Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. For just our last 10 minutes today, let's have a little fun with words. This time, it's a call-in on English language words and phrases that don't exist in any other language that you may speak. Again, a call-in on English language words and phrases that don't exist in any other language that you may speak. Who's got an example? 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692. Why are we doing this? Because on this show, we've had the opportunity in the past to invite all of you to teach us words from your other culture of origin that might not exist in English.
We thought today just for the fun of it, we're going to flip that script and ask something that we haven't asked before. If you speak multiple languages, if English is your first or second or third or fourth language, what's one example of a word or a phrase you use in English that you don't have a translation for in your other tongue? 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692 call or text. This is a good one for texts because we don't have much time, and you can do this one short, but also call us, 212-433-9692. This phenomenon is sometimes referred to as a loan word, and if it's an English loan, a lot of them seem to be examples of the United States influence around the world.
The word okay is used in a lot of other places now where they don't speak English. Stop signs are called stop signs, I read this morning, in parts of the world that are not English speaking and of course advancements in the US have changed lexicons all over the world. Telephone that is advancements in technology. Telephone, email, podcast seem to be examples of this, you name it. What about concepts, and what do you think an English loan word might convey about the culture that you come from that doesn't have that word? 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692.
A call is now often used to refer to a business call, but a call to your mom or your best friend is still a chiamata in Italian. Are there certain work-related or business-related words in your native language that are very obviously of American origin? 212-433-9692. In Japan, another example you might say salaryman to talk about a white collar worker or even put a Japanese ending on an English word. We've seen examples of this like endingu to mean ending.
How many of you out there say the word parking in your native language to refer to a parking lot? Seems to have spread from English. There are some examples, you give us yours. 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692 call or text. We'll take them after this.
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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. Now to your calls on English language words and phrases that don't exist in any other language that you may speak. We'll start with a text. Listener writes, "Arm and hand are the same word in Tamil. I'm a heritage Tamil speaker and it would drive me nuts that there's no distinction between arm and hand." Vivian in Harlem, you're on WNYC. Hi, Vivian?
Vivian: Hi, Brian. I just have the word loitering, which doesn't exist in Spanish at all. You would have to write two sentences in order to explain what loitering means in English.
Brian Lehrer: Is there a cultural underlay of that? Like people don't perceive it as a problem if people are hanging around on the corner as much as in this country or something?
Vivian: Well, yes, it's also cultural that it's very hard to explain [chuckles] what that word means in English, because in English is very efficient. In Spanish, we tend to explain and write more words in order to say one thing.
Brian Lehrer: Thank you, Vivian. Thank you, call us again. Julie in Brooklyn, you're on WNYC. Hi, Julie?
Julie: Hi. I am native English speaker. I lived in Italy and worked there, and they don't have looking forward to seeing you. They say they're little, the translation is can't wait to see you. With work emails or in a situation that's less than, "I can't wait to see you," there's like nothing you can say, like looking forward to seeing you or looking forward to going. It's interesting, I've asked everyone and they don't, so I just use English if I need to.
Brian Lehrer: Thank you very much. Here's another one that's going to relate to Italian. Lynn in Whitestone, you're on WNYC. Hi, Lynn?
Lynn: Hi. Okay, so I am not a heritage speaker of Italian, but I studied Italian and I lived in Italy in the 1980s. Italian is a completely phonetic language. In other words, if you say a word, you automatically know how to spell it so they don't have a word for spell. Instead of asking how do you spell that, you have to say, "How is that written? How do you write that?" Hello?
Brian Lehrer: No word for spell per se. Lynn, I got you. Thank you very much. Let's see. Text message says, "Spoiler alert has no translation in French that I know of." Another one pertaining to French, listener writes, "In French here in Canada, we often use English words for the French words because the French words take too much time or too much space." Also on French, one of our producers fed us this one, "In French, you would say le weekend when talking about what you're going to do over the weekend, and during the weekend you might dress a bit more casually in le jeans even though denim as a fabric is a French invention." That's interesting. Jesse in Manhattan, you're on WNYC. Hi, Jesse?
Jesse: Hi. Chinese has no word for salad because in the Chinese, there's no history of eating salads.
Brian Lehrer: There you go. No word for salad in Chinese, and here's another Chinese speaker, Andy in Middletown, New Jersey. You're on WNYC. Hi, Andy.
Andy: Hi. Can you hear me?
Brian Lehrer: Yes.
Andy: I taught English in Taiwan for several years, and there are lots of words in English that don't exist in Chinese that gave my students a lot of trouble. There are no articles, words like the and a. It was very difficult for students to master how those are used because they just don't exist in Chinese. There are far fewer prepositions. The word for he and she are the same word as they're pronounced in Chinese. They're both tā. That would really cause people a lot of trouble. They would say she when they meant he. They would say he when they meant she.
Brian Lehrer: That would probably start a very interesting conversation with Judith Butler from our last segment. That's all the time we have. Thanks for those smattering of English language words that don't exist in other languages that you may speak. Brian Lehrer on WNYC. Stay tuned for All Of It.
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