LESSON 3

EVALUATING MESSAGES AND/OR

IMAGES OR DIFFERENT TYPES OF
TEXTS REFLECTING DIFFERENT
CULTURES

2ND TERM – 2022-2023

JIMMYLEN ZUÑIGA-TONIO, Ph.D.

jimmylentonio@gmail.com
 8 FILIPINO WORDS THAT HAVE NO
TRANSLATION
1. PASMA
Muscular pain experienced upon immediate contact with cold water, after
sweating or exposing one’s self to heat.
2. PAMBAHAY
A comfortable set of clothes usually worn within private spaces and avoided
during chichi social events.
 8 FILIPINO WORDS THAT HAVE NO
TRANSLATION
3. DISKARTE
The act of being discreetly resourceful.
4. SAYANG
An interjection that connotes frustration over a near-miss.
5. TAMPO
A pretend-tantrum one puts upon to elicit apology from another party.
 8 FILIPINO WORDS THAT HAVE NO
TRANSLATION
6. PIKON
A feeling of anger when one gets served a whoppin’ dose of poetic justice.
7. GIGIL
An extreme urge to squeeze someone or something, usually brought about by a cute
or irritating object.
8. KILIG
A feeling of being intoxicated by the idea of love, whether subjectively experienced
or through mirror neurons.
 The Top 10 Relationship Words That Aren't Translatable Into English
Pamela Haag on November 18, 2011

1. Mamihlapinatapai (Yagan, an indigenous language of Tierra del Fuego):

The wordless yet meaningful look shared by two people who desire to initiate
something, but are both reluctant to start. 

This is an exquisite word, compressing a thrilling and scary relationship moment. It’s
that delicious, cusp-y moment of imminent seduction. Neither of you has mustered the
courage to make a move, yet. Hands haven’t been placed on knees; you’ve not kissed.
But you’ve both conveyed enough to know that it will happen soon… very soon.
 The Top 10 Relationship Words That Aren't Translatable Into English
Pamela Haag on November 18, 2011

2. Yuanfen (Chinese): A relationship by fate or destiny. This is a complex concept. It

draws on principles of predetermination in Chinese culture, which dictate relationships,
encounters and affinities, mostly among lovers and friends.
In common usage yuanfen means the "binding force" that links two people together in any
relationship. 
But interestingly, “fate” isn’t the same thing as “destiny.” Even if lovers are fated to find
each other they may not end up together. The proverb, “have fate without destiny,”
describes couples who meet, but who don’t stay together, for whatever reason. It’s
interesting, to distinguish in love between the fated and the destined. Romantic comedies, of
course, confound the two.
The Top 10 Relationship Words That Aren't Translatable Into English
Pamela Haag on November 18, 2011

3. Cafuné (Brazilian Portuguese): The act of tenderly running your fingers

through someone's hair.

4. Retrouvailles (French):  The happiness of meeting again after a long time. 

This is such a basic concept, and so familiar to the growing ranks of commuter
relationships, or to a relationship of lovers, who see each other only periodically
for intense bursts of pleasure. It’s a handy one for modern life.
 The Top 10 Relationship Words That Aren't Translatable Into English
Pamela Haag on November 18, 2011

5. Ilunga (Bantu): A person who is willing to forgive abuse the first time; tolerate
it the second time, but never a third time.
Apparently, in 2004, this word won the award as the world’s most
difficult to translate. Ilunga conveys a subtler concept, because the
feelings are different with each “strike.” The word elegantly conveys the
progression toward intolerance, and the different shades of emotion that
we feel at each stop along the way.
 The Top 10 Relationship Words That Aren't Translatable Into English
Pamela Haag on November 18, 2011

6. La Douleur Exquise (French): The heart-wrenching pain of wanting

someone you can’t have.
When I came across this word I thought of “unrequited” love. It’s not
quite the same, though. “Unrequited love” describes a relationship
state, but not a state of mind. Unrequited love encompasses the lover
who isn’t reciprocating, as well as the lover who desires. La douleur
exquise gets at the emotional heartache, specifically, of being the one
whose love is unreciprocated.
 The Top 10 Relationship Words That Aren't Translatable Into English
Pamela Haag on November 18, 2011

7. Koi No Yokan (Japanese): The sense upon first meeting a person that the
two of you are going to fall into love. 
This is different than “love at first sight,” since it implies that you
might have a sense of imminent love, somewhere down the road,
without yet feeling it. The term captures the intimation of inevitable
love in the future, rather than the instant attraction implied by love at
first sight.
The Top 10 Relationship Words That Aren't Translatable Into English
Pamela Haag on November 18, 2011

8. Ya’aburnee (Arabic): “You bury me.” It’s a declaration of one’s hope

that they’ll die before another person, because of how difficult it would be to
live without them.

The online dictionary that lists this word calls it “morbid and
beautiful.” It’s the “How Could I Live Without You?” slickly insincere
cliché of dating, polished into a more earnest, poetic term.  
 The Top 10 Relationship Words That Aren't Translatable Into English
Pamela Haag on November 18, 2011

9. Forelsket: (Norwegian):  The euphoria you experience when you’re first

falling in love.

This is a wonderful term for that blissful state, when all your senses are
acute for the beloved, the pins and needles thrill of the novelty. There’s
a phrase in English for this, but it’s clunky. It’s “New Relationship
Energy,” or NRE.
 The Top 10 Relationship Words That Aren't Translatable Into English
Pamela Haag on November 18, 2011

10. Saudade (Portuguese): The feeling of longing for someone that you love and
is lost. Another linguist describes it as a "vague and constant desire for something
that does not and probably cannot exist."
It’s interesting that saudade accommodates in one word the haunting
desire for a lost love, or for an imaginary, impossible, never-to-be-
experienced love. Whether the object has been lost or will never exist, it
feels the same to the seeker, and leaves her in the same place:  She has a
desire with no future. Saudade doesn’t distinguish between a ghost, and
a fantasy. Nor do our broken hearts, much of the time.
WHAT IS ‘LINGUISTIC LANDSCAPE’?
 Kinds of SIGNS
1. REGULATORY – indicates authority and is official or legal prohibitions;
2. INFRASTRUCTURAL – labels things or directs for the maintenance of
a building or any infrastructure;
3. COMMERCIAL – advertises or promotes a product, an event, or a
service in commerce;
4. TRANSGRESSIVE – if it violates (intentionally or accidentally) the
conventional semiotics or is in wrong place, like graffiti
 Online Landscapes
• Netizens – internet + citizen “citizens of the virtual world”
• Virtual space is also a language landscape
• Three of the many media in this landscape are the following:
YouTube Twitter Memes
 YouTube
Television YouTube
Filmed and recorded from a studio Recorded by people who have recording
gadgets at home
Centered Decentered
Have a hierarchy of discourse Not hierarchical
Institutional voice Individual voice
Viewers are dictated by television program Viewers can choose what to watch and when
schedule to watch it.

(Tolson, 2010 in Mooney &Evans, 2015)

 Twitter
• What this virtual landscape looks like depends on the technology and on the
choices the user makes.
• An individual’s experience of Twitter depends on who he/she is following,
which hashtags he/she is interested in, and so on.
• Use of Twitter can vary widely. Can be used for keeping up with developments
in work and career, making sure the train is running on time, following favorite
celebrities, or interacting with friends.
• Due to the user-generated content on Twitter, users are changing the very
landscape they inhabit, even given the small amount of space allowed for each
tweet (140bcharacters).
 Memes
• Any posts, language or photo that has an uptake to a social, moral, or
political idea that most of the time seems funny.
• Memes do not only become viral, it also embeds a lasting impression to
people who can relate to the meme. Since memes are naturally comic in
nature, replicability of memes is one of its best elements.
• People who create memes tend to carefully consider the photo that will be
used, the relevance of the message it wants to convey and the relationship of
the photo, the symbols used, the message, and the font style and sized used.