[UA] Translation problems

[Mattias Östklint]

>>  it is culturally and linguistically utterly untranslatable to swedish

>Ok, I have to ask.  What makes it so untranslatable (if it's actually
>possible to describe)?

First off, the "running gag" (Change: coins and transformation) is tricky
to translate. This would be possible to work around, but tricky. That's
linguistics.

Second off, the "subconcsious culture" (Car, Coin, Gun, Flag) doesn't kick
in.

Coin is no problem.

Car. We have a public transportation system worth the name, sidewalks
pretty much everywhere, cities are eminently bikeable, you can get a
drivers licence at 18, we don't have sex in our cars. I'm 33, have a
licence but no car, live 10 km from work (bus and bike both take 20
minutes), live in a smallish town and have never had sex in a car. Cars
aren't holy here.

Gun. Contrary to what you might expect, there are quite a lot of guns per
capita here, but almost all of them are for hunting. Home protection means
getting a better lock or possibly an alarm, not a pump-action shotgun.
Military service is pretty mandatory, so almost all men learn how to fire
and operate an assault rifle, but most of them never fire a gun again. Me,
I didn't do military service and have never fired a gun, I've held a rifle
maybe twice and nobody I know even own a pistol (that I know of).
Semi-automatic 30 round capacity Tech-whatever are... SciFi, stuff from
movies. Guns aren't holy here.

Flag. In europe in general, patriotism is right up there with nazism and
fascism, words mostly used to describe people with extreme-right leanings
and very short hair. The flag as a symbol has little meaning, and not all
of what it means is positive. IKEA is a stronger symbol for sweden than the
flag. Flags aren't holy here.

word

Mattias