Translatable but Debatable
המון and הרבה

I may be twenty-something years out of touch.  In Spike Lee’s 1989 film Do the Right Thing, a character who thinks his favorite pizzeria should be decorated differently says belligerently, “Since we spend much money here, we do have some say.” I thought that in colloquial English, anyone would say we spend a lot of money, or we spend lots of money.

With the word many, for countable nouns, there’s no problem.  It works formally, it works informally, it always does the right thing.  But in translating הרבה for a noun that isn’t countable, you can find yourself abandoned both by much and by lots of. In your quarterly report to shareholders, you don’t want to say “in the Galilee, we sold lots of pizza.”  Too casual.  But “in the Galilee, we sold much pizza” sounds awkward, like a Comanche in an old Hollywood Western.  Unless, as I said, I’m out of touch.  So we’re driven to longer alternatives like large quantities or a great deal or amounts that are impressive or substantial or sizeable. The Babylon online dictionary lists some concise synonyms you might not want:  myriad, oodles, and scads. But strictly speaking, a myriad is a רבבה, ten thousand.

Suppose that in the Galilee you sold הרבה פיצה and המון גלידה.  To your family, you could say you sold lots of pizza and lots and lots of ice cream, and they would get the point.  A large quantity of one and, by some undefined standard of comparison, an even larger quantity of the other.  To your shareholders, I’m not sure what you say.  For המון, Babylon lists only much/many, plenty, lots of, oodles, and world. Since המון is generally considered greater than הרבה, either there more oodles in המון than in הרבה, or each oodle is larger.

As a translator, have you run up against הרבה and המון in a context where they contrast?  Have you run into הרבה on its own where neither much/many nor a lot seems suitable?  Relevant comments are welcome below.  If you have a comment that strays from the topic at hand, please write to me at instead.  Your thoughts will not be used here without credit.