One word same in all languages

When expanding a business abroad, marketers have the difficult task of applying global brand values to a localised marketing campaign. Translation is a significant part of this process, but the subtle differences between words and their equivalents make it a challenge for direct translation to unite a global brand with its local audiences.

However, a recent study may have some shed light on why marketers are struggling to successfully translate their message from country to country; every other word is different and the meaning and associations that go with them bring many subtle differences that need to be factored in to any translation work.

One Single Word

According to scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, there is only one word in existence that’s the same in every language, and that word is ‘huh’. By recording segments of informal language from across five continents, the scientists have revealed that the world ‘huh’ is the same in 31 different languages, making it the most universally understood term in the world.

The researchers have suggested that the reason ‘huh’ is the only word to have spontaneously adopted the same meaning in almost every language is because there is no other word that is capable of filling its place. According to the study, ‘huh’ is the only word capable of stating that there is a problem, signalling that it has to do with a lack of knowledge and asking for a response without being aware of what that response may be.

Implications for Global Marketing

Although many have argued that ‘huh’ is more of a noise than a word, this research can be applied to the process of translating brand messages for use overseas. In many cases direct translation won’t work, and will simply leave companies with a message that’s irrelevant or confusing to other cultures. However, words and colloquialisms like ‘huh’ could be one way of tapping into truly universal marketing that appeals across cultures.

With the introduction of social media sites it’s becoming increasingly necessary for contrasting cultures to develop universal terms that effectively translate from country to country while remaining within the restricted character limits that dictate much of our communication.

While the complexity of language renders terms like ‘huh’ extremely rare, this new age process of rapid language development could see an increase in the number of colloquialisms understood across borders and across seas, which is good news for marketers and people across the world seeking greater understanding and unity.

 Naseem Jeewa

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Naseem is the project director at Bubbles Translation Services and has spent over 25 years in the translation service industry.

The word ‘huh’ will unite the world

According to Mark Dingemanse and his colleagues, ‘huh’ is a word that is actually native to all languages. Their fascinating in-depth article talks about the word ‘huh’ as in “Huh?”, or to put it another way “What did you say?” It is claimed that this universal word occurs in a large sample of unrelated languages.

Why “huh”? Based on our previous article on ‘The Root of All Human Languages’, we showed that some languages share the same words within a particular family tree. However, for the most part different languages will have a completely different sound for the same word. (‘dog’: inu in Japanese, chien in French) There is no connection between sound and meaning in words. ‘Huh?’ is a rare exception to this otherwise strong rule.

Here is a sample from the article. Question words (“what?”) and interjections (“huh?”) being roughly the same form in eleven languages: English hã↗

sample

Some points of interest:

  • While there were subtle differences in each country, all had a near-identical sound.
  • Some languages, like English, use rising intonation, whereas others, like Icelandic, use falling.
  • “huh?” Is short, easy to produce, easy to hear, and capable of carrying a questioning tone.
  • The sound is calibrated to the local language system, therefore it’s actually a word rather than just a grunt.
  • It requires being spelled and conforms to the general principles of each language.
  • Although it may seem almost primitive in its simplicity, it still has to be learnt. In fact, it takes children until the age of five to master its use.

It is ironic how the only word that everyone understands, is the word that means you don’t understand.

In Singlish we can write “huh” as ‘ar’ or ‘ah’.

Singapore Has Expanded the Use of ‘Huh’

When time is really limited, please use “ah”. The Versatility of the ‘ah’ sound with the help of intonations.
ah
N.B: ‘ah’ is also inserted between topic and comment to give a negative tone:
“This minion ah, always so naughty one!”

Source article:

Is “Huh?” a Universal Word? Conversational Infrastructure and the Convergent Evolution of Linguistic Items

Frequently Asked Questions: 

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Is there a word that means the same in all languages?

According to scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, there is only one word in existence that’s the same in every language, and that word is ‘huh’.

What word is the most similar in all languages?

Originally Answered: Which words are the most similar across all languages? Mother, commonly found as Ma. It seems to be the first sound a baby can make.

What do you call words that are the same in two languages?

Cognates

What is word collocation?

Collocation refers to a group of two or more words that usually go together. A good way to think of collocation is to look at the word collocation. Co – meaning together – location – meaning place. Collocation​s are words that are located together.

What is a false cognate or false friend?

False cognates are words that are similar in their modern forms despite having different etymologies. This is regardless of whether the modern meanings are similar. False friends are words that are similar in their modern forms despite having different modern meanings.

What is loanword?

Loanwords are words adopted by the speakers of one language from a different language (the source language). A loanword can also be called a borrowing. The abstract noun borrowing refers to the process of speakers adopting words from a source language into their native language.

Is fiancee a loanword?

You already know it is a loanword from French, and the accent appears in the French word. So what you seem to be asking is why English speakers would continue to use the accent? It is true that we don’t have accents in written English. However, fiancé is not the only word you may see written with an accent.

Is sushi a loanword?

11. Sushi. Kanji Meaning: 寿 (す) means “congratulations” or “longevity,” and 司 (し) is “official.” If you think about it, it’s quite sweet that the kanji for sushi is “official congratulations!” There was no reason to rename this famous Japanese dish.

What are loanwords examples?

Examples and related terms Examples of loanwords in the English language include café (from French café, which means “coffee”), bazaar (from Persian bāzār, which means “market”), and kindergarten (from German Kindergarten, which literally means “children’s garden”).

Is pizza a loan word?

Pizza, of course, is borrowed from Italian, but the deeper ingredients of the word, if you will, are unclear. Others look to the Langobardic (an ancient German language in northern Italy) bizzo, meaning “bite.” Whatever the origin, we say, “delicious.”

Which language has the most loan words?

English

Why do we use loanwords?

Over time, loanwords become such an essential part of the language that even native speakers can’t say where the word originated. Loanwords make language learning a bit easier because the odds are that you already know some of the words based on your existing language skills!

Is Croissant a borrowed word?

Croissant is a borrowed word. It came from the English language as “crescent” and was translated to “croissant” by the French.

How much of English is loanwords?

80%

How many English words are French?

7,000 French words

Is French hard to learn?

French is relatively easy to learn but it does take some time and effort. As French is closely related to English, I have to agree with the Foreign Language Institute that says that French belongs to the easiest group of languages to learn for English speakers. Having so much common vocabulary helps a lot!

Is English easier than French?

Because as this post is going to explain, French is actually one of the easiest European languages to learn. In many ways, it’s even easier than learning English! And as French is a world language, spoken by over 220 million people, learning French can give you access to a huge chunk of the world.

Is French worth learning?

French is also, of course, an extremely useful language to learn. Below are some practical reasons for studying French. While ‘only’ about 80 million people speak French as a first language, it is one of the world’s most widely spoken second languages with perhaps 200 million L2 speakers.

Words really don’t have any logic to them. You can’t just work out the meaning of words based on the sounds that make them up. That’s because words are arbitrary.  So if you don’t speak Chinese, you can’t possibly figure out the words for, say, “breakfast” or “fridge”. Different people agree to give different combinations of sounds different meanings.


Considering that people are scattered around the globe and speak different mutually unintelligible languages, it is unlikely that they would all have the same words for the same thing. However, there are some select words that sound pretty much the same across so many languages. They flit across language barriers either through trade, the internet, or because people just like the sound of them. Here are some of them:

Coffee

Afrikaans: koffie | Albanian: kafe | Arabic: قهوة (qahua) | French: Café | Azerbaijani: qəhvə | Basque: kafea | Belarussian: кава (kava) | Bengali: কফি (kaphi) | Bosnian: kafa | Bulgarian: кафе (kafe) | Catalan: cafè | Cebuano: kape | Chichewa: khofi | Chinese: 咖啡 (Kāfēi) | Corsican: caffè | Croatian: kava | Czech: káva | Danish: kaffe | Dutch: koffie | Italian: caffè | German: Kaffee | Thai: กาแฟ (Kāfæ) | Sawahili: kahawa | Spanish: café | Portuguese: café | Turkish: kahveh | Croatian: kava  | Lithuanian: kava | Polish: kawa (kava) | Slovakian: kava | Ukrainian: kavy or kava | Georgian: qava | Hungarian: kavé | Serbian: kafa | Slovenian: kave | Yiddish: kave | Filipino/Tagalog: kape | Hawaiian: kope | Indonesian: kopi | Korean: keopi | Malay: kawah or koppi | Sinhalese (Sri Lanka): kopi | Tamil (Sri Lanka): kapi-kottai or kopi.


Tea

French: le thé | Swedish: te | Finnish: tee | Italian: tè | Danish: Te or The | Greek: τσάι (tsai) | Malay: teh | Portuguese: cha (pronounced ‘shah’) | Chinese: t’e, or ch’a | Persian: chaai | Urdu: Chai | Korean: cha | Russian: chay | Arabic: chai or shai | Bulgarian: chai | Croatian: caj (pronounced chai) | Dutch: thee | Afrikaans: tee | German: der Tee | Hebrew: teh | Hungarian: tea | Irish: tae | Indonesian: teh | Japanese: o-cha | Korean: cha | Latvian: teja (pronounced tay-ya) | Malay: teh | Maltese: te | Norwegian: te | Romanian: ceai | Sinhalese (Sri Lanka): thé | Spanish: el té | Swahili: chai (pronounced cha-i) | Taiwanese: de | Thai: chah (chah yen refers to iced tea) | Tibetan: cha or ja| Turkish: cay (pronounced chai) | Urdu: chai | (NorthVietnamese: che | (SouthVietnamese: tra (sometimes pronounced cha or ja) | Yiddish: tey Zulu: itiye. | Polish: herbata. 

Taxi

Brazilian Portuguese: táxi  | Croatian: taksi | Czech: taxík | Danish: taxi | Dutch: taxi | European Spanish: taxi | Finnish: taksi | French: taxi | German: Taxi | Greek: ταξί (taxí) | Italian: taxi | Japanese: タクシー (Takushī) | Korean: 택 (taegsi) | Norwegian: drosje | Polish: taksówka |  European Portuguese: táxi |  Romanian: taxi | Russian: такси (taksi) | Spanish: taxi | Swedish: taxi | Thai: รถรับจ้าง (thæ̆ksī̀) | Turkish: taksi  | Ukrainian: таксі | Vietnamese: taxi | American English: cab.

Pineapple

Arabic: أَنَانَاس  (ananas) |  Croatian: ananas  | Czech: ananas  | Danish: ananas  | Dutch: ananas |   Finnish: ananas  | French: ananas  | German: Ananas | Greek: ανανάς (ananas) | Italian: ananas |  Norwegian: ananas | Polish: ananas | European Portuguese: ananás |  Romanian: ananas | Russian: ананас (ananas) |  Swedish: ananas | Turkish: ananas | Ukrainian: ананас  (ananas) 



Banana

English: banana  | Brazilian Portuguese: banana  | Croatian: banana  | Czech: banán  | Danish: banan |  Dutch: banaan  | European Spanish: plátano  | Finnish: banaani | French: banane | German: Banane |  Greek: μπανάνα (banan) | Italian: banana  | Japanese: バナナ (banana) | Korean: 바나나 (banana) | Norwegian: banan | Polish: banan | European Portuguese: banana | Romanian: banană | Russian: банан (banan) | Spanish: plátano | Swedish: banan frukt | Ukrainian: банан (banana). 

Any time you think some other language is strange, remember that yours is just as strange, you’re just used to it


You’ve reached the end of the article. Please share it if you think it’s interesting.

English: banana | Brazilian Portuguese: banana | Croatian: banana | Czech: banán | Danish: banan | Dutch: banaan | European Spanish: plátano | Finnish: banaani | French: banane | German: Banane | Greek: μπανάνα (banan) | Italian: banana | Japanese: バナナ (banana) | Korean: 바나나 (banana) | Norwegian: banan | Polish: banan …

Ainsi Is Hallelujah the same in all languages?

Did you know that that word “Hallelujah” is the same is just about every language on earth? Imagine that, you know how to say a word that is understood in every language! In the book of Psalms there is an admonition for all the earth to sing Hallelujah.

Cela dit, What is the most understood word in the world?

“OK” is one of the most frequently used and recognised words in the world.

What are cognate words in historical linguistics? In the narrow sense used in historical linguistics, cognates are words in related languages that have developed from the same ancestor word. An ex- ample of a cognate pair is French lait and Span- ish leche, both of which come from Latin lacte.

et What is the most used word in the world?

‘The‘ is the most used word in the English-speaking world because it’s an essential part of grammar and communication.

Why do we say Hallelujah?

Hallelujah (/ˌhælɪˈluːjə/ HAL-i-LOO-yə) is an interjection used as an expression of gratitude and adoration. It is a transliteration of the Hebrew phrase הַלְלוּ יָהּ‎ (Modern Hebrew hallūyāh, Tiberian haləlūyāh), which means to praise Jah (from הַלְלוּ‎, “praise;” and יָהּ‎, Jah.)

What is the most universal word?

Funny enough, there’s one word claimed to be the most universal: Huh. Can your brand speak multicultural?

Why don’t we say Alleluia during Lent?

In order to emphasize the penitential nature of that journey, the Catholic Church, during Lent, removes the Alleluia from the Mass. We no longer sing with the choirs of angels; instead, we acknowledge our sins and practice repentance so that one day we may again have the privilege of worshiping God as the angels do.

What is the 2 most understood word in the world?

Coca-Cola‘ 2nd most recognised word in the world after ‘OK’ ‘Coca-Cola’ is the second most widely understood term in the world after ‘OK’.

Does OK means zero killed?

Another popular tale is that of the damage report during the civil war. It was said that, in order to save time and avoid a useless headcount, regiments that had no deaths would hold up a sign with the letters “OK” on it, standing for “Zero Killed”.

What does OK stand for?

OK stands for “oll korrect”, or “all correct”.

What is a perfect cognate?

Perfect cognates are exactly what they sound like – words that are spelled the same and have the same meaning.

What is a cognate in phonetics?

Consonant cognates are two consonant sounds that are produced almost identi- cally with the articulators except that one is voiced and the other is voiceless. The voiced sounds are generally in the lower frequency range and the voiceless sounds generally in the higher frequency range of speech sounds.

What are the 13 curse words?

damn, jerk, ugly, stupid, fart knocker…. Or he could be legitimately swearing like a sailor, in which case he’d be using Elizabethan English: Block, stone, fool, beslubbering, bawdy, yeasty, vassal, rank, pox-marked, pus-filled, vagrant, tooth-spitting, filthy, villainous, wretch, etc.

What are the 12 powerful words?

Trace, Analyze, Infer, Evaluate, Formulate, Describe, Support, Explain, Summarize, Compare, Contrast, Predict. Why use the twelve powerful words? These are the words that always give students more trouble than others on standardized tests.

What is the oldest swear word?

Fart, as it turns out, is one of the oldest rude words we have in the language: Its first record pops up in roughly 1250, meaning that if you were to travel 800 years back in time just to let one rip, everyone would at least be able to agree upon what that should be called.

Is Hallelujah the highest form of praise?

However, “hallelujah” means more than simply “praise Jah” or “praise Yah”, as the word hallel in Hebrew means a joyous praise in song, to boast in God. To add praise to the end of this phrase doesn’t fit. I Can’t find one instant where the bible say’s Hallelujag in the highest praise.

Is Hallelujah a Hebrew?

Hallelujah, also spelled alleluia, Hebrew liturgical expression meaning “praise ye Yah” (“praise the Lord”). It appears in the Hebrew Bible in several psalms, usually at the beginning or end of the psalm or in both places. In ancient Judaism it was probably chanted as an antiphon by the Levite choir.

What happens when we say hallelujah?

Used to express praise, thanks, or joy, esp. to God as in a hymn or prayer. Hallelujah is defined as an expression of praise or thanks or rejoicing, especially in a religious context. When you give thanks to God or express religious joy, this is an example of a time when you might say “Hallelujah!”

What is the oldest word?

Mother, bark and spit are some of the oldest known words, say researchers. … Mother, bark and spit are just three of 23 words that researchers believe date back 15,000 years, making them the oldest known words. The words, highlighted in a new PNAS paper, all come from seven language families of Europe and Asia.

What do you call a word that is the same in two languages?

Cognates are words in two languages that share a similar meaning, spelling, and pronunciation.

What word can you not say during Lent?

That word is “Alleluia.” Christians have made a practice of omitting Alleluia from their vocabularies for more than a millennia. Some even go so far as to literally bury the word by making a sign that says, “Alleluia” and then depositing it in the ground where it will stay until Easter morning.

What two days do we fast during Lent?

Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are obligatory days of fasting and abstinence for Catholics. In addition, Fridays during Lent are obligatory days of abstinence.

What is not allowed during Lent?

Also, on Ash Wednesday, Good Friday and all Fridays during Lent, adult Catholics over the age of 14 abstain from eating meat. During these days, it is not acceptable to eat lamb, chicken, beef, pork, ham, deer and most other meats. However, eggs, milk, fish, grains, and fruits and vegetables are all allowed.


Co-authors: 7 – Editors: 32 – Last Updated: 49 days ago – References : 23

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