Radical translation

A firm called Today Translation sponsored a poll in which translators and interpreters were asked to rate the most difficult words to translate [BBC]. This is a cute marketing ploy. I know I never would have heard of Today Translation otherwise. I have my suspicions about the methodology, but the results make for amusing reading:

NON-ENGLISH WORD VOTED HARDEST TO TRANSLATE
1. ilunga [Tshiluba word for a person who is ready to forgive any abuse for the first time; to tolerate it a second time; but never a third time. Note: Tshiluba is a Bantu language spoken in south-eastern Congo, and Zaire]

THE TEN ENGLISH WORDS THAT WERE VOTED HARDEST TO TRANSLATE
1. plenipotentiary
2. gobbledegook
3. serendipity
4. poppycock
5. googly
6. Spam
7. whimsy
8. bumf
9. chuffed
10. kitsch

The list is interesting because the top words seem to have made the list for different reasons. Some probably got there just because other languages don't have one-word synonyms, eg "plenipotentiary" and "Spam".Yet, the concepts involved are pretty easily paraphrased (diplomat with full negotiating authority, unsolicited bulk email/Spam-brand canned luncheon meat).

Words like "googly" are a little harder because they're learned by ostention. It's hard to formulate a concise paraphrase for "googly" that will make sense to someone who hasn't learned to identify googly things. (Maybe "googly" is a non-natural kind that not all cultures highlight for their children). I would have expected words for highly abstract concepts like "whimsy" and "serendipity" to be rated as more difficult than relatively straightforward concepts like "plenipotentiary."

[Link courtesy of Improbable Research Blog.]

Comments

[Herbert Browne]

Re "googly"- It would probably require an octogenarian to remember the song about one of the protagonists in the comic strip "Barney Google and Snuffy Smith"- whee Snuffy was a squat moonshiner under an enormous hat, while Barney was a dapper traveling salesman who was always rolling his eyes, taking in everything and using those orbs of his to suggest, to caress, to marvel, to make fun of, to insinuate. They implied a sort of writhing spirit in a kind of barely-controlled eternal spasm that embraced all emotions (briefly)... & brings to mind the M'soft mantra "your potential, our Passion". Maybe there IS a bit of 'googly eye-ness' in the old Word paper clip... ^..^

[Atanas Igov]

Hello,

I'm a translator from English into Bulgarian and I came across your nice comments on Today Translation's list.

Would you post a list of your ten most difficult English words to translate?

It will be quite interesting which words a native speaker perceives as "the most difficult to translate" or "most representative of English" if you like, e.g. "software".

Best regards,