20 Awesomely Untranslatable Words from Around the World
There are at least 250,000 words in the English
language. However, to think that English, or any language, could hold enough
expression to convey the entirety of the human experience is as arrogant of an
assumption as it is naive. Here are a few examples of instances where other
languages have found the right word and English simply falls speechless.
1. Toska
Russian – Vladmir Nabokov
describes it best: “No single word in English renders all the shades of toska. At its deepest and most painful, it is a sensation
of great spiritual anguish, often without any specific cause. At less morbid
levels it is a dull ache of the soul, a longing with nothing to long for, a
sick pining, a vague restlessness, mental throes, yearning.
In particular cases it may be the desire for somebody of something specific,
nostalgia, love-sickness. At the lowest level it
grades into ennui, boredom.”
2. Mamihlapinatapei
Yagan (indigenous language of
3. Jayus
Indonesian – “A joke so poorly told and so unfunny
that one cannot help but laugh”
4. Iktsuarpok
Inuit – “To go outside to check if anyone is
coming.”
5. Litost
Czech – Milan Kundera,
author of The Unbearable Lightness of Being, remarked that “As for the meaning
of this word, I have looked in vain in other languages for an equivalent,
though I find it difficult to imagine how anyone can understand the human soul
without it.” The closest definition is a state of agony and torment created by
the sudden sight of one’s own misery.
6. Kyoikumama
Japanese – “A mother who relentlessly pushes her
children toward academic achievement”
7. Tartle
Scottish – The act of hestitating
while introducing someone because you’ve forgotten their name.
8. Ilunga
Tshiluba (
9. Prozvonit
Czech – This word means to call a mobile phone and
let it ring once so that the other person will call back, saving the first
caller money. In Spanish, the phrase for this is “Dar un toque,” or, “To give a
touch.”
10. Cafuné
Brazilian Portuguese – “The act of tenderly running
one’s fingers through someone’s hair.”
11. Schadenfreude
German – Quite famous for its meaning that somehow
other languages neglected to recognize, this refers to the feeling of pleasure
derived by seeing another’s misfortune. I guess “
12. Torschlusspanik
German – Translated literally, this word means
“gate-closing panic,” but its contextual meaning refers to “the fear of
diminishing opportunities as one ages.”
13. Wabi-Sabi
Japanese – Much has been written on this Japanese
concept, but in a sentence, one might be able to understand it as “a way of
living that focuses on finding beauty within the imperfections of life and
accepting peacefully the natural cycle of growth and decay.”
14. Dépaysement
French – The feeling that comes from not being in
one’s home country.
15. Tingo
Pascuense (
16. Hyggelig
Danish – Its “literal” translation into English
gives connotations of a warm, friendly, cozy demeanor, but it’s unlikely that these words truly capture
the essence of a hyggelig; it’s likely something that
must be experienced to be known. I think of good friends, cold beer, and a warm
fire.
17. L’appel du vide
French – “The call of the void” is this French
expression’s literal translation, but more significantly it’s used to describe
the instinctive urge to jump from high places.
18. Ya’aburnee
Arabic – Both morbid and beautiful at once, this
incantatory word means “You bury me,” a declaration of one’s hope that they’ll
die before another person because of how difficult it would be to live without
them.
19. Duende
Spanish – While originally used to describe a
mythical, spritelike entity that possesses humans and
creates the feeling of awe of one’s surroundings in nature, its meaning has
transitioned into referring to “the mysterious power that a work of art has to
deeply move a person.”
20. Saudade
Portuguese – One of the most beautiful of all
words, translatable or not, this word “refers to the feeling of longing for
something or someone that you love and which is lost.” Fado
music, a type of mournful singing, relates to saudade.
For myself, the hardest
part about learning a new language isn’t so much getting acquainted with the
translations of vocabulary and different grammatical forms and bases, but
developing an inner reflex that responds to words’ texture, not their
translated “ingredients”. When you hear the word “criminal” you don’t think of
“one who commits acts outside the law,” but rather the feeling and mental
imagery that comes with that word.
Thus these words, while standing out due to our
inability to find an equivalent word in out own language, should not be
appreciated for our own words that we try to use to describe them, but for
their own taste and texture. Understanding these words should be like eating
the best slab of smoked barbequeued ribs: the
enjoyment doesn’t come from knowing what the cook put in the sauce or the seasoning,
but from the full experience that can only be created by time and emotion.
Jason Wire
http://matadornetwork.com/abroad/20-awesomely-untranslatable-words-from-around-the-world/