Untranslatable Words - National-Specific Element of Culture

Abstract

There are about 6500 languages in the world. It is not surprising that some words found in one language cannot be translated into other languages using one word. Therefore, in the course of learning a language, we certainly encounter words which cannot be translated into our native language.
“All that the recipient has noticed in the text of foreign culture but can’t understand, that seems strange, unclear, erroneous to him and requires interpretation, serves as a signal of existence of national-specific elements of culture in the text, specifically, gaps” (Sorokyn & Markovina, 1998).
This article reviews the impossibility of translation in all cases related to lack of corresponding words, things and events.