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Writer's pictureFederica Lupis

What can I do when I don’t know a word in a foreign language?

Updated: Jul 29, 2023


Chinese whispers

Photo by Ben White on Unsplash


Language trainer, interpreter and translator.


Last week, I went to Sushi Train with a friend. We tried a delicious dish sprinkled with a white vegetable, but we couldn’t figure out what it was.

‘What is it?’ Cristina asked me with her eyes wide open.

“No idea!’, I said. ‘Let’s ask.’


In case you’re not familiar with Sushi Train, this franchise springs from one of the greatest ideas of 1950s’ Japan. It’s a rotation sushi bar system where fresh sushi moves along a conveyor belt and customers help themselves as chefs prepare a variety of succulent dishes right in front of them.


As a young chef was about to drop one of my favourite dishes on the conveyor belt, the Salmon Volcano Ship Aburi, I had to make a hard choice between appeasing my rumbling stomach and satisfying my curiosity.


‘Excuse me’ I said as I was staring at the Volcano Ship sailing away, ‘What’s the vegetable on this dish?’

The young man hesitated, then murmured ‘It’s white carrot’, bowed, and left in haste.

I looked at my friend, confused. ‘White carrot?’, I repeated as my brain was scanning its vegetable database to find a match.

‘I think he meant white radish’ Cristina said, solving the mystery.

Meanwhile, the young man returned to our booth to apologise ‘I’m sorry, I meant white radish’, he said as a slight blush covered his cheeks.

‘No worries! Thank you!’ Cristina and I said with a smile.


After discovering the identity of the mysterious vegetable, the evening continued with a mountain of sushi. We ate so much that in the end we found it hard to budge!


On my way home, the white carrot came back to me. ‘That guy was smart’ I thought. ‘He didn’t know how to say radish in English, but he found a way around it’.


And that’s how I came up with the idea for this newsletter. Today, we will talk about the strategies you can use when you don’t know a word in a foreign language.

Enjoy!



1. Can you use something similar?


The first strategy to fill in the gaps when you don’t know a word is to go through your wealth of knowledge. Can you replace the word you want to use with another word that has the same meaning?


For example, according to a BBC article, there are about 3,000 words in British English for ‘being drunk’. While not all words have as many synonyms, it is often possible to find a word that has the same or a similar meaning.


The English word ‘suitable’, for instance, may be hard to recall for someone whose English is not their first language. ‘Good’ would be a much easier alternative, and synonym.


Using the word ‘suitable’ may indicate a better mastery of the language, but for the purpose of communication does it really matter how ‘polished’ your language is?


2. What about a definition?


One of my first jobs in Australia was in a deli where I was surrounded by delicious Italian cold meats. (My mouth is watering just thinking about it…)


After a few hours on the job, I realised that I didn’t know how to say ‘slicer’, so I asked my colleague who casually said: ‘You mean the machine you use to cut the ham? I have no idea!’


Her reply opened a new world to me. Until then, I had been panicking about not knowing every single English word, but since that day, I’ve become much more relaxed.


Without knowing it, my colleague had just given me a strategy for dealing with most words I don't know in a foreign language.


Let’s go back to the slicer. My colleague didn’t know the English word for it, but she knew that a slicer is a machine and that it’s used to cut ham.


If you look up the definition of ‘slicer’ in any dictionary, you will see that my colleague used something very similar. And we can do the same with any word!


Whenever there is a word in a foreign language that you don’t know, you can use a definition instead of the actual word. For example, if you don’t know how to say ‘bottle opener’ in a foreign language, you could say ‘the thing you use to open bottles’.


With practice, you will learn more vocabulary. In the meantime, this strategy will make your life easier.

3. Just ask!


When we speak a foreign language, we often refrain from asking how to say something because we don’t want to bother other people or, even worse, look silly.


I’ve said many times that neither native speakers nor fluent people know all the words of a language, but if you still hesitate to ask for help, think about this:

Would it be easier to communicate if you asked someone how to say something and moved on, or if you didn’t say much because you don’t know some words? In what scenario would you learn the most and feel more confident about speaking?


Asking how to say something in a foreign language doesn’t mean that we are annoying or silly; it just means that we are learning. So, if you can’t find a synonym or a definition for a word, just ask. There’s no reason not to do so!

~ ~ ~

To summarise:

1. In most cases, we can replace a word that we don’t know with a synonym.

2. In others, we can use a definition.

3. When the above strategies don’t work, just ask and move on. You will enjoy the learning process and learn more!


Thanks for reading!

I’ll catch you all next month!

If you enjoyed my article, you can discover my tried and tested language learning strategies in my books:


How to learn a language fast

How to learn a language fast

and here are this month's book offers:


This newsletter was brought to you by NN Occupational Health, Experts in Pre-Employment Screening.


Go to the Italian version.


To read my previous article click below:

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1 Comment


Saveria Parisi
Saveria Parisi
Jun 18, 2022

Great article!

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