Untranslatable Words

Consider every time you've tried to explain something to someone, but couldn't quite find the right word to illustrate what you were feeling.  Sometimes it seems more appropriate to describe a feeling because there just isn't a word in the English language that will communicate exactly what you want to say.
https://goo.gl/kRbSAe
Here are a series of links to words that illustrate just that - sometimes, the word that we are looking for simply cannot be easily translated.



On the other hand, in her blog post entitled "Are there untranslatable words?," Oxford editor Caroline James states that "When we say that a word is untranslatable, we tend to mean that it lacks an exact or word-for-word equivalent in our own language. In our desire to make everyone and everything understood, we sometimes forget that languages are living, writhing beasts: they evolve..."

 Interesting perspectives that illustrate our concern with, and fascination for, accuracy in communication.

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