In honor of \u043e\u0441\u0435\u043d\u043d\u044f \u0445\u0430\u043d\u0434\u0440\u0430 (fall melancholy), me and my language scholar had a quick yet inspiring discussion on the aforementioned word. You see, the word \u201c\u0445\u0430\u043d\u0434\u0440\u0430\u201d is quite unique in its translation simply for the fact that there\u2019s none. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Our dialogue teleported me back to my 8th grade when I read a story about Nabokov. When working on a translation for one his works from Russian to English, Vladimir Nabokov claimed that the word \u201ctoska\u201d is quite literally, untranslatable<\/strong><\/em>. In attempts to explain what \u201ctoska\u201d meant, he couldn\u2019t figure out anything better than to write a whole paragraph in the footnotes describing the word as, <\/p>\n\n\n\n “At its deepest and most painful, it is a sensation of great spiritual anguish, often without any specific cause. At less morbid levels it is a dull ache of the soul, a longing with nothing to long for, a sick pining, a vague restlessness, mental throes, yearning. In particular cases it may be the desire for somebody of something specific, nostalgia, love-sickness. At the lowest level it grades into ennui, boredom.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n I\u2019m not a language expert to claim that \u201ctoska\u201d can\u2019t have \u2014 at the very least \u2014 an approximate translation but what is true is that many languages have their own list of words that referred to as non else than \u201ccultural identifiers\u201d. They carry meanings, feelings and experiences unique to their languages. I would like to present a list of Russian \u201cuntranslatable words”<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u0411\u044b\u0442\u0438\u0435 \u2014 bytiye<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The word that signifies one\u2019s lifestyle, a way of living but in a more daily, humble almost peasant-like way. The word \u201c\u0431\u044b\u0442\u0438\u0435\u201d is commonly interpreted as a day-today rhythm that one has built and swears by over an extended period of time. It\u2019s not about a dietary lifestyle or sport preferences, it\u2019s about waking up early to drink a cup of tea and maybe smoke a cigarette right after. It\u2019s about one\u2019s habits that emerged as a result of life circumstances and experiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u0425\u0430\u043c\u0441\u0442\u0432\u043e \u2014 hamstvo<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Many people would translate it as \u201crudeness\u201d and I would agree if we were to add \u201cpassive-aggressive\u201d right in front of it. \u201c\u0425\u0430\u043c\u0441\u0442\u0432\u043e\u201d is about quite yet sudden attack that\u2019s not necessarily a verbal one. It\u2019s usually concealed, a type of disrespect you have to decipher and be able to read your attacker\u2019s body language in order to respond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u0425\u0430\u043d\u0434\u0440\u0430 \u2014 handra<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Very similar to \u201ctoska” in its essence but unlike the latter this word doesn\u2019t posses the same degree of sadness. Speaking in English terms, \u201ctoska\u201d is more similar to depression while \u201chandra\u201d is a close ally of \u201cmelancholy\u201d. Have you ever felt numb for no apparent reason? Then you definitely experienced \u201chandra\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u0410\u0432\u043e\u0441\u044c \u2014 avos’<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Sometimes you just don\u2019t want to deal with stuff. You submit an unreviewed essay, mix all the ingredients left in your fridge and blindly buy a pair of pants in a nearby thrift store. It\u2019s what we call \u201cavos\u201d \u2014 when something is done with an utter trust in luck deep in one\u2019s heart. And it\u2019s truly beautiful to be able to trust the world this carelessly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So the next time you feel bad for not being able to translate something \u2014 many that word wasn\u2019t meant to be translated in the first place! What are the \u201cuntranslatable\u201d terms in your language? <\/p>\n\n\n\n In honor of \u043e\u0441\u0435\u043d\u043d\u044f \u0445\u0430\u043d\u0434\u0440\u0430 (fall melancholy), me and my language scholar had a quick yet inspiring discussion on the aforementioned word. You see, the word \u201c\u0445\u0430\u043d\u0434\u0440\u0430\u201d is quite unique in its translation simply for the fact that there\u2019s none.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2784,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[211,71],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-history-and-linguistics","category-russian"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/langlabbies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2194","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/langlabbies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/langlabbies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/langlabbies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2784"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/langlabbies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2194"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/langlabbies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2194\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2200,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/langlabbies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2194\/revisions\/2200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/langlabbies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/langlabbies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/langlabbies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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