Translating the word "bullshit"

[Arnaud]

deleted

[robarb]

Interesting how hard it is to directly translate the nuance of "faking the context"!

In Brazilian Portuguese, some one-word translations are:
bobagem "silliness," besteira "beastery," or asneira "assery"

But these are more general words for acting stupidly or wrongly. To emphasize the aspect of "faking it," I'd be more likely to say something like

tá inventando "you're making it up"
or tá adivinhando "you're guessing"

[zatris]

Another one-word Brazilian Portuguese translation is baboseira, which can cover the nuance of "faking it" depending on the context.

Não me vem com essa baboseira. "Don't bullshit me."

Ele começou com as baboseiras de sempre. "He started with his usual bullshit."

Or even história: Ele começou com as histórias de sempre, implying that his histórias are, of course, bullshit.

But also: Ela me contou uma história maluca, "She told me a crazy story," the story not necessarily being bullshit.

[Expugnator]

The most children-friendly and politically correct word would be 'abobrinhas" (zucchinis). Other than that, we just stick to our common Latin-based cognate which is a literal translation from English.

But then if you just want to say that what someone is saying doesn't make much sense, you can go for "Fulano está viajando" which is short for the idiom "viajar na maionese". It's almost non-rude. You can say for example "Fulano viajou naquele comentário sobre redução da maioridade penal". The same idiom can also be used in another context, like, when you're not paying attention and someone calls you, you say "Eu tava viajando". When something seems odd, unheard of, new, inspiring you can say "Que viagem!", as you can say to the news that scientists found a twin planet to Earth. But then now I'm the one who am "viajando"...

[Josquin]

I think the most common German translation would be "Schwachsinn", or more colloquially "Scheiß". However, as a lot of other English expressions, the word "Bullshit" itself has been introduced to the German language as well.

[Polyclod]

I think the most common German translation would be "Schwachsinn", or more colloquially "Scheiß". However, as a lot of other English expressions, the word "Bullshit" itself has been introduced to the German language as well.

Yep, that's actually what I was going to say...I've heard plenty of Was soll denn diese Scheiße?, but I've also heard "bullshit" left gloriously untranslated

Actually I was watching a movie last night and a young girl kept saying "Shit! Shit!" when she was in trouble at school. Is it considered less vulgar to use the English word, or is just something that a German kid with lots of exposure to English would say?

For French, connerie is my go-to word. For Spanish it's either pendejadas or mamadas.

[Josquin]

I think the most common German translation would be "Schwachsinn", or more colloquially "Scheiß". However, as a lot of other English expressions, the word "Bullshit" itself has been introduced to the German language as well.

Yep, that's actually what I was going to say...I've heard plenty of Was soll denn diese Scheiße?, but I've also heard "bullshit" left gloriously untranslated

Yeah, but note that there are two different words: "der Scheiß" in contrast to "die Scheiße". While "Scheiße" is simply "shit", "Scheiß" comes closer to the concept of "bullshit".

Actually I was watching a movie last night and a young girl kept saying "Shit! Shit!" when she was in trouble at school. Is it considered less vulgar to use the English word, or is just something that a German kid with lots of exposure to English would say?

This is another anglicism which has become commonplace. I say it all the time. Yeah, it's quite a mild expression, less vulgar than "Scheiße" anyway. I guess everything sounds nice to a German if you say it in English...

[Chung]

When translating "bullshit!" as a vulgar interjection of doubt or disbelief in Finnish, one can use hevonpaska (literally "horse's shit"). When translating "bullshit" as a noun, paska "crap, shit" on its own can do the job. (e.g. Miks se puhuu nyt paskaa? "Why is he/she now talking (bull)shit?")

[Kazumi]

I think in Greek I have listened to people saying βλακείες and Μαλακίες. I had the impression that the latter one was more vulgar way than the former.

In Turkish I would say “sacma” (saçmalik).

In Chilean Spanish there are a couple of words or expressions being used that can be translated as the “bullshit” from the original thread: chamullo, cuento, mula, cuchufleta, volador de luces, vender humo, huevadas and so on.

In Brazilian Portuguese I have heard many words or expressions. One of them that came to my mind is this one:
“Coisas sem pé nem cabeça”. I believe the expression “Sem pé nem cabeça” is a translation of the Latin “nec caput nec pedes”.

Similarly to “viajar na maionese” that Expugnator has shown, I also have heard “boiar”, “sem cabimento”, “panguar”, “mariou”, “marolar”, “dizer pirações”, “pirar na batatinha” being used in the same context. In European Portuguese perhaps “andar a apanhar papéis” could be a close expression.

In Korean it can be 뻥 or 구라. 뻥 is really harmless. Kids can use it too. So, 구라 is a little bit closer to bullshit.

Considering

The author argues that bullshit has little to do with actual truth or falsehood, and that instead, bullshit uses words almost without regard for their meaning, in an effort to make an impression on the listener

, I have seen 谎言 or谎话 (Mandarin) which relies in the lie, but could be translated in the context I read in a book.

The literal translation would be probably 无赖, 废话, 胡说. Speaking of 胡说, there is even an four idiom in Mandarin which I believe it came from originally: 胡说八道. It still have the equivalent meaning to 胡说.

What about Russian?
Additionally to the tujurikkuja’s list, I have heard these ones:

Чепуха, Хренотень, Лабуда, Фигня, Х...ня, Чушь собачья, бред собачий and ахинея.

[Zireael]

I seem to recall something similar to "viajar na maionesa" used in Spanish by my Venezuelan tutor.