12 Words From Other Languages With No English Translation — And What They Quietly Reveal About Us
The Japanese word for buying books and never reading them. The Inuktitut word for checking the door for a guest who isn’t there yet. English left these on the table.
Part of: Weird But True
Every language quietly admits that English left some things on the table. These are the words other languages built for very specific feelings — and what they say about a culture that bothered to name them.
The Portuguese word saudade describes a deep, melancholic longing for something or someone that may never return. It’s not nostalgia. It’s heavier, with a touch of acceptance. Brazilians use it constantly. English speakers reach for it and find nothing there.
Japanese gives us tsundoku — the act of acquiring books and letting them pile up unread. Anyone with a nightstand understands. Nobody in English ever got around to naming it.
German, predictably, has Backpfeifengesicht: a face badly in need of a slap. It is a compliment to no one and a small linguistic gift to everyone.
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Inuktitut speakers in Nunavut use iktsuarpok — the restless feeling of going outside again and again to check if a guest is coming. It’s built into the language because the social context demanded it.
These words don’t just fill gaps. They tell you what each culture decided was worth naming. English decided to name 47 kinds of business meeting. Other languages aimed higher.
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Original editorial. Written by The Daily Stash Editors. See our editorial policy.