP Logged

Teango wrote:

I've been searching for an equivalent of the English word "savoury" in languages like German, French and Russian for years now.

Although there are several other usages for this word, including a description of "something you savour", "an appetizer", "moral acceptability", and "salty, spicy or piquant flavour" or just "non-sweet" food, what I'm really searching for is an equivalent word in another language that conveys the main sense in which it is used throughout Britain - i.e. something much closer to the Japanese concept of "umami" (although not simply "brothy" and "meaty" as suggested in this article, as these words don't really come that close either).

Perhaps this sense of savoury only exists in English (and maybe Japanese) too?

I've finally found a word in German that comes close to "savoury"...herzhaft! :)

I wonder if anyone knows the equivalent in Russian...I'm still searching for this one?

Edited by Teango on 05 October 2010 at 12:16am
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Arti
Diglot
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Russian Federation
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Speaks: Russian*, English
Studies: French, Czech

Message 85 of 97

05 October 2010 at 12:16pm | IP Logged

Teango wrote:

I've finally found a word in German that comes close to "savoury"...herzhaft! :)

I wonder if anyone knows the equivalent in Russian...I'm still searching for this one?

what meaning of "savoury-herzhaft" you want to translate? In Russian, both words have several meanings. :)
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Teango
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Speaks: English*, German, Russian
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Message 86 of 97

05 October 2010 at 9:13pm | IP Logged

Arti wrote:

Teango wrote:

I've finally found a word in German that comes close to "savoury"...herzhaft! :)

I wonder if anyone knows the equivalent in Russian...I'm still searching for this one?

what meaning of "savoury-herzhaft" you want to translate? In Russian, both words have several meanings. :)

I mean the "savoury" flavour of food like cheese, bread and meat. Definitely not sweet, and not necessarily spicy, salty, sour, bitter or tangy. A Russian friend told me a word that came close at a train station in Novgorod once, but silly me, I've already forgotten what he said now.
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Volte
Tetraglot
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Switzerland
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Speaks: English*, Esperanto, German, Italian
Studies: French, Finnish, Mandarin, Japanese

Message 87 of 97

05 October 2010 at 9:26pm | IP Logged

eumiro wrote:

DaisyMaisy wrote:

Is there no English equivalent for Schadenfreude? In Czech it is 'škodolibost', in Slovak 'škodoradosť'.

Kind of - it's Schadenfreude. We borrowed the German word.
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LiNaK37
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United States
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Studies: Portuguese

Message 88 of 97

10 November 2010 at 5:39am | IP Logged

irrationale wrote:

I read somewhere that the word "fair" in English is unique to English. For example "a fair deal", "a fair price", "a fair matchup", etc.

Portuguese has 'justo' which I am pretty sure means the same thing.

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