The challenge of untranslatable words

Language and translation are fascinating in many ways, but sometimes we encounter words that refuse to be translated easily from one language into another. It’s as if they have a unique meaning or feeling that gets lost in direct translation. For example, have you tried translating the Swedish word vabba into German? Or wondered why the English word impact doesn't have quite the same ring when you try to express it in Swedish? This article takes a deeper look at some of these ”untranslatables”, and explores what gets lost – and what can be found – in the pursuit of le mot juste.

Untranslatables: words that defy translation by a single word

So of course there’s a difference when a child, regarding a missed school lunch, replies I didn’t have the energy rather than I didn't have the time. In the first case, you might feel the child's forehead and check for a fever, in the second you’ll be nagging (yet again) about not losing track of time during playtime. It concerns, in other words, relevant information. However, both English and German lack the ability of Swedish to express these (important) subtle distinctions with just a single word. There’s something lacking there.

It’s what’s typically known as an untranslatable: an empty space in the larder of one language where another might have just the ingredient the recipe needs.

Vabba is quite a mouthful in English and German

A slightly more modern linguistic construction is vabba, the Swedish word for paid leave for looking after a sick child. German gets away with just two words: Kinderkrankengeld nehmen to express the single word vabba. The whole thing begins to get out of hand with the more recent concept of vobba – the combination of working from home while also looking after a sick child needs a whole string of words to describe it in both English and German (Arbeiten im Homeoffice trotz krankem Kind). And as for vabruari, well we’re not even gonna try, it’s far too complicated.

Another good example is English impact. Swedish and German have many different concepts covered by impact, but nothing that reproduces the meaning 1:1. In Swedish, one could use inverkan, effekt, konsekvens, betydelse, följd, påverkan, stöt & slag, but there’s always a slight nuance missing. English simply has a kind of shotgun effect that covers all these meanings, whereas in German and Swedish we’re forced to choose one specific meaning.

All of the above are untranslatables, but for various reasons.

Not always entirely obvious how to translate

A word can be very narrow or, conversely, have such a broad scope that it accommodates many different meanings. It can also be a unique neologism, demonstrating how language is so deeply rooted in our everyday life, culture and customs that it’s constantly shaped and formed by reality. 

In actual fact, untranslatables take us on a journey into the heart of language. Language was invented and developed to help us communicate more easily. But the reality that another language refers to might be completely different from the reality we know ourselves. What we perceive as perfectly natural and easily put into words might not seem the same in another language, another country, another culture. Thus untranslatables open our eyes to diversity – a world of different perspectives on the most important things in life and the way we express them.