måndag, november 12, 2012

Lagom

Jag hittade en underbar lista på ord som inte går att översätta till engelska.

Här kommer några exempel:
Mamihlapinatapei (Yagan, indigenous language of Tierra del Fuego) – “the wordless, yet meaningful look shared by two people who both desire to initiate something but are both reluctant to start” 
Iktsuarpok (Inuit) – “To go outside to check if anyone is coming.”
Tartle (Scottish) – The act of hestitating while introducing someone because you’ve forgotten their name. 
Ilunga (Tshiluba, Southwest Congo) – A word famous for its untranslatability, most professional translators pinpoint it as the stature of a person “who is ready to forgive and forget any first abuse, tolerate it the second time, but never forgive nor tolerate on the third offense.” 

Tingo (Pascuense, Easter Island) – Hopefully this isn’t a word you’d need often: “the act of taking objects one desires from the house of a friend by gradually borrowing all of them.” 
 
Saudade
(Portuguese) – One of the most beautiful of all words, translatable or not, this word “refers to the feeling of longing for something or someone that you love and which is lost.” Fado music, a type of mournful singing, relates to saudade.

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