Learning a new language can be a lengthy and complex process, and becoming truly fluent is a real challenge. Even if you think you are fluent, you still may pronounce words incorrectly. If this is your first time in Boston, you will probably pronounce the town of “Worcester” like it’s spelled, but to a Boston native it’s “Wooster”. Do you know anybody who lives in the state of Oregon? You might pronounce the “on” like in “gone,” but they say the “on” like the “un” in “begun”. These are call shibboleths – words that people who unfamiliar with their pronunciation may say incorrectly. If you find words like this interesting, look at a full list of shibboleths, in a number of languages. To further demonstrate the many nuances of language we compiled list of foreign words with no English equivalents, you can read a past blog entry here. There are many words with no direct translation into English, and here are a few more examples:
Seigneur-terraces (French)
Coffee shop dwellers who sit at tables a long time but spend little money.
Ya’arburnee (Arabic)
This word is the hopeful declaration that you will die before someone you love deeply, because you cannot stand to live without them. Literally, may you bury me.
Schlimazel (Yiddish)
Someone prone to bad luck. Yiddish distinguishes between the schlemiel and schlimazel, whose fates would probably be grouped under those of the klutz in other languages. The schlemiel is the traditional maladroit, who spills his coffee; the schlimazel is the one on whom it’s spilled.
L’esprit de l’escalier (French)
Literally, stairwell wit—a too-late retort thought of only after departure
Hygge (Danish)
Denmark’s mantra, hygge is the pleasant, genial, and intimate feeling associated with sitting around a fire in the winter with close friends.
Cavoli Riscaldati (Italian)
The result of attempting to revive an unworkable relationship. Literally, reheated cabbage.
Bilita Mpash (Bantu)
An amazing, pleasant dream. Not just a “good” dream; the opposite of a nightmare.
Murr-ma (Waigman, language of Australia)
To walk alongside the water while searching for something with your feet.
Source: mental floss
