untranslatable Bosnian word

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delosbueis
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untranslatable Bosnian word

Postby delosbueis » 2009-02-23, 13:08

Hello

With other 3 artists I am working in an art book project that has to do with "untranslatable" words. Languages of Europe but in the broader sense of the word: including big communities living in Europe (Arab, Japanese, Hebrew...)

The "untranslatables" are words that in a particular language express a thought, feeling, etc. that is unique to that culture and cannot be translated as a single word to other languages, but it has to be explained and contextualized.

The book has both a visual and a textual part. We have done a lot of work on the content, and we're now in the final stage where we would like to check with [semi-professional] linguists or very dedicated fans that what we say about each word is clear and accurate, and get any other final input/feedback.

It wouldn't be much work as each word has a short paragraph explanantion and 3 examples of use of one sentence each. So it could be as short as a 5 min. check just to give us that peace of mind.

If any of you out there is interested to have a look at our 1 Bosnian word, please pm me

Sanja
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Re: untranslatable Bosnian word

Postby Sanja » 2011-12-06, 20:02

The first that comes to mind is "rahatluk :) Hmm, I guess it could be translated if you really tried. It has Turkish origins and means something like a state when you are happy and have no worry in the world. Then, there is a word "sikteruša", which requires some more explanation. Here in Bosnia, when you have guests, it's a custom to make them coffee. However, if you don't like those guests and want them to leave soon, you make them "sikteruša", which means you make them coffee but somehow imply that they are not welcome... haha. There are many words like that, I'll post some more if I remember. Typical Bosnian expressions are often impossible to understand for people from other parts of ex-Yugoslavia.


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