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Claire Ivins's avatar

Why say something is untranslatable, when all you mean is that there isn’t a one-word equivalent, or that in another language, different imagery is used to convey the same feeling? This is not untranslatability. When translators come across such terms, they create difficulties, it’s true, but there are plenty of strategies for dealing with them. For l’appel du vide, we might just say the urge to jump. Same feeling, different way of conveying it.

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Learn French with Timo's avatar

I may have exaggerated a little for the title 😉 Of course, 'untranslatable' doesn't mean 'impossible to translate.' It just means there’s no neat one-word match. Translators have plenty of creative tools to work around that!

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MSN's avatar

“C’est de la foutaisse totale”= un de très grande utilité

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Learn French with Timo's avatar

Foutaise ! C’est une bonne expression, je ne l’utilise pas assez.

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Cecile Afable's avatar

Flâner is one of my favourites too!

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Learn French with Timo's avatar

Très romantique !

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Maura Bayer's avatar

J‘en ai ras-le-bol.. is kinda like „I‘ve had it up to here (hand gesture) with …“

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Learn French with Timo's avatar

Exactly! We also say j'en ai marre when the feeling is not so strong

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Patricia Pineda's avatar

Très utile. Merci Timo!

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Learn French with Timo's avatar

Merci Patricia !

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