Indice
If you are studying Italian, then there are some words you absolutely must know, because these are Italian words that are untranslatable into other languages. These are terms that have no exact counterpart in another language and need a “turn of phrase,” that is, a whole sentence or explanation, to be translated. They are also usually words that are very connected to Italian culture, and reflect the way Italians think and act.
Italian is an ancient and vocabulary-rich language. There are several words to express the same concept, which makes it interesting in the eyes of foreigners studying it but at the same time also more complex to learn.
The richness of vocabulary has the consequence, among others, that Italians tend to compose long sentences and lack synthesis skills. One only has to look at the difference between signs in Italian and English to notice the difference. The indication no smoking in English could be transformed in Italian into, “We inform the kind clientele that smoking is not allowed inside the building.”
Boh is a word-or rather an interjection-that you have probably heard hundreds of times, but without associating any meaning with it. Italians use it a lot and it means “I don't know.”
Examples:
The word mica has no meaning when considered in isolation, but functions as a reinforcer of negation along with “not.”
For example:
Non ho mica tutto il tempo del mondo, sbrigati! (I don't have all day, hurry up!)
Maybe it is one of those wildcard words that has more than one meaning. It can be translated into English as:
Here are some examples:
Depending on the context, then, the word perhaps can express different feelings: excitement and hope, doubt, or even regret.
The adjective clever is very interesting because, although it is very close to the English terms clever or smart, it additionally has a slightly negative connotation. A smart person is not only clever, but also morally ambiguous: he or she might use his or her cleverness to cheat someone or to gain an advantage at the expense of another person.
You know that drowsy feeling that usually hits you just after you finish lunch? When you just want to drop down on the couch and sleep for an hour or more? This is called the binge. In English there is the expression food coma that comes close to meaning it, but there is no single word to express it.
Another word related to the theme of laziness and sleepiness. Slipper derives from “pantofole" (slippers), and indicates precisely that person who sits around all day lazing around in his or her pajamas, not dreaming of opening the front door and putting on shoes to go out.
In English, expressions such as homebody or couch potato come close to the concept but are not perfectly equivalent.
The word “mammone” is related to an all-Italian stereotype: that of men aged 30 and over who still live with their mothers and are generally very attached to her. Probably this word is difficult to translate into other languages because it refers to a purely Italian phenomenon, caused by cultural, economic and political screens typical of this country. In English it could be translated by the expression mama's boy.
How do you describe in one word a person who doesn't care about anything or anyone? In Italian there is one word: menefreghista. The menefreghista is selfish: he thinks only of himself and is indifferent to everything that happens around him.
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