ilunga. shlimazl. naa... and googly!
they don't quite roll off the tongue, do they? and not even in translation, mates!as it turns out, a list of the words most difficult to translate has been drawn up in consultaion with a thousand linguists in a survey conducted by today translations and ilunga came up on top.
the word is from the tshiluba language spoken in south-eastern DR congo and 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». count me in and bear retribution in mind... :-)
in second place was shlimazl which is yiddish for «a chronically unlucky person». oy veh!
third was naa, used in the kansai area of japan to emphasise statements or agree with someone.
miss jurga zilinskiene, head of today translations divulged her own bête noir: «googly», a cricketing term for «an off-breaking ball disguised by the bowler with an apparent leg-break action». and i thought it described a certain je ne sais quoi or character or quality unique to... google mail! hahaha.
have a read of the full article at the beeb online.
seanw: dankie!
