One of the most difficult words to translate... - Krystian Aparta

As simple as it seems, it’s often impossible to accurately translate the word you without knowing a lot more about the situation where it’s being said. Krystian Aparta describes the specific reasons why it can be difficult, citing examples from many different languages.

Lesson by Krystian Aparta, animation by Avi Ofer.

[Jonic_P]

*Applauds the poor people that had to translate this video*

[elineverstraeten]

But then the English decided to be polite all the time.
Classic.

[boogeyman]

When English decided to use only the polite word, the politeness of the word gradually disappeared.

How ironic.

[laapapapa]

In Finnish we have a word for "I wonder if I should run around aimlessly"
Juoksentelisinkohan

[imen]

In arabic “you” depends on the gendre, the politeness and wether you’re talking to 1, 2 or more people.

[ericyamaguchi]

I'm surprised they didn't mention Japanese. There are probably only 50+ ways to say "you" the most common being kimi, anata, omae, and anta.

[iluminax]

Imagine having 7 forms of "you"
and 16 forms of "the"


*angry german noise*

[ayeyou]

this video its all about “You”.





yeah you

[MrKingrey]

Rush Hour 3 quotes:
Yu: May I help you?
Carter: We'll be askin' the questions, old man. Who are you?
Yu: Yu.
Carter: No, not me, you.
Yu: Yes, I am Yu.
Carter: Just answer the damn questions, who are you?
Yu: I have told you.
Carter: Are you deaf?
Yu: No, Yu is blind.
Carter: I'm not blind, you blind.
Yu: That is what I just said.
Carter: You just said what?
Yu: I did not say what, I said Yu!
Carter: That's what I'm askin' you!
Yu: And Yu is answering!
Carter: Shut up! (turns to personnel) You!
Yu: Yes?
Carter: No, not you, him! (to personnel) What's yo' name?
Mi: Mi.
Carter: Yes, YOU!
Mi: I am Mi!
Yu: He is Mi, and I am Yu.
Carter: And I'm about to whoop your old ass, man, 'cause I'm sick of playin' games! (points to everyone in the room) You, me, everybody's ass around here! (points to tall student) Him--I'm-a kick his ass, I'm sick of this!

[trapscope]

In Soviet Russia, there is no “you”. Only “we” comrade.

[cheatyfrever]

"What is your name? "
"Yu"
"No, not me. You!"
"Yes, I'm Yu"

[audreymorgan]

All of the languages where in the subtitles, they ignored 3:10

1.Chinese (Taiwan)
2.Croatian
3.Czech
4.Dutch
5.French
6.German
7.Indonesian
8.Japanese (They translated everything except the you’s)
9.Latvian
10.Mongolian
11.Polish
12.Portuguese
13.Portuguese (Brazil)
14.Portuguese (Portugal)
15.Serbian
16.Slovenian
17.Spanish
18.Swedish

And there you have it, 18 out of the 33 languages gave up on 3:10.

[wolf-bass]

In Korean, it is considered rude to use the pronoun “you“. Koreans prefer using titles and names. The only common exceptions are in song lyrics, where the person you are talking to could be anyone, and when people are “politely“ fighting with someone, such as after having a car accident.

[nouche]

That’s partly why, as a French person, I much prefer to translate INTO English rather than FROM English.

[emilybarlaston]

When Zamenhof created his international language Esperanto, he used "ci" for informal you, and "vi" for formal. When asked what to do if there was doubt about which form to use, he advised students to use the formal "vi". The result was that basically everyone began to use "vi", and "ci" fell into disuse. Here endeth the lesson.

[nothanks]

2:49 You didn't write "you" correctly in Chinese, although ‘尔’ was used in place of '你' in the past.

[firenzarfrenzy]

The narrator apologising to the translators was the funniest and kindest thing in this video

[renjunsriceroll]

Occasionally when I use “you” when talking to my friends they get confused too... like

“I think smoking is bad”
Yea like if you smoke everyday you are probably going to get bronchitis.
“But I don’t smoke??”
Wait I don’t mean you as in you I mean you as in general you hkjdgahjbddjhhashg

[IMMASICKKKFUCK]

in arabic "YOU" came in 5 shapes
"inta" for a male.
"inty" for a female.
"antoma" for 2 persons
"antom" for a group(3 or more) of people
"antona" for a group of females

[blackparadoxx]

So back in the day people used to say "Fuck Thou"??