I caught the last bit of an interesting item on NPR radio as I was driving to work this morning on Morning Edition
“Linguist Christopher J. Moore has made a career of searching out some of the world's most "untranslatable" expressions -- words from around the globe that defy an easy translation into English.”

I’m looking forward to reading the rest. I’m off to e-mail a request for the book from my local librarian. Good thing it’s almost lunchtime.

Here are 3 examples:

African Languages
ilunga (Tshiluba) [ee-Iun-ga] (noun)
This word from the Tshiluba language of the Republic of Congo has topped a list drawn up with the help of one thousand translators as the most untranslatable word in the world. It describes a person who is ready to forgive any transgression a first time and then to tolerate it for a second time, but never for a third time.

Arabic
taarradhin [tah-rah-deen] (noun)
Arabic has no word for "compromise" in the sense of reaching an arrangement via struggle and disagreement. But a much happier concept, taarradhin, exists in Arabic. It implies a happy solution for everyone, an "I win, you win." It's a way of resolving a problem without anyone losing face.

French
esprit de I'escalier [es-pree de less-ka/-iay] (idiom)
A witty remark that occurs to you too late, literally on the way down the stairs. The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations defines esprit de l'escalier as, "An untranslatable phrase, the meaning of which is that one only thinks on one's way downstairs of the smart retort one might have made in the drawing room."

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4457805

re:
ilunga (Tshiluba) [ee-Iun-ga] (noun)
This word from the Tshiluba language of the Republic of Congo has topped a list drawn up with the help of one thousand translators as the most untranslatable word in the world. It describes a person who is ready to forgive any transgression a first time and then to tolerate it for a second time, but never for a third time.


a concept that, perhaps, was brought to the america's.even if a specific word for it wasn't.
i think of the classic 'joke' about the back woods man who takes on a 'townie' as bride.
as they head back into the woods, the mule carring the bride and her trouseau stumbles. and the man looks the mule in the eye and says: That's once!
the going gets steeper and harder as they head further into the back country, and the mule stumbles again, the man, even more severly now, tells the mule: That's twice!

coming over the last ridge, late in a tiring day, the mule stumbles again. the man take his bride off the mule, pulls out his gun, and shoot the mule right between the eyes!

the woman is insensed! she goes hysterical, and lashes into the man, berating him for his stupidity in killing the mule.. she wasn't harmed by the stumbles, and now, how will they get all the stuff to the cabin, and besides its getting dark and she's tired..
she finally pauses to take a breath and the man, her new husband, looks her square in the eye and says: That's once!

in baseball, as batter
strike one - no matter.. just getting the measure of the pitcher
strike two - okay, gotta swing easy now.. just protect the plate
strike three - "You're out!!"

When I took German, they told us that the noun "die Gemütlichkeit" was not exactly translatable. It means kinda like "coziness," but more, though I could never unravel what "more" might entail.

k

esprit de I'escalier
I love it. A spirit that I indulge in frequently.

or in German, treppenwitz

Perhaps the Scandinavian expression "Uff da."

Uff da I thought that was made up...?

or in German, treppenwitz

Which just goes to prove. It isn't exactly untranslatable, is it?

uff da
A multi use exclaimation.
Comes from immigrants from Scandinavia during the early part of the 20th century. If you are surprised you say "Uff da", if you are disgusted you say "Uff da", over worked? "Uff da"
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=uff+da


uff-da = a weak fit of ill temper
http://home.online.no/~otjoerge/files/wordlist.htm

So, 'uff da' could be the equivalent of the little anger signs we see in cartoons:

#*!^/*#@!

#*!^/*#@! always puts me in mind of something censorable, but I suppose that's just #*!^/*# me.

Well, I suppose there might be 'uff da' and tuffuh 'uff da'!

...but I suppose that's just #*!^/*# me.

Why the @#$%^*%$ would *we want to do that to you?

*********

I've heard Uff-da replace 'ouch', 'yuck', 'sheesh', 'you idiot'... and, of course, a few I won't bother *spelling out for 'sall.

I believe "uff da" to be the Scandinavian equivalent of what Charlie Brown means, in the Peanuts cartoons, when he says "Good grief!"

"uff da" is actually an expression that is designed to put a barricade between the sayer and the listener. Often expanded to be "uff da wall." Sort a like the way the French think of Humpty Dumpty.

Ha! Ted!

Here are the people we should engage:

http://www.bradford.ac.uk/university/newsandviews/96-06/nvprizes.html

"We were much impresses by the performance of the students and the interpreting facilities."

Well I'm not much impresses.

Dear Ted ~

I am very happy to hear that you are "not much impresses." The height if the use of impressment to provide crews for British naval vessels was many years ago, but the practice obviously continues in the Mother County, as shown by the news article from which you cite.

Latin "pietas" (from which we get the English word piety) and "pius", someone who possesses "pietas", is a word that has no true English synonym. It's a mosaic of too many different virtues - it's a mixture of being kind, valorous, honorable, faithful to the gods, etc.

The Italian "prego" seemed a very useful word while I was there. Being used as a replacement for You're welcome, apology accepted, OK and cheers.