Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Lost in Translation.



Cause I'm feeling a little romantic and sappy, I'm sharing with you today some words about love that have no English language equivalent.  I found them through a random tumblr post, of all places.    
  • Koi No Yokan (Japanese): The sense upon first meeting a person that the two of you are going to fall into love.
  • Mamihlapinatapei (Yagan, an indigenous language of Tierra Del Fuego): The wordless yet meaningful look shared by two people who desire to initiate something, but are both reluctant to start.
  • Yuanfen (Chinese): A relationship by fate or destiny.  This is a complex concept; it draws on principles of predetermination in Chinese culture, which dictate relationships, encounters and affinities, mostly among lovers and friends.
  • Cafune (Brazilian Portuguese): The act of tenderly running your fingers through someone's hair.
  • Retrouvailles (French): The happiness of meeting again after a long time.
  • Forelsket (Norwegian): The euphoria you experience when you're first falling in love.
Finding untranslatable words like these was one of my favorite parts of learning a foreign language (German, in my case).  Weltschmerz - or "world hurt," the feeling of sadness while thinking of the evils of the world - is still in my vocabulary, for example.  But the above are a lot lovelier than that, so forget I ever mentioned weltschmerz :)

xo. di.

*The Notebook image via; untranslatable words via

1 comment:

  1. love love love this post!!

    PD: I read this post today in a spanish blog and I thought that you would like it. http://muymolon.com/2013/07/17/dibujos-que-cobran-vida/

    ReplyDelete

thanks so much for the note! i love reading your comments. xo. di.

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