Customer Reviews

They Have a Word for It: A Lighthearted Lexicon of Untranslatable Words and Phrases (The Writer's Studio)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book is a lot of fun and well put together. Approximately 150 foreign words and phrases are divided into 11 sections, including family, business, politics, beauty, psychology, love, etc. One or two pages are used to describe each word, giving the pronunciation as well as its use in the native tongue and applicability to English. Words are taken primarily from the Romance languages -- French, Italian and Spanish -- but also from Chinese, Japanese, Navajo, Sanskrit, Bantu and at least a dozen others.

There is an interesting introduction, a bibliography and an index.

In the introduction the author mentions that he culled these samples from a list of hundreds; this might be an instance where an accompanying web site giving all of the words considered might be a lot of fun and very useful.

Highly recommended.

How many times have you thought to yourself, 'I wish there were a word for this' ? Sometimes a feeling, sometimes an object, sometimes a description simply defies a simple one or two word construction, but rather involves lengthy comparison and development to get the point across, and often (particularly in conversation) doing such development leads away from the main topic of discussion.

Despite the vastness of the English vocabulary and the rich depth of heritage (a heritage strong on borrowing and adaptation), there are simply some things the English language lacks. I was reminded of this when writing a review on an archaeology book, in which the varying sense of history come through rather more clear in German than in English, where alternate words for history lose the historical sense.

This reminded me of the wonderful book by Howard Rheingold: They Have a Word for It: A Lighthearted Lexicon of Untranslatable Words & Phrases. Originally published in 1988, it is now back in print, and was a recent selection in one of the book clubs to which I am an over-subscriber. Rheingold is the author of many books, many on topics of technology, creativity, and intelligence. Perhaps he is best known for The Millennium Whole Earth Catalog, published in 1994.

`This book is meant to be fun. Open it at random and see if you don't find something that will amuse you, entertain you, titillate your curiosity, tickle your perspective. But you should know that reading this book might have serious side effects at a deeper level. Even if you read one page as you stand in a bookstore, you are likely to find a custom or an idea that could change the way you think about the world. It has to do with the insidious way words mold thoughts.' Indeed, this is true. The old dictum, 'don't think about elephants', is very true for this book. Each page will cause you think and ponder beyond the box of the English language.

Given Rheingold's technological interests, part of this book was researched, assembled, and created on early computer bulletin board services (BBS), which yielded for Rheingold both new friendships as well as interesting contributions of untranslatable words. Rheingold offered dinner to contributors of valuable additions. `Thinking about the right kind of untranslatable words creates a certain state of mind. I found myself looking at the mundane elements of everyday life through a new kind of lens, which revealed to me dimensions in my familiar environment that I simply had not seen before because I hand't known how to look.'

Words define who we are and how we see the word. Whether one lives in a literate society or not, whether one has other forms of intelligence (see Gardner's `Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences') such as musical, mathematical, etc., the way people are socialised and educated in most every society since the advent of language has been in terms of language, both oral and written. Humans have striven to put things into ever more precise and meaningful yet full and adaptable language.

Rheingold breaks his analysis of untranslatable words into the following categories:
- Human Family Affairs: People Words
- You Are What You Say: Words of Power
- Dance of the Sexes: Men, Women, and the Words Between Them
- The Eye of the Beholder: Conceptions of Beauty
- Serious Business: Words About Work and Money
- States of Mind: Words, Thoughts, and Beyond
- Life Is But a Dream: The Jargon of Mental Technologists
- Spiritual Pathwords: The Map, the Territory, and the Mystery
- The Body Politic: Words and Social Action
- Toolwords: Technology and Worldviews
- Strange Memes: Language Viruses

English speakers have long been familiar with words such as Tao, a Chinese concept that means many things such as 'the way', 'the process', etc., or Shalom, the Hebrew multiple-purpose word for peace, greeting, parting, etc. Religion has had enough trouble being put into words in any language to be clearly articulated in any given one (hence the problems of translation and explanation from texts in one language to cultures in another). Perhaps it will be part of your dharma to understand more of these concepts, in and beyond English.

There are interesting ideas here, that English would find very useful. Drachenfutter, a word from the German, roughly means 'a peace offering from guilty husbands for wives'. More literally meaning 'dragon fodder' (not an image most wives would be happy to be associated with, if indeed the 'dragon' refers to the wife), it has been a rather common idea in Germanic cultures in the past. The Russian word razbliuto in essence stands for the feeling (not quite of love, but perhaps close) that a person has for someone once loved but now longer the object of affection.

This is a wonderfully entertaining and enlightening work, that will give hours of pleasure and can spark many conversations, untranslatable though they may be! With interesting words from every continent and many historical periods, this will broaden your perspective of the ways in which people have seen the world and communicated their understandings of the world to others. `If you want to change the way people think, you can educate them, brainwash them, bribe them, drug them. Or you can teach them a few carefully chosen new words.'

Rheingold (the editor of one of the editions of the Whole Earth Catalog) likes to collect unusual words from other languages.

Some of the words are useful: e.g. "attaccabottoni" for someone who grabs the conversation and won't let you go.
Or "Korinthenkacker" (literally "raisin crapper") for a boss that obsesses on insignificant details.

Some of the words are hilarious: e.g. "buritilulo" for the New Guinea highlands practice of comparing yams to settle a dispute. I imagine two folks standing next to a pile of root vegetables, one saying to the other "Ah! Your yams are incredible! I concede!"

And some of the words just seem to be good to know about:
"mokita" for the truth everybody knows but nobody speaks;
"razbliuto" for the feeling a person has for someone he or she once loved but now does not.

Anyway, I loved it. Do I use the words? No. But it think it is amazing how many strange and wonderful concepts humans have honored with their own words.

I love languages. Each one has their own words and phrases that are entirely untranslatable without several sentences of explanation. As I have learned Italian over the last few years (in order to converse with my wife's relatives) I have found certain phrases in English that just don't translate into Italian directly. Now the tables are turned, as this book provides me with some Italian phrases that have a much deep meaning than might be imagined.

The author, Howard Rheingold, has collected words for a lot of different languages, including Chinese, Hindi, Italian, French and even Hawaiian. In fact, one of my favorites comes from that language. ho'oponopono (HO-OH-poh-no-poh-no). It means "solving a problem by talking it out", something that I do on a regular basis (even if I am only talking to myself!)

Italian gives us attaccabottoni ("a doleful bore who buttonholes people and tells sad, pointless tales.") I have run into a few of these in my life, so it is nice to have a new word with which to reference them. (SMILE)

Each time I flip through the book I find more and more interesting words. Rheingold encourages you to start using the words in your vocabulary and I think I just might try. That way, the next time a friend bangs his or her thumb with a hammer you can reply "uffda", a Swedish "word of sympathy, used when someone else is in pain."

I'm orderinga second copy of this book because I'm about to wear mine out. This book is full of weird words like kora, the hysterical belief that one's penis is shrinking and mbuki-mvuki, to shuck off clothes in order to dance. I mean, how many times do you want to describe that feeling and just cant come up with a word? Well, this book has them. We often give out awards where we name folks the most likely to Mbuki-Mvuki and so on -- they're a riot. Anyway, I love the book.

The Russian mystic Ouspensky said that to change your consciousness, you must change the words you use. No great mystic myself, I couldn't swear to that little bit of philosophy, but I can wholeheartedly recommend this book.

This book lists words that don't exist in the English language, but should. The discussions range from deeply philosophical, to silly, to just alternate points of view. There is a word for land deeded to God, and a word for that person who will tell you his lifestory in all the thrilling detail of a stereo manual.

I find myself using words learned in the book from time to time. Whether I am decrying a _fachidiot_, (a technical person clever enough pull off the incredibly stupid- like testing the first nuclear weapons on your home planet), or planning to _sabsung_ after a hard days work, (retreat to renew body and mind), they creep into my day to day vocabulary. You may even find the perfect word to describe your boss.

The difference between the just right word and the almost right the difference between driving a screw with a screwdriver or a salad fork. A few of these words will fit in your toolbox nicely. The rest will entertain, and give you a glimpse on the lives of people across the world.

Buy this book.

This book, written by Howard Rheingold, displays a list of words in which he borrows from other languages. They are unable to be translated, but he gives examples where they can be used often in the English language. He published this book through Sarabande Books in Louisville, Kentucky, which is a non-profit publisher.

A word I found interesting was 'Bettschwere', which means "a state of being too ponderous for anything but sleep." This word is a noun from the German language. I often see people throughout the school day dozing off, even though they should be learning. Another interesting word was 'Palatyi', meaning "a mythical monster that scratches at the door." Palatyi is from the Bantu language and is often mentioned in folk stories of West Africa. Bricoleur, Wabi, Fusto, and Ocurrencia are other words that also interested me.

Rheingold gives a description of each word that lasts only a few paragraphs. This book is easily read, but focuses on a more educated society who will appreciate the use of words in English.

I picked this book up at at an antique and used bookshop, and had a fun time reading it (I found myself exclaiming over all the phrases I wish I had already known). However, the illustrations that I found accompanied with the little quirky entries I did not find to be quite so well done. BUT...
Though I'm sure it was not Howard Rheingold's intentions, I found the illustrations to be rather offensive, especially because I am Japanese and found many of the kimono-clad women drawn in the book to be out of place. I kept thinking to myself, 'Who the heck wears that? Well, I guess my relatives and I do.'
However, the words themselves were little treasures, and I'm glad I found the book.

For all those that think that English is a rich language, comes this fun little book that shows us how other cultures have developed words to express "just that"--a situation, and emotion, and event or a relationship.

It is fun to read and to say, "Oh, yes. I wish we had this word in English."Come to think of it, there are many words in English that have been adapted from other languages. With globalization, we may see more of these words enter our language, so reading this book gives us a hint of the future.

The only drawback is the indexing of the book. You can't locate words easily.

Talia Carner, author,
Puppet Child and China Doll

I am Russian and a teacher of Russian Language. There is no such word as "razbliuto" (!!!) in Russian! How I can trust that the words in other languages are correct? Obviously, native speakers have to evaluate this book.