The accent was West-County England, Dorset areas. That's why you may be a little confused. If an American pronounced the words in OP, it would sound very different.
+Moonlitwatersofaqua Portuguese language also doesn't have a word for platonic love and romantic love... A big fail that english has is the word you in plural, doesn't exist. When we want to refer you in the plural we must add something: you all, or you both, or you something...
In Canada we speak English in a combination of American and British. We call the letter "z" zed, not zee. We pronounce lieutenant "left-tenant" but many people pronounce it "loo-tenant" because of the many American cop shows. When kids learn to spell, they are counted wrong if they leave out the "u" in words such as colour and flavour. However, there are some who think the "u" should be dropped. Our slang is mostly the same as American, not British for the most part, except for places like Newfoundland & Labrador where, because of isolation until the early 20th century, they maintained a more British (mainly Irish) way of speaking that can be heard in their speech patterns today. Linguistics is an interesting subject and the development of English is one of the most interesting. It's a fluid language that incorporated, and still does, words from all other world languages. So, no, nobody can "own" English.
wagwan my friend, english from jamaica is probably the coolest of 'em all no doubt about it, even in more formal settings it sort of sounds like Irish english's cooler brother
In my language, Dutch, we have a word called "gezellig" which kind of translates to the feeling you get when you have a good time with friends, family or loved ones. It's great to be gezellig, but there isn't any direct translation of the word in English :-)
Andrew Kambel We have a word like that in danish too, "hygge" and no, cozy is not a direct translation of the feeling. It's kinda close and probably the best way to explain the word to people who speak english, but it's not a direct translation.
Leon Tabery That's an English word too. We stole it and use it. We also took uber (could not figure out how to add umlaut) and use it to mean not "over" but very or super. For example, "That new teacher is like uber cool." We also use wunderkind and bildungsroman and lots of other German words that serve a purpose (usually filling a gap in meaning).
+The Summer Solsta If the Oxford Dictionary owned the language nobody else would be able to lawfully produce an English dictionary so no, that's not true.
I think David Crystal is actually from Northern Ireland, though he has lived on Britain for a while. But having heard him talk normally, I don't really hear that much of an Irish twist to it. Maybe it's just me.
Dan Mc Cann I think you are confused as to what Dale mentioned. He said that David Crystal was from Northern Ireland, however now lives in Britain, not mentioning that Northern Ireland is part of Britain, but rather that David moved from Northern Ireland to Britain. After further checking David did grow up in North Wales and Liverpool, which are both very much in Great Britain. Just think there was some miscommunication there.
If you ever get the opportunity to hear more of it, you will hear a lot of French twists to some of the words obviously originating from French. That's one of the telltale signs that is older.
Wait I'm meant to spelt Airplane like 'Aeroplane', that's why people often put in that small 'oh' in between Air and Plane, I just thoughts its a language quirk as AirPlane would be blocky to say. Well, after years of English in school, I have never been corrected on writing 'Airplane', I guess it's accepted now. Same as Sulfur vs Sulphur. But Color vs Colour is a big no no.
Great video! Interesting! You're a great speaker. :) (slight pun not intended) Q2: We have a word in swedish which can't be translated easily. "Lagom" which means... "just right", enough, moderate, adequate, "not too much or too little". It's a great word. Usage example: "How much sugar in your coffee?" "Lagom please." (and he/she puts 1-2 sugar cubes in the coffee mug depending on size, because that's just enough - not too much or too little) It can be used in other cases like "being lagom happy". Pronounced "laa-gom"
Linsey Redd “A moderate amount” or “In moderation” are two translations (although I'm not really sure they are applicable in all cases). For example, they can't really be applied here: “Hur mycket borde en människa sova varje natt?” “Jag tycker att nio timmar är *lagom*.” (“How much should a human sleep each night?” “I think nine hours are *enough/the correct amount/just right/sufficient*.”) Adequate is another translation. Sorry for the wall of text. :P (Although I suppose I've sen worse)
I guess words like Deja Vu, that we had to adapt because we had no singular meaning for it! And also, that old English totally sounded Scottish (which, Scotland being in the UK, isn't too surprising haha)
Well, probably my favorite words from Icelandic are "kviðsystir" and "kviðmágur". They don't have an English translation, but in the most literal sense they'd be translated to "womb sister" or "womb brother" and they refer to people who've had sex with the same person. Example: Person A has sexual intercourse with person B, and then sometime later (doesn't matter how long after, minutes, days, or years) Person C also has sex with person B. That means that now persons A and C are "womb brothers/sisters".
Gabriel Mafra Yeah, those are the kind of words that would only form in a small, isolated and sparsely populated country where almost everyone is somehow connected or related. Those words are never used now, but they were more popular some hundreds of years ago.
This also exists in swedish. (which maybe isn't that strange due to our shared roots) The literal translation from swedish would be _belly brother/sister-in-law_. Edit: Wow, it actually has a translation in english! (though slang) _Fuck-in-law_... tyda.se/search/buksv%C3%A5ger?lang%5B0%5D=en&lang%5B1%5D=sv
"Saudade" is a portuguese word that roughly means "i miss you". It is the name of the feeling of missing something, but it also includes the nostalgia or desire to be near/relive that. I don't know if a similar word exists in English, at least I've never heard of one.
+Ian Atkinson Well, first off, 'they' has been used in singular for over 500 years. But, we also have things like ze/zir/zirs, inspired by German, and even radical femme pronouns like xe/xir/xirs (pronounced like she/sheer/sheers), which are so feminine they remove the 'he.' I just wish things like this would gain acceptance (interestingly, it's pretty hard to do non-binary stuff or gender neutral stuff in a lot of other languages, i.e. Spanish and Arabic). But I see what you're saying -- why don't we have a unique gender-blind singular third person?
+The Idiodyssey so are you saying that these pronouns don't exist? Because that is simply untrue. Language is constantly evolving so as soon as people start using a word and other people are able to understand it that word immediately exists.
I really enjoyed watching this video, Dale, and your question is of particular interest to me as an EFL teacher and teacher trainer. One of the most common questions that I get from students is, "Which is better, American or British English?" My standard answer is, "Whichever one you can understand and/or use to make yourself understood is, of course, the best one." I never allow myself to get drawn into a philosophical discussion about linguistic superiority with anyone because, as your video points out, there is room for all of us. Also, I am happy to announce that I, too, have evolved on this issue. Once, while teaching in Saudi Arabia, I had a colleague from India rush into my office with the urgent announcement that a meeting that was set for 15:00 that day had been "preponed" to 13:00. At the time, I, as a native speaker of American English, was a bit disturbed by the "nerve" of this non-native speaker making up new words. Fast forward 20+ years, and I've learned to like that term because it just makes good sense; if we can postpone a meeting (convene at a later time), why can't we convene at an earlier time by "pre-poning" said meeting? I realize that my initial reaction to the term was pure cultural/linguistic hegemony, and I must admit that I am still a work in progress. After all, we who speak English as a first language are asked, every day, to be very "flexible" in our communications in order to accommodate those speakers/learners who hail from non-native English backgrounds. Further, because language is inextricably linked to one's individual, familial, and cultural identity, it is rather difficult to watch English evolve in a manner over which we have NO control. As your video also points out, we all come to the linguistic table with cultural norms that inform our understanding and use of the English language from a multitude of perspectives and points of view. My most daunting challenge is balancing a prescriptive approach to the language (the English teacher in me) with a descriptive approach (learning to embrace the evolution of "my" language due to the advent of world Englishes). Question #1: I think that English should have a word that allows us to ask about the ordinal nature of things. For example, the Chinese say which roughly translates into "howmanyeth?" Better put, if you want to know how many times something has occurred of will occur, a question like, "Howmanyeth is that?" or "That's the howmanyeth time?" would really come in handy. Unfortunately, even the word "howmanyeth," unless it was used in isolation, does not match the simplicity of asking this question in other languages because there are other grammatical features that are required to render the correct meaning, but having popular access to the word "howmanyeth" would, at least, be a start. Questions #2: If you don't mind, Dale, I recommend that readers Google this title. "20 AWESOMELY UNTRANSLATABLE WORDS FROM AROUND THE WORLD" The words found there are very interesting. This one really hit a nerve, so thanks for another awesomely thought-provoking video!!
Hank Grimes Thanks Hank! I think it's important to condition the use of words that we invent and that are useful. Even if they are not accepted as words now, we need to start laying down the foundation for our language to continue to grow and become more useful and expressive. This is important if English is to become truly the worlds language and usable by all cultures. :) Thanks for both of your answers and thanks for taking the time to watch this video! Take care and wish you the best!
The word lagom can be explained in english using different words depending on context. In Swedish it's used in any context. It's not really "perfect amount" as much as "not imperfect". It has a kind of... not very emotional quality. Example: "Was there too much salt in the food?" "Var det för mycket salt i maten?" "No, it was just the right amount." "Nej, det var lagom." The concept of "lagom" actually stretches into our culture as well. We take pride in doing things properly, but not overdoing them. We also take pride in not taking too much pride in things. Only lagom pride. ;)
Those two questions at the end are too easy for me. In my country, Brazil, we speak Portuguese (not Spanish!), and there is a "classic" example of a word that doesn't exist in English. It's "saudade", it means that you miss someone, but it is a noun. So, for example, if you are far away from your family and friends, you can say something like "I have 'saudade' of you", which would be, in practice, the same as "I miss you". I think it's a very important word, not just because it's a noun, but because it has this concept behind it, that is an emotion of missing someone. Sometimes in music, the lyrics say "the pain in my heart" when referring to this, but in Portuguese, what you're feeling is just "saudade".
I always found Australian English intresting since prisoners were sent to Australia and that would shape how the launguage there works. Oh and for the question, we need the word for family/and or pet love.
I bet if you were to look at their largest ancestry groups and the regions which those people came from, you could patch together the origin of the Australian accent. Unlike the United States (and Canada which sounds remarkably similar to the United States accent) they have not only been more involved with the UK, but are younger. I feel the Australian accent if given more time prior to the advance of the mass of cultural exchanges but fourth last century and this century, it would have progressed even further.
Think Fact the Spanish tongue of the filipinos already disappeared cause of English i wonder what happen did the americans forced us or Filipinos just like English more
Your videos never get as many views as they should. Everyone who passes over them is really missing out. Keep doing you thing because I'll always be watching!
I think we should have a word called 'whatd's'. It would be used as a shortened version of 'what does'. Example: 'Whatd's this do?'. I think this should exist because it is following simple logic of the English language!
I know, and speak 3 languages, Arabic (which is my mother language), French, and English, and I would love to learn more languages, like Japanese, Italian, Spanish, or any other one! Because the more you know the better And like our prophet Mohamed (p.b.u.h) said : "When you learn the language of a nation, you save yourself from their cunning"
Pokemonfox4 I don't think i will, French is the second language of my country, since we've been colonized by the French once, plus i've been speaking it since the age of 3. And we use it almost everywhere when we speak. :D
Here in South Africa, many Afrikaans words became part of English, not just here, but worldwide. Trek, veld etc is Afrikaans, and then more locally you have lekker (cant really translate,but lets say it means nice), bru (brother), waai (to leave), and then Zulu had quite an impact as well, eish(shock) is very widespread here. Being trilingual (Afrikaans 1st language, then English and Zulu), languages have always fascinated me. Great videos as always.
I just fell in love with this guy. All of his videos bring amazing insight and I can say that watching him actually makes my IQ swell with the pride of enlightenment.
I love your work. Bertolt Brecht says that what there is shall go to those who are good for it. You may not know this but you have really changed a lot of people...a lot in a way unfathomable. You have CHANGED ME. BIG THANK YOU.
Matu Ngatia Wow, I have to admit that means a lot to me. One of the most important things we can do for ourselves is to value compassion and rationality. With it, the world is our oyster. You left an impact on me too my friend, thank you. :)
I can't remember of a word that can't be translated to English, but I know an English word that comes from "Euskara" or Basque, which is spoken in the Basque Country, in northern Spain and southern France. It's one of the oldest living languages in Europe and it's origin is unknown. The word i'm talking about is "Bizarre" which in Basque means beard. It seems that in the middle ages Basque soldiers helped France in a war against England. Basque soldiers had quite long beards and the English thought the were weird, so they took the Basque word "Bizarra" (meaning beard) to describe them and the word became synonymous of strange or weird.
For a while, I've believed that, because of the internet, English is kind of working towards a modern standard. My friends in the UK and I frequently use slang that didn't exist 20 years ago, and couldn't have been popularized if it weren't for internet culture and media being proliferated in the way that it is.
William Robertson I mean, the contents of a dictionary are always going to be incomplete. Just because a word doesn't appear in the text of one particular resource― or even any at all― doesn't mean it's any less legitimate. Don't get me wrong, there is definitely a difference between slang and fortified 'words,' but the line between the two is kind of arbitrary.
Adam Definitely. I also think that people are losing their accents. It seems to me that 20 years ago, Australians or Irish would speak English in the US and not be understood.
From Greek: Agape Eros Storge Philia All translate into English as Love, but they all mean different sorts of love. Agape is unconditional, selfless love, like dying for somebody. Eros is erotic love, like between a husband and wife. Storge is more like friendship and family "love". And Philia is more broad that its quite hard to encapsulate but includes friendship, as well as items eg I love ice cream.
Goabnb94 In the video I made about love I said something like this would be ideal! There is so much to love but not all love is the same. So it's hard to have one word to describe it all. Thank you for the comment!
I think the English language just needs a word that doesn't mean anything, BUT can be used in place of a word that does mean something. Like for example, a word spelt Qwe, (The first letters on a keyboard), this word means nothing specific but I could say "Qwe over here!" instead of "Get over here" or "Qwe at that!" instead of "Look at that!".
From "The Dictionary of Weird Canadian Words" here's some unique to this part of the world words: "pogey" - slang for unemployment insurance "hydro" - used to describe electricity in provinces that get most of their power from hydro-electric dams "toque" or "tuque" - the knitted ski hats most of us wear in the winter "chinook" - from southern Alberta, warm winds coming over the Rocky Mountains that occasionally surprise us here with a reprieve from winter conditions
+Lrapsody27 No England doesn't. A language is just a language, nobody owns any language. Unless you're talking about Klingon from Star Trek, in that case Paramount Pictures owns it.
@@flo2677 No, England colonized other countries, unlike Russia, which while colonizing Siberia was culturally and geographically a single, homogenous country. You don't own a language you force on others, any more than a slave master "owns" slave cabins. I mean, yes he owns them, but does he live in them? Are they his people? It was different with the Russians. They generally didn't treat the Siberian minorities like slaves.
@@woodpecker758 No. Its not that simple. English is the official language in the UK. Its the motherland of the language. You are right, by law, nobody owns any language. But if you compare UK, Australia, US, Cananda, New Zealand. You see that english arrives from England, because those countries were filled with brits in the beginning. Even though they were colonized, those people were still British. Its basically the same people. But of course, overtime, other emigrants started to arrive, french, german, polish, italian, african etc. And the langueage evolved later on.
The Dutch word "gezelligheid" has it's own Wikipedia page just because it's so hard to translate. I believe it's in the top 10 of "untranslatable" words in the world, that's how hard it is to explain what it realy is even tough most Dutch people use the word a lot.
My word that would exist in the English Language would be: Conswiggle - To do something that is harmlessly or even beneficially mischievous or deceptive. Synonym: Flim-flam.
Unfortunately, we actually don't know, and probably will never know the first language, but it is still very interesting to study how children acquire their first language, and how that differs from adults.
There would be absolutely no way to know what it was like, but we may be able to determine the first organisms to start constructing speech. And potentially the oldest language groups. Language is prehuman and we're almost absolutely sure that neanderthals had some form of language as well. So that's something to note as well.
"Załatwić" - the most hermetic polish word. It means something like "to get something done". You may "załatwić coś (state)" - "do something that will result in somebody to get to this state (eg. get a job)" or "załatwić kogoś" - "get rid of somebody", or "załatwić się" - "to defecate", or even "załatwić coś (thing)" - "to get that thing (eg. to get a cup)". It's really hard to translate.
I clicked translate and it translated that word to "settle", but then translated it in other places as "get something" or "get someone" etc. Also, I find it hilarious to think you guys say "settle up" as a way to say "to defecate" lol!
Filip Pytlewski that is a really interesting one, thank you so much for sharing! I love all the fancy characters that you guys have when using written Polish. Must be a bit of a pain though.
It's very easy, because we write exactly the way we talk or read. Not like in english, where there are almost no rules: eg. comb, womb, bomb - really close in writing and far away from each other in speech. In polish every letter is assigned to exactly one vowel (not sure if this is the correct word for the sound?), so if you know every of them you will always correctly read polish words (even without understanding). And it's easy in write too. Just hold "Alt" key and use the letter which looks similarly :) (Of course if you have installed the polish keyboard in your OS.)
I am English and love the fact the that English has had so many influences from around the world, not just the main ones mentioned in the video (Latin, French and Germanic). The Vikings contributed many of our words, and our own Celtic tribes had their own influence into English. Modern migration is also influencing English, making it a vibrant language. Great video.
There was actually very little influence from Celtic. We only have about four words or so left. Crag (a rock) is one of them. When the anglo-saxon tribes came to England, they basically pushed the Celts out and into the north with very little intermingling. The Romans kinda threw in some Latin bits here and there, then they left. Then the Vikings came and muddied up the local language with old Norse. Then the French came and took over the place forcing their language upon the inhabitants. Then they were forced out and thus begins the era of modern English. Yes, indeed, Shakespeare is considered modern English. Lol
Morgan Fairbanks The Celtic languages are a part of the greater Germanic languages. Though it's obvious they're had threw been some influence, it wasn't just the Celtic language itself influencing English. Its contribution may have been small but it wasn't nonexistent. :)
Germanic languages and Celtic languages are both branches of the Indo-European family of languages. They are sister language groups to be sure, but Celtic is not considered Germanic.
in english there are no word for the day after tomorrow like there are in many other languages, but why? It has confused me so much. Why don't people just finally get around to doing it? Call it doublemorrow or somethin'!
Michael Stevens over at Vsauce actually made a video to or three videos back which talked about the words for the day after tomorrow and the day before yesterday. We have words for them but they're awfully obscure.
Think Fact Desto's World I miss the word "fortnight" in English meaning 'two weeks'. We use it all the time in Irish. The word is "coicís", pronounced ['kai-keesh]. Irish also has a single word for last night, "aréir", and last year, "anuraidh". In order to say day after tomorrow, we should use two words, "arú amárach", but usually hear and use one word, "arúmárach". That yields a few other possible one word time expressions: year before last- arúnuraidh, night before last- arúréir, and day before yesterday- arúinné. Sounds great, right? But, we have to say "an tseachtain seo chugainn" and "an tseachtain seo caite" for next week and last week! This concludes our Irish lesson for today, class. There will be a quiz on the Monday after next.
weskos Reminded me of the German (dialect) word "heuer" which basically means "in the current year". So, if you want to plan your vacation for the summer, you could say "Wo könnte ich denn heuer mal hinfahren?" (Where could I go this year?) (Often used if you tell other people about something that happens every year but you want to talk particularly about this year.)
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't there a word in Italian for the water mark from a glass left on the table. I am slowly learning Italian as I think it is a beautiful language.
On another note, does anyone else find it strange that English is classed as a Germanic language even though about 55% of its words are rooted in Latin or French?
uhm, words that don't translate to english. well i can't think of any words at the moment, there has to be some dutch words that don't translate well, but i can't think of any. what i do notice, is how much of a barier i feel when trying to talk about school to other people. for example the different levels of education, i'm doing what is called here gymnasium. wich translates to grammar school. but we also have VMBO, Lower Vocational Education. MAVO, lower general secondary education and HAVO, school for higher general secondary education. (these last ones were from a translation site so i don't know how accurate they are) talking about grades is difficult aswell. here in the Netherlands we get a grade from 1 to 10, in france you get a grade from 0 to 20 and in the US (i think) you get a grade from F to A. it makes thing way too complex when talking about simple things
Yes, the US does use F to A, but skipping E because people thought E meant Excellent lol. We also use 0 to 100 as well; especially for big important tests. I think 0 to 100 makes the most sense because it's a percent. Some teachers, I remember, actually wrote the percent sign.
Goodness, that could be very difficult. In the United States we use a 0 through 100 grading system. F being anything that's a 59 or below, D being 60 to 69, C being 70 to 79, be being 80 to 89, and A being 90 to 100. We once had E instead of F but for some reason we had a cultural change. Some school systems depending on you state live in, give different letter grades to different numbers, but this is the typical one.
Hi, A word that doesn't translate to english from dutch? How about "Hagelslag" That wonderful practice of making of making Chocolate sandwiches! We should have that here:) Thanks.
How about hotentotententententoonstelingen ;D Ht refers to exhibits of tents from the hottentoten (khoikhoi in English) Its also a great word for dyslectic people.
The word "Friend" is applied to anyone you know that you don't hate, from the person that sits behind you in class to the person who you would trust with your life. Spanish, for example has conocido, amigo and compadre.
This is why we shouldn't be opposed to text speak. Here is a speech: “At mete, well etaught was she with alle, She leet no morsel from hir lippes falle.” That, ladies and gentlemen, is two lines from the great Middle English poet, Geoffrey Chaucer. It's a treasure of the English language... and I understood about two words of it. English has changed completely since the Middle Ages, and that isn't a bad thing. As social situations change, as life changes, language must adapt to that. For example, mocking the old view that prepositions shouldn't be at the end of sentences, Winston Churchill said, “This is the sort of nonsense up with which I will not put.” Churchill is therefore saying we shouldn't cling to language structures the general public does not use. For anyone who still believes we should ban text speak, I say, “should we ban initials?” After all, initials are abbreviations and what is text speak but abbreviations? Nobody is claiming that writing J instead of Jasmine is 'ruining our society'. The Romans invented initials, because they did not have many first names. There would only be one first name which began with M: Marcus. So, we've had short-hand since Roman times, and telegraphs, which used abbreviations in the nineteenth century- so why, why, is text speak a problem now? Some people think that if you text often you could become less skilled at formal writing. But, a study by the University of Alberta found that people who texted often were actually slightly better at spelling. So stop worrying; texting won't make teens spell worse, but, if anything, better! Winston Churchill once said “the English language is great. No country or combination, or power so fertile and so vivid exists anywhere in the world.” Why is that? Well, there are two approaches to language. You can do as English is doing now, allowing in new words, grammar and slang from different cultures and eras, creating a vast, vivid vocabulary. Or you can try and freeze the language like France is doing. France set up the “Academie Francaise” in 1635 to regulate new words and stop words from other languages coming into French. Due to Europe conquering many countries, most European languages are well-known but is French the most spoken language? Or is it English, flexible, adaptable, ever-changing, English that is the most widely spoken language in the world?
Gender words is terrible sometimes in english Like the word Friend... for instance in my native language if your girlfriend says that "she is talking with her friend" what this means... she is talking with a male friend? she is talking a female friend turns out that in my language the word would amiga or amigo depends of the gender of the friend... often when I am talking in english a see a little of information loss like this and you have to guess or use more words that you actually would use in another language like for example Italian or polish...
+Thiago Racca That's a really great point! One thing that people are struggling with an English is considering people who identify as a different gender. I feel that would be even more complicated in a language like Spanish or Italian. Languages with the feminine and masculine.
Think Fact This feature of words with gender is useful only in relationships... but to other words is really great the english generic words...in my native tongue which is Portuguese I really don't know why everything has to have a gender like a bread for instance is male or a fridge is female... English has Gender words since has He, or She, her and him... Actor and Actress, hero and heroine, prince and princess and other examples... the only word who really annoy me for being generic is the word friend... and I even cannot use girlfriend or boyfriend because has another meaning is really confused.. 5 of 10 times I not completely aware of what they are talking and I have to ask the name to be more polite and try to guess the sex of the person... if you pick the movie About Time(2013) you will see a scene where a girl describe other girl as his girlfriend and the guy misunderstood about 4 times, and the guy is from UK... but thankfully the guy can go back in time... I cannot hahaha I think really would be handy if english have a different word for male friend and female friend..
Typically in situations like that I'm used to hearing people say "guy friend(s)" if it's a bunch of men. And "female friend(s)" in the case of women. That would be our way around it, maybe that will help you out! ;) It doesn't sound awkward in casual conversations.
English has done something similar for singular/plural too. Instead of saying thou or you, we always use you. In French for example, we'd use tu or vous. Rather than vous all the time. The plural was treated as more formal and English decided to always address people formally.
In Spanish we have the word "sobremesa" which translated literally means "over the table", but it refers to the time spent talking and socializing without getting out of table, usually after lunch.
If England had never, ever existed, no-one would be speaking English. Have a little respect for where your language comes from. In England we speak English. In the US you speak a variant of English in a different accent.
James Harrison Than I would not exist or would be speaking another language and would be making the same video. There is no respect within that context, if that means having no consideration for the words over a billion people speak, words called English. Called English because people no longer alive today who named it after the location England, which gets it's named from the Angles originally from Schleswig-Holstein. England did not make English, people did. If there is any respect given, it will be to all the people who contributed, not some land. People from past and present. Germans, French, Scandinavians, Welsh, Romans, Irish, Americans, Scottish, and so on. "England" is just one pitstop on the road to Modern English. A pitstop that is just as dependent on past pitstops and current ones are on it. Also note, people who's descendants made English would stay in the UK and also move around the world. They, like the people in the UK have just as much of a say to the language given our heritage. There are accents in the US just like in the UK, and all are different from the ones that were around in the 1600's. There is no original, all are accents. Have a good one.
Think Fact Your first sentence goes some way to proving my point. Well done. You go on to say that you have no respect for where your language comes from. Therefore I would presume you have little respect for your forefathers or ancestors. Most people are rightly proud of their roots - Not you it would seem. Of course, early English was developed with some influence from German, French, Latin etc but equally German and French were influenced by English - But they are still entirely separate and distinguishable languages today. I cannot imagine someone from Brazil denying that the Portugese they speak does not come from Portugal or the Spanish the Mexicans or Argentinians speak does not some from Spain. So why do you deny 98% of the English you speak comes from a language developed in England by the English? In your video you make a very dubious point about how 'War' was pronounced differently 500 years ago. Well, I have news for you - Many people in England's West Country still pronoune 'War' as W-are' - and the comparison between shakesperian and OP you make sounds like someone from Cornwall repeating a sentence from someone in the South-East of England. No, of course a lump of land called England did not make the English language, but the English people made English over hunderds of years before exporting it overseas. English is still evolving through the fact that so many people speak it around the world. However it seems to me that the main differences between English and the American version you speak from the 19th and 20th centuries have been in minor spelling differences such as 'Colour' vs 'Color' or 'Organisation' vs 'Organization' There are some examples of the English starting to adopt American words such as English people referring to 'Lorries' as 'Trucks'... Bllluurrrgghh. But it is all very minor differneces I suppose. English will continue to evolve with all the new names for new technology etc but the basic structure of English will not and has not changed for hunderds of years. Please give your cousins a little more credit. Have a good one.
James Harrison >>Your first sentence goes some way to proving my point. Well done.>Of course, early English was developed with some influence from German, French, Latin etc but equally German and French were influenced by English - But they are still entirely separate and distinguishable languages today.>or the Spanish the Mexicans or Argentinians speak does not some from Spain.>So why do you deny 98% of the English you speak comes from a language developed in England by the English?>In your video you make a very dubious point about how 'War' was pronounced differently 500 years ago. Well, I have news for you - Many people in England's West Country still pronoune 'War' as W-are' - and the comparison between shakesperian and OP you make sounds like someone from Cornwall repeating a sentence from someone in the South-East of England.>English will continue to evolve with all the new names for new technology etc but the basic structure of English will not and has not changed for hunderds of years.>Have a good one.
James Harrison I must take issue with you when you stated that "Of course, early English was developed with some influence from German, French, Latin etc." The issue that I take is that English was not just "developed with some influence from German" but that English IS a Germanic Language. (The word "Germanic", as used here, relates to the language spoken by the "tribes" which populated the area known to the Romans as "Germania", at the time of Tacitus.) As discussed by Kevin Stroud in his "History of English Podcast" series, it can be shown that, of the 25 most common words in the English language, 24 are of "Germanic" origin. (historyofenglishpodcast.com/2014/04/08/episode-41-new-words-from-old-english/) Further, although I now cannot find the reference, Keven Stroud has stated in his podcast series that only less than 5% of the 200 words most commonly used in English are of non-Gemanic origin. However, perhaps more importantly, the structure of English has been simplified by the great reduction in the "inflections" which it originally had. Because of its spread to those for whom it is not a "Mother tongue", it seems likely that these "inflections" may further be reduced! Just imagine a "Future" where the verb "to be" is conjugated in the present tense as I be you (thou) be he/she/it be we be you be they be in the past tense as I beed you (thou) beed he/she/it beed we beed you beed they beed (The extra "e" is necessary for pronunciation purposes - and the "ed", to indicate "past", is still an "inflection"!) and in the future tense as I will be you (thou) will be he/she/it will be we will be you will be they will be Oh look! The future tense has reached that stage already.
Hi Dale! Your channel is great, I am very thankful for English as it enabled me to access a much-bigger world compared to the time when I was only adept with my native language (Tagalog). Here are my answers to your ending questions. Q1. English doesn't have words for proximity of an object to both the speaker and listener. English only has "this" and "that" to refer to things which are near or far from the speaker while Filipino and Nihonggo has "ito"/"kore" これ (this), "iyan"/"sore" それ(that, near the listener) and "ayun"/"are" あれ(that, far from both); The English word "we" is also misleading, it is unclear whether it excludes or includes the listener while in Filipino and Mandarin they have the words "kami"/"women" 我们 (we, excluding the listener), "tayo"/"zanmen" 咱们 (we, including the listener). Q2. Being a Filipino, I would say the word "kilig" is untranslatable to English. They try to translate it to "shivers", but its more like the "butterfies in your stomach" feeling that you get when you are in a romantic situation or when you see your crush at school/work. I really love your channel! and should you have any questions about S.E. Asia, especially the Philippines, I would be more than happy to help you out. Keep up the good work Dale!
***** That was the complaint, not a solution. He's saying English ought to have two different words for the two concepts, not one word, that's just confusing.
Jamaican is basically English and has an equivalent to "Ihr" which is "unu". I always imagine what it would be like if it was commonplace in Standard English.
Answer n°2 : _Congolexicomatisation_ it's a neo-French world that can't ever be translate in an other language; that might be defined as "the act of transform an economy in an anarcho-planificated model... That sounds strange for you? Normal ^^, even French natives speakers have a really tough history of meanings with that word.
Hey Dale, I am writing this before the holiday but you will probably see this in the holiday so Happy Purim! Be happy all the rest of the week! When Adar enters everyone are happy!
Ok, I must say that I'm too lazy to find out if someon has done this already. In Finnish, you can have myötähäpeä. It's a noun, and it's the act of being embarassed for someone else's actions. Takatalvi means literally backwinter, so it is that it looks like winter has gone, but then it snws again. Thr next word is vahingoniloinen, and it can be translated to German eith Schadefreude. It's enjoyment obtained from the misery of others. And one left, that I can think of. It's not very common word, kaukokaipuu. Again, in German it is Fernweh. Feeling homesick for a place you have never been to. (And I must say, that in Finnish we still speak how the words are written, might be because of the "low" amount of speakers or the youth of the written language.)
One thing I'd like to add, While Canada is French and English, us english speakers still spell some things with the French spelling, like Metre, Centre, etc In Oshawa Ontario, theres a road called Centre Street, with branches off from Simcoe Street between North and South Downtown
Another fun fact is that while the British Empire had the largest "Area of Control" and "Population Under Their Control" they only rank 12th in "Percentage of World Population". However they still held an impressive 20% of the worlds population at the peak of their reign and this all was accomplished less than 100 years ago.
ARRRRGGHHH, SO FEW LIKES!!!! you put together such a great video, the amount of work!! you deserve so much more. Anyhow, awesome as usual, thanks a zillion for your efforts to educate us : )
I totally agree with this, im from northen England and I have strong northen accent, and people say we don't speak England properly or say our english is bad. but we dont speak bad english, we just speak it differently, theres no right and wrong way, the language belongs to whoever speaks and people use it differently.
I would answer both questions with just one word: the portuguese word "saudade". We are taught here that there's no translation for this word in any language, which isn't true, but makes it so more meaningful. It roughly translates into "The feeling of missing someone or something", like in the phrase "I miss you". I think english should have a proper word for this powerful feeling.
¡Saludos desde Panamá! I really enjoyed your video, I'll try to do my best with this little part of English that I got :) In Spanish we have a words like "desvelado" that is an adjective used when you didn't get quite enough sleep; "estrenar" that is when you use something for the first time; or "tutear" that's when you treat someone of "tú" (you) instead of "usted" (formal you).
Edward Kenway Some languages are much more regional. Like Native American languages with about 100-10,000 speakers. I guess it comes down to the native population vs people how learned it 2nd... population, the over all size and it's current growth rate. Thank you for the comment!
A word you're missing is a word for an entire 24 hour day. You call it a "day" but because you also call daytime a day, it can get confusing. So day(time) + night = the missing word. In danish it's called a "døgn", we have "dag" (daytime) and "nat" (night) and both combined is a "døgn". And a danish word that isn't well translated into english is "hygge". It's a cozy, comfortable situation, usually experienced with friends and family when you're having a good time together.
Mini Manta Your post is quite interesting. While the people involved (no doubt) suffered from various invasions, including invasions from what is now Denmark, it is unfortunate that what is now the English language has not been enriched by the distinction you now make concerning the "day". Quite obviously, the people concerned who were involved with learning to enrich their language via a similar language from their invaders, did not consider this distinction significant enough to include in the language which they passed on to their decedents..
+Mini Manta Now I want a word for the 23 hour 56 minute "day", to distinguish it from the 24-hour day. I know I can use the adjectives of sidereal day and solar day, but I want an individual pair of words that distinguishes the period of rotation relative to distant stars, from the period of observation of the sun.
That's one thing I like about English, it's fluid in nature. Compare that to a lot of other languages which have an entity which new words must be approved, these can be all encompassing for the language in all areas it's spoken like Spanish's "Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española" or be divided into multiple separate entities like France's "Académie française" and Quebec's "Office québécois de la langue française" which seek out to normalize and regulate the languages as they are used
There ought to be a word specifically for when you have read/you are reading a good, enjoyable book and you want to read slowly to savor every word. Kind of like 'delicious' but... different.
There is a word on Norwegian called "innlevelse" (in living, for a kind of, not really, direct translation) that -- as far as I know -- doesn't translate to English. It can also be a verb: "å leve seg inn i noe" (to live one self into something). The word or phrase refers to when you are so into what you are doing that you feel like you are a part of it your self. Innlevelse is when you read a book or watch a movie, and you stop being a spectator and become a part of the story displayed in front of you. It's when an actor no longer pretends to be the part they are playing, but temporarily turn into the figure they are portraying. It's when you listen to music and it feels like you are one with the melodi, or the lyrics, or simply the feeling it gives you. Innlevelse is when your mind flees from your own life to take part in a different story, if only just for a minute. Now that I have forced my self to explain it without using the expression it self, I start to puzzle over how we can use such a beautiful word as casual as we do.
ana lklåda Yeah, I think you're right. It would really surprise me if "innlevelse" and "inlevelse" isn't the same. Thank you! "Immersion" isn't used as much, though
Question #2: Saudade in Portuguese, encompasses a set of feelings including nostalgia, longing, missing, etc. which to my knowledge we have no exact translation for in English. :)
I think English needs a word for "the feeling of curling up in a bed on a cold night" And German has a word "backpfeifengesicht" in English its an entire sentence "A face that needs to be slapped/punched"
Why the hell do we need to ask ourselves this question in the first place? The question is more revealing than the possible answers. "Who owns what" is more a reflex than a question. It says a lot about our need to possess and control.
In my opinion, one thing English (and other languages in general) should have is a separate word for the near future as well as the distant future, and same for the past. I'm working on a language that incorporates these concepts into the grammar, but I don't have time to work on it. One word I know from Spanish that doesn't translate easily into English is the verb soler. It means to usually do/normally do something. There is literally no verb in English that corresponds to this Spanish verb. For example, yo suelo limpiar las ventanas los domingos, means I usually clean the windows on Sunday's. Also, suelo can mean soil.
Spanish picante! Hot and spicy both have different meanings that make it very vague when trying to describe hot/spicy food. Hot food means temperature and spicy food means it has a lot of spices in it.
Btw when the pie chart mentions "French" as a language that contributes to the making of the English language it means Norman which is a lot more Germanic as they came from Scandinavia but settled in part of France which is today known as Normandy, this is a common misconception that the Normans spoke French. If you are wondering why English has so many words similar or the same as French these are listed as the "Latin" words, as modern French is listed as a Latin language. Also how that David Crystal bloke talks sounds like the Cornish accent, and the native Cornish aren't even English, (in terms of ancestry that is), they also have their own language.
+Rocky Do This is precisely why the English language does not have gendered nouns. The French language genders are the opposite of German language genders for the same term. Le sol / die sonne - sun is female in German and male in French. La luna / der mond - moon is male in German and female in French. This is also why there are different words for the meat of an animal as there is for the animal. Such as beef and cow. Beef is French in origin, and cow is German in origin.
Love is possibly one of the most unnecessarily awkward words in English. we have modifiers for it and pale substitutions, but English has no way to concisely identify the kind of love we wish to identify. it confounds me that we use the same word to identify our affection for romantic interests, family members, spiritual matters, and the frivolous (jeans, coffee, toe nail polish, etc).
This channel is a demonstration of hard work. Your videos are amazing, original and well made. Your subscribers are loyal and active, but mostly thinkers, this is what makes this channel special, all the smart comments and debates, so remember each time you upload a video, you're being watched by thinkers and researchers like you, i think thats priceless.
I love how on the map of accents there's an area just for Belfast. Because the accent (my accent) is so nasal-y and terrible, with so many of it's own little peculiarities that American's joke about us being pirates. I didn't realise how strong my accent was until people said that they actually couldn't understand me. Wish I had an Irish accent tbh.
There's a Jamaican word "bout" that has no English equivalent. You use it when someone tries to do something but fails, pretty much to shame or embarrass them. So if someone is skating and falls for example, his friend might laugh and say "bout yah skate (bout you are skating)", which could be interpreted as "That's what you get for acting like you can skate".
It seems as if using the original pronunciation for English words (war rhymes with star etc.) makes you sound a bit like an Irish person.
i was thinking the exact same
The accent was West-County England, Dorset areas. That's why you may be a little confused. If an American pronounced the words in OP, it would sound very different.
You know what, I can hear it. Good catch.
oxford owns english, its a 1000 years old. all hail oxford. oxford is love, oxford is life.
And you obviously don't own grammar.
Gregor Masson This comment was clearly a joke, and written colloquially.
You clearly don't own a life.
English is one of the few languages that doesnt distinguish familial and platonic love from romantic love. We need that.
+Moonlitwatersofaqua
How does Spanish distinguish family love from romantic love? Is it amar vs querer?
Sure we do. You just did.
+Moonlitwatersofaqua Portuguese language also doesn't have a word for platonic love and romantic love... A big fail that english has is the word you in plural, doesn't exist. When we want to refer you in the plural we must add something: you all, or you both, or you something...
Dtg Red If you are going by the number of speakers mandarin Chinese has English beat.
Dtg Red
There are chineses in probably all countries. In Portugal, where I live there are a lot of them.
In Canada we speak English in a combination of American and British. We call the letter "z" zed, not zee. We pronounce lieutenant "left-tenant" but many people pronounce it "loo-tenant" because of the many American cop shows. When kids learn to spell, they are counted wrong if they leave out the "u" in words such as colour and flavour. However, there are some who think the "u" should be dropped. Our slang is mostly the same as American, not British for the most part, except for places like Newfoundland & Labrador where, because of isolation until the early 20th century, they maintained a more British (mainly Irish) way of speaking that can be heard in their speech patterns today. Linguistics is an interesting subject and the development of English is one of the most interesting. It's a fluid language that incorporated, and still does, words from all other world languages. So, no, nobody can "own" English.
Canadian English is by far the most American-sounding English there is next to English spoken on the westcoast of the U.S.
wagwan my friend, english from jamaica is probably the coolest of 'em all no doubt about it, even in more formal settings it sort of sounds like Irish english's cooler brother
In my language, Dutch, we have a word called "gezellig" which kind of translates to the feeling you get when you have a good time with friends, family or loved ones. It's great to be gezellig, but there isn't any direct translation of the word in English :-)
I'm dutch too but cozy fits the word, doesn't it?Although it would fit a little better with "comfortabel" or "knus".
Andrew Kambel We have a word like that in danish too, "hygge" and no, cozy is not a direct translation of the feeling.
It's kinda close and probably the best way to explain the word to people who speak english, but it's not a direct translation.
What about the word party does that not mean the same thing.
Leon Tabery That's an English word too. We stole it and use it. We also took uber (could not figure out how to add umlaut) and use it to mean not "over" but very or super. For example, "That new teacher is like uber cool." We also use wunderkind and bildungsroman and lots of other German words that serve a purpose (usually filling a gap in meaning).
Jawel hoor gezellig is cozy of hoe je het ook schrijft
I see a young Vsause in this boy.
Kenny Schultz No he is more direct, while Vsauce, well we know where that takes us.
Kenny Schultz yes ur right, i also thought so...
+Kenny Schultz Vsauce is annoying. Rambles on with out really reaching a point.
+icampos89 finally im not the only one 😂😂
Dale, this one was Vsauce caliber.
John Adams
I am really happy you though so! Thank you.
John Adams I agree. It was as informative as any good vsauce video, and in much the same style, I would say.
What about thoughty2
Cxzczcc
we don't own English. we just all have shares in it ;)
The 1600s English sounds like the Bristolian accent
Ow bist me babber
Technically the Oxford dictionary owns the language
+The Summer Solsta If the Oxford Dictionary owned the language nobody else would be able to lawfully produce an English dictionary so no, that's not true.
The older guy reading the play just sounds Irish.
I think David Crystal is actually from Northern Ireland, though he has lived on Britain for a while. But having heard him talk normally, I don't really hear that much of an Irish twist to it. Maybe it's just me.
Dan Mc Cann I think you are confused as to what Dale mentioned. He said that David Crystal was from Northern Ireland, however now lives in Britain, not mentioning that Northern Ireland is part of Britain, but rather that David moved from Northern Ireland to Britain. After further checking David did grow up in North Wales and Liverpool, which are both very much in Great Britain.
Just think there was some miscommunication there.
He sounds like Hagrid
This 1600's English sounds a bit more like Romance languages, the way it pronounces some vowels, the silent "H", etc.
If you ever get the opportunity to hear more of it, you will hear a lot of French twists to some of the words obviously originating from French. That's one of the telltale signs that is older.
Wait I'm meant to spelt Airplane like 'Aeroplane', that's why people often put in that small 'oh' in between Air and Plane, I just thoughts its a language quirk as AirPlane would be blocky to say.
Well, after years of English in school, I have never been corrected on writing 'Airplane', I guess it's accepted now.
Same as Sulfur vs Sulphur.
But Color vs Colour is a big no no.
Aluminium
A word to describe the chills you feel in your chest when you are feeling sad
Great video! Interesting! You're a great speaker. :) (slight pun not intended)
Q2: We have a word in swedish which can't be translated easily. "Lagom" which means... "just right", enough, moderate, adequate, "not too much or too little". It's a great word. Usage example:
"How much sugar in your coffee?" "Lagom please." (and he/she puts 1-2 sugar cubes in the coffee mug depending on size, because that's just enough - not too much or too little)
It can be used in other cases like "being lagom happy".
Pronounced "laa-gom"
Sufficient is one translation.
Linsey Redd
Well, not really.
More (as the OP says) like “just right”.
Linsey Redd
“A moderate amount” or “In moderation” are two translations (although I'm not really sure they are applicable in all cases).
For example, they can't really be applied here:
“Hur mycket borde en människa sova varje natt?”
“Jag tycker att nio timmar är *lagom*.”
(“How much should a human sleep each night?”
“I think nine hours are *enough/the correct amount/just right/sufficient*.”)
Adequate is another translation.
Sorry for the wall of text. :P
(Although I suppose I've sen worse)
I guess words like Deja Vu, that we had to adapt because we had no singular meaning for it!
And also, that old English totally sounded Scottish (which, Scotland being in the UK, isn't too surprising haha)
***** It did sound a bit Scottish, I also though it was neat that that had a hard "r" back then like most Americans still do today.
Did germanic languages ever not have a hard r?
True.
Well, probably my favorite words from Icelandic are "kviðsystir" and "kviðmágur".
They don't have an English translation, but in the most literal sense they'd be translated to "womb sister" or "womb brother" and they refer to people who've had sex with the same person.
Example:
Person A has sexual intercourse with person B, and then sometime later (doesn't matter how long after, minutes, days, or years) Person C also has sex with person B.
That means that now persons A and C are "womb brothers/sisters".
That's funny man. I think it's very unlikely it have a translation in any language, it's too specific.
Gabriel Mafra Yeah, those are the kind of words that would only form in a small, isolated and sparsely populated country where almost everyone is somehow connected or related. Those words are never used now, but they were more popular some hundreds of years ago.
Wow this made my day, thanks :D
This also exists in swedish. (which maybe isn't that strange due to our shared roots) The literal translation from swedish would be _belly brother/sister-in-law_.
Edit: Wow, it actually has a translation in english! (though slang) _Fuck-in-law_...
tyda.se/search/buksv%C3%A5ger?lang%5B0%5D=en&lang%5B1%5D=sv
***** Huh, the more you know. I've never seen or heard any reference to a similar word in another language before. But that's cool though!
"Saudade" is a portuguese word that roughly means "i miss you". It is the name of the feeling of missing something, but it also includes the nostalgia or desire to be near/relive that. I don't know if a similar word exists in English, at least I've never heard of one.
A non-plural, possessive, unisex pronoun for a hypothetical person who can be of either sex, instead of using the pluralized, 'their.'
+Ian Atkinson Well, first off, 'they' has been used in singular for over 500 years. But, we also have things like ze/zir/zirs, inspired by German, and even radical femme pronouns like xe/xir/xirs (pronounced like she/sheer/sheers), which are so feminine they remove the 'he.' I just wish things like this would gain acceptance (interestingly, it's pretty hard to do non-binary stuff or gender neutral stuff in a lot of other languages, i.e. Spanish and Arabic).
But I see what you're saying -- why don't we have a unique gender-blind singular third person?
+The Idiodyssey so are you saying that these pronouns don't exist? Because that is simply untrue. Language is constantly evolving so as soon as people start using a word and other people are able to understand it that word immediately exists.
Found the channel today, pretty informational and not boring i like it man keep on going!
xXShieldGamingXx
I appreciate it, thank you very much!
I hope to see you around! :)
just going to enjoy the comments on this one - good food for thought here
There have been a lot of good ones!
I really enjoyed watching this video, Dale, and your question is of particular interest to me as an EFL teacher and teacher trainer. One of the most common questions that I get from students is, "Which is better, American or British English?" My standard answer is, "Whichever one you can understand and/or use to make yourself understood is, of course, the best one." I never allow myself to get drawn into a philosophical discussion about linguistic superiority with anyone because, as your video points out, there is room for all of us. Also, I am happy to announce that I, too, have evolved on this issue. Once, while teaching in Saudi Arabia, I had a colleague from India rush into my office with the urgent announcement that a meeting that was set for 15:00 that day had been "preponed" to 13:00. At the time, I, as a native speaker of American English, was a bit disturbed by the "nerve" of this non-native speaker making up new words. Fast forward 20+ years, and I've learned to like that term because it just makes good sense; if we can postpone a meeting (convene at a later time), why can't we convene at an earlier time by "pre-poning" said meeting? I realize that my initial reaction to the term was pure cultural/linguistic hegemony, and I must admit that I am still a work in progress.
After all, we who speak English as a first language are asked, every day, to be very "flexible" in our communications in order to accommodate those speakers/learners who hail from non-native English backgrounds. Further, because language is inextricably linked to one's individual, familial, and cultural identity, it is rather difficult to watch English evolve in a manner over which we have NO control. As your video also points out, we all come to the linguistic table with cultural norms that inform our understanding and use of the English language from a multitude of perspectives and points of view. My most daunting challenge is balancing a prescriptive approach to the language (the English teacher in me) with a descriptive approach (learning to embrace the evolution of "my" language due to the advent of world Englishes).
Question #1: I think that English should have a word that allows us to ask about the ordinal nature of things. For example, the Chinese say which roughly translates into "howmanyeth?" Better put, if you want to know how many times something has occurred of will occur, a question like, "Howmanyeth is that?" or "That's the howmanyeth time?" would really come in handy. Unfortunately, even the word "howmanyeth," unless it was used in isolation, does not match the simplicity of asking this question in other languages because there are other grammatical features that are required to render the correct meaning, but having popular access to the word "howmanyeth" would, at least, be a start.
Questions #2: If you don't mind, Dale, I recommend that readers Google this title. "20 AWESOMELY UNTRANSLATABLE WORDS FROM AROUND THE WORLD" The words found there are very interesting.
This one really hit a nerve, so thanks for another awesomely thought-provoking video!!
Hank Grimes
Thanks Hank!
I think it's important to condition the use of words that we invent and that are useful. Even if they are not accepted as words now, we need to start laying down the foundation for our language to continue to grow and become more useful and expressive. This is important if English is to become truly the worlds language and usable by all cultures. :)
Thanks for both of your answers and thanks for taking the time to watch this video!
Take care and wish you the best!
The Swedish word "Lagom"!
It means "Neither too much, nor too little"
I think the English for for that might be sufficient, enough, or plenty.
David Hernandez
Wouldn't maybe work also? For instance, "Is that enough?" "Maybe" Or is that too uncertain?
I recently learned that there's a similar word in japanese - ちょうど(chōdo)
Lukewarm?
The word lagom can be explained in english using different words depending on context. In Swedish it's used in any context. It's not really "perfect amount" as much as "not imperfect". It has a kind of... not very emotional quality.
Example:
"Was there too much salt in the food?" "Var det för mycket salt i maten?"
"No, it was just the right amount." "Nej, det var lagom."
The concept of "lagom" actually stretches into our culture as well. We take pride in doing things properly, but not overdoing them. We also take pride in not taking too much pride in things. Only lagom pride. ;)
Those two questions at the end are too easy for me. In my country, Brazil, we speak Portuguese (not Spanish!), and there is a "classic" example of a word that doesn't exist in English. It's "saudade", it means that you miss someone, but it is a noun. So, for example, if you are far away from your family and friends, you can say something like "I have 'saudade' of you", which would be, in practice, the same as "I miss you".
I think it's a very important word, not just because it's a noun, but because it has this concept behind it, that is an emotion of missing someone. Sometimes in music, the lyrics say "the pain in my heart" when referring to this, but in Portuguese, what you're feeling is just "saudade".
I always found Australian English intresting since prisoners were sent to Australia and that would shape how the launguage there works. Oh and for the question, we need the word for family/and or pet love.
I bet if you were to look at their largest ancestry groups and the regions which those people came from, you could patch together the origin of the Australian accent. Unlike the United States (and Canada which sounds remarkably similar to the United States accent) they have not only been more involved with the UK, but are younger. I feel the Australian accent if given more time prior to the advance of the mass of cultural exchanges but fourth last century and this century, it would have progressed even further.
Think Fact Maybe you should make a video on the Australian accent :D
Mauro Gonzalez Maybe one day! :)
Think Fact Or I could do the research and make a data map out of it. God, that would take forever...
Think Fact the Spanish tongue of the filipinos already disappeared cause of English
i wonder what happen did the americans forced us or Filipinos just like English more
Your videos never get as many views as they should. Everyone who passes over them is really missing out. Keep doing you thing because I'll always be watching!
Are you planning to do more space videos ? :)
ZeroRed 19
Sure do. Almost did one for this video.
Should have a really awesome space video for my next one or the one after. :)
Think Fact Eta Carinae
Think Fact Can't wait :P
Think Fact
I really liked this video, dude and I would also look forward to more space videos :)
I think we should have a word called 'whatd's'. It would be used as a shortened version of 'what does'. Example:
'Whatd's this do?'. I think this should exist because it is following simple logic of the English language!
I know, and speak 3 languages, Arabic (which is my mother language), French, and English, and I would love to learn more languages, like Japanese, Italian, Spanish, or any other one! Because the more you know the better
And like our prophet Mohamed (p.b.u.h) said : "When you learn the language of a nation, you save yourself from their cunning"
I bet you'll very soon forget French.
Pokemonfox4 I don't think i will, French is the second language of my country, since we've been colonized by the French once, plus i've been speaking it since the age of 3.
And we use it almost everywhere when we speak. :D
WeCu Baka I see! Where exactly do you live?
Pokemonfox4 In Algeria!
Well if you went East two countries, you would actually find my home country, which is Egypt!
Here in South Africa, many Afrikaans words became part of English, not just here, but worldwide. Trek, veld etc is Afrikaans, and then more locally you have lekker (cant really translate,but lets say it means nice), bru (brother), waai (to leave), and then Zulu had quite an impact as well, eish(shock) is very widespread here. Being trilingual (Afrikaans 1st language, then English and Zulu), languages have always fascinated me. Great videos as always.
I just fell in love with this guy. All of his videos bring amazing insight and I can say that watching him actually makes my IQ swell with the pride of enlightenment.
I really appreciate that, thank you very much! I hope to see you around in the future! :)
I love your work. Bertolt Brecht says that what there is shall go to those who are good for it. You may not know this but you have really changed a lot of people...a lot in a way unfathomable. You have CHANGED ME. BIG THANK YOU.
Matu Ngatia
Wow, I have to admit that means a lot to me. One of the most important things we can do for ourselves is to value compassion and rationality. With it, the world is our oyster. You left an impact on me too my friend, thank you. :)
I can't remember of a word that can't be translated to English, but I know an English word that comes from "Euskara" or Basque, which is spoken in the Basque Country, in northern Spain and southern France. It's one of the oldest living languages in Europe and it's origin is unknown. The word i'm talking about is "Bizarre" which in Basque means beard. It seems that in the middle ages Basque soldiers helped France in a war against England. Basque soldiers had quite long beards and the English thought the were weird, so they took the Basque word "Bizarra" (meaning beard) to describe them and the word became synonymous of strange or weird.
For a while, I've believed that, because of the internet, English is kind of working towards a modern standard. My friends in the UK and I frequently use slang that didn't exist 20 years ago, and couldn't have been popularized if it weren't for internet culture and media being proliferated in the way that it is.
The beauty of English is it's adaptability and versatility, constantly evolving into a wider, better language.
amionutube I certainly agree with that.
Anything that isn't in the dictionary really is just slag or just words shortened
William Robertson I mean, the contents of a dictionary are always going to be incomplete. Just because a word doesn't appear in the text of one particular resource― or even any at all― doesn't mean it's any less legitimate. Don't get me wrong, there is definitely a difference between slang and fortified 'words,' but the line between the two is kind of arbitrary.
Adam Definitely. I also think that people are losing their accents. It seems to me that 20 years ago, Australians or Irish would speak English in the US and not be understood.
1. -The day before yesterday
-The day after tomorrow
2. Filotimo
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philotimo
+Panos3301 Hey, you wore that shirt the day after yesterday.
From Greek:
Agape
Eros
Storge
Philia
All translate into English as Love, but they all mean different sorts of love.
Agape is unconditional, selfless love, like dying for somebody. Eros is erotic love, like between a husband and wife. Storge is more like friendship and family "love". And Philia is more broad that its quite hard to encapsulate but includes friendship, as well as items eg I love ice cream.
Goabnb94
In the video I made about love I said something like this would be ideal! There is so much to love but not all love is the same. So it's hard to have one word to describe it all.
Thank you for the comment!
I think the English language just needs a word that doesn't mean anything, BUT can be used in place of a word that does mean something. Like for example, a word spelt Qwe, (The first letters on a keyboard), this word means nothing specific but I could say "Qwe over here!" instead of "Get over here" or "Qwe at that!" instead of "Look at that!".
Wow, 1600s English sounds a lot like West Country.
Oo-arr!
+Dan Wendelstein (Atvishees) just what i was thinking sounds a bit like the stereotypical farmer
+Alan Mackey Hey what are you here?
Alan Mackey Seeing testtube commenters on other videos feels weird for some reason.
From "The Dictionary of Weird Canadian Words" here's some unique to this part of the world words:
"pogey" - slang for unemployment insurance
"hydro" - used to describe electricity in provinces that get most of their power from hydro-electric dams
"toque" or "tuque" - the knitted ski hats most of us wear in the winter
"chinook" - from southern Alberta, warm winds coming over the Rocky Mountains that occasionally surprise us here with a reprieve from winter conditions
England does. Nextttt
+Lrapsody27 No England doesn't. A language is just a language, nobody owns any language. Unless you're talking about Klingon from Star Trek, in that case Paramount Pictures owns it.
@@woodpecker758 England owns it. Like Russia owns russian
@@flo2677 No, England colonized other countries, unlike Russia, which while colonizing Siberia was culturally and geographically a single, homogenous country. You don't own a language you force on others, any more than a slave master "owns" slave cabins. I mean, yes he owns them, but does he live in them? Are they his people? It was different with the Russians. They generally didn't treat the Siberian minorities like slaves.
@@woodpecker758 No. Its not that simple. English is the official language in the UK. Its the motherland of the language. You are right, by law, nobody owns any language. But if you compare UK, Australia, US, Cananda, New Zealand. You see that english arrives from England, because those countries were filled with brits in the beginning. Even though they were colonized, those people were still British. Its basically the same people.
But of course, overtime, other emigrants started to arrive, french, german, polish, italian, african etc. And the langueage evolved later on.
The Dutch word "gezelligheid" has it's own Wikipedia page just because it's so hard to translate. I believe it's in the top 10 of "untranslatable" words in the world, that's how hard it is to explain what it realy is even tough most Dutch people use the word a lot.
My word that would exist in the English Language would be:
Conswiggle - To do something that is harmlessly or even beneficially mischievous or deceptive.
Synonym: Flim-flam.
LeGamingGuitarist
Hahaha I love it. It sounds like it could be an awesome cat name!
You should make a video about the origins of languages as well (Like, what was the first language ever used). Would be an interesting watch!
Unfortunately, we actually don't know, and probably will never know the first language, but it is still very interesting to study how children acquire their first language, and how that differs from adults.
There would be absolutely no way to know what it was like, but we may be able to determine the first organisms to start constructing speech. And potentially the oldest language groups.
Language is prehuman and we're almost absolutely sure that neanderthals had some form of language as well. So that's something to note as well.
"Załatwić" - the most hermetic polish word. It means something like "to get something done". You may "załatwić coś (state)" - "do something that will result in somebody to get to this state (eg. get a job)" or "załatwić kogoś" - "get rid of somebody", or "załatwić się" - "to defecate", or even "załatwić coś (thing)" - "to get that thing (eg. to get a cup)". It's really hard to translate.
I clicked translate and it translated that word to "settle", but then translated it in other places as "get something" or "get someone" etc.
Also, I find it hilarious to think you guys say "settle up" as a way to say "to defecate" lol!
I'm polish. I know what i'm talking about ;)
Filip Pytlewski
that is a really interesting one, thank you so much for sharing! I love all the fancy characters that you guys have when using written Polish. Must be a bit of a pain though.
It's very easy, because we write exactly the way we talk or read. Not like in english, where there are almost no rules: eg. comb, womb, bomb - really close in writing and far away from each other in speech. In polish every letter is assigned to exactly one vowel (not sure if this is the correct word for the sound?), so if you know every of them you will always correctly read polish words (even without understanding).
And it's easy in write too. Just hold "Alt" key and use the letter which looks similarly :) (Of course if you have installed the polish keyboard in your OS.)
The English language needs a synonym for the word synonym.
We do have one. "synonym". It also just happens to be a homophone and a homonym.
weskos Mind blown
+Die Faust It does. It is called poecilonym.
Holy crap, you actually found a definition for it. Nice job man.
Poecilonym.
I am English and love the fact the that English has had so many influences from around the world, not just the main ones mentioned in the video (Latin, French and Germanic). The Vikings contributed many of our words, and our own Celtic tribes had their own influence into English. Modern migration is also influencing English, making it a vibrant language. Great video.
Jeff Walker Thank you! English is a great language, and I think it's awesome how involved it is around the world.
There was actually very little influence from Celtic. We only have about four words or so left. Crag (a rock) is one of them. When the anglo-saxon tribes came to England, they basically pushed the Celts out and into the north with very little intermingling. The Romans kinda threw in some Latin bits here and there, then they left. Then the Vikings came and muddied up the local language with old Norse. Then the French came and took over the place forcing their language upon the inhabitants. Then they were forced out and thus begins the era of modern English. Yes, indeed, Shakespeare is considered modern English. Lol
Morgan Fairbanks
The Celtic languages are a part of the greater Germanic languages.
Though it's obvious they're had threw been some influence, it wasn't just the Celtic language itself influencing English. Its contribution may have been small but it wasn't nonexistent. :)
Germanic languages and Celtic languages are both branches of the Indo-European family of languages. They are sister language groups to be sure, but Celtic is not considered Germanic.
So the OP of English is mostly Hagrid Irish. Great
in english there are no word for the day after tomorrow like there are in many other languages, but why? It has confused me so much. Why don't people just finally get around to doing it? Call it doublemorrow or somethin'!
Michael Stevens over at Vsauce actually made a video to or three videos back which talked about the words for the day after tomorrow and the day before yesterday.
We have words for them but they're awfully obscure.
Think Fact Desto's World I miss the word "fortnight" in English meaning 'two weeks'. We use it all the time in Irish. The word is "coicís", pronounced ['kai-keesh].
Irish also has a single word for last night, "aréir", and last year, "anuraidh". In order to say day after tomorrow, we should use two words, "arú amárach", but usually hear and use one word, "arúmárach".
That yields a few other possible one word time expressions: year before last- arúnuraidh, night before last- arúréir, and day before yesterday- arúinné.
Sounds great, right? But, we have to say "an tseachtain seo chugainn" and "an tseachtain seo caite" for next week and last week!
This concludes our Irish lesson for today, class. There will be a quiz on the Monday after next.
weskos Reminded me of the German (dialect) word "heuer" which basically means "in the current year". So, if you want to plan your vacation for the summer, you could say "Wo könnte ich denn heuer mal hinfahren?" (Where could I go this year?)
(Often used if you tell other people about something that happens every year but you want to talk particularly about this year.)
Elchi King Does that come from heute+Jahr? Even if it doesn't, it's an easy way for me to remember that word.
weskos I don't know, possible (but it's a word only used in colloquial language and certain dialects)
In Italian we have a word:"Abbacchiare";it's a verb meaning the feeling of tiredness you get after eating a pretty big meal
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't there a word in Italian for the water mark from a glass left on the table. I am slowly learning Italian as I think it is a beautiful language.
Yes,it is the "Culaccino"
and thank you from all the Italian people :)
the English own English.
On another note, does anyone else find it strange that English is classed as a Germanic language even though about 55% of its words are rooted in Latin or French?
+Matt Dean
The classification is because the grammatical structure is more germanic in origin.
uhm, words that don't translate to english.
well i can't think of any words at the moment, there has to be some dutch words that don't translate well, but i can't think of any. what i do notice, is how much of a barier i feel when trying to talk about school to other people.
for example the different levels of education, i'm doing what is called here gymnasium. wich translates to grammar school. but we also have VMBO, Lower Vocational Education. MAVO, lower general secondary education and HAVO, school for higher general secondary education.
(these last ones were from a translation site so i don't know how accurate they are)
talking about grades is difficult aswell. here in the Netherlands we get a grade from 1 to 10, in france you get a grade from 0 to 20 and in the US (i think) you get a grade from F to A. it makes thing way too complex when talking about simple things
Yes, the US does use F to A, but skipping E because people thought E meant Excellent lol. We also use 0 to 100 as well; especially for big important tests.
I think 0 to 100 makes the most sense because it's a percent. Some teachers, I remember, actually wrote the percent sign.
George Cataloni 0 to 100 makes the most sense to me too
Goodness, that could be very difficult. In the United States we use a 0 through 100 grading system. F being anything that's a 59 or below, D being 60 to 69, C being 70 to 79, be being 80 to 89, and A being 90 to 100. We once had E instead of F but for some reason we had a cultural change. Some school systems depending on you state live in, give different letter grades to different numbers, but this is the typical one.
Hi, A word that doesn't translate to english from dutch? How about "Hagelslag"
That wonderful practice of making of making Chocolate sandwiches! We should have that here:) Thanks.
How about hotentotententententoonstelingen ;D
Ht refers to exhibits of tents from the hottentoten (khoikhoi in English)
Its also a great word for dyslectic people.
The word "Friend" is applied to anyone you know that you don't hate, from the person that sits behind you in class to the person who you would trust with your life. Spanish, for example has conocido, amigo and compadre.
We beat the Brits in the the revolutionary war, therefore we do. #Murica
No, Australia does, and New Zealand can come over and share sometimes!
No, you'd just misuse it probably. Just give it to Canada, they'll just invent more apologetic words.
#bait
***** Lost the War of 1812, therefore we do.
Phillip Reynolds lol
This is why we shouldn't be opposed to text speak. Here is a speech:
“At mete, well
etaught was she with alle,
She leet no
morsel from hir lippes falle.”
That, ladies and
gentlemen, is two lines from the great Middle English poet, Geoffrey Chaucer.
It's a treasure of the English language... and I understood about two words of
it. English has changed completely since the Middle Ages, and that isn't a bad
thing. As social situations change, as life changes, language must adapt to
that.
For example, mocking the old view that prepositions shouldn't be at the end of sentences,
Winston Churchill said, “This is the sort of nonsense up with which I will not
put.” Churchill is therefore saying we shouldn't cling to language structures
the general public does not use.
For anyone who still believes we should ban text speak, I say, “should we ban initials?” After
all, initials are abbreviations and what is text speak but abbreviations?
Nobody is claiming that writing J instead of Jasmine is 'ruining our society'.
The Romans invented initials, because they did not have many first names. There
would only be one first name which began with M: Marcus. So, we've had
short-hand since Roman times, and telegraphs, which used abbreviations in the
nineteenth century- so why, why, is text speak a problem now?
Some people think that if you text often you could become less skilled at formal writing. But,
a study by the University of Alberta found that people who texted often
were actually slightly better at spelling. So stop worrying; texting won't make
teens spell worse, but, if anything, better!
Winston Churchill once said “the English language is great. No country or combination,
or power so fertile and so vivid exists anywhere in the world.” Why is that?
Well, there are two approaches to language. You can do as English is doing now, allowing in new words, grammar
and slang from different cultures and eras, creating a vast, vivid vocabulary.
Or you can try and freeze the language like France is doing. France set up the
“Academie Francaise” in 1635 to regulate new words and stop words from
other languages coming into French. Due to Europe conquering many countries,
most European languages are well-known but is French the most spoken language?
Or is it English, flexible, adaptable, ever-changing, English that is the most
widely spoken language in the world?
Gender words is terrible sometimes in english Like the word Friend...
for instance in my native language if your girlfriend says that "she is talking with her friend" what this means... she is talking with a male friend? she is talking a female friend
turns out that in my language the word would amiga or amigo depends of the gender of the friend...
often when I am talking in english a see a little of information loss like this and you have to guess or use more words that you actually would use in another language like for example Italian or polish...
+Thiago Racca
That's a really great point! One thing that people are struggling with an English is considering people who identify as a different gender. I feel that would be even more complicated in a language like Spanish or Italian. Languages with the feminine and masculine.
Think Fact This feature of words with gender is useful only in relationships... but to other words is really great the english generic words...in my native tongue which is Portuguese I really don't know why everything has to have a gender like a bread for instance is male or a fridge is female...
English has Gender words since has He, or She, her and him... Actor and Actress, hero and heroine, prince and princess and other examples...
the only word who really annoy me for being generic is the word friend... and I even cannot use girlfriend or boyfriend because has another meaning is really confused.. 5 of 10 times I not completely aware of what they are talking and I have to ask the name to be more polite and try to guess the sex of the person...
if you pick the movie About Time(2013) you will see a scene where a girl describe other girl as his girlfriend and the guy misunderstood about 4 times, and the guy is from UK... but thankfully the guy can go back in time... I cannot hahaha
I think really would be handy if english have a different word for male friend and female friend..
Typically in situations like that I'm used to hearing people say "guy friend(s)" if it's a bunch of men. And "female friend(s)" in the case of women. That would be our way around it, maybe that will help you out! ;) It doesn't sound awkward in casual conversations.
yeah good idea..
English has done something similar for singular/plural too. Instead of saying thou or you, we always use you. In French for example, we'd use tu or vous. Rather than vous all the time. The plural was treated as more formal and English decided to always address people formally.
In Spanish we have the word "sobremesa" which translated literally means "over the table", but it refers to the time spent talking and socializing without getting out of table, usually after lunch.
If England had never, ever existed, no-one would be speaking English. Have a little respect for where your language comes from. In England we speak English. In the US you speak a variant of English in a different accent.
James Harrison
Than I would not exist or would be speaking another language and would be making the same video.
There is no respect within that context, if that means having no consideration for the words over a billion people speak, words called English. Called English because people no longer alive today who named it after the location England, which gets it's named from the Angles originally from Schleswig-Holstein.
England did not make English, people did. If there is any respect given, it will be to all the people who contributed, not some land. People from past and present.
Germans, French, Scandinavians, Welsh, Romans, Irish, Americans, Scottish, and so on.
"England" is just one pitstop on the road to Modern English. A pitstop that is just as dependent on past pitstops and current ones are on it.
Also note,
people who's descendants made English would stay in the UK and also move around the world. They, like the people in the UK have just as much of a say to the language given our heritage.
There are accents in the US just like in the UK, and all are different from the ones that were around in the 1600's. There is no original, all are accents.
Have a good one.
Think Fact Your first sentence goes some way to proving my point. Well done.
You go on to say that you have no respect for where your language comes from. Therefore I would presume you have little respect for your forefathers or ancestors. Most people are rightly proud of their roots - Not you it would seem.
Of course, early English was developed with some influence from German, French, Latin etc but equally German and French were influenced by English - But they are still entirely separate and distinguishable languages today.
I cannot imagine someone from Brazil denying that the Portugese they speak does not come from Portugal or the Spanish the Mexicans or Argentinians speak does not some from Spain. So why do you deny 98% of the English you speak comes from a language developed in England by the English?
In your video you make a very dubious point about how 'War' was pronounced differently 500 years ago. Well, I have news for you - Many people in England's West Country still pronoune 'War' as W-are' - and the comparison between shakesperian and OP you make sounds like someone from Cornwall repeating a sentence from someone in the South-East of England.
No, of course a lump of land called England did not make the English language, but the English people made English over hunderds of years before exporting it overseas.
English is still evolving through the fact that so many people speak it around the world. However it seems to me that the main differences between English and the American version you speak from the 19th and 20th centuries have been in minor spelling differences such as 'Colour' vs 'Color' or 'Organisation' vs 'Organization' There are some examples of the English starting to adopt American words such as English people referring to 'Lorries' as 'Trucks'... Bllluurrrgghh. But it is all very minor differneces I suppose.
English will continue to evolve with all the new names for new technology etc but the basic structure of English will not and has not changed for hunderds of years.
Please give your cousins a little more credit.
Have a good one.
James Harrison
>>Your first sentence goes some way to proving my point. Well done.>Of course, early English was developed with some influence from German, French, Latin etc but equally German and French were influenced by English - But they are still entirely separate and distinguishable languages today.>or the Spanish the Mexicans or Argentinians speak does not some from Spain.>So why do you deny 98% of the English you speak comes from a language developed in England by the English?>In your video you make a very dubious point about how 'War' was pronounced differently 500 years ago. Well, I have news for you - Many people in England's West Country still pronoune 'War' as W-are' - and the comparison between shakesperian and OP you make sounds like someone from Cornwall repeating a sentence from someone in the South-East of England.>English will continue to evolve with all the new names for new technology etc but the basic structure of English will not and has not changed for hunderds of years.>Have a good one.
James Harrison I must take issue with you when you stated that "Of course, early English was developed with some influence from German, French, Latin etc."
The issue that I take is that English was not just "developed with some influence from German" but that English IS a Germanic Language.
(The word "Germanic", as used here, relates to the language spoken by the "tribes" which populated the area known to the Romans as "Germania", at the time of Tacitus.)
As discussed by Kevin Stroud in his "History of English Podcast" series, it can be shown that, of the 25 most common words in the English language, 24 are of "Germanic" origin. (historyofenglishpodcast.com/2014/04/08/episode-41-new-words-from-old-english/)
Further, although I now cannot find the reference, Keven Stroud has stated in his podcast series that only less than 5% of the 200 words most commonly used in English are of non-Gemanic origin.
However, perhaps more importantly, the structure of English has been simplified by the great reduction in the "inflections" which it originally had.
Because of its spread to those for whom it is not a "Mother tongue", it seems likely that these "inflections" may further be reduced!
Just imagine a "Future" where the verb "to be" is conjugated in the present tense as
I be
you (thou) be
he/she/it be
we be
you be
they be
in the past tense as
I beed
you (thou) beed
he/she/it beed
we beed
you beed
they beed
(The extra "e" is necessary for pronunciation purposes - and the "ed", to indicate "past", is still an "inflection"!)
and in the future tense as
I will be
you (thou) will be
he/she/it will be
we will be
you will be
they will be
Oh look! The future tense has reached that stage already.
You don't speak English. You speak a variant of English.
Hi Dale! Your channel is great, I am very thankful for English as it enabled me to access a much-bigger world compared to the time when I was only adept with my native language (Tagalog). Here are my answers to your ending questions.
Q1. English doesn't have words for proximity of an object to both the speaker and listener. English only has "this" and "that" to refer to things which are near or far from the speaker while Filipino and Nihonggo has "ito"/"kore" これ (this), "iyan"/"sore" それ(that, near the listener) and "ayun"/"are" あれ(that, far from both); The English word "we" is also misleading, it is unclear whether it excludes or includes the listener while in Filipino and Mandarin they have the words "kami"/"women" 我们 (we, excluding the listener), "tayo"/"zanmen" 咱们 (we, including the listener).
Q2. Being a Filipino, I would say the word "kilig" is untranslatable to English. They try to translate it to "shivers", but its more like the "butterfies in your stomach" feeling that you get when you are in a romantic situation or when you see your crush at school/work.
I really love your channel! and should you have any questions about S.E. Asia, especially the Philippines, I would be more than happy to help you out. Keep up the good work Dale!
The German word "Ihr" (You plural) needs to have an English equivalent.
Yes! I totally agree. This is one area in which English is lacking. The best equivalent that we have is "you guys" or "y'all."
***** That was the complaint, not a solution. He's saying English ought to have two different words for the two concepts, not one word, that's just confusing.
I agree! It's like saying "I" when you mean "We", it sounds wrong.
sogghartha Thank you for the clarification. =)
Jamaican is basically English and has an equivalent to "Ihr" which is "unu". I always imagine what it would be like if it was commonplace in Standard English.
Answer n°2 : _Congolexicomatisation_ it's a neo-French world that can't ever be translate in an other language; that might be defined as "the act of transform an economy in an anarcho-planificated model... That sounds strange for you? Normal ^^, even French natives speakers have a really tough history of meanings with that word.
Hey Dale, I am writing this before the holiday but you will probably see this in the holiday so Happy Purim! Be happy all the rest of the week! When Adar enters everyone are happy!
Alwin Priven
Thank you! I have never celebrated Purim, but it looks fun. I wish you a Happy Purim! Take care.
Think Fact I hope you will one day come celebrate, and I will be a Hydrogen Atom again!
Sobremesa, in Argentina . It's what you do when you finish your launch but you wait in the table(mesa)
faf fad How neat. Thank you or sharing!
+faf fad
I think we call that after meal chatting.
carultch that sounds more like a description , it would be diferent if it was one word
Ok, I must say that I'm too lazy to find out if someon has done this already. In Finnish, you can have myötähäpeä. It's a noun, and it's the act of being embarassed for someone else's actions. Takatalvi means literally backwinter, so it is that it looks like winter has gone, but then it snws again. Thr next word is vahingoniloinen, and it can be translated to German eith Schadefreude. It's enjoyment obtained from the misery of others. And one left, that I can think of. It's not very common word, kaukokaipuu. Again, in German it is Fernweh. Feeling homesick for a place you have never been to.
(And I must say, that in Finnish we still speak how the words are written, might be because of the "low" amount of speakers or the youth of the written language.)
They should have a word for that tingly feeling you get in the car going down a steep hill
One thing I'd like to add, While Canada is French and English, us english speakers still spell some things with the French spelling, like Metre, Centre, etc In Oshawa Ontario, theres a road called Centre Street, with branches off from Simcoe Street between North and South Downtown
Another fun fact is that while the British Empire had the largest "Area of Control" and "Population Under Their Control" they only rank 12th in "Percentage of World Population". However they still held an impressive 20% of the worlds population at the peak of their reign and this all was accomplished less than 100 years ago.
English has no verb that is the opposite of "to exceed". "Is less than" is not a verb.
ARRRRGGHHH, SO FEW LIKES!!!! you put together such a great video, the amount of work!! you deserve so much more. Anyhow, awesome as usual, thanks a zillion for your efforts to educate us : )
Spanish:
Friolento: A person who is usually chilly, many times wears a jacket. Basicly a person who gets cold at lower temperatures
I totally agree with this, im from northen England and I have strong northen accent, and people say we don't speak England properly or say our english is bad. but we dont speak bad english, we just speak it differently, theres no right and wrong way, the language belongs to whoever speaks and people use it differently.
I would answer both questions with just one word: the portuguese word "saudade". We are taught here that there's no translation for this word in any language, which isn't true, but makes it so more meaningful. It roughly translates into "The feeling of missing someone or something", like in the phrase "I miss you". I think english should have a proper word for this powerful feeling.
Dale is BACKKK!!! :D
hyugauchiauzumaki
:)
¡Saludos desde Panamá! I really enjoyed your video, I'll try to do my best with this little part of English that I got :)
In Spanish we have a words like "desvelado" that is an adjective used when you didn't get quite enough sleep; "estrenar" that is when you use something for the first time; or "tutear" that's when you treat someone of "tú" (you) instead of "usted" (formal you).
The only problem is the most bizarre and weird spelling the English received in heritage from French!
umm, and Greek (some of which the Americans drop)
The 1600 century spoken language has the Irish dialect... hmm
Humanity owns english, and spanish, and German, Dutch and every language
Edward Kenway Some languages are much more regional. Like Native American languages with about 100-10,000 speakers. I guess it comes down to the native population vs people how learned it 2nd... population, the over all size and it's current growth rate.
Thank you for the comment!
A word you're missing is a word for an entire 24 hour day. You call it a "day" but because you also call daytime a day, it can get confusing.
So day(time) + night = the missing word. In danish it's called a "døgn", we have "dag" (daytime) and "nat" (night) and both combined is a "døgn".
And a danish word that isn't well translated into english is "hygge".
It's a cozy, comfortable situation, usually experienced with friends and family when you're having a good time together.
Mini Manta Your post is quite interesting.
While the people involved (no doubt) suffered from various invasions, including invasions from what is now Denmark, it is unfortunate that what is now the English language has not been enriched by the distinction you now make concerning the "day".
Quite obviously, the people concerned who were involved with learning to enrich their language via a similar language from their invaders, did not consider this distinction significant enough to include in the language which they passed on to their decedents..
+Mini Manta
Now I want a word for the 23 hour 56 minute "day", to distinguish it from the 24-hour day. I know I can use the adjectives of sidereal day and solar day, but I want an individual pair of words that distinguishes the period of rotation relative to distant stars, from the period of observation of the sun.
Good work Dale. Thanks for teaching me.
+Reason1717
Thanks for watching! :)
That's one thing I like about English, it's fluid in nature. Compare that to a lot of other languages which have an entity which new words must be approved, these can be all encompassing for the language in all areas it's spoken like Spanish's "Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española" or be divided into multiple separate entities like France's "Académie française" and Quebec's "Office québécois de la langue française" which seek out to normalize and regulate the languages as they are used
Proud to contribute to English, with love, from India!
Keep it up, Dale!
There ought to be a word specifically for when you have read/you are reading a good, enjoyable book and you want to read slowly to savor every word. Kind of like 'delicious' but... different.
There is a word on Norwegian called "innlevelse" (in living, for a kind of, not really, direct translation) that -- as far as I know -- doesn't translate to English. It can also be a verb: "å leve seg inn i noe" (to live one self into something). The word or phrase refers to when you are so into what you are doing that you feel like you are a part of it your self. Innlevelse is when you read a book or watch a movie, and you stop being a spectator and become a part of the story displayed in front of you. It's when an actor no longer pretends to be the part they are playing, but temporarily turn into the figure they are portraying. It's when you listen to music and it feels like you are one with the melodi, or the lyrics, or simply the feeling it gives you. Innlevelse is when your mind flees from your own life to take part in a different story, if only just for a minute. Now that I have forced my self to explain it without using the expression it self, I start to puzzle over how we can use such a beautiful word as casual as we do.
+ImNotSelma i think the translation would be immersion if it is the same as "inlevelse" in swedish
ana lklåda Yeah, I think you're right. It would really surprise me if "innlevelse" and "inlevelse" isn't the same. Thank you! "Immersion" isn't used as much, though
Question #2: Saudade in Portuguese, encompasses a set of feelings including nostalgia, longing, missing, etc. which to my knowledge we have no exact translation for in English. :)
There needs to be a word for "cheeky Nando's with the lads"
[Spanish] Empalagoso - When something’s disgusting because it’s sweet or cute.
I think English needs a word for "the feeling of curling up in a bed on a cold night" And German has a word "backpfeifengesicht" in English its an entire sentence "A face that needs to be slapped/punched"
I'm german and I have never eher heard the word backpfeifengesicht before. Was für ein verrücktes Wort!
Then look it up.
Sorry, I thought you were trying to say I was wrong.
Dalton Brown we have the word snug
that means to be wrapped tightly.
Why the hell do we need to ask ourselves this question in the first place?
The question is more revealing than the possible answers.
"Who owns what" is more a reflex than a question.
It says a lot about our need to possess and control.
In my opinion, one thing English (and other languages in general) should have is a separate word for the near future as well as the distant future, and same for the past. I'm working on a language that incorporates these concepts into the grammar, but I don't have time to work on it. One word I know from Spanish that doesn't translate easily into English is the verb soler. It means to usually do/normally do something. There is literally no verb in English that corresponds to this Spanish verb. For example, yo suelo limpiar las ventanas los domingos, means I usually clean the windows on Sunday's. Also, suelo can mean soil.
Aprovechar means "to take advantage of". It's also used as "provecho" when you wish someone to enjoy their meal.
Spanish picante! Hot and spicy both have different meanings that make it very vague when trying to describe hot/spicy food. Hot food means temperature and spicy food means it has a lot of spices in it.
Btw when the pie chart mentions "French" as a language that contributes to the making of the English language it means Norman which is a lot more Germanic as they came from Scandinavia but settled in part of France which is today known as Normandy, this is a common misconception that the Normans spoke French.
If you are wondering why English has so many words similar or the same as French these are listed as the "Latin" words, as modern French is listed as a Latin language.
Also how that David Crystal bloke talks sounds like the Cornish accent, and the native Cornish aren't even English, (in terms of ancestry that is), they also have their own language.
+Rocky Do
This is precisely why the English language does not have gendered nouns. The French language genders are the opposite of German language genders for the same term. Le sol / die sonne - sun is female in German and male in French. La luna / der mond - moon is male in German and female in French.
This is also why there are different words for the meat of an animal as there is for the animal. Such as beef and cow. Beef is French in origin, and cow is German in origin.
There are more native English speakers than ethnically English people.
Love is possibly one of the most unnecessarily awkward words in English. we have modifiers for it and pale substitutions, but English has no way to concisely identify the kind of love we wish to identify. it confounds me that we use the same word to identify our affection for romantic interests, family members, spiritual matters, and the frivolous (jeans, coffee, toe nail polish, etc).
Swedish Mexico!? Mind Blown!
This channel is a demonstration of hard work. Your videos are amazing, original and well made. Your subscribers are loyal and active, but mostly thinkers, this is what makes this channel special, all the smart comments and debates, so remember each time you upload a video, you're being watched by thinkers and researchers like you, i think thats priceless.
juanchiflado11
Quite honestly it's the best part of what I do! I love to read what everyone has to say! It's great insight!
Think Fact Woahh what a fast response
From the german schadenfreude
Being pleased og someones harm or bad luck
MartinDxt
Haha, I love how so many German speaks have said this one! :D
Thank you for sharing!
In Hebrew the word ״את״ (pronounced "et") doesn't really have a translation- it's just a necessary word in pretty much every sentence
Eliana L
Never knew that. Cool. Thank you!
I love how on the map of accents there's an area just for Belfast. Because the accent (my accent) is so nasal-y and terrible, with so many of it's own little peculiarities that American's joke about us being pirates. I didn't realise how strong my accent was until people said that they actually couldn't understand me. Wish I had an Irish accent tbh.
English should have a word for: "the day before yesterday" or "the day after tomorrow", similar to ...Spanish, for example.
German has those too and English actually has one of them: overmorrow. It is just not used, sadly.
Hector Cardenas we have it in dutch, the day before yesterday is in dutch: eergisteren, and day afther tomorrow is: overmorgen.
There's a Jamaican word "bout" that has no English equivalent. You use it when someone tries to do something but fails, pretty much to shame or embarrass them. So if someone is skating and falls for example, his friend might laugh and say "bout yah skate (bout you are skating)", which could be interpreted as "That's what you get for acting like you can skate".