Dolls in other languages

'Faceup' in Mandarin would be 脸妆（lian zhuang）/面妆(mian zhuang)

 

Japanese uses a lot of English words so most things are the same. For example ウィッグ just says "wig" in English.

Some things are slightly different like Sカン (S-kan) is S hook

 

Many spanish people (not all) uses some english words, although we have our own words. For example, usually we prefer use "white skin" instead the Spanish words "piel blanca". But to say words like "faceup", we almost always use his Spanhish word "maquillaje"

Also there are some words, like faceplate, which don't have any word in Spanish.

 

In Dutch, doll is called 'pop', wig is 'pruik/ pruikje' and S-hook is 'S-haak'. Words like face-up, face-plate and white skin don't have a Dutch equivalent.
We sometimes do ask 'welke kleur is je pop?' (what colour is your doll?) to ask about the skintone, but normally we simply use the word 'skintone'.

 

Since I'm only in English forums, I only use English terms, not German ones. ^^
It's like Silk said, many terms don't have equivalents in other languages or are just kept that way.
But I know a German dealer who at least tries sometimes to use German terms.
Like Face-up would be "Gesichtsbemalung", which is more like face-painting.
Wig is easy to translate, would be "Perücke". ^^
And skin colour would be "Hautfarbe", which is the same.
But you asked for S-hook, that would be "S-Haken". Not so different from Dutch. ^^

But as Yaisha said there are many terms in asian languages which are the same in English. Not only therefore. DOD for example even have their link "community" written the same only in hanguel (korean writing).
Especially DOD used to have their categories written in hanguel but read in English before their new site came up. Now they're all in English even on their Korean site. ^^

If you want to know further terms, just ask. It's fun. ^^

 

I think almost every doll owner in Denmark uses mostly the english terms, but some terms is possible to translate into danish, other is not.

Doll would be dukke
Wig would be paryk
S-hook would be S-krog (I've never seen it used though)
Ball-joints would be kugleled
If a doll have yellowed, you can say it has "gulnet"

Terms like body blushing, face-up, coating, sanding, sueding, restringing, normal/white skin, faceplate either can't be translated or would sound awefully wrong when translated.

 

I find it funny that some Dutch BJD owners prefer that their dolls are called "doll" and not "pop". It probably sounds fancier in English.
I don't think there are commonly used Dutch equivalents for "head cap" and "head back" either. I haven't heard anyone use "achterhoofd" (back of the head) or "hoofdkap" (a literal translation of head cap) instead of "head cap".
More than once I see Dutch people use "mold" and "sculpt" and not the Dutch equivalents. "Mal" would rever to a silicone mold only and not a doll head mold and "sculptuur" isn't used to refer to "sculpt" in this hobby or at least not when I'm around.
Dutch people very often adopt English words, more than once mauling them and even turn nouns into verbs.
For example "face-up" can be used as a verb in Dutch to indicate you are painting or going to paint a doll's face.

[edit] "Joint" and the Dutch word "gewricht" are used interchangeably.

 

This is interesting!
Just thinking about this I felt like I don´t speak my native language anymoreXD I talk half english even normally but when it comes to doll terms I use english for almost everything.
But...
Doll in Czech is Panenka but we have more words for that. Because Panenka is mor for a girl doll we also use Panáček for boy dolls. Thoug speaking about BJDs I mostly say dollfie (yeah...but otherwise it would sound really strange in Czech so...)
Wig would be Paruka which is like the only thing I say in Czech including doll. S-hook would be S-hák though I am not sure if anyone would ever use it like that.
As for faceup we have no special word for that at all.
For any other doll related terms...I only collect BJDs so I wouldn´t know because all of those terms I use are in english-_-;

 

Or more mature, as if there is a distinction between childhood dolls (pop) and dolls for grown ups (doll). I probably use the word 'doll' on a Dutch forum, because it is used by almost everyone, but at home, they're just my 'poppen'.

EDIT: cookies if you still follow me.

 

I've been in French Immersion since grade 7, but I'm almost sure that a lot of the terms would be kept the same, especially here in Canada with the Quebecois using a lot of English terms.

However... "doll" is "poupée", "wig" is "perruque", and "faceup/makeup" would be "maquillage". I'd assume most of the other terms would be identical. Anyone want to correct me on this?

 

I'm German and when I and my friends talk about BJDs, we almost always use the english words ^^; Sometimes it's pretty funny mixing up english and german, but we always know what we mean XD
But I also saw ppl saying "Gesichtsbemalung"("Facepaint") or just "Gesicht"("Face") for face-up, faceplate would be "Gesichtsplatte" and the S-Hook is the "S-Haken" ;D

 

Very much like people who are into action figures say they aren't toys, but collectables! Actually, I've noticed I started to use "popje" (little doll) more often around certain Dutch BJD owners as it's more endearing than "pop".

 

I'm french, but using the french words is really weird for me since I am almost alwasy on english communities....

Like Lord said, its way simpler to just keep the english words...

And Poupee seems so childish xP
I prefer to just say BJD (We say it B-G-D in french ;3) =P

 

Wow, this is a fun topic.

Here's some in Finnish: The word for a doll is nukke (nuket in plural), and it is the word also used for all kinds of dolls. A 'ball-jointed doll' would be a pallonivelnukke, but I think the more commonly used word for them is hartsinukke, that's 'a resin doll', basically.

A wig is peruukki, S-hook is S-koukku and face-up is just face-up or meikki, which means make-up in Finnish. Skin color is ihon väri. ^^

 

I tend to say "pop" so people will know what I'm talking about, but I really dislike the sound of that word. "Doll" sounds much more tender and soft :3

 

WoW, I love this topic! And seeing all the different words that are still kinda similar...for example:

wig = peruukki, perruque, paruka, perücke, pruik/ pruikje - and you know, in Hungarian it would be "paróka"

I wonder which one was the original?

Anyway we try to use Hungarian words where we can. Especially since Hungarians are a bit language-challenged so we have plenty of members on our forum who doesn't speak English. They would never understand some of the jargon, so we try to translate it (we actually started a mini-dictionary )

Doll would be baba in Hungarian. It also means "baby", so we can find ourselves in some funny situations if we aren't careful. Some actually prefers to use the word "doll" because of this I personally say játékbaba which means "toy doll". I don't mind people thinking I'm playing with toys at my age, but I would mind if they thought I'm expecting a baby!

We use arcfestés for face-up. It means facepainting, but I like it, because that way even non-dolly people can't mistake it for "make-up". Coming up with a sensible word for budyblush was hard - but finally testpír won. It kinda means "slightly blushy red color of the body". As a verb we try to use the equivalent of "shading" (árnyékolás). Headcap became fejtető - that's "top of the head", and a faceplate is arctábla (face-board )

But we still can't find any useful word for "sueding". Agh! It's so hard to explain it to every newbie

Naturally half of the dolly people here like to use the English words, that's what we came to know first. But we try to make an effort for those who don't understand - and of course for our native language (which I personally love very much)

Oh, yeah one thing we almost never use the English word for is "S-hook". That's always S-kampó around here (it means exactly the same).

 

Just to say, I think this is a very useful and informative thread! I'm half Spanish but I'm new to the doll community in general so I haven't even ventured outside from DOA and my English-speaking friends. I think a little database would be good with the generally accepted words in each language - then we can see where the gaps are! I also think it would also be helpful for non-native English speakers who join DOA, as well as encouraging those of us who speak other languages to seek out other doll communities and be able to express ourselves properly

 

Well, since I've been learning Norwegian I have had to pic up on a lot of things:
doll = dukke
wig = parykk
dream doll = drømmedukke

You can just say faceup, for faceup, but you can say fjesmaling (face painting) too, which is more common. It just depends on how you want to say it. A lot of english words are still used, lucky for me. Haha.

 

What an interesting topic! Perhaps I can contribute a little.
I speak Russian, Hebrew and English.
Doll = buba in Hebrew and kukla in Russian. Kukla usually refers to a female doll, although it's a general word, so many russian doll owners sort of invent words to describe male dolls, such as kukel or kukol. These are not proper words, but they are widely used in the BJD community.

Another interesting and funny term which arose in the russian BJD circle is the word yorik which is used to describe a floating doll head. It's actually derived from Hamlet - "Alas, poor Yorick!" (when Hamlet is speaking to a human skull).

Wig = pea in Hebrew, parik in Russian.

Make up = ipur in Hebrew, makiyazh in Russian. However, the english word "make up" is used more often with BJD's.

The english words "blushing" and "brushing" are also used, as well as "faceplate".