[Vivtek]

If you start getting into negative/positive connotations and meditate on them enough, you'll find that nothing at all can ever be translated between any two languages - then if you continue to meditate, you'll find that no actual communication ever takes place at all.

Speaking as a professional translator.

The actual difference between "small talk" and "gossip" is slight enough that they easily overlap depending on the situation. Certainly they show that the German language is capable of conceptualizing the various rituals that we refer to as small talk.

Just because English has no precise translation for "Gemütlichkeit" doesn't mean that English speakers never feel comfortable among a small circle of friends at a restaurant.

I'd also like to say that after many years of living in Germany, I'd say that the notion that no small talk ever takes place within the borders of the country is ridiculous. It might not be taken to the extreme art form that the Brits do it, but H. sapiens talks. Incessantly. Whether there's something to talk about or not.