You know, some words are just nicer than the equivalents in other languages, and just are some missing.
My desired "transfers" would be:
From English to German: "Sorry". The German word "Entschuldigung" or "Entschuldigen Sie bitte" is just too long. "Sorry" is short and clear, way better. (Also French "pardon" works)
From ...any language to French: A better word for "now". "Maintenant" is just too long, take it from English or German ("jetzt") or Dutch ("nu").
From German to English: "Jein". This is a combo out of the German words for "Yes" and "No" ("Ja" and "Nein"). With this word you assert with confidence that something is complicated. While in English you could say "kind of" or "sort of", both also express that you're somewhat not sure about the whole situation. With "Jein" you are sure that something is complicated and two sides could apply.
Are there any words you'd need in another language
?
I like the word "Jein" very much and use it quite a lot with people who understand it.
During my work I was often together with people speaking English, Dutch and German, the German colleagues from the bordering NRW could often understand Dutch quite well, though we mostly did speak in English but showered with German words (or German technical terms). Jein among them.
One of the things I learned in Selling trainings was to distinguish between "Maloma" and "Takete" words.
"Ja" somewhat, but especially "Nein" are "Takete" words. Sharp consonants, the first one most important.
Just exaggerate a bit speaking out Takete and Maloma and look in a mirror. No wonder a baby likes Maloma soothing, comforting words, whereby the word mama is clearly more Maloma than papa.
If you need a price increase from a customer, you should not use the Takete word "in
crease", but the Maloma version "adapt" the price.
And "Jein" (that yes&no word) is a Maloma word, softening that you cannot give the (desired?) "yes". The J in Ja (yes) also more explosive than the J in Jein. Besides Jein also enabling to put more variations of intonation while speaking it.
In that vein: instead of saying yes to a question to do something I like "mach mal" (sure.. do it) making the Ja (yes) much more Maloma with the two words starting with the Maloma m.
OK is also a Takete word. When you say "Okido" the k of ok is already softened. But okido not always appropiate because it assumes a more closer relation.
I was in order to evade the word "ok" really fond of the Polish "dobra" (meaning ok and good) and the Turkish "taman" also nice. Bot much more Maloma.
But yeah, there are a lot of words missing in some languages where you then have to fall back on descrtiptions.
Putting aside the new technical words like PC or smartphone etc, also putting aside lingual purism like using "wentelwiek" in Flemish instead of the Dutch "helicopter" which is too French for true Flemish. and "chopper" imo the best word
.... Really interesting from the societal-cultural perspective WHY some languages miss those words, or why a seemingly "the same word" has another meaning or a clearly other flavour.
No word for Hofnungstraeger in English (or Dutch) and El Savador (Latin) or Verlosser (Dutch) go too far.
The good leader gives Verlass (reliable-responsible), is a Hofnungstraeger (there is a better future) and is Gerecht (is just) How does that translate in English ?
And how do you translate "de Rechtstaat, Rechtsstaatlichkeit" in English ? With "Rule of Law" ? It means so much more than just rule of law. And trying to explain with that laws were in the HRE (incl North Italy) the most cohesive factor and followed by Kant a typical central continental European product (not french or Spanish or English with their more centralistic and monarchy topdown history) (not the UK offsprings as well ofc).
Many traditional leftish and christian political ideologies of the end 19th and 20th century are much more based on the absolute centralistic history of England, France, Spain than the relative freeroom in a Rechtsstaat law framework.
With technical words I love new words from other languages wherever they are at least one word or shorter words.
The habit to use abbreviations as words (a US invention ?), like PC, NASA, etc one of the better inventions in language
