| Pages in topic: < [1 2 3 4 5 6] > | Poll: Do you have a favorite word in each of your languages? Please share! Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
|
|---|
Erzsébet Czopyk 
Hungary
Local time: 20:55
Member (2006)
Russian to Hungarian
+ ...
SITE LOCALIZER | Behind of each word is a story | Mar 2, 2008 |
in English: thoroughly
American English: garbage disposal
In Italian: l' aspirapolvere, arrivederLa
Russian: совдеп
и одно не совсем красивое и вовсе не переводимое слово: пи**ец,
(пригодится на все случаи жизни )))
(this is a very special word for all occasions ... See more in English: thoroughly
American English: garbage disposal
In Italian: l' aspirapolvere, arrivederLa
Russian: совдеп
и одно не совсем красивое и вовсе не переводимое слово: пи**ец,
(пригодится на все случаи жизни)))
(this is a very special word for all occasions))))
In Latvian: uz redzēšanos, zebiekste
Latin: vademecum, and the verb ferre (fero, tuli, latum, ferre)
Behind of each word is a story, a person or a situation, something sweet or important from the past. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Jack Doughty
United Kingdom
Local time: 19:55
Russian to English
+ ...
In memoriam | jacana54 (X)
Uruguay
English to Spanish
+ ...
| I'm adopting "Toz" ! | Mar 2, 2008 |
Nesrin wrote:
Ok, after a lot of thinking in order to come up with my favourite Arabic word, I've decided to nominate the Egyptian Arabic word "toz", which can be used in a variety of ways.
e.g: A says: "Don't you know who I am? I am the very important bla bla bla". B replies: "Toz." Which is a short way of saying "Whatever, doesn't mean anything to me. To hell with you" etc. It's much milder than the English "damn ..." or the f-word, yet it expresses more contempt than any English word I know. You can adopt a Toz attitude against anything and anyone to show your contempt.
The word originally comes from the Turkish word for "salt", which during Ottoman reign was the only commodity exempt from taxes, so when a salt trader passed, the tax people would dismiss him with the word "toz".
Of all the lovely words and sounds I have read in this poll, "Toz" is the most amazing. It's so much more concise than saying "Y a mí qué me importa" or "What's it to me?" and much politer than shrugging. If I may, Nesrin, I'm going to adopt it and I'm sure my daughters will love it too! Everybody can understand this word immediately (although the explanation about the salt and the taxes is most interesting).
I also want to tell all the other people who have given their opinions that I've enjoyed them so very very much and have reread parts of the discussion several times. I fully share the delight in the sound of some words.
Thank you !
[Edited at 2008-03-02 12:07]
| | | | Alboa
Spain
Local time: 20:55
Spanish to Russian
+ ...
| thanks for the poll! | Mar 2, 2008 |
Graciela Fondo wrote:
A word I love in English is "smooth". It has a sound that really conveys its meaning (at least, for me).
On the contrary, "harsh" gives me the exact idea of its meaning.
Graciela, smooth and mild are wonderful! Totally agree. And... there is a word in English that so precise and short " boobtube". Very good indeed.
And in Spanish... "solidaridad" just for the way it sounds, like a melody. I also like many sayings in Spanish, like "Quien a buen árbol se arrima, buena sombra..." or the "machista" saying about " Tiran más dos tetas..."
In Russian, I would say that my favorites are "culture" words: those, which can be hardly translated, like "мужик" "баба" "запой" "самовар" "балалайка" (muzhik; baba; zapoi; samovar, balalaika. ). By the way, I have always thought that the first three has lost some of their sense in all the literary translations.
Thank you for a stimulating-creative-thinking poll.
Yours,
Olga
| | |
|
|
|
elegante and incantevole in Italian (my mother tongue);
delight, believe and millionaire (in English);
ehrgeiz (in German)...
nice poll!
Franzi
| | | |
Mine are...
Spanish: "otorrinolaringólogo"
English: "flabbergasted"
German: "krankenwagen"
Galician: "centolo"
And as for Italian and Portuguese, I've never thought of it.
I know the words are not "fantastic", but they make me laugh (don't ask me why!).
R.
| | | | Giles Watson
Italy
Local time: 20:55
Italian to English
In memoriam | Greek: μεράκι - μερακλής - μερακλήδικος | Mar 2, 2008 |
I like these words for the notions they express.
Μεράκι, from the Turkish "merak", means strong passion but it can also refer to the regret that unfulfilled yearning provokes. A μερακλής is a person who experiences or appreciates such passion, for example when it is applied to work, and the adjective μερακλήδικος can be used to describe work performed with passion and sensitivity, as well as skill.
Μερακλήδικος is a good word to des... See more I like these words for the notions they express.
Μεράκι, from the Turkish "merak", means strong passion but it can also refer to the regret that unfulfilled yearning provokes. A μερακλής is a person who experiences or appreciates such passion, for example when it is applied to work, and the adjective μερακλήδικος can be used to describe work performed with passion and sensitivity, as well as skill.
Μερακλήδικος is a good word to describe a successful translation of an absorbing, challenging text because no matter how well it comes out, there is always an undercurrent of regret that it might have been even better
Greek and Turkish colleagues will I hope forgive me for oversimplifying a lovely concept.
Giles ▲ Collapse
| | | | Özden Arıkan
Germany
Local time: 20:55
Member
English to Turkish
+ ...
Giles Watson wrote:
I like these words for the notions they express.
Μεράκι, from the Turkish "merak", means strong passion but it can also refer to the regret that unfulfilled yearning provokes.
Merak means "curiosity" in Turkish. It also means "worry" and "interest", as in the sentence "books are among my interests". Curious is "meraklı", but we also jokingly use "meraki" from Greek in that same sense (so, you can say that the word has a history like a tennis ball between two languages )
However, the origin of the word is not Turkish, in fact, it comes from Arabic. And I bet, it is used in still different senses in that language
Greek and Turkish colleagues will I hope forgive me for oversimplifying a lovely concept.
Giles
You haven't oversimplified, at all. To the contrary, thanks for the opportunity to chatter more in this lovely poll!
| | |
|
|
|
| Geschwindigkeitsmessgerätsbeauftragterentschädigung | Mar 2, 2008 |
This is my favourite in German where it's possible to make very long nouns just by putting them together. It means something like "payment to the person in charge of the speed-meter" (police officer measuring vehicles' speed in traffic). OK, I admit that this word is too long even for Germans but still it's not unrealistic.
In my mother tongue Swedish there is a "mental limit" of about 5 syllables, i.e. it's no... See more This is my favourite in German where it's possible to make very long nouns just by putting them together. It means something like "payment to the person in charge of the speed-meter" (police officer measuring vehicles' speed in traffic). OK, I admit that this word is too long even for Germans but still it's not unrealistic.
In my mother tongue Swedish there is a "mental limit" of about 5 syllables, i.e. it's not possible to just put together nouns like that, and we need to put in extra prepositions, genitive or similar.
Regards
Erik ▲ Collapse
| | | | FrederikDV (X)
Germany
English to Dutch
+ ...
| Bubuyog, palakpak and bilbil | Mar 3, 2008 |
Great poll indeed!
Here are some that I like:
Tagalog (Filipino): bubuyog (bee), palakpak (applause), bilbil (love handles ), they just sound so funny to me. There are loads of others, but these are my favorites.
| | | |
Invented by Horace Walpole in 1754.
New invention this old has every right to be "serendupity".
Woops, sorry Jack! You already have listed this one. That means we have same taste.
Ok I need to be innovative ...
Then how about "Tempura"? Deep fried fish or vegetables (a relative of "fritter") you see next to Sushi in Japanese restraurants worldwide?
This is one of the first European words ever introduced to Japan in late 16th Century. Legend has it that... See more Invented by Horace Walpole in 1754.
New invention this old has every right to be "serendupity".
Woops, sorry Jack! You already have listed this one. That means we have same taste.
Ok I need to be innovative ...
Then how about "Tempura"? Deep fried fish or vegetables (a relative of "fritter") you see next to Sushi in Japanese restraurants worldwide?
This is one of the first European words ever introduced to Japan in late 16th Century. Legend has it that the derivation is Portugese "tempero".
Yes Portugese were the first ever reached to the Far East island country .... in fact, they were, like Christopher Columbus, made the landfall by accident.
A little history lesson wouldn't hurt, does it?
[Edited at 2008-03-03 04:17]
[Edited at 2008-03-03 04:18] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Elizabeth Adams
United States
Local time: 11:55
Member (2002)
Russian to English
My favorite word in Russian is отсебятина. It means "free-thinking creativity", but it's totally pejorative. I learned it from my husband's grandmother (as in, "there shall be no отсебятина in my kitchen!")
| | |
|
|
|
neilmac
Spain
Local time: 20:55
Spanish to English
+ ...
In Spanish I like "imprescindible" but it has to be pronounced as if it were an English word (to rhyme with "dibble"). My Brit friends now jokingly use it as if it were really English....
| | | |
I love the colourful expressions in ch'ti, the patois of northern France where my husband is from.
Garnoule means frog, and I use it as a term of endearment for my children.
Another expression that is not at all in the same register, but for some reason makes me howl with laughter, is "giffe a nasse", which means "face covered with boogers" and is used as a mild insult (my husband and his friends simply call one another this - Ca va giffe a nass' ?)
| | | |
Hi all,
I'm surprised that nobody mentioned "zmrzlina" (Czech/Slovak for ice cream).
It's also one of the most voted favourite words:
http://www.myfavoriteword.com/2008/02/14/zmrzlina/
The Latvian equivalent is almost as onomatopoetically cool:
"saldejums"
According to my Polish colleagues, some Czech words become really funny and... See more Hi all,
I'm surprised that nobody mentioned "zmrzlina" (Czech/Slovak for ice cream).
It's also one of the most voted favourite words:
http://www.myfavoriteword.com/2008/02/14/zmrzlina/
The Latvian equivalent is almost as onomatopoetically cool:
"saldejums"
According to my Polish colleagues, some Czech words become really funny and weird when used in Polish, sort of like a false friend.
Zmrzlina translated litterally would mean something like "the frozen one" in Polish.
/J ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Pages in topic: < [1 2 3 4 5 6] > | To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator: You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request » Poll: Do you have a favorite word in each of your languages? Please share! | Wordfast Pro | Translation Memory Software for Any Platform
Exclusive discount for ProZ.com users!
Save over 13% when purchasing Wordfast Pro through ProZ.com. Wordfast is the world's #1 provider of platform-independent Translation Memory software. Consistently ranked the most user-friendly and highest value
Buy now! » |
| | Protemos translation business management system | Create your account in minutes, and start working! 3-month trial for agencies, and free for freelancers!
The system lets you keep client/vendor database, with contacts and rates, manage projects and assign jobs to vendors, issue invoices, track payments, store and manage project files, generate business reports on turnover profit per client/manager etc.
More info » |
|
| | | | X Sign in to your ProZ.com account... | | | | | |
Login to reply/comment 
