'Sometimes its easier to say it in another language'
What is it?
Fascinating, expressive and downright strange words 'untranslatable' into English are posted on a regular basis (donated by readers to be exact), from languages across the globe - well-known or obscure.
Highlights include:
- Guanxi (关系) (Mandarin) - Quanxi is the term often used to express the cultural differences that affect doing business in China vs. the West. Guanxi describes the interplay of a complex network of personal and social relationships. It can be understood in terms of it not being just what you know, but also whom you know.
- Latah (Indonesian) - Uncontrollable habit of saying embarrassing things.
- Mamihlapinatapai (Yaghan) - A look shared between two people where each person is wishing that the other will initiate something they both desire but which neither one wants to start.
- Bakkushan ( バックシャン) (Japanese) - A woman that looks better from behind than from the front.
- Ya'aburnee (يقبرني) (Arabic) - “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.
Why should I care?
Language plays a part in shaping our conceptions of the world, therefore there is value in stepping outside our language sphere and thereby perhaps broadening our conceptual reference points. Many cultures have developed succinct terms that get across a wealth of meaning within a single word; studying these can foster an appreciation of the diversity of cultures out there, and maybe it will also spark some reflection on why English is the way it is, and not some other (equally valid) way.
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