The idea of counting syllables for languages other than English reminded me of a fun personal experience.
When I was in high-school, I was in a camp with some American Peace Corps students in my country. They were learning Romanian since they had been spending some time here and were curious. At one point, one of them asked 'how do you say "hug"?' to which we replied 'îmbrățișare' (uhm-bruh-tzee-shuh-reh, approximately). They were taken aback, and after a pause, jokingly quipped 'don't you have a shorter word? Like... Hug?'.
When I was in high-school, I was in a camp with some American Peace Corps students in my country. They were learning Romanian since they had been spending some time here and were curious. At one point, one of them asked 'how do you say "hug"?' to which we replied 'îmbrățișare' (uhm-bruh-tzee-shuh-reh, approximately). They were taken aback, and after a pause, jokingly quipped 'don't you have a shorter word? Like... Hug?'.