15 Words With No English Equivalent

[sfox52]

Komorebi (Japanese) It means the effect of sunlight filtering through tree branches and leaves, creating visible shafts of light. Title of the most recent release from the California Guitar Trio- My daughter and I caught their show locally last night & I bought the CD. The American member of the band began his explanation of the term by saying" there are words in other languages that do not translate easily to English". This morning I get on AK and this old thread pops up. Synchronicity? Serendipity?

 

[harman/kardon]

Synchronicity (according to Carl Gustav Jung) for sure. And thank you for your interesting contribution to this topic.

 

[captainclock]

Chrysler's Caravan, Car-a-van?

Actually the Dodge Caravan was named after the word caravan meaning a group of travelers.
For example there was a caravan of men and their camels traveling through the desert.
The Dodge Caravan wasn't named because it was a van on a car chassis.

 

[dyche01]

перетечь (pe-re-TETCH): Russian word meaning to resurrect an online conversational thread that has been dormant for at least five years.

 

[MaxxVolume]

"Dados de Piez"
Literally translated, "foot fingers"....when I was in Panama many years ago, I discovered their version of Spanish does not have a word for "toes"...."foot fingers" is as close as it gets....

 

[dyche01]

перетечь (pe-re-TETCH): Russian word meaning to resurrect an online conversational thread that has been dormant for at least five years.

This is, by the way, a joke.

 

[BigElCat]

Six years...I've been trying to think of one. It's going to be a kaDoozy.

 

[guiller]

Another example that comes to mind: there are two verbs in Spanish (as well as in all Romance languages such as Italian, Portuguese, French, Romanian) that have related but different meanings and that are translated as one verb in English: ser and estar translate as to be. The difference between the two Spanish verbs pertains eternal or transitory condition: soy humano, estoy enamorado, corresponding to I'm human, I'm in love.

 

[harman/kardon]

Another wonderful German word is "Heimat" - it get's a bit distorted when translated into English. It is another word full of warmth and Geborgenheit. At least there is an English saying describing in a way the slant (?) of "Heimat": "Home is where the heart is".

 

[finnbow]

Another German one - Massengefühl - Literally translates as the feeling of the masses (similar, but different to herd mentality in English, but with a generally positive connotation0

 

[sfox52]

^ That one sounds like something you would find in a drugstore!

 

[harman/kardon]

Another German one - Massengefühl - Literally translates as the feeling of the masses (similar, but different to herd mentality in English, but with a generally positive connotation0

I never heard "Massengefühl" before, I just checked the web and found almost nothing. I speak German since about 1964.

 

[finnbow]

I never heard "Massengefühl" before, I just checked the web and found almost nothing. I speak German since about 1964.

https://www.mydict.com/Wort/Massengefühl/
https://kulturkritik.net/kultur/massengefuehl/index.html
https://books.google.com/books?id=--mzBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA57&lpg=PA57&dq=Massengefühl&source=bl&ots=4nwx-eNSYC&sig=cP5h2hR5F9WH_vHu4Nm64IPPtuE&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi4zKW-2vfTAhXJRyYKHUseCUYQ6AEIRTAE#v=onepage&q=Massengefühl&f=false

It's the term used to describe the collective feelings/emotions of a large mass of people that derive, in part, from the emotion of being in a large crowd of like-minded people.

 

[dyche01]

A couple more Russian words with no one-word English equivalent

Незнакомка (ne-zna-KOM-ka): a woman with whom one is not acquainted.
Крановщица (kran-ov-SHCHI-tsa): female crane-operator

 

[harman/kardon]

https://www.mydict.com/Wort/Massengefühl/
https://kulturkritik.net/kultur/massengefuehl/index.html
https://books.google.com/books?id=--mzBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA57&lpg=PA57&dq=Massengefühl&source=bl&ots=4nwx-eNSYC&sig=cP5h2hR5F9WH_vHu4Nm64IPPtuE&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi4zKW-2vfTAhXJRyYKHUseCUYQ6AEIRTAE#v=onepage&q=Massengefühl&f=false

It's the term used to describe the collective feelings/emotions of a large mass of people that derive, in part, from the emotion of being in a large crowd of like-minded people.

This is what I also found, Pat.

However - I learned a new German word. Nice, although I'm sure that I will never encouter this word again.