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The following foreign words aren't impossible to translate, they just describe phenomena that would take a sentence or two to describe in English. Some, like the Japanese koi no yokan, a more pragmatic version of love at first sight, are certainly worth adopting.
Here are23 words with no direct English translations:
SchadenfreudeLanguage: GermanMeaning: A feeling of enjoyment that comes from seeing or hearing about the troubles of other people
LagomLanguage: SwedishMeaning: Associated with moderation, the word means not too much, not too little, but just the right amount. It typically refers to the etiquette of taking your share.
MencomotLanguage: IndonesianMeaning: Stealing things of small value, mostly for fun rather than out of necessity.
HyggeLanguage: DanishMeaning: The act of relaxing with loved ones and good friends, usually while enjoying food and drink; the word is associated with coziness.
ShouganaiLanguage: JapaneseMeaning: Connected to the idea of fate, this word means that something can't be helped, so why worry about it?
FarginLanguage: YiddishMeaning: To wholeheartedly appreciate the successes of others.
SaudadeLanguage: PortugueseMeaning: Melancholic longing or nostalgia for a person, place or thing that is far away from you.
KomorebiLanguage: JapaneseMeaning: The interplay between light and leaves when sunlight shines through trees.
LitostLanguage: CzechMeaning: A feeling that synthesizes grief, sympathy, remorse and longing.
HanLanguage: KoreanMeaning: A collective feeling of oppression and isolation. As Los Angeles Times put it in2011, "it's as amorphous a notion as love or hate: intensely personal, yet carried around collectively, a national torch, a badge of suffering tempered by a sense of resiliency."
TampoLanguage: Filipino Meaning: Withdrawing affection from a person when one's feelings have been hurt.
CulaccinoLanguage: ItalianMeaning: The stain left on a table from a cold glass of water.
Pena ajenaLanguage: SpanishMeaning: The feeling of being embarrassed for another person.
WaldeinsamkeitLanguage: GermanMeaning: The feeling experienced while alone in the woods, connecting with nature.
PsithurismLanguage: GreekMeaning: The sound of leaves rustling in the wind.
Koi No YokanLanguage: JapaneseMeaning: The feeling upon meeting someone that falling in love with him or her is inevitable.
ShemomedjamoLanguage: GeorgianMeaning: This word describes when you continue to eat an entire meal in spite of feeling full.
RazbliutoLanguage: RussianMeaning: The feeling one has for someone he or she used to love, but no longer loves.
[CORRECTION: Razbliuto is not a traditionally-used Russian word, but is instead a word used by English linguists, comprised of various elements from Russian language.]
ForelsketLanguage: Norwegian Meaning: The specific feeling experienced while falling in love, rather than simply being in love.
MangataLanguage: SwedishMeaning: The glimmering, road-like reflection that the moon creates on the water.
AşermekLanguage: TurkishMeaning: The experience of craving certain foods while pregnant.
[CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article listed aşermek as a noun, rather than a verb.
MadrugadaLanguage: SpanishMeaning: The time of day occurring between late at night (i.e. past midnight) and early morning.
Pana po’oLanguage: HawaiianMeaning: The act of scratching one's head in order to remember the location of a misplaced object.
I know one: saudade (noun, feminine - Portuguese)
It is the feeling of missing something or someone you love.
Like when you say "I miss my mother" - this feeling would be "saudade" and it doesn't exist in English.
syntactic differences between languages are more the result of cultural differences that affect usage than the inability to translate a word. For example, the phrase "How are you" in English doesn't really make sense when those words are directly translated into languages such as Japanese, or Korean. instead, in a similar situation, the direct translation would be "Healthy?" (Japanese) or "where are you going?/did you eat?" (Korean). Also, many problems stem from words that do have a translation, but a different usage. Especially with a language such as English, many words have multiple meanings.
The question is: in which language? In my mother tongue Hindi, there are hundreds of such words and expressions which cannot be translated into English. For example, there is a word 'to' very frequently used for emphasis but, none can translate a sentence like, 'tum to bas biblkul pagal ho' without losing the exact sense.
"AnniPayee" (Punjabi language) has no direct English translation :)
yes
there is some arabic(morrocan)word has no equivalence in english
the word schadenfreude it has no equivalence in english so they use the german word schadenfreude means pleasure derived by someone from another person's misfortune Retrouvailles en French
in chinese language： 不好意思 ( bu hao yisi ).
its meaning is that when someone found that he/she did something
bad or wrong unconditionaly then that person can use this word 不好意思
Commuovere (Italian, v.): to be moved, touched or affected (e.g., by a story).
Dor (Romanian, n.): longing for a person, place, or thing that is out of reach and you love very much.
F/pirgun (פירגון) (Hebrew, n.): ungrudging and overt (expressed) pride and happiness at other's successes.
Geborgenheit (German, n.): feeling protected and safe from harm.
Mamihlapinatapei (Yagán, n.): a look between people that expresses unspoken but mutual desire.
Mерак (Serbian, n.): pleasure derived from simple joys.
Morgenfrisk (Danish, adj.): feeling rested after a good night's sleep.
Nakama (仲間) (Japanese, n.): best friend, close buddy, one for whom one feels deep platonic love.
Nakakahinayang (Tagalog, n.): a feeling of regret for not having used something or taken advantage of a situation.
"Yes. They are in arabic: "Alfaylatouse
there is words wich can not have a direct translation as the words of nomination such as table, university
