the study of the italian language over the past two years has made me think so much about the english language and how we use it. it's amazing to me that i can sit here and type sentence upon sentence without even having to think about it. and then you, my audience, will understand exactly what i say. languages interest me so much. i can't get enough, and unfortunate for all of the other students in my italian class, i'm always asking four thousand questions about minute details of the language. it seems that one cannot express themself as acutely in another language as they can in their native tongue. this may be ignorance in it's purest form, but it seems to me mainly, if it's not said in english. since i've only ever studied two other languages, (if you count latin as a legit tongue..) it's not fair to say that every single emotion can onlyyyy be described so perfectly and correctly in english. but that's honestly how i feel. at the risk of offending the italians...i don't understand how so many words can have so many meanings. yes, we have this in english, but i feel like it's not to the same degree. if i want to take a shower i, ''faccio una doccia'', but i also ''faccio i miei compiti'' do my homework, but then if i want to get a gift for a friend i, ''faccio un regalo''. the verb ''fare'' can mean so much it's beyond confusing to me. there are many words in italian that just can't be translated directly into english. the word ''antipatico'' doesn't necessarily mean ''rude'' or ''antisocial'' or ''mean,'' but something of all those feelings mixed together, watered-down a bit, and then fitted into specific contexts.
anyways, before i get carried away on a grammatical and syntaxical lecture, i'll finally get to why i'm even posting today at all...i found on the internet some interesting words that hold a meaning specific to their language, but more importantly to their culture. they can't be directly translated into english. some of them are really interesting and i just thought that i'd share a few...
fingerspitzengefuhl (german):
to have a good feel for the situation at hand and being able to react accordingly.
jhoota (hindi):
second hand and partially eaten by someone else, used in the context of food.
mammismo (italian):
a belief among young men that no one can love them as much as their mothers.
uitwaaien (dutch):
the pleasure of walking in windy weather.
kummerspeck (german):
''grief bacon" literally, weight gained from emotion-related overeating
kilig (filipino):
the tingling sensation you feel when someone you like did something really romantic for you, or even when you just see him/her pass by.
pochemuchka (russian):
a person who asks a lot of questions.
cafuné (brazilian portuguese):
the act of tenderly running one’s fingers through someone’s hair
prozvonit (czech):
to call a mobile phone and let it ring once so that the other person will call back, saving the first caller money
tartle (scottish):
the act of hestitating while introducing someone because you’ve forgotten their name
iktsuarpok (inuit):
to go outside to check if anyone is coming
dépaysement (french):
the feeling that comes from not being in one’s home country
hyggelig (danish):
connotations of a warm, friendly, cozy demeanor, but it’s likely something that must be experienced to be known, like good friends, cold beer, and a warm fire.
ya’aburnee (arabic):
both morbid and beautiful, meaning “you bury me,” a declaration of one’s hope that they’ll die before another person because of how difficult it would be to live without them.
k.
