Tough translations

A few weeks ago we reported on a survey by the firm Today Translations (www.todaytranslations.com) revealing the ten legal expressions which were most difficult to translate. This week they produced two similar lists covering general words in English and other languages.

The most difficult non-English word to translate is apparently ilunga, a word from Tshiluba, a language spoken by the Bantu tribe of the southeastern Congo. It means 'a person who is ready to forgive any abuse for the first time; to tolerate it a second time; but never a third time.'

The most difficult word for translating from English is reported as plenipotentiary: 'a special ambassador or envoy, invested with full powers'.

And ironically for us gobbledygook came second in the list. We were quite surprised to see this, as we have seen equivalents in at least four languages, including French (charabia), German (kauderwelsh), Dutch (onzin) and Italian (gergo incomprensible). We'd love to hear any translations of the word into other languages.