Every April 23, Colombia and Spanish-speaking countries celebrate Language Day in honor of Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, author of the famous novel Don Quixote de La Mancha, who died on April 23, 1616.
According to the Cervantes Institute, the Spanish language is spoken by more than 590 million people around the world It is the third most spoken language after English and Chinese Mandarin.. Language Day is the perfect opportunity to remember some of the many words that do not have an exact translation from Spanish to English.
“I love you” is one of those words. There is an expression “I love you” in English, but it is not certain whether it means “I love you” or “I love you”.
Stay up late, stay up late…and get up early the next day
There are probably millions of English speakers who, for professional or personal reasons, know firsthand what it means to stay up late, ie, according to the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE), “awake or not asleep most of the night”. However, they have not exact equivalent word.
According to a CNN publication To explain a sleepless night in English you have to use three or four words: stay up late, be out all night. And if they stayed up all night the day before yesterday, they can’t solve it quickly either, because that’s another word with no direct translation. To say the day before yesterday, there is no other way but to go back to the day before yesterday.
And when a person has to get up early the next day, it cannot be described with a single word like “early morning,” another expression that has no literal translation from Spanish to English. The alarm clock rings and they say get up early.
When it comes to reasons for staying up late, Spanish is also ahead which have no literal translation into English, such as “Reveal” or “Botellón”, the term for those youth parties that are generally nocturnal, outdoors and involve heavy drinking.
Although Spanish uses the word madrugar, English says to get up early. – Photo: Getty ImagesWould you like to be my friend’?
Many will remember the word “friend” from the famous 90’s TV series and might even think the term was invented. However, the RAE recognizes it, defining it as “one person who maintains a relationship with another with less formal commitment than a courtship”.
This is another word that does not have an exact translation into English. will be friends with benefitswhich in Spanish refers to friends with rights, but not friends as suchaccording to the CNN publication.
And when it comes to bonding between people, Spanish has several words that do not have single-word translations into English but require compound words, for example brother-in-law and father-in-law. Consuegro and compadre also have no exact counterpart in English. Also, “tutear” is another word that has no literal translation into English.
In English there is the expression Friends with Benefits, which in Spanish refers to friends with rights, but not friends as such. – Photo: Getty ImagesEnjoy a good after dinner
What a beautiful thing, a good desktop! Desktop is actually another word with no literal translation into English. And it is very necessary to refer to the time after the meal, when you continue to talk at the table.
Speaking of food: There are several expressions in English that do not have an exact translation, for example snack. The English speak of an afternoon snack or tea, but They don’t have a verb that literally means snack.
Before eating, it’s common to hear the phrase “Bon appetit!”, but how do you say it in English? Well, there is no such expression either, many English speakers would probably use the French bon appetit.
In English they have bridges but these are not public holidays
The CNN chain comments that there is a word in English to designate the constructions called bridges, which are bridges but not for bridge days that remain between public holidays and bank holidays and are sometimes used for holidays.
At night all cats are grey
Another very common expression in Spanish is “All cats are brown at night”, which doesn’t exactly mean brown, because when they refer to brown as a color, according to the dictionary, it’s “similar to the color of the earth”. or that of bearskin, and which tends to turn brown or reddish”. And this very color also has no text translation, although the saying also exists, with a variant: All cats are gray in the dark.
If it’s a winter night and a person isn’t having a good time with the cold, there’s another word for it has no text translation into english: cold.
The list is not infinite, but it goes on
The list of words that don’t have an exact translation into English isn’t infinite, but it goes on with more verbs, nouns, and adjectives. Two words that are also commonly used are “está messed up,” which refers to poorly done work that will have to be fixed sooner or later, and “brand new”, the moment when something new is used for the first time.