translation difficulties

[winterbadger]

from the BBC

The world's most difficult word to translate has been identified as "ilunga" from the Tshiluba language spoken in south-eastern DR Congo.
It came top of a list drawn up in consultation with 1,000 linguists.

Ilunga means "a person who is ready to forgive any abuse for the first time, to tolerate it a second time, but never a third time".

It seems straightforward enough, but the 1,000 language experts identified it as the hardest word to translate.


In second place was shlimazl which is Yiddish for "a chronically unlucky person".

Third was Naa, used in the Kansai area of Japan to emphasise statements or agree with someone.

Comments

[shy-kat.livejournal.com]

If bunches of linguists feel that it is so very hard to translate, it probably *doesn't* mean what you listed, but rather something a fair bit more complicated.

I miss doing linguistics research :-(

[winterbadger]

I was just quoting the BBC article. Of course, we know the Beeb is *never* wrong. :-)