10 Untranslatable Swedish Words
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- čas přidán 8. 05. 2018
- In many languages there are certain words that simply cannot be translated into English. Here are 10 Swedish words that are untranslatable into the English language :D
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Man kan ju också vaska guld.
Ja, fast då säger man "gold panning".
Inte på svenska
Illuminati no shit ;)
Illuminati vaska (blanda) en kortlek
Aldrig hört i mitt liv.. Då har jag ändå levt i nästan 22 år! :o
So is vaska the equivalent of burning money then?
Well you are burning money but, it has to be the act of pouring something expensive down the drain
Yeah, same definition
Not really, that would be: Bränna pengar.
Vaska doesn't actually have to be a liquid though, you can do it to anything expensive in order to show that you have enough worth to litterally throw away the value.
It started as liquid down the drain, that's where the word originated, but it's not exclusively meant for liquids.
There is a whole movie on youtube about it, search for "POESI FÖR FISKAR - Vaskduellen".
Vaska is a word that has different meanings based on context.
Basically it is the act of seperating, like "vaska guld" where you seperate the gold from the sediment.
Or "vaska kort" where you instead mix a deck of cards together.
Swedish 'vaska' is the same word as English 'wash'. In Swedish the noun 'vask' means the same as the English noun 'sink' (wich goes back to the verb 'sink', a place to sink something into, let soak in). Take it from there and use your imagenation.
Good video! Most of these were new to me.
I guess like 99.9% of all Finnish words to me :D
These were actually well explained! I would like to see more of this, I feel like I learned something for once :D
Harkla=to ahem
Svenskan har rätt många intransitiva verb som inte finns i engelskan, t.ex. blunda, bottna, gapa och pysa. Hörde något som pyste för ett tag sen och insåg att det inte finns ett bra ord ("hiss" funkar i vissa situationer, men inte för alla ljud skulle jag säga).
Tack så mycket för videon. This is the first video from you I watched, I‘ll check the others. :) Greetings från Tyskland
Thanks for sharing. Good to know. I've been learning Swedish on my own for about 2 months now; it's tricky learning it by yourself especially the sentence structure, but besides that I really enjoy it. Anyway, thanks again. Have a great day.
Evniki Alezandria grammar is easy in sweden i been there for 1 year i know swedish now all off it i only think how to say is hard like sjukköterska how da fuq u say that
sjuttisju sjösjuka sjömän sköttes på skeppet Shanghai
Thiesen till shanghai
Thiesen fortfarande enkelt enda jag inte kan är utalla
clueless guy Verkligen? Ok. Kanske jag är fortfarande inte flytande. Förhoppningsvis snart. Tack.
hahah ! riktigt bra kanal mannen! fortsätt :D
Nice! I'd love another of these! :)
Hej! Soy una estudiante de España que está haciendo las prácticas de empresa en Suecia. Nunca he estudiado sueco, así que tus vídeos me están ayudando mucho a acostumbrarme al idioma. Tack så mycket!!
PS: ¡Tus vídeos son geniales! Me caes muy bien :) ¡¡Sigue así!!
I use "arsed" when speaking english similarly to "orka" in swedish
Haha that's brilliant!
it's close to same use! but at the same time feels wierd asking your friend if they can be arsed to play with you or how to put it... in those types of situations.
but you can deffinetly use it in some situations.
but Orka / Orkar / Ork can be used like I have no ork" so it's like I have no energy for anything.
or :
Orka be like him.
that could be translated into like, I can't see how someone can even stand beeing like that.
Big part of this comes from some words having more then 1 meaning at the same time, english has those words too that just can't be correctly translated into a swedish work except for in a specifik situation / phrase.
Ork, like I have ork would litterly be like "I have energy to do stuff" meanwhile ork does not mean just energy" but "energy to be able to do stuff"
because we have a direct translation of energy to = energi, and you can use that almost exactly the same way as english energy, but often not in situations where it's about beeing able to do something since it'll end up beeing a round about way to say it and orka is just quicker
Another close translation could be "bother" just like arsed, but it just doesn't fit the bill exactly either, but can work for some situations / phrases.
I would love to see a videos on the current pop culture in Sweden. Who are the popular artists, what are the mainstream memes/jokes, odd trends like the probiotic sandwiches (??).
You have awesome stuff and very nice editing, keep it up kotipoika.
Glad I found your channel. Love the Nordic countries. I'm from Scotland and our government is getting more and more involved with Nordic Council. I love this. Hopefully moreso in the future.
Det var jätteroligt, tack!
I am learning Swedish and your vids quite helpful! Thank you!
I usually translate "att snusa" with "to dip"
Yes, nice one! I believe though that "Dipping" refers to using dipping tobacco, which is the dry variant :)
När jag var i USA så sa jänkarna bara "use snus" eller "do snus". Camel och andra "tobaksmärken" har ju lanserat "snus" i USA nu. Rekommenderar ej. Tacka gud för att de sålde General på vissa ställen.
Pant is not a reward. Basically you pay a little extra for the plastic and only get it back if you go to specific recycling station that exists in most supermarkets
SNUSA
Again, this word has many meanings beside putting moist tobacco under your lip.
1) To use snus (To use moist tobacco, to use tobacco snuff)
2) To lightly snore. (Which is a reasonable origin of the word "snooze" which currently doesn't have one defined)
3) To sniff
It's perfectly translatable in all cases except the use of snus, as snus is not a word of English origin but it is a borrow word from Sweden. Therefore, if you were to explain the act of using snus in English, it would be "snoosing" as "snoose" is the alternative (Anglicized) form of "snus".
Thank You for this funny and informative Video 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
When I saw the title I knew you just had to include lagom. I haven't found a way to translate this into a single word for any language, and I've looked into many. Gotta love Swedish I guess ☺
Daniel Hughes i should say medium to it
Noot Pingu Sorry, but "medium" is not quite the same. "Lagom" means "just the right amount" or "an appropriate amount". Medium could be too little or too much. I haven't encountered any other language with a single word (rather than a sentence) that has the same meaning.
In Finnish we have word "sopiva" which means the same as "lagom"
Torilla tavataan Really? I get "lämplig" as a translation for that word which could be the same in some situations but it's not really the same word
I think many of these words can be translated in Finnish... 🤔for example panta is pantata
Interesting! :D
Yeah and orka is jaksaa
But we are so close of course we made up translations to swedish words 😂
Lööppi!
Hakuna Pantata
det är ord som är bra
Löpsedel in finnish = Lööpit :D
Hahaha, that's fantastic!
Wow, that's so interesting because in Polish we have a word "charczeć (ch is read as h)" which also means "to clear one's throat" :o harlka - (c)harczeć
Haha roligt att du förklarar för de som kommenterar på engelska så att de kan ta del av dessa ord!😄👍👍
LÖPSEDEL
No, it literally translates to "front page", nothing more, nothing less.
It's a conjunction of two words...
Löp - The running line (Att löpa - To run, Löpa linan ut - Let it run its course)
Sedel - Page (Sedel can also mean bill, as in dollar bill. Which is where the confusion comes from. But it could also mean the same as "the bill of rights", which swedes call "rättighetsförklaring")
So if you want to be literal about it, it would translate to "running page". It's the page at the front of the pack.
Hej...l really enjoy your videos. I can think of two words for "lagom". They are "balanced" and "appropriate." Conversely, ectreme "lagom" can be described as having a "Goldilocks Complex"... :)
Hi! The thing is that there is no universial translation for "lagom", you have to change the word depending on the usage of the word.
If you ask somebody who've ran a race how it was, they could answer "det var lagom" meaning "it was a balanced distance and not too tough".
But you can at the same time answer to the question "Is that enough?" that "det blir lagom" meaning "that is enough/ok".
There are many translations of lagom in English, but they can only be used in specific situations and not all :)
whenever i try to explain "lagom" i usually say its not too much, not too little, but not too perfect either.
I've seen more about your videos about Finland and I was wondering if you tried kaffeost yet
haha, out of all these, "orka" is the most annoying to not have a translation for!! When Im talking to my friends in english, I just say orka and then she knows what I mean. Usually "I don't orkar" (wich sounds pretty weird) and she gets it. I usually explain it that it's a mix between not wanting to do something and not having the energy/focus. Like you don't necessarily need to be tired, but its still too much of a effort to do it that you have no desire to do it = "don't orkar" or "orkar not". You can also use it in reverse saying "yes" to the question "do you orkar?" wich means that you do have the energy and the desire or can put the effort in to do something. Second is definetely "lagom". That is however an easier word to use when talking english, saying "it's lagom". I usually help to explain it with the word medium in addition to already said words and phrases.
Ingrid M arsed?
Pant is an added cost (1 or 2 SEK) to the recyclable bottle or can that you get back when you recycle. If you chose to throw your bottle in the waste bin you lose said money.
That was fun! I think most of the words you shared, in English, do require/use more than one word to say
”Pant” Basically means that someone keeps some of your money while you have something of theirs (historically popular when talking about land. Some still have letters left passed down from their ancestors confirming that they have given a piece of land for a certain amount of money that can be demanded). There is a English word, I’m sure, however I can’t be bothered to look it up. The reason the word is tied to recycling bottles is because, basically, the store keeps some of your money (usually 1 or 2 SEK) in exchange for you getting the bottle. When you return the bottle you get your leant money back. Just realised that you can do this in monopoly
Because you mentioned panta, I now have "Pantamera" by De Vet Du stuck in my head again for probably the next few hours! Do you know the song? I love it haha
It gets even wierder if you start to analyze the actual words that makes such a "frase" or combined word.
For example Löpsedel is two words, löpa (löpning) and sedel. The first ones primary meaning is running.
The second one means bill, as in paper money.
So, we use a word that means "running bill" to describe a frontpage of a paper.
But intrestingly enough, the same meaning is used when you run from your bill on a pizzeria.
Only now we say "springnota", again the first word means "to run" and the second one means bill, as in "give me the bill".
No wonder they say swedish is hard to learn.
Johan Öhgren, HAHA! I've never thougt of that! 🤣😂
But I've never taken a 'springnota' 😉
Thanks for pointing it out! 👍
Hahahaha klockrent! Hysteriskt roligt!
Originally "hawk" meant to clear one's throat. Nowadays it has drifted more to mean "gathering mucus for spitting" as in "hawk a loogie".
Vaska is similar to glib in English
Its a display of wealth glib tends to be a false display of wealth but anything to show off or even sarcastic in an arrogant way can be glib.
The "pant" you get back when you "panta" is added onto the price when you buy the drink or whatever, meaning you dont actually get a discount when you "panta" it, its more like if you dont then you have just bought a more expensive drink.
The trick is to pant someone else's bottles and cans. You'll be rich in fifty years or less!
Fika is easy to translate to Finnish: kahvitella means something like 'to have coffee around, talk and be together'. And for 'orka' there is also a Finnish counterpart: jaksaa. I wondered already in my childhood why it can't be translated to English. I also remembered that there is a good translation in German, too: schaffen.
Gotta love how I harklade as soon as I saw "harkla" on the screen
Just a little hint, if anybody asks you out for a fika, it doesn't have to mean that they're asking you out
Fika is most definitely translatable.
Fika is the act of having a coffee. And that coffee is of course enjoyed with cookies and pastry.
It only translates into coffee, and the additional content is IMPLIED with having coffee.
The act of fika is however not usual so the act of having fika can't be translated into a single word. Unless you imply that having coffee also includes cookies and pastry.
the correct translation for the word Vaska i to clean something. like clothes, deishes or other dirty things need cleaning,
The original meaning of the word snus is to take a nap.
Tackar!
P.S. can the blåsväder be translated like shitstorm maybe?
Yes that is possibly a translation. I hadn't really thought about it. Prehaps that 'shitstorm' implies that hell has broke lose, while 'blåsväder' is more like that things are unsteady at the moment?
Good video!
What about saft??
Julia Kahrs
Sap
Mats Nordin Sap isn't the correct translation, because it's tree Sap, and trees don't have trä saft. So. The English vocabulary doesn't really own an equivalent to Saft.
watched a girl on youtube who didn't know what "saft" is, she drank it as it was and thought it was way to sweet and thick XD
Mmm saft så gott
VASKA
Sad to see you only refer to ONE of the meanings of that word. Which wouldn't be a word but a slang.
It has several meanings:
1) Att vaska kläder, tvätta. (To wash clothes, doing the laundry)
2) Vaska för guld, separera guld från sand/grus/lera. (To wash for gold/panning for gold, separate sand/gravel/mud from flakes/nuggets of gold.)
3) Vaska fram något, luska ut, hitta något värdefullt. (Snoop for information, figure out, find something of value) - Similar to #2 but more general than just gold.
The meaning you applied to it is slang. But it's very much translatable as many words all depending on context as can be seen above.
Vaska is actuarly a word for "tvätta" or "skölja" or "rengöra" roughly translated to cleaning or wash something.
Löpsedel is literally Headlines. So there is a specific translation.
Could it also be translated as "frontpage?"
If anyone is from Northern Ireland okra is basically like a phrase “couldn’t be boughed”
Thank you my friend!
We have some words with exactly same meaning in Finnish:
lagom = kohtalainen
löpsedel = lööppi
snusa = nuuskata (snus = nuuska)
orka = jaksaa, viitsiä
Eikös lagom ole enemmänkin "sopiva"
Sopivakin joo
Fika is basicaly a piknick but on a table home or o at a cafè (and u eat more like cofffie and cake or bun , sry for my english) :)
Jobbigt is also difficult to translate since in english theres different words for different situations while in swedish it would always be "jobbigt". Japanese though have a similar word that is used the same way as jobbigt which is mendokusai. Not being able to say jobbigt when speaking English is... jobbigt.
Gör en video med konstiga svenska uttryck, typ ”han är helt ute och cyklar” = ”he’s out riding a bike” 😂
"To have a cup of coffee" is the English version of fika. Not that special actually. People of other nations also socialize whilst drinking hot beverages and maybe a cookie or pie or... a vacuum cleaner... And there is also a british term for "lagom". Happy medium. Love that you mentioned "orka". I've been thinking about that alot :D
"I Blåsväder" generally has the same meaning as "In Hot water".
matteste shit storm
I see a bass in the background. NICE
The first one would be in English ‘maternity/paternity leave’ ☺️
5:39 "Vafaan sitter du och säger!?" hahaha xD
Var det svårt att lära sig när man ska säga en/ett?
Spectacles = glasses
Spektakel (In Swedish) = someone who makes something dumb or stupid and makes a scene out of it?
Back than in CASTLEVANIA when facing Dracula, he throws a glass of blood wine and then the glass torn apart, while sitting. He does that in front of Belmont. Is that an act of VASKA?
I think he throws it out of anger
rather than expressing how rich he is
That 'fika' might cause some confusion here in Italy.
One's gotta love Sweden and its language! hahaha loved it!
Kommer du från Nacka?
"Att Orka" is kinda the same word we have here in danish, it's just "at orke" (:
lol am I the only one who's danish? 😂😂😂
Cornelia Tulstrup i’m danish too 😂😂
Bear with me on this one: My favourite Maori word is kanokanoā which essentially means to miss someone. Perfectly used in the sentence: kanokanoā tou kiriata. Now, My Maori is truly terrible but I think that means "I miss your videos!"
Tack bror
Panta also means to pawn. Pantlånare=pawn shop.
To HARKLA! :-) (veri najs)
O M G, here I go again. Linguisticly the Swedish word 'vaska' is the same word as English 'wash'. Swedish 'vask', a place to wash into, is 'sink' in English. A place to sink something into (and let soak, also related) and wash it.
So the way you use the word 'vaska' is slang, but make sense. Metaphorically speaking.
I think the closest English term to Fika is "Meet and Greet" 😀
Lite roligt med Svenska CZcams kanaler/ videor
I also like 'oväder', which I thought was unique to Swedish but actually there's an older English word 'unweather', which also means 'bad weather, storm'!
#the_more_you_know
Seppo Ilmarinen, interesting! Could also be interesting to know wich word was first, so to speak. I'd put my vote on that the vikings brought it to England, but that's a guess. But if so, 😉I can imagen it was lost in use because it's always "nice weather today, isn't it?" 😉😉😉😁😁
(To all British people out there, the latter was meant as a joke, bad maybe, but... anyway.. 😉)
I love winter and at the moment it's 20 freaken degrees here in Norfolk and the next person who tells me "what a glorious day it is" I will throw into the fens to be eaten by mosquitos haha
But you're right, it would be interesting to know which way the linguistic loan went, although the case with a lot of words about weather in Germanic languages seems to be that they already exist in Proto-Germanic, i.e. before the earliest forms of the Germanic languages we know today separated roughly into the Scandinavian, Continental and Insular Germanic languages (Swedish belonging to the Scandinavian, and English to the Insular group).
So what we might be looking at is parallel evolution of the languages.
But this is all speculation because, search as I might, I can't find a freaking Swedish etymological dictionary to save my life lol
The etymology of unweather in English seems to be "From Middle English unweder, from Old English unweder (“bad weather; storm”), from Proto-Germanic *unwedrą," but did Swedish follow a similar strand of word development from the same Proto-Germanic word or was the word a loan from English? Who knows? ha
(Sorry for the ridiculously long reply :D )
Seppo Ilmarinen, Haha, I hate winter! Snow looks fantastic at pictures, though😉.
You are probably right about a parallel development. Really interesting!
I don't mind long replies, as long as they are worth reading, and your is. Thanks 👍😀😀
Så sant
Hahaa! Seriöst varje gång nån säger fika som är från ett annat land tänker jag på låten ”Swedish fika”
1:04 If the stereotypes Swedes have are anything to go by, does that make "vaska" Norwegian simulator 2018?
(Please don't @ me; I'm taking the piss)
Övermorgon = the day after tomorrow, overmorrow.
"Orka" is the most annoying word not to exist in the english langauge. I use that word all the time when speaking swedish, so when im talking english i get stuck when i want to use that word but don't know what to say.
So many of these words have been transalted to Finnish such as "lööppi" and "pantti".
Løpeseddel is a flyer.. in Norway anyway
I want to have a fika with coffee and a cinnamon bun.
Vaska is when you look for gold in a river.
Orkaaaa (:
As a Swede I didn't know it was used in those ways he described. I guess I'm getting old lol
J-Ryder Hahah jag är svensk oxå (x Jag själv säger orka ganska mkt när jag nt.. orkar göra ngt (:
Doesn't lagom mean moderate is english??
Ordet "löpsedel" blir faktiskt "bulletin" vilket iofs blir "anslag"
Vaska does not mean that - it pertains to gold - as "vaska efter guld"
Det ända ordet i denna lista som inte jag visste om var ''vaska''.
You shouldve talked about saft. There is no real explanation on it. Since its not juice. Or a soda, you can say its basically like koolaid, but it's really not. So saft is also a things that's, not really in the English vocabulary.
its cute that u said 'cinema bun'
Amina K, CINNAMON. = kanel
Uttalas mer som "sinnämn" /"sinnämän".
alltså, jag vet vad cinnamon är och hur det uttalas. Men det lät fortfarande som en bio-bulle och det roade mig (Y)
Amina K 😅👍
bio-bulle, måste nog prova det
Försök att översätta (snöppeljöns)
In Portuguese the words ''fika'' would sound like ''stay!!!''
It dident need to be extensive and when u vaskar u washes
"Snusa" is called "Chew"or "Dip" in American English.
we have a lot of the words in Denmark
Yes please more useful words
Did you really forget about blunda???
Är glad att jag är svensk, för vi har de här orden😊😂