Useful words and expressions in other languages we don't have in English.

[MardyBra]

Like schadenfreude for example.

Brain has gone blank trying to think of other examples!

In Chinese there are also distinguish words for mothers brother, or fathers brother (and it depends whether they are older, or younger)... Cousins on whichever side...
m.youtube.com/watch?v=YNwH828ae8k&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DYNwH828ae8k

Or this funnier one...m.youtube.com/watch?v=nCFRoILS1jY&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DnCFRoILS1jY

Did anyone say angst yet? Like schadenfreude, it's practically English now, in fact I can barely believe the Germans got there first with that one.

mrsjavierbardem

"there is an expression in Japanese which I don't know how to write obis, but it means 'parental blindness' and covers how all parents think their own children are beautiful, it's like rose tinted spectacles."

Love this one, it's "oya baka" (oya to rhyme with soya, baka to rhyme with, um, makka pakka..) Translates to something like Parental Idiocy

Love this thread, making notes of lots of these!

Magari - Italian and used on its own to express wishful thinking, although it's a bit more positive than that e.g.A: 'Will you go to Barbados one day?' B:'Magari!'

Dai! - AnotheecItalian one that's similar to 'give over!'

WallyBantersJunkBox was just about to add cwtch, then I read your post. I used it tonight in fact when talking to my youngest DS.

And Vladthedisorganised I love arigata-meiwaku. Like when I insisted on making my mum breakfast (when I was about six), and even though Dad told me not too, I poured her a bowl of cereal and milk, which by the time she appeared downstairs, was just sludge. I distinctly remember getting a lot of 'I told you so' from my dad.

Wetaugust - my MIL is from Glasgow, she uses blether.

morgenmuffel - german for someone who is in a bad mood in the mornings!!

In Dutch you can stick 'hoor' to the end of a sentence. It is a tag that sort of reassures the other person about what you say, in a very light, pleasant way.

"Can you come the 17th?" "Ja hoor!"

"Would you like to borrow my umbrella?" "Nee, hoor!"

"I've had enough to eat, hoor."

La nostalgie de la boue - when you realise you'd really rather eat a chip butty than a lobster.

not read thread, but here are a few Hungarian ones (and do correct me if the words exist! ) :

"terdhajlat" - "knee-bend"
there's no non-medical term/word to describe it English (that I know of!) apart the phrase "the back of the knee"

same with the bit where they take blood from - I don't even know a proper description for it!
we call it "konyokhajlat" - "elbow-bend"

we have different words to describe to each generation ascending from the child - instead of the great great great....phenomenon!
but in only includes 7 generations - I think that is interesting and very possibly has Biblical roots

so we have:

oapa - g g g g gf
szepapa - g g g gf
ukapa - great great gf
dedapa - great grandfather
nagyapa - grandfather
apa - father
gyerek - child

Don't think there is an English work for the German 'Blechschaden' i.e. a road traffic collision where the damage is to the vehicles only and not drivers/passengers. I guess it loosely translates as metal damage.

NK that's amazing!

I am surrounded by Yiddish speaking in laws. My favourite words are shmatta for raggedy clothes and shaina punim for one with a pretty face. If Bubbe says you have a gros tuches that means you have a fat arse and that is not so good...

Loving the unhelpful help you have to pretend to be grateful for, plenty of that in our house! I also like all the German expressions.

The last song, usually played to get you to leave, is "der Rausschmeisser", the same as the bouncer at the door.

There is a huge difference between "ein Freund" (a friend) and "mein Freund" (my boyfriend). "Kollegen" can be used for friends, but I would just say "Freunde".

L'esprit de l'escalier is très handy!

Also dépaysement - the sense of being far from your home country, a foreigner.

My personal favourite french translation: les Spartacus for gladiator sandals!

In terms of just being a lovely and long word, I have to propose the Russian word доÑ?Ñ?опÑ?имеÑ?аÑ?елÑ?ноÑ?Ñ?и (dostoprimechatel'nosti). It means sights, places of interest, attractions. For example, 'in London there are many places of interest/sights' - 'в Ð?ондоне много доÑ?Ñ?опÑ?имеÑ?аÑ?елÑ?ноÑ?Ñ?ей' (v Londone mnogo dostoprimechatel'nostei - note the different word ending, as it takes the genitive plural form following 'mnogo').

Hmm, no Cyrillic on MN then I see.

Ek ken kak and ek ken modder. Dis nie modder nie!

Afrikaans to english translation:
I know shit and I know mud. it's not mud.

Love, love this one and it's now shortened to KakNModder in our house - usually when one of the children is trying to pull a fast one - they don't speak Afrikaans.

Another widely used one in our house - "Skollie"
The word 'Skollie' is of South African (Afrikaans) origin and has many meanings:

A naughty, dirty or ill-mannered child.
A gangster or somebody who deliberately breaks laws.
Somebody who is devoid of class and manners.
A homeless person.

It can also be used to describe somebody's behaviour.
'Michelle, can you please control your children, they're acting like little skollies.'

'Yoh man, what Kanye West did to Taylor Swift at the VMA's was so skollie.'

I love the Swedish vobba. It is working from home while off looking after a sick child. Comes from combining jobba (working) with vabba (explained by ikea upthread.

Cwtch for me too - with a welsh DH it gets used a lot here!

And mither in Yorkshire? Meaning to annoy or bother "stop mithering me", generally use when kids go on and on and on in that whiny annoying voice. Used about 4 min ago in my house!

Fill mish mish (arabic)
Direct translation is ' In the time of the apricot. '
Means never! Lol

I've always liked "Knuffels" - Dutch for special hugs

Does anybody know the word the Japanese gave that means something like "so tacky it's beautiful'? Because I'd find that useful...

Delightful thread.

My current favourite Russian expression is "????? ??????? ??????", which is talking about a face/mug which literally "asks for a brick." You could say it of someone insolent who is asking for it, who is eminently smackable, but the Russian is much more vivid.

"Sir, you face demands a brick." thump

Yalla in Arabic which means let's go or hurry up. Me and my Arabic friends would say Yalla Bye at the end of phone conversations but I was never sure why.