Translatable but Debatable – מציאות m'tsee'oot

Translatable but Debatable – מציאות m'tsee'oot

As I sought out translations, I was continually reminded that only the position of a little dot distinguishes המציאוֹת from המציאוּת, the bargains from the realities.  Generally in Hebrew, as in life, we don’t even have the little dot to help us.

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Translatable but Debatable – ספרות מגויסת, the literature of shared commitment

Translatable but Debatable – ספרות מגויסת, the literature of shared commitment

Whereas Sartre was trying to distinguish an individualistic littérature engagée from already unfashionable socialist realism, in Hebrew the parallel term sifrut m’guyesset retains the association of groupthink, of being enlisted or drafted or inducted for purposes of agitprop or other propaganda rather than thoughtfully asserting beliefs one has formulated as an individual. 

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Translatable but Debatable – הזוי hazui

Translatable but Debatable – הזוי hazui

For the most part, English-language dictionaries consider that delusional means “having false or unrealistic beliefs or opinions,” as Dictionary.com puts it.  But below the fold, a set of “Examples from the Web” includes more than one sentence mentioning “delusional ideas” — ideas that are delusions, not ideas that have delusions.  So if a psychiatrist has delusional patients, it’s a good guess that the patients are imagining things; but on the other hand, just maybe the psychiatrist is imagining patients.

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Translatable but Debatable - המחיש himkheesh

Translatable but Debatable - המחיש himkheesh

Like the word “illustration” in English, hamkhashah can refer to the sort of real-life manifestation that nobody can deny, such as waving a flashlight in a darkened room to demonstrate persistence of vision, or it can refer to a way of making something clearer to the senses without proving it at all — such as a diagram, a skit, or a picture in a story book.

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Translatable but Debatable — הכביד hichbeed

Translatable but Debatable — הכביד hichbeed

I think it’s easier to translate the burdening of a person in connection with a specific task than to translate the general burdening of a person.  We can easily say “You make my job harder” or “You make deciding things more difficult.”  But if somebody makes, life, the universe, and everything more difficult for us, how do we say so in conversational English?

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Translatable but Debatable — ערכי: Principals, principles, and values

Translatable but Debatable — ערכי:  Principals, principles, and values

Someone driven by values would normally be called “value-driven” — with no “s” because in such a construction we normally don’t see the plural.  A dog bitten by fleas is flea-bitten, a cake covered by blueberries is blueberry-covered.  However, the adjective “value-driven” has been co-opted by the business world in connection with the kind of value that money buys. 

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Translatable but Debatable – עמידה בלחצים (Pressureproofness)

Translatable but Debatable – עמידה בלחצים (Pressureproofness)

If the translation of עמידה בלחצים is literal — resistant to pressure, indifferent to pressure, withstanding pressure, impervious to pressure — it sounds as if the worker simply keeps plodding along without taking the pressure into account, rather than coping with it as necessary.

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Translatable but Debatable – Patience of Paper

Translatable but Debatable – Patience of Paper

If it were up to me, I’d translate הנייר סובל הכל as “Paper puts up with anything,” but tradition must be respected and according to The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs, the English version “Paper does not blush” has seniority harking at least back to 1577.

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Translatable but Debatable — מתחם mitkham

Translatable but Debatable — מתחם mitkham

Looking at Mitkham HaPil — including one big building on a traffic island and perhaps another big building or two across the road — I’d say it’s too small to be called a district.  Maybe a center, if it’s only the one building or if the other buildings are well enough integrated despite the busy road that separates them off.  Or Elephant Corner could be reasonable name.

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Translatable but Debatable — שקול shakool

Translatable but Debatable — שקול shakool

Ehud Barak went on record calling Herzog shakool, m’nuseh, and akhra’i.  The Jerusalem Post renders it “ balanced, experienced and responsible.”  Ynet says “level-headed, experienced and responsible.”  JPUpdates.com says “steady, experienced and responsible.”  Haaretz, which of course really likes Herzog, says “sage, experienced and responsible.”  Arutz Sheva... 

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Translatable but Debatable — מצא לנכון matsa l'nakhon

Translatable but Debatable — מצא לנכון matsa l'nakhon

I saw a rather bold translation on the Internet the other day.  Someone translated מצא לנכון (matsa l’nakhon) as “decided.”  Generally the dictionary definitions of that phrase are less blunt.  Babylon says “thought it right.”  Alkalay says “see fit, choose.” 

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Translatable but Debatable — מונח munach

Translatable but Debatable — מונח munach

It seems that in order to be munach somewhere, you have to have come from somewhere else.  It would be strange to say that the Shalom Meir Tower is munach in Tel Aviv, although you might say so for effect if you wanted to emphasize that it looks foreign to its neighborhood.

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Translatable but Debatable — Remaining Silent

Translatable but Debatable — Remaining Silent

Once when I was a kid watching a TV courtroom drama, a plot twist put one of the lawyers on the witness stand.  When he didn’t want to answer a question, he said “I remain silent.”  I was impressed on the one hand that he obliged even the humble, unsung court reporter by not requiring everyone to wait through an actual silence.  On the other hand, I was impressed by the paradox whereby the words “I remain silent” are acceptable at face value while obviously false.

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Translatable but Debatable — Israel versus Israeli

Translatable but Debatable — Israel versus Israeli

I don’t know who decided that over here we’re Israelis, rather than Israelians or Israelese, or Israelites like our ancestors, but I’m happy with the decision.  I like the brevity and the distinctiveness, and I’m glad that the English-speaking community has spared us in its tilt toward standardization.  The word “Bosniak” had scarcely flickered on the news pages, back in the nineties, before a sweeping consensus settled on “Bosnian” instead.  The people who can be called Chadi, fellow bearers with us of the “i” suffix, are more often termed “Chadian.”

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Translatable but Debatable - Fish, Crawfish, Frogs, and Cows

Translatable but Debatable - Fish, Crawfish, Frogs, and Cows

In a list of Hebrew expressions that have had their day and should be retired from the language, a blog or blogger named Areshet mentions “where the fish pisses from.”  Areshet says, “That’s enough.  We get it.  We’ve had it up to here.  We appreciate the earthy humor, now let’s move on.”  But that blog page is four years old and the fish haven’t stopped.

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Translatable but Debatable — Ionesco and Fiesco

Besides the question of whether one sincerely becomes a rhinoceros or just opportunistically fits in with them (although everyone in Ionesco's play seems sincerely won over), there is also the question of whether hitkarnefut means merely becoming like everyone else or becoming like a rhinoceros in more specific ways.

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