I'm torn on this. It might be that some words leave an emotional or abstract impression that can be logically translated but the tonality is lost. It might also be that when I come to understand words that are not in my first language I find them more mystical and romanticize them whereas words in my primary language don't have the exotic appeal.kokorodoko wrote: Thu Jun 20, 2024 3:49 am The idea that there is to every distinct language some core property that is conceivable and comprehensible, while also being impossible to convey in a different form, through translation.
I have yet to find an example of some word or expression whose meaning cannot be conveyed to satisfaction in some other language, even if no one-to-one mapping exists.
I'm thinking both of academic German: leitmotif, gesamtkunstwerk, or differently schadenfreude.
I'm also thinking of the conversational zing of certain Spanish and French expressions: vale, je ne sais quois, guey, Chevalier/Caballero.
I can't tell if where the literal and figurative meanings of these meet are only impressive to me because my mind simply can't take them for granted and experiences them as a native speaker. Like vale, used for 'okay', feels a little more like 'right on' but carries literal connection to bill/receipt, or coupon, some kind of financial form. So it takes on some sense of 'deal' or 'sold!' but not literally.
Or je ne sais quois, which is literally unimpressive. English feels incapable of taking 'I don't know what' and elevating it to speak to 'an ineffable quality'. The closest we get is "It just has that thing". Again is the latter less beautiful to me because it's less exotic to me, or is the French actually charged with something proprietary?
Last, Chevalier/Caballero are so much more romantic to me than 'gentlemen' because you have the root horse/horseman in plain sight. We don't go around calling people knights, we allude to it with 'sir' but zero antiquated animal transport systems alluded to, so again, English loses that contest again in my eyes.