"Dr. Hal, do you know any foreign words that are untranslatable? And could you translate some of them?"
Answer:
Well, that's a tall order. But not, perhaps, beyond the resources of "Ask Dr. Hal." Let's see… You want something untranslatable. Well and good, but the fact is that the English language is actually flexible enough to take in foreign words and make them part of the vocabulary. Then, of course, they're English and (technically) require no translation. The trick would be to find some that will be but haven't yet become part of the language. And here they are: Schaddenfreude-- I offer this one first because it's already entering English, and many know it. It's useful, too, as they all tend to be. It signifies the joy that one feels as a result of another's misfortune. That's clear enough. How about the Italian expression, Cavoli riscaldati-- literally, "re-heated cabbage." The attempt to revive a dead love affair. Dohada (from the Sanskrit)-- means the, shall we say, unorthodox cravings of pregnant women. Drachenfutter-- this one is German, and stands for a gift brought home from a husband to his wife after he has stayed out far too late. Literally, "dragon food." Esprit de l'escalier-- one of my personal favorites. French for the "spirit of the staircase," it means, get this, the response to a public insult that comes into your head only after you have left the party. The thing you belatedly realize you ought to have said, but didn't. Too bad it didn't occur to you. Here's a good one: Nakhes (this is Yiddish)-- a mixture of pleasure and pride, typically felt by beaming parents when their child makes them feel proud for a change. Then there's that almost indefinable Iroquois Indian term Ondinnonk. Translation: the soul's innermost benevolent desires. That is to say, the angelic parts, so to speak, of human nature. Let's go to Russian for the last one: Razbliuto. This means the feeling you have for something or someone you once loved but now do not.
