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dtgreene: わ (wa): Indicates the proceeding word is the subject of the sentence
Can you give some context to this? は is the subject marker in Japanese (weeelll, it's not really the subject but let's not go there), and it applies to the PREceeding word.
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Asbeau: 'kitsch'
Kitsch is a loanword from Yiddish, doesn't count.
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dtgreene: わ (wa): Indicates the proceeding word is the subject of the sentence
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popperik: Can you give some context to this? は is the subject marker in Japanese (weeelll, it's not really the subject but let's not go there), and it applies to the PREceeding word.
I fixed that one letter mistake in my post.

In any case, Japanese grammar is different enough from English grammar that some of the words used all the time in Japanese do not have English counterparts.

It also works the other way: Japanese has no counterparts to the words "a", "an", and "the".

Speaking of which, in Spanish (and other Romance languages), we have words like:
el (the, masculine)
la (the, feminine)
los (the, masculine plural)
las (the, feminine plural)

all of which translate to "the", but are not interchangeable (just like "ser" and "estar" aren't).
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Maighstir: And Swedish: skadeglädje.

Schadenfreude, the Swedish "ombudsman" and "smörgåsbord" (and loads of others I can't remember at the moment) are used in English though (the latter as "smorgasbord"), so - like the already-mentioned "croissant" - they might be considered part of the language even if they're taken carbon-copied without even as much as a half-hearted try at making them their own.
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Gerin: It sounds funny when baseball is discussed in any non-English language. Nearly every baseball term is carbon copied from English.
In Swedish we - for some reason - only translate the "ball" part of the name of the sport, making it "baseboll". In the nordics we have our own variant though, brännboll.
Not in, but +1 for the great idea.

My favorite words in Esperanto:

krokodili (to crocodile). To speak your native tongue in a setting where not everyone will understand it (like when someone says/asks something here in Polish).

aligatori (to alligator). To speak someone else's native tongue, in a similar setting (like when I speak Spanish to a customer, in front of colleagues who can't).

kajmani (to cayman). To speak a language neither person is fluent in (which could be two anime fans trying to converse in broken Japanese).

At a gathering of Esperantists, either in-person or online, doing any of these without good reason is the height of rudeness, since the language itself is all about inclusion. A common catchphrase is, "Ne krokodilu!" which (no surprise) means, "Don't crocodile."
Attachments:
Not in, but I want to contribute some words:

Fremdschämen = feeling embarassement for someone else, who behaves embarassingly.

Torschlusspanik = the dread of missing out on something because the time in which it is achievable is running out (can happen, for example, to women in their late thirties who don't have kids yet and are now desperately trying to get pregnant because they know it's now or never. But there are lots of other situations in which this word applies)

Kummerspeck = overweight gained from eating too much because you are depressed.
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TwoHandedSword: Not in, but +1 for the great idea.

My favorite words in Esperanto:

krokodili (to crocodile). To speak your native tongue in a setting where not everyone will understand it (like when someone says/asks something here in Polish).

aligatori (to alligator). To speak someone else's native tongue, in a similar setting (like when I speak Spanish to a customer, in front of colleagues who can't).

kajmani (to cayman). To speak a language neither person is fluent in (which could be two anime fans trying to converse in broken Japanese).

At a gathering of Esperantists, either in-person or online, doing any of these without good reason is the height of rudeness, since the language itself is all about inclusion. A common catchphrase is, "Ne krokodilu!" which (no surprise) means, "Don't crocodile."
Actually, kajmani sounds like a good thing to do when both of you are learning a language in the first place. In fact, it's likely to happen all the time in foreign language classes.

Anyway, here is another interesting case:
Οὖτις (Outis) translates nicely into English as "nobody", and in particular its use as a name even translates into English. However, in some other languages, if talking about "nobody", you have to make the entire sentence negative. (In other words, "nobody is here" would be translated as something corresponding to "nobody is not here".) This becomes a problem if translating part of the Odyssey in which Odysseus assumes the name, and when the Cyclops said that "Nobody" was trying to kill him, nobody rescued him. The need to negate the sentence when talking about nobody spoils the wordplay used in this part of the Odyssey. (Anyone know how translators handled this?)
not in, but most languages have a plural form of "you". we do not. you is singular and plural.
I refuse to count "you all" or yinz/yunz
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Crewdroog: not in, but most languages have a plural form of "you". we do not. you is singular and plural.
I refuse to count "you all" or yinz/yunz
Thou monster! How dare thee forget the roots of thy language!
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Maighstir: From swedish: while we have the word "kusin(er)" for [first] cousin(s), we also have separate words for second/third/fourth cousin(s); "syssling(ar)", "brylling(ar)", and "pyssling(ar)". Words equivalent to nth cousin are used in some dialects ((första)kusin, andrakusin, tredjekusin, fjärdekusin, ...?) but I cannot remember ever hearing them.
On that note, English only contains the gender-neutral "cousin", the meaning of which cannot easily be expressed in Danish. Instead we have "fætter" (male cousin) and "kusine" (female cousin). In order to express that type of family relation in a gender neutral way in Danish, you'd have to say something like "the child of my parent's sibling", which would be extremely awkward, especially since the gender neutral words for parent and sibling are usually only ever used in plural. It's a choice of two evils though, because the other way of saying it would be "the child of the sister or brother of my mother or father", which is hardly better.
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dtgreene: It also works the other way: Japanese has no counterparts to the words "a", "an", and "the".

Speaking of which, in Spanish (and other Romance languages), we have words like:
el (the, masculine)
la (the, feminine)
los (the, masculine plural)
las (the, feminine plural)

all of which translate to "the", but are not interchangeable (just like "ser" and "estar" aren't).
In German you have:

der (masculine singular)
die (feminine singular)
das (singular neuter)

The plural for all three of them is "die" (the same as the feminine singular).

"Das" is a very special German monstrosity. It doesn't make any sense at all. While it's "der Mann" (the man) and "die Frau" (the woman), it's "das Mädchen" (the girl). A definitely feminine being gets the neuter article (because it's ending on -chen, but let's don't get into this).

And our articles are powerful enough to change the meaning of a word. Let's take "Junge". "Der Junge" means "the boy", but "das Junge" means "the pup". The plural of the boy would be "die Jungen" and the plural of the pup is "die Junge".
A word that I use a lot is såpass. I don't think there is an English equivalent for it. It is usually used as a response when someone tells you something that surprises you (see examples below), but sometimes the word is used too often and out of context. For example, I sometimes say it if a friend just told me something, and I wasn't completely paying attention. It is a word that is hated by many, but also used by many.

-"I played The Witcher 3 for 15 hours yesterday"
-"Såpass"

-"I just ran a marathon"
-"Såpass"


A couple of years ago they added a new word to the Norwegian dictionary, askefast (aske = ash, fast = stuck). The word describes situations like this: You are stuck in a city and can't take the plane home because of volcanic ash in the skies.The word was coined a few years ago when a volcano on Iceland erupted.

And of course there are some fun words that are almost completely exclusive to West-Norway, such as slaur. It basically means a useless, lazy, male person. I don't think there is a English equivalent for a person of that exact description :P Tyl is another typical West-Norwegian word, meaning a person doing a lot of mischief.

I'm in for Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena
Post edited December 01, 2015 by Random_Coffee
Brotzeit (Bread time) - A Bavarian word which means a meal between breakfast and lunch.

Zeitgeist (Time ghost/spirit) - A German word that describes how people behave and feel in a given time period. For example, the Zeitgeist of the seventies was different than the Zeitgeist in the thirties.

Wolpertinger - A famous and fabulous Bavarian animal that consists of parts of other animals.

Well, I guess I could bring up even more if I only would dig deep enough in my memory! :D
If I had to pick a game, well SystemShock would be interesting, I think. But I`m here mostly for the fun and the learning. :-)
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dtgreene: Actually, kajmani sounds like a good thing to do when both of you are learning a language in the first place. In fact, it's likely to happen all the time in foreign language classes.
Except that there's an implied intent to exclude others by doing so, which is what makes it so likely to be seen as rude. (Such as whenever Sheldon and his friends spoke Klingon on The Big Bang Theory.) By contrast, in a language class not everyone may be able to keep up with the conversation, but at least they're all trying.

The word also never applies to novice Esperantists (komencantoj) trying their best to communicate, no matter how garbled the end result.
Post edited December 01, 2015 by TwoHandedSword
Not in, I just wanted to post here. :)
Schnapsidee: An idea you come up with under the influence of alcohol.
Dont think this word exists outside of the german language.
Post edited December 01, 2015 by NuffCatnip