Is there such a word as "foresitter" in English? Can I use it instead of "chairman"?
In Russian there are two words: "prezident", borrowed from Latin (meaning president), and native Slavic "predsedatel" (meaning chairman).
In their structure both words mean "the one who sits in front". But in English "chairman" sounds weird and disrespectful. So many foreign offices are translated as "president" which is very confusing. Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the USSR for instance has been translated as "president" or "premier" at times; Chairman of the People's Republic of China recently switched to being translated as "President of China" etc. Note that in the Chinese language the word for "president" is different from the title of their head of state and they officially translate the office name into Russian as "predsedatel", not as "prezident".
So, my question is: would it not be better and more understandable if such offices were translated as "Foresitter"? Would it look uneducated?