Untranslatability of words or phrases from one language to others is the result of lexicon gap or something known as lacuna. To simply put it in layman’s term, a lexicon gap is created when a one-to-one equivalent between the word in the source language and that in the target language is absent.
Lexicon gap calls for specific translation procedures. Adaptation is a method in which the translator replaces words that have specific cultural connotation related to the source language with similar words that have specific cultural connotation related to the target language.
The translator at time keeps the particular untranslatable word intact in the translated text in its original language. This method is known as borrowing. In some cases where there is a big untranslatable word, the translator breaks it down and goes for a literal translation of each part.
This is known as calque. When a word in the source language cannot be replaced by another word in the target language, the translator often paraphrases the word in the target language by using a phrase or a bunch of words.
The following infographics is about eleven such untranslatable words from around the world. These words do not have an exact equivalent word in meaning, in any other language.
