Lost in Translation: Foreign Words for Familiar Concepts

 

beautiful-untranslatable-words-9_result

Soon to be a familiar feeling.

I came across this post about foreign words that are not easily translated into English via the wonderful blog A Cup of Jo. I just loved the illustrations, and it’s a theme I often studied (and found fascinating) in many of my college linguistics classes. We tend to think that since English is so powerful and dominant, it can easily express any concept–but sometimes it simply lacks the conciseness and elegance of other languages. Here are a few examples of the foreign words, ranging from the familiar French and Spanish to the lesser-known Inuit and Urdu.

beautiful-untranslatable-words-6_result

My favorite part of Spanish culture, and maybe the reason I keep going back.

 

beautiful-untranslatable-words-4_result

beautiful-untranslatable-words-7_result

beautiful-untranslatable-words-3_result

untranslatablewords2_result

beautiful-untranslatable-words-8_result

beautiful-untranslatable-words-1_result

See the full post here.

Originally posted on Maptia, also mentioned on A Cup of Jo.