11 Untranslatable Words from Other Cultures

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This article is from the Huffington Post but we had to share it on our blog, because it’s so awesome to remember all of the amazing words that exist in different cultures.

You can find vocabulary words underneath each image.

Also, tell us which is your favourite!

German: Waldeinsamkeit

A feeling of solitude, being alone in the woods and a connectedness to nature. Ralph Waldo Emerson even wrote a whole poem about it.

 

Solitude – a state or situation in which you are alone usually because you want to be.

Italian: Culaccino

The mark left on a table by a cold glass. Who knew condensation could sound so poetic?

 

Condensation – small drops of water that form on a cold surface.

Inuit: Iktsuarpok

The feeling of anticipation that leads you to go outside and check if anyone is coming, and probably also indicates an element of impatience.

 

Anticipation – a feeling of excitement about something that is going to happen.

Japanese: Komorebi

This is the word the Japanese have for when sunlight filters through the trees — the interplay between the light and the leaves.

 

Filter – to pass (something, such as a gas or liquid) through a filter to remove something unwanted.

Interplay – the ways in which two or more things, groups, etc., affect each other when they happen or exist together.

Russian: Pochemuchka

Someone who asks a lot of questions. In fact, probably too many questions. We all know a few of these.

Spanish: Sobremesa

Spaniards tend to be a sociable bunch, and this word describes the period of time after a meal when you have food-induced conversations with the people you have shared the meal with.

 

Bunch – group of something, in this case, people.

Indonesian: Jayus

Their slang for someone who tells a joke so badly, that is so unfunny you cannot help but laugh out loud.

 

Slang – words that are not considered part of the standard vocabulary of a language and that are used very informally in speech especially by a particular group of people.

Hawaiian: Pana Poʻo

You know when you forget where you’ve put the keys, and you scratch your head because it somehow seems to help your remember? This is the word for it.

 

French: Dépaysement

The feeling that comes from not being in one’s home country — of being a foreigner, or an immigrant, of being somewhat displaced from your origin.

 

Displaced – to force (people or animals) to leave the area where they live.

Urdu: Goya

Urdu is the national language of Pakistan, but is also an official language in 5 of the Indian states. This particular Urdu word conveys a contemplative “as-if” that nonetheless feels like reality, and describes the suspension of disbelief that can occur, often through good storytelling.

 

Conveys – to make (something) known to someone.

Contemplative – involving, allowing, or causing deep thought.

Nonetheless – in spite of what has just been said.

Suspension – the act of stopping or delaying something for a usually short period of time.

Disbelief – a feeling that you do not or cannot believe or accept that something is true or real.

Swedish: Mångata

The word for the glimmering, roadlike reflection that the moon creates on water.

 

Glimmering – to shine in a weak, faint, or unsteady way.