The wonders of language learning

One of the tasks on the Kettle list is to continue with my language learning journey – that language being Japanese. You can follow that journey here, if you are so inclined.

This November, I participated in the 3rd annual ‘Lightning talks’. This basically involved me doing a speech, in Japanese, about a given topic to the rest of my teachers students. The reason I bring this up is that the theme for these talks was ‘Japanese idioms’.

I have previously mentioned this topic – there are even a few posts on the subject – and one of the things I have discovered while writing these, is that Japanese contains a lot of words and phrases that just do not translate or have an English equivalent.

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Other posts you may enjoy

5 Japanese idioms for language learning
5 Japanese Idioms to inspire you this spring

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Further study shows that there are actually a number of examples in other languages too. Language is a powerful tool that shapes our perception of the world, after all.

Every language carries a unique cultural and historical baggage, and, consequently, some words can express complex concepts that are difficult to translate.

English, as a versatile and adaptable language, has “borrowed” (or wholesale stolen!) numerous words from other languages, but there are still many untranslatable gems out there that deserve a place in the English lexicon.

In this blog post, let’s explore some of the more intriguing words from different languages that should totally be embraced by English speakers, as well as a few concepts that really need a word of their own

積ん読 – Tsundoko

I had to start with a Japanese word.

“Tsundoku” refers to the act of acquiring books and letting them pile up, unread. Anyone who has spent anytime in BookTok will know that having a TBR pile ( To Be Read) is a rite of passage. While most would not see ‘too many books’ as a problem, the fact that it is an acknowledged issue with a name (at least in Japan!) should resonate with anyone who has a growing stack of unread books on their shelves. It should also serve as a gentle reminder to curb the habit of hoarding books and to actually start reading them.

Backpfeifengesicht

The Germans have given English some great words. In fact around 26% of the English vocabulary has Germanic roots. One that particularly stands out is ‘Schadenfreude’; deriving pleasure from the the suffering of others. While we understand the concept, we chose not to create a word, and just wholesale stole the German one.

If we are going to steal words and concept I would like to offer the following: Backpfeifengesicht
It is the German word for a face that is in need of a good, old-fashioned slap or punch. While somewhat harsh, we would struggle to deny that we had never met at least one person who didn’t meet this description, and deserve this fate.

Shemomedjamo

“Shemomedjamo” is a Georgian word (the country, not the state!) that describes the feeling of eating something when you’re not actually hungry, simply because the food is delicious.

They used to serve this chocolate cake at school, with peach coloured icing – it was beautiful. But so rich. I would always regret eating it half way in ad wished I picked something else, yet every time it was an option, I could not resist it. I didn’t need it, I just had my lunch, but that cake got me every time.

Turns out there was a word to describe that feeling.

Prozvonit

“Prozvonit” is a Czech word describing the act of calling someone’s phone and letting it ring just once so that the other person calls back, saving the caller’s money.

It’s ingenious and while I have free minutes with my phone, so I don’t really need to do this to my friends, I can still appreciate that this exists… And that the Czech’s have a word for it.

English words we need

Don’t get me wrong, English has some great words too – words like defenestration and kerfuffle, (although technically we stole the first one from the French!) but sometimes a common situation arises and there just isn’t the right way to express it. So I have been pondering about some things that happen often enough that they probably deserve their own words.

Introducing friends to your favourite shows

I refuse to believe that this only happens to me: you have been singing the praises of a particular show to your friends for ages, and they finally agree to watch one with you… And it is terrible, the worst episode of that show you have ever seen. You then have to explain it is usually better than that, but they do not looked convinced, just disappointed in your programme choices.

Tastes like the smell of…

Pear drops taste like the smell of nail varnish and no-one will convince me otherwise!

One of my friends says gin tastes like the smell of pine cleaning fluid… But she just might have had a really wild night out once, either way there has to be a word ‘fir’ this phenomenon.

Fir, because pine? … And also auto correct, but mainly an intentional pun.

The British ‘are you sure’ conversation.:

You have been offered the last biscuit, ‘no, that’s fine’ you declare, the other person insists and you faux reluctantly take the biscuit that you wanted all along.

This is so prevalent in British society that there should be a word to describe how annoyed you get when someone doesn’t play properly, by either not refusing the item initially and just taking it, or by saying ‘fair enough’ and stuffing the biscuit after only your first refusal.

This can also be applied to people not following the very specific rules of ‘post office’ queues. Where you stand in one line and the person at the front gets served by which ever counter is free. Many places have this down now; the Post Office, Primark, my bank, but some people still do not get it. But then British queue etiquette deserves an entire dictionary. There is probably one somewhere.

Over to you

I am sure there are loads of examples, and with new words being invented all the time (or ‘creaspearasised’ – to create words in the fashion of Shakespeare) it seems remiss that they haven’t made them for these problems.

If you have any suggestions for words that need to be created, or know of some cool ones, let us know in the comments.