Words that don't exist in English but describe your life better than any other.
Language is like a mirror: it reflects what we feel, what we think, and even what we keep to ourselves. But sometimes, our own language falls short. You've probably experienced an emotion so precise that no single word in English could capture it. And that's where other languages surprise us, giving us terms that seem to have been created to explain what we never knew how to say.
One example is the word “saudade” in Portuguese. It doesn't simply mean “to miss.” It’s more profound: it's a nostalgia with a touch of sweetness, a fond memory of what is no longer. It’s thinking of someone far away and feeling both sadness and beauty in that memory at the same time.
Another case is the Japanese word "komorebi," which describes the sunlight filtering through the leaves of trees. It’s a scene we've all witnessed, but one that in English requires an entire phrase to express.
In German, there's "fernweh," literally "far-sickness." It's the opposite of homesickness: it's not missing a place where you've already been, but rather intensely wishing to be in a place you haven't yet gone to. It's that hunger for travel that pushes us to discover the unknown.
And in Filipino, we find "gigil," that irresistible urge to squeeze, hug, or crush something because it seems too cute. It’s that impulse you feel when you see a puppy, a baby, or even your pet looking at you with big eyes.
The beautiful thing about these words isn't just that they teach us something new, but that they remind us that each language holds a different way of looking at the world. What seems indescribable in English is a part of everyday life in another language.
Perhaps that's the magic of multilingualism: it doesn't just give us more vocabulary, but more ways to feel. And even if we don't always have an exact translation, these words stay with us like a gift, filling emotional voids we didn't even know existed.
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