Languages are such complex and beautiful creations. It’s intruiging to think that what a society recognise as words, the sounds we make or the symbols we write, have no real logic or sound reasoning attached to their existence. The only meaning they really have are the ones we have created for them. Those specific feelings, images, and ideas that are evoked upon their sight or utterance. The eye upon a written word, or the ear upon a spoken word, works merely as a memory jolt to spark an understanding. The foundation of communication.

 

It is estimated that there are up to 7,000 different languages spoken across the world. So I guess it comes as no shock that amongst so much organic creation there are instances where either a singular word, or an entire concept, is untranslatable from one language and culture into another. There is simply no direct equivalent for these concepts and words. To illustrate this point some of my most favorite untranslatable words are:

 

 

Saudade: A Portuguese word describing ‘a vogue, constant desire for something that does not and probably cannot exist, a nostalgic longing for someone or something loved and then lost.’
Komorebi: the word the Japanese have that describes the way sunlight filters through the trees – the interplay between light and leaves.
Goya: In Pakistan’s national language of Urdu ‘Goya’ is the transporting suspension of disbelief that can occur in a scenario such as good storytelling.

Culacinno: The Italian word for that little mark round left on a table by a cold glass.

Wabi-Sabi: A Japanese noun for ‘Finding beauty in the imperfections and things you cannot change, an acceptance of the cycle of life and death.’

Trepverter: A Yiddish word that means “A witty response or comeback you think of only when it is to late to use”

 

Last but not least is one of the most beautiful words I have discovered, Mahmihlapinatapai: This word is from the Yaghan language of Tierra del Fuego, which means “a look shared by two people, each wishing that the other will offer something that they both desire, but are unwilling to suggest or offer themselves.”

 

These words may be foreign, yet the feelings they conjure are so familiar. It fills me with wonder and comfort to know that no matter what different corners of the earth we each may stem from, or which culture we are immersed within, or what language we speak, we can still relate to one another. We as humans each experience so many central and fundamental emotions and feelings. Those of happiness, sadness, love, loneliness, yearning. It is these concepts and sentiments that connect us to one another, and really need no words at all.