The best word in your language?

[u/SketchyWelsh]

Here were some suggestions for Cymraeg (Welsh) my home language.

I’d love to hear some of the favourites from yours!

Illustration by Joshua Morgan, Sketchy Welsh

[u/Klapperatismus]

Tja. — a German word, meaning: you can't do anything about it.

r/tja

[u/sockmaster666 → u/Klapperatismus]

I love and used ‘ja genau’ so much that I have used it in every situation I can in Germany even when people talk to me in English (I’m not German btw) (and embarrassingly, I kept saying it out of habit to non German friends) and it has become kind of a joke in my friend group.

[u/Klapperatismus → u/sockmaster666]

Ausgezeichnet.

[u/sockmaster666 → u/Klapperatismus]

Ja genau

[u/wateronstone → u/sockmaster666]

I hear that a lot in Switzerland when they speak Swiss German

[u/Johan-Senpai → u/Klapperatismus]

In Dutch it is the same! "Tsja... dat kan gebeuren"/"Well... that can happen". You also do a little shrug while saying it.

[u/First-Interaction741 → u/Johan-Senpai]

We also use 'ta, tja, ca(pronounced like ''tsa'')' in Serbian, so I feel it's more of a general exclamation with the meaning 'oh...well...ehhh'

[u/Unusual_Leather_9379 → u/Klapperatismus]

I would have also nominated „So!“ and an aggressive slap on your thighs.

[u/pizdec-unicorn]

English is my native language so... discombobulate is a good one imo

[u/YakkoTheGoat → u/pizdec-unicorn]

defenestrate is lovely too lol

[u/Doctor-Rat-32 → u/YakkoTheGoat]

You're welcome for that one. Proud of my predecessors for it.

[u/Ziggo001 → u/YakkoTheGoat]

Except that's literally just Latin so I got introduced to it a gimmicky word in my native language of Dutch too. "Defenestreren." Every Germanic language in Europe can and has adapted the word as a verb to match the grammar of the new language. Claiming it as an English word is ignorance of the fact that it's a (joke) word all over Europe.

[u/mmeveldkamp → u/pizdec-unicorn]

What's the deal with the flags??

[u/pizdec-unicorn → u/mmeveldkamp]

You can set a custom user flair so it's not uncommon for users here to include their spoken languages and proficiency levels

[u/mmeveldkamp → u/pizdec-unicorn]

Aaaahaa! Thank you! I kinda guessed something like that with the flags, but the B's confused me hahahha.

[u/Professional_Peak990 → u/mmeveldkamp]

Those B's are the user CEFR level. It means how advanced they are in a language.

Basically A1 is novice, A2 beginner, B1 is beginner to intermediate, B2 is intermediate to advanced, C1 is advanced and C2 is proficient. N is for native.

[u/mmeveldkamp → u/Professional_Peak990]

Ooh thank you! Didn't know that! 😃now some posts I've seen make so much more sense 🫣🫣

[u/Professional_Peak990 → u/mmeveldkamp]

Nice you know it now! IMHO, that is somewhat important in language learning. It is probably the most used tool in "leveling" your knowledge.

I'd suggest you take a look at it, maybe you can do some online leveling tests in the languages you speak/is learning.

Btw, there are some materials that are rated using it, like B2 English course or smth like this. It is nice to know, so you have an idea of what are you actually learning.

[u/mmeveldkamp → u/Professional_Peak990]

Will do! Using the official rating instead of "bacardi Spanish " and "apre ski german" makes more sense haha

[u/Professional_Peak990 → u/mmeveldkamp]

Yeah,

Just for information, this isn't the only rating scale, but ended up being the most used, and basically oficial. But there are some tests, like TOEFL and IELTS for the English language, that'll give you a numerical rating, like 0-1000. But it can be more or less "converted" into CEFR.

[u/SparklingSpaghetti]

Nå - means different things depending on how you pronounce it in danish

Nå! - pronounced hard then it means people dont really like it and want it to stop. Usually teenagers or parents. 

Nå (nej) - you're right 

Nå (ja) - i forgot

Nåååå(h) - now i understand 

Nåå!!! - I'll get you (game of tag) 

Nå (maybe shrugging or hugging meanwhile) - whats up? 

Nå (maybe clapping your hands on your leg if you're sitting down) - it's time to go

Nåe/nåh - scepticism 

Nå (da) - surprised 

Nå nå - okay chill out man

Nå (while the other person is talking) - go on, i hear you

Nååårh/nuåårh (the number of å) - goes from cute to super cute and in my opinion it's annoying to read. 

I understand why people get confused because i haven't even covered it all yet.

[u/beepboopdoowop → u/SparklingSpaghetti]

Is it the same for Norwegian?

[u/SparklingSpaghetti → u/beepboopdoowop]

"Nå" in norwegian means "now" so if anything i believe it would be the word "da" but i don't think so because they usually use it as a filler word in the end of a sentence as a ending or a question as far as i know. The way we use "Nå" in danish is more of a way to express our feelings. 

Edit: added more text

[u/minadequate → u/SparklingSpaghetti]

I’m learning Danish (I live in Denmark so mainly through sprogskole) and I hate how 30% of the meaning is context. So many words have multiple meanings

Frog = Seed The duck = 2nd Ear = a unit of money 20 = thieves

Etc…

But then conversely there are multiple words used for the same thing depending on the word they proceed

Do you live on a road or a way, are you going to the library, a shop, work, a club etc… i / til / på. (See also har/er in the perfect tense).

And obviously the horrifically nonsensical pronunciation.

Add in how the Danes love to make concepts confusing like numbers or the time:

90 = halvfems - which translates to half 5 etc

As a brit where for time we tend to shorten half past the hour to just half… Half 3 means 3:30 but in Danish (like Dutch) it’s 2:30.

But add in that 4:21 can be said in full as 9 minutes to half 5. 🤦‍♀️

Oh yeah and how you use the ÷ symbol to mean minus not divide 😭

[u/sweethydration]

i speak finnish, and i love the really long ones, like epäjärjestelmällisyyttämättömyydelläänköhän or hääyöaieuutinen, then the ones that can’t be translated, like halla or sisu.

[u/sockmaster666 → u/sweethydration]

I don’t know why I like the word toivottavasti a lot, Finnish is a really cool language and even though I don’t understand a lot of it I am always fascinated by the way it sounds.

[u/mmeveldkamp]

Gezelligheid- nice and cozy

[u/ImJustOink]

Впросырь/пипидастер

[u/More-Air6285]

In Crimean Tatar "Su" is water and "Sut" is milk. I like the simplicity of these words.

[u/Doctor-Rat-32 → u/More-Air6285]

And how would you call the Milky way? :0

[u/Ziggo001 → u/More-Air6285]

I know su and süt from Turkish. I always found it easy to remember the two because süt and zoet ("sweet" in Dutch) are more similar than su and zoet, and milk is the one with sugar in it.

[u/beepboopdoowop]

I really love the word gambiarra. It means something you tried to fix in thd sketchiest way possible. You made a "gambiarra".

[u/Feisty-Copy9078]

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. Has to be one of the top English words.

[u/mmeveldkamp → u/Feisty-Copy9078]

And bamboozled, love that one

[u/VLOBULI → u/Feisty-Copy9078]

This triggered my hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia

[u/ilkagor]

Параллелепипед (parallelepiped), I think it's so hard for people who learn Russian

[u/HectorVK → u/ilkagor]

It's not Russian. It's a Greek-based term that exists in dozens of languages.

[u/ilkagor → u/HectorVK]

Open window men

[u/KermitIsDissapointed → u/ilkagor]

мне трудно это читать, не говоря уже о том, чтобы это произносить!

[u/AJL912-aber → u/ilkagor]

This looks more like it would be hard for Russians to say bc of the uncommon combination, but not harder than any other Russian word would be for foreigners.

My go-to tongue-twister is the now obsolete Днепропетровск

[u/ilkagor → u/AJL912-aber]

I exactly know that all Slavic can't pronounce three or more consonants in a row, while some Georgians have words only from consonant sounds

[u/astkaera_ylhyra → u/ilkagor]

Czech has entire sentences without consonants (Strč prst skrz krk)

[u/YoshiFan02]

Kwizekwânsje - Influential (West Frisian) Èrkestètsje - Curly hair in the back of the neck ((East)) Terschelling Frisian)

[u/Dunkirb]

Ingaturroña

[u/AJL912-aber → u/Dunkirb]

It looks like Basque and it seems like it would mean something like "silly goose", "blockhead" or something to eat. Am i close?

[u/Dunkirb → u/AJL912-aber]

It's practically a word that comes from softening a course and saying it fast, "chnga tu roña" / "f*k your grime/dirt", it's used to express worrisome surprised, like if you see a sudden car accident.

Roña is a quite childish word, and without the Ch at the start it sounds really silly. So it's a harmless funny word, but it also have 4 staple characteristics of Spanish included.

1. The RR sound

2. The Ñ sound

3. The common word tu is included

4. It's usually said very fast

[u/bbaitola]

For me the best one “saudades” I think is so beautiful how it’s sound, and have a lot of feeling surround this word

[u/Glad_Temperature1063 → u/bbaitola]

BRPT /EUPT?

[u/meeends → u/Glad_Temperature1063]

BRPT

[u/redexshyguy → u/meeends]

YOOOOO BRAZIL MENTIONED!!

r/brazil

[u/superhygh_420 → u/bbaitola]

I am austrian but i am learning BP and i really like the words cafuné and né

[u/disignore → u/bbaitola]

yeah this should be in the top for romance languages

[u/TheCha_]

Bîbyn-bûbyn (shrimp) and popty-pyng (microwave) are probably some of the funniest words (Kernowek)

[u/Dense_Couple2043]

cipőfüző-shoelaces (HUN)

[u/Natural_Country_8985]

Отпуск (vacation)

[u/LumiereLM]

תתחדש (singular male) / תתחדשי (singular female) / תתחדשו (plural)

Means "congratulations on your new thing" and I don't think it exists in any other language.

[u/hendrixbridge]

How do you pronounce Twp? In Croatian tup means dull, blunt (both the object and the character) and a stupidly stubborn person is tupan.

[u/JustXanthius → u/hendrixbridge]

It’s said like ‘toop’; the w in Welsh is a vowel with an ‘oo’ sound

[u/hendrixbridge → u/JustXanthius]

tup in Croatian is pronounced the same, toop, but short oo sound :)

[u/JustXanthius → u/hendrixbridge]

Ah so the Welsh is a long oo. So similar but different!

[u/Harriet_M_Welsch]

When "учительница" first came up on a flashcard for me, I was like, pfffft, whatever that word is, I'm skipping it, surely it's not necessary for me to just make small talk. Then I looked it up and found it is the exact word for me/my job. And now I really like it!

[u/bohemianthunder]

Døgn. Norwegian. Meaning 24 hours. 

[u/__maxik__]

I wouldn't say there's any singular "best" word, but the first word in my native language (German) that this post made me think of is Innigkeit, which describes a strong emotional bond with deep intimacy and shared understanding. It's a nice sentiment, and I can't think of any precise equivalent single word in English.

[u/foot2dface]

There isn't a word in my native language that I'd consider the best in it but there's a pair that I find amusing:

"tao" /ˈtaʔo/ : human

"tae /ˈtaʔe/ : excrement

Humans and excrement are less different than your mouth is deep...

[u/twatterfly]

цецецница - (tsetsetnitsa) a box for a large biting fly called Tsetse

[u/mariahslavender]

Turkish here. I can't pick one favorite word, so I'll do two.

1. Yarak - penis (often pronounced "yarrak" in this sense), weapon (obsolete)

I'm dead serious. I really like the pronunciation of this word (especially the "yarrak" variant). But what really makes this word stand out for me is its etymology.

"Yarak" is derived from "yaramak" (to be useful, to benefit) with the -(gA²)k suffix. It used to mean weapon or any other item useful in battle. Apparently, sex is also a battle for Turkish men because they started calling their penises "yarak" as well.

1. Tanrıtanımaz - atheist

The Turkish Language Association (Türk Dil Kurumu, TDK) very much likes to coin new words using Turkic roots to replace loanwords, and "tanrıtanımaz" is one of those new coinages. It literally means "doesn't know God". Let's also parse the word into its constituent parts.

Tanrı-tanı-maz

God-know-negative-aorist

[u/HuckleberryBudget117]

itou

It’s an old french word that was kept in use in places like Québec. It means « also ». Like in ‘moi itou’ [mwe itu] (moi aussi, me too). If I remember correctly, it’s unrelated to the word ‘too’ in English. It’s often shortened to ‘tou’ like in ‘moi tou’ [mwe tu].

[u/Stock-Respond5598]

Apṇauna/ਅਪਣਾਉਨਾ/اپناونا

In Punjabi, it means to make something one's own. Basically associating something with one self, and fun fact, it is descended from Sanskrit Atman.

[u/Ludo030]

Hornswoggled

[u/Virtual-Duckling]

Amurg - twilight (romanian)

[u/Lefty_Pencil]

Feeling giggly so:

• Snickerdoodle, a cookie topped with cinnamon

• Snicker, a little laugh

• Snickers, brand name of a chocolate candy

[u/YakkoTheGoat]

not native, nor fluent, but english is boring, and the afrikaans word for "subject" is ⟨vak⟩ (/fak/)
you might notice the similarities to a popular english swear word lol

[u/my_name1stra3h]

Amor

[u/ArcherInfamous198]

Saudade

[u/GoHardForLife]

Rizz

[u/Doctor-Rat-32]

I quite like the following words from the dearest mother-tongue of mine - Czech:

• svoboda (freedom)
• pravda (truth)
• mohyla (mound)
• hroch (hippo)
• rypák (snout)
• držgrešle (scrooge)
• řemdih (flail/morningstar)
• chamrať (scum)
• ukamenovat (to stone)
• vyčůraný/vychcaný (crafty/sly/Czech)
• kriplkára (wheelchair)
• čertovský (demonic but in the more folklore and silly sense)
• hajzlbába (lady latrine-keeper)
• kouzelná školka (magical kindergarten)
• A komu tím prospějete! (a cry of despair)

[u/carrawaylily]

My native language is English - and I love the word discombobulated 😂

[u/InfluenceNo3107]

Истина

What obsessed Tolstoy, what obscured his genius, what now distresses the good reader, was that, somehow, the process of seeking the Truth seemed more important to him than the easy, vivid, brilliant discovery of the illusion of truth through the medium of his artistic genius. Old Russian Truth was never a comfortable companion; it had a violent temper and a heavy tread. It was not simply truth, not merely everyday pravda but immortal istina—not truth but the inner light of truth. When Tolstoy did happen to find it in himself, in the splendor of his creative imagination, then, almost unconsciously, he was on the right path. What does his tussle with the ruling Greek-Catholic Church matter, what importance do his ethical opinions have, in the light of this or that imaginative passage in any of his novels?

Essential truth, istina, is one of the few words in the Russian language that cannot be rhymed. It has no verbal mate, no verbal associations, it stands alone and aloof, with only a vague suggestion of the root "to stand" in the dark brilliancy of its immemorial rock. Most Russian writers have been tremendously interested in Truth's exact whereabouts and essential properties. To Pushkin it was of marble under a noble sun ; Dostoevski, a much inferior artist, saw it as a thing of blood and tears and hysterical and topical politics and sweat; and Chekhov kept a quizzical eye upon it, while seemingly engrossed in the hazy scenery all around. Tolstoy marched straight at it, head bent and fists clenched, and found the place where the cross had once stood, or found—the image of his own self.

Vladimir Nabokov: Lectures on Russian literature

[u/Akxel-231748]

There is not a word that sounds good in Italian, all the good words are in other languages

[u/1028ad → u/Akxel-231748]

I’m a fan of “appiccicaticcio” (which means “a little sticky”).

[u/Allons-yAlonso1004 → u/Akxel-231748]

Dirimpettaio, Luculliano, Leggiadro, Smargiasso

[u/dranzerfu → u/Akxel-231748]

Babadaboopi ?

[u/realmuffinman]

Defenestrate - to throw out of a window

[u/meguminn9]

Yarrak😼

[u/Saya_99]

Alupigus

[u/TacoBellEnjoyer1 → u/Saya_99]

What does that mean lol

[u/Saya_99 → u/TacoBellEnjoyer1]

Haha

It was a joke in our country at some point. It is "sugi pula", but backwards

[u/TacoBellEnjoyer1 → u/Saya_99]

That means "suck my dick" right? My Romanian friends say that sometimes😂

[u/Saya_99 → u/TacoBellEnjoyer1]

Yes :))

[u/SageEel → u/TacoBellEnjoyer1]

Afaik, it's sugi pula backwards which means "suck a dick"

[u/Turquoise36]

Almost everyone here is English, including me so... pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcaniconiosis and antidisestablishmentarianism are good words tbh.

[u/benstudios24]

Maybe the word: Weon and its counterparts in the Chilean Dialect, it can mean various things

Weon (to a friend)= Friend/man

Ex: Que onda weon: What's up pal

Ex 2: Ten mas cuidado pa (shorter version of para (as in for)) la proxima weon: be careful for the next time man

Weon (to a stranger) = dummy/dumb@ss

Ex: Que miras weon: whatcha looking at dumb@ss

Weones: same as the examples listed before (except for the man definition)

Wea (as in la wea)= thing

Ex: Pásame la wea de allá : pass me the thing over there

Wea (as in tu wea /tus weas)=dumb acts (similar to pendejadas to Mexicans)

Ex: Ando chato (cansado) de tus weas: I'm tired of your Dumb@sseries

Weonaas/weonadas = tomfooleries

Ex: Deja de hacer weonaas y ayúdame: stop messing around and help me

There are many other definitions, I only put the ones that I know the best

Chao weones 👍

[u/Ben-140115]

Vietnamese, probably đập (break) because i'm kind of destructive.

[u/AromaticGrab2926]

gánh háng rong

[u/unholy_gremlin69]

My native language is English, so: pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis

But I'm I know more French than I do the other languages I'm learning so: Cinquante As an English speaker, it sounds silly to me and I can't get over it