Art by Divya Tak.
This episode was produced by Grace East.
Have you ever seen something so cute that you just wanted to squeeze it? Have you ever felt sleepy after a big meal? Or enjoyed bouncing on a puffy cushion? There are words for all of these, just not in English. In this game show episode, 20K producer and resident linguist Grace East cooks up an “untranslatable” words quiz for Dallas and fellow producer Andrew Anderson. How many words can you guess?
MUSIC FEATURED IN THIS EPISODE
Original music by Wesley Slover.
Thought You Knew Me by Guy Trevino and Friends
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View Transcript ▶︎
You’re listening to Twenty Thousand Hertz.
[music in]
Announcer: Hello, and welcome to the Untranslatable Word Challenge, where players compete to guess the meaning of foreign words that have no direct translation in English.
Today’s game will be hosted by Twenty Thousand Hertz producer and linguistic litterateur Grace East.
[sfx: applause]
Now let’s meet our players.
Contestant number one is a renaissance man from across the pond. It’s Twenty Thousand Hertz Producer Andrew Anderson.
[sfx: applause]
Contestant number two is the creator and host of Twenty Thousand Hertz. You know him, you love him, that’s right folks, put your hands together for Dallas Taylor.
[sfx: applause]
Alright Grace, take it away.
[sfx: applause]
[music out]
Grace: So my name is Grace East. I'm a producer here at Twenty Thousand Hertz, and my background is in linguistics and anthropology. And so, I cooked up a fun little idea. Where I would create an untranslatable words quiz and then pit Dallas and Andrew against each other to see who could identify the most untranslatable words in the following list.
Dallas: Untranslatable words, what does that mean exactly?
Grace: Good question. So, this was sort of an internet phenomenon, you know, maybe 10 years ago or so, and it still, still hangs around. But basically, there are so many universal human feelings that we wish we had words to capture, and maybe our language doesn't, but it's pretty common to find that word in another language.
Grace: So a few words like this that we do use in English would be “aficionado” which is from Spanish, “deja vu” which is from French, and “zeitgeist” which is from German.
Grace: So here's how this is gonna go down. I will read the mystery word and the language that it belongs to, and then you two will guess the definition based on three choices. We've got a total of 6 words for a possible 30. Does that sound okay?
Andrew: I like that there's a big number of points for each one, ‘cuz that makes it feel particularly valuable.
Grace: Exactly. You can't just do one.
Dallas: There's a lot of points at stake here.
Grace: So, are we ready for word one?
Dallas: Yeah, let's do this.
Andrew: I'm ready.
Grace: Alright.
[sfx: vibraphone introduction]
Grace: Word one is “gigil.” It's from Tagalog, which is a language of the Philippines. Does “gigil” mean A, “that sleepy feeling you get after a big meal,” B, “the overwhelming feeling that comes over you when you see something unbearably cute that you just wanna squeeze or pinch it,” or C, “feeling utterly comfy, cozy, or contented?”
Andrew: I'm gonna go B.
Dallas: Hmm.
Grace: Okay, Andrew's going B, “the overwhelming feeling to squeeze or pinch something cute.”
Dallas: You know, A was so convincing to me the first time I heard it. It's either you're really good at throwing me off the scent, uh, and it's wrong. But I'm gonna go with A.
Grace: Okay, “gigil” actually means B, “the overwhelming feeling that comes over you when you see something unbearably cute and wanna squeeze or pinch it.” So Andrew, you are on the board with five.
Andrew: I can really imagine like just getting hold of a cat or of my baby daughter and being like, “Gigil! Gigil!” It's that kind of… That's purely how I picked it.
Andrew: Oh, can I guess that the third one was also hygge, the Danish word for comfort?
Dallas: Did you cheat?
Grace: Yes, so I love this.
Grace: I promise Andrew was not briefed.
Dallas: Okay.
Grace: Um, but yes that is the word “hyggelig,” which, um, is feeling utterly comfy. And then A the, the feeling sleepy after a big meal is, comes from the Italian word “abbiocco.”
Dallas: Abbiocco.
Grace: Yeah,
Dallas: I mean that, yeah, that sounds about right after… after all the pasta and wine.
Grace: Exactly.
Grace: Are we ready for word two?
Andrew: Yes.
Dallas: Very much so. This is fun.
Grace: Yay, I'm so glad. My life goal is to just slowly encourage people to love language. Word two is “tartle.” “Tartle” comes from Scottish. Does “tartle” mean A, “the moment where you hesitate when introducing someone because you've just forgotten their name,”
Dallas: Oh, no.
Grace: B, “to make something worse when trying to improve it,” or C, “anything and everything you can put on a slice of bread?”
Andrew: C.
Grace: Okay, Andrews voting C, “anything and everything you can put on a slice of bread.”
Dallas: “Tartle.” I'm just trying to think of that with a very Scottish accent. Um, I want it to be “hesitate when you don't know someone's name,” because we don't have a good word for that, and I do it all the time.
Grace: So, Dallas is gonna take away five points for this one.
Andrew: Bravo.
Dallas: Am I?
Grace: It is A, “the moment where you hesitate when introducing someone because you've just forgotten their name.”
Dallas: And I just wanted it to be that. So yay.
Grace: Yeah. You just had a feeling.
Andrew: I just thought Scottish people like toast.
Grace: Also possibly true. And a little fun addition, when I was, uh, doing some research for the episode is, um, in context, apparently, if you've just done this, you say, “Pardon my Tartle,” which I think is just perfect.
Andrew: What were the definitions for the other two?
Grace: So, B, “to make something worse when trying to improve it” comes from the German word “verschlimmbessern,” and “anything and everything you can put on bread is the Norwegian word “pålegg.”
Andrew: Pålegg. I’ll remember all of these for the next 24 hours, and then I'll never, ever remember them again.
Grace: They're just, especially when you have the experience, you know, days later you can think, "Oh, I, I know that there's a word for that now."
Grace: Are we ready for word three?
Andrew: We are.
Dallas: I’m ready.
Grace: Word three is “nunchi.” This comes from Korean. Is it A, “the sunlight that filters through the leaves of the trees,”
Dallas: Hmm.
Grace: B, “lingering at a table after a meal to hang out and chat,” or C, “the subtle yet unnoticed art of listening and gauging another's mood?”
Dallas: I, I know I've gone A every time so far. But I'm gonna go with A again, I just think nunchi sounds like, you know, that beautiful, you know light coming through the… the trees.
Grace: Sure.
Andrew: I really wanted it to be that as well, so I hope it is, but I'm gonna go B.
Grace: Okay, so Dallas, we have you with A, Andrew with B. The correct answer was C, “the subtle yet often unnoticed art of listening and gauging another’s mood.”
Andrew: Five points to the quiz master.
Grace: Five points to me. That's right.
Dallas: That is great word.
Grace: Isn't that fantastic? I know. It's such an intangible feeling and I love that, Korean speakers have been able to really identify it in one word.
Grace: the other two, which I just love as well, um, “the sunlight that filters through the leaves of trees” comes from the Japanese word, “komorebi,” and “lingering at the table after a meal to hang out and chat” comes from Spanish, and that's “sobremesa.”
Andrew: That would make sense, that being a Spanish word or really anywhere in Southern Europe is a… a time for unbelievably long meals, which is a skill I had to learn once I moved to Southern Europe. The English way is just to destroy all of the alcohol and food within 30 minutes so that you can go and watch more soccer.
Grace: Alright. Are we ready for word four?
Dallas: Yeah.
Andrew: Let's do it.
Grace: Okay. Word four is “Murr-ma.” “Murr-ma” comes from an Aboriginal language of Northern Australia. Does “murr-ma” mean A “the road-like reflection of the moon on water,” B, “the act of searching for something in the water with only your feet,” or C, “the mark left on skin by wearing something tight.”
Andrew: Dallas, I bet you want to go A again, don't you?
Dallas: Oh, I mean, I want it to be A. You know, I, I can do what I want. I'm gonna go with A again, because that's a great word. Murr-ma. It's kinda moon-like.
Andrew: Just in, in the hope of overtaking Dallas. I'm gonna go B, but I also would love it if it was A, ‘cuz that's such a nice word.
Grace: Okay, well, Andrew, your strategic move paid off, because murr-ma is B, “the act of searching for something in the water with only your feet.”
Andrew: Hmm, a soulless victory for me then. Or literally with soles, actually.
Grace: Sole! I was just, I was just about to say with soles, in fact, of your feet.
Dallas: How about this? When was the last time you all murr-ma’ed? Very pleasant experience. I was in Forte dei Marmi, Italy, and I was scootching along the bottom of the sand with my feet trying to pick up sand dollars with my toes, and I was quite successful.
Grace: Oh, I love it.
Dallas: Yeah.
Grace: That's lovely. I know that one of my favorite memories of this particular experience was when I was in Connecticut, with my brother and we always do a little family trip there every summer, and I had asked him to hold my glasses while I, uh, dove in. And minutes later I came back and asked for my glasses and he said, “Oh, you gave me your glasses?” Had dropped them in the ocean.
Dallas: Oh no.
Grace: But very luckily, he felt around with his feet and miraculously he murr-ma’ed and, uh, pulled them out.
Dallas: Wow.
Grace: Yeah. It's again, one of those awesome things where it's like something many humans do, and I love that this language captured it in a word.
Andrew: Perfect.
Dallas: Nice. What were those other ones?
Grace: So A, the road-like reflection of the moon on water comes from the Swedish word, “mångata.” In English, we might say something like a “moon beam.”
Grace: And then, “the mark left on skin by wearing something tight,” is “karelu,” which comes to us from Tulu, a language spoken in southwest India. So there you have it.
[music in]
[sfx: applause]
Announcer: And with that, Andrew takes the lead with ten points to Dallas’ five. Will Dallas be able to close the gap? Or will he pull a verschlimmbessern?
[sfx: laughter]
We’ll find out, after a quick word from our sponsors.
[music out]
MIDROLL
[music in]
[sfx: applause]
Announcer: We now return to the Untranslatable Word Challenge.
[music out]
Grace: We're onto word five. Word five is “hanyauku.” It comes from a language called Kwangali, which is spoken in Namibia and Angola in southern Africa. Does “hanyauku” mean A, “the buildup of anticipation, joy or pleasure you feel ahead of an actual event.” It literally translates to “pre-fun.”
Grace: Is it B, “the act of tip toeing across warm or hot sand,” or C, “It describes the pleasure and satisfaction derived from sitting or bouncing on a bouncy cushion.”
Dallas: I oh… You know, I know these are all real words, but yet again, A is what I want it to be. I want it to be the buildup of—I'm just going with what I need most in life words.
Grace: In your life.
Dallas: And I definitely need a word for the “pre-fun.” I have like a whole theory behind this thing, but I, I want it to be that.
Andrew: I've gotta go with B again, because I make that noise. This is probably why you put it as B, to throw me. But, uh, when I put my hands in hot water, I'm like, “ha ha ha.” Which is like the first half of the word, so…
Dallas: I thought B might be it too, because “hanyauku.” I thought, “Okay, tiptoeing in hot sand.” So I go like, Okay, maybe “han” is hot and “yauku” is sand, hot sand. I don't know.
Grace: Very, very solid theories. I love being present for the problem solving aspect of this. So once again, Andrew, correct with B. “The act of tiptoeing across warm or hot sand.”
Grace: And believe it or not, C is a real compound word from Finnish. “It describes the pleasure and satisfaction derived from sitting on something bouncy,” which I just love that that's captured in a word. It literally means “bouncy cushion satisfaction,” and—
Andrew: Which word was that, sorry?
Grace: This was “hyppytyynytyydytys.” I had to really, I had to really practice that one.
Dallas: That sounds exactly like what—
Andrew: Yeah, it's very onomatopoeic, isn't it? Like that…
Grace: Exactly, exactly. That's what I think is fun about a lot of these is it's very onomatopoetic that you kind of can get a sense for what it might mean just by how it sounds. We can talk a little bit about A because Dallas, I wanna hear your theory on “pre-fun.” This is Dutch, spoken in the Netherlands and the word is “voorpret.”
Dallas: “Voorpret,” okay.
Grace: It means “enjoying the anticipation before something happens.”
Dallas: Right, yeah that's the… I discovered that back when I finally had a delayed honeymoon after 10 years. I was like, “I really wanna go to Hawaii. I hear it's amazing.” And my plan was to tell my wife the day of.
Dallas: But I thought through that so… Like I really thought through that whole aspect, and thought, I just think you're taking away something not knowing. Like the anticipation, the buildup and pre-fun always going to look towards something.
Grace: I love that.
Dallas: And I like that too. Like, I, like—I just need to put something down the calendar that we're gonna do, uh, just for the enjoyment of seeing it there.
Grace: Absolutely. Yeah, it's always good to have something to look forward to.
Andrew: It's always good to have some voorpret in your life.
Grace: Yeah, exactly. We all need a little voorpret in our life. Exactly.
Grace: Alright. So we are at our final word, folks.
Dallas: Oh, what's the score here? I think Andrew's eclipsed me by now.
Grace: Andrew’s is cleaning up. So let me just do a quick calculation.
Andrew: What's the untranslatable word for “unassailable lead?”
Grace: So, Andrew has 15 and Dallas has 5.
Andrew: There's still honor to play for though, Dallas.
Grace: There's still exactly, there's still honor and respect to play for.
Dallas: Maybe we can guess the real words too, and like that will count as extra. There's no way I would get that though.
Grace: Yeah I’m open to that. Maybe what we do is, I read three words, and then you match each word.
Dallas: Oh, that's a great idea.
Andrew: Yeah, great idea.
Dallas: And five points each on all of ‘em. How bout that?
Grace: Okay. Okay. Sounds great.
Andrew: I like it.
Grace: I'll read all three words first and then I'll read all three definitions.
Dallas: Okay.
Grace: Our words are “trepverter.” This comes from Yiddish. Our next word is “akihi.” This comes from Hawaiian. And our last word is “iktsuarpok”, which comes from Inuktitut, an indigenous language spoken in Canada.
Dallas: Okay.
Grace: So those are our three words, and now I'll read you our three definitions. So our first definition is, “listening to directions and then walking off and promptly forgetting them.” Our next definition, “a witty comeback you think of only when it's too late to use. Literally “staircase words.’” And the final definition is, “the act of repeatedly going outside to keep checking if someone, anyone is coming.”
Andrew: Can I go “trepverter,” I'm gonna go with that being the directions. “Akihi” uh, the Hawaiian one as being the checking outside.
Grace: Okay.
Andrew: And um… And then the other one is the other one.
Grace: So so let me see. So it would be the Inuktitut word is our final one, and you would be matching that with, “a witty comeback.”
Andrew: That's right. Yeah.
Dallas: Alright. I think I'm ready, too. Uh, the Yiddish word, “trepverter.” Yeah. I'm gonna go with “listening and forgetting.” And then “akihi,” Hawaii, I'm gonna do the “too late for a comeback.” And then “iktsuarpok” I'm gonna go with “the act of going outside to check to see if someone's coming up.”
Grace: So, the only one that was correctly guessed was Dallas with “iktsuarpok,” meaning “the act of repeatedly going outside to keep checking if someone, anyone is coming.”
Andrew: Bravo.
Dallas: Do you wanna hear my theory on that? Cuz Andrew I think went with Hawaii and it makes sense ‘cuz it's Hawaii, it's beautiful, you're gonna go out a bunch. But it's not gonna be even a problem to go outside. Like there'd be no reason to even make it an issue because it's so gorgeous and perfect all the time. So why would you even have a word? It would just be like, “Oh yeah, go do this very human, wonderful thing by just walking out and breathing.” Canada though, like cold. And I think, “Okay, someone who's maybe a little, you know, obsessive about that, they're like, ‘What are you doing? It's freezing outside. Don't keep doing that.’”
Grace: So there we have it. So I think Andrew's still in the lead.
Dallas: So close.
Grace: But Dallas, you made an honorable comeback.
Andrew: I think for… I'm willing to award Dallas bonus five points for his better theories.
Dallas: Four points. Four points.
Andrew: Okay.
Dallas: To where you still win fair and square, but four points, and then it seems as if it was just such a tight race here.
Grace: Exactly.
Andrew: Plus I seem generous as well, which is always good.
Dallas: Exactly.
Andrew: Before you go, Grace. What's your favorite untranslatable word?
Grace: Ooh, that's a good question. So, I have to say in my, you know, researching for this particular episode, I had discovered “gigil,” which was our first one from Tagalog. I had never heard this before, but I feel gigil probably 75% of my life. And so it was so nice to hear that feeling sometimes violence toward cute things because you can't hold it in is perfectly normal.
Dallas: Wow.
Grace: So uh, yes. Again, it's one of my favorite things about these words is just them capturing that feeling that you can't quite pinpoint in your own language. So I love now having a word for it.
Andrew: That’s wonderful, yeah.
Dallas: Love it.
[music in]
[sfx: applause]
Announcer: And that concludes the Untranslatable Word Challenge. We hope we’ve left you feeling Hyggelig. Take care now.
Twenty Thousand Hertz is produced out of the sound design studios of Defacto Sound. For more, visit defacto sound dot com.
Grace: This episode was conceived and produced by Grace East.
Andrew: With help from Andrew Anderson.
Joel: It was edited and mixed by Joel Boyter.
Brandon: and Brandon Pratt.
Casey: With a game show announcer voice by Casey Emmerling.
I’m Dallas Taylor. Thanks for listening.
[music out]
