The language translation process may sound easy to some. But in reality even the translation of a single word can prove surprisingly difficult.

It seems we simply can’t get enough of Nataly Kelly, or of the recently released book she co-authored with Jost Zetzsche, Found in Translation: How Language Shapes Our Lives and Transforms the World, which we reviewed two weeks ago.

So today in this two-part post we’d like to begin reviewing Nataly Kelly’s ten difficult-to-translate concepts taken from her new book. Here now are the first five.

1. INTOXICADO (Spanish into English)

At first glance you might think this Spanish word simply means “intoxicated”. But you’d be wrong.

While the two words have a similar linguistic root, the word in Spanish refers to a type of poisoning, such as intoxicación solar (sun poisoning) or intoxicación por plomo (lead poisoning). That said, the word “intoxicado,” cannot be translated as simply “poisoned” requiring more explanation in English than in Spanish.

2. CANCER (English into Hmong)

Treating a cancer patient in Hmong, a language that does not have a term for the dreaded disease, presents a problem for doctors in the United States.

The Hmong language doesn’t even have a word for “cell,” making it difficult to explain what cancer is. Linguists at the University of California (UC-Davis) have created a Hmong neologism for cancer, mob khees xaws, but medical interpreters must provide lengthy explanations to patients, since the term is not commonly used or understood.

3. THANK YOU (English into Inuktitut)

“Thank you” is a phrase that is easily translated into most languages. But it isn’t so easy in Inuktitut, which has significant variations depending on where it is spoken.

Julia Demcheson, an English-into-Inuktitut translator, provided some fascinating examples of this dialectical variety: Qujana means “forget it” in south Baffin, but it means “thank you” in Greenlandic. In other areas of Baffin, “thank you” is qujannamiik or nakurmiik, depending on the community, and in Nunavik—the dialect spoken in northern Quebec—it is nakurami or nakurmiik.

4. MARG BAR AMRIKA (Farsi into English)

In Iran, the phrase Marg bar Amrika is often chanted at rallies and seen on signs held by unhappy protesters. The phrase is most commonly translated literally as “Death to America,” but it actually means “Down with America.”

An interpreter for Iranian President Ahmadinejad, has explained that “Death to America” is far too harsh of a translation. The interpreter pointed out, Ahmadinejad also handed out potatoes in exchange for votes, after which protesters chanted “Marg bar seeb zameeni!” They were literally saying, “Death to potatoes,” but it’s doubtful their intention was to kill the spuds.

5. LUNCH (English into Spanish)

“Let’s do lunch.” It sounds simple enough in English. In Spanish, the word that most people learn for lunch is almuerzo.

However, in some rural parts of Mexico, almuerzo is more like brunch, because it falls between breakfast in lunch. In Spain and in many parts of Mexico, lunch is called la comida. But head over to Cuba, Puerto Rico, Colombia, and Peru, and la comida means supper, not lunch.

In other words, in order to translate even these simple mealtimes into Spanish, it appears that knowing the Spanish spoken in just one country is not enough.

So those are the first five words that are surprisingly difficult to translate, according to Nataly Kelly. Five more words will be listed in our next post. In the meantime, can you think of other words that are not easy to translate? If so please post a comment on our blog and let us know.

By Alex Dupont
Marketing Communications Specialist
Language Translation Inc.

See Also

• The language translation of a single word can be surprisingly difficult at times
  Translation is the act of rewriting a document, changing it into another language
• Medical language interpretation can be challenging work in certain languages
  Effective medical interpretation helps build bridges to better health care
• Found in Translation About the book
  Translation affects every aspect of your life and we're not just talking about the obvious things, like world politics and global business.