Emotions speak different languages

Managing your feelings - Emotions

When a word can express your mood better than you can.

by Giusy Letizia

According to the Guinness World Record, Mamihlapinatapai is the most complex word to translate. This word, in fact, has been listed as the world’s most concise term. It comes from the almost disappeared Yámana language and the translation that the rest of world managed to come up with is “looking at each other hoping that either will offer to do something which both parties desire but are unwilling to do”, very complicated right? Or very easy?

In every language in the world, there are countless words that do not have a direct translation, a term that is an exact correspondent, in another language. Usually these words are called untranslatable, and many of them we use to express feelings and emotions.

One of the best known examples is the German term used to describe the common feeling of many Romantic artists: Sehnsucht. Rarely the term is translated into other languages but rather used in its original version, followed by explanations such as the inconsolable longing in man’s heart for no one knows what or yearning for something unattainable.

“Translation is that which transforms everything so that nothing changes.” Günter Grass

©Giusy Letizia

Are these emotions really impossible to translate?

From a technical point of view, when we talk about translation we do not always refer to word-forword correspondence. There are different ways of translating a concept, in this case a word, often it is done simply by going around its meaning until you reach the heart of it. It is up to you to choose whether to mutate the form or the meaning, all depending on the type of text you are translating.

Kilig, the word in the Tagalog language (of the Philippines) stands for that sense of emptiness underfoot accompanied by the tightness in the stomach and lightheadedness one feels when one begins to fall in love, quite specific in short. It would be natural to make its meaning explicit within a romantic tale. In contrast, in translating a poem, where form is more valuable, its meaning would probably be simplified.

Putting the focus instead on the fact that we are talking not only about the translation of words, but of emotions and feelings, the issue becomes much more complex. In fact, to say that we cannot translate them is like saying that we do not all feel the same emotions.

According to U.S. psychologist Paul Ekman there are six primary emotions in human beings that can be recognized by our facial expressions: joy, sadness, anger, fear, surprise and disgust. These are independent of the culture from which the person comes and are common to all human beings. Consequently, their linguistic representation should also be the same. But is it true that we all, regardless of our roots, speak the same language when it comes to emotions?

Lost in translation

© Giusy Letizia

A more recent study published in the journal Science, carried out by researchers at the University of North Carolina, contributed with its findings to the debate about the universality and diversity of how humans understand and experience emotions. It shows, through the study of nearly 2,500 languages, that even primary emotions are expressed and perceived differently in cultures that speak different languages. The research states that emotion concepts had different patterns of association in different language families. For example, they state that “anxiety” was closely related to “fear” among Tai-Kadai languages, but was more related to “grief” and “regret” amongst Austroasiatic languages.

It is therefore possible that there are emotions that are common to all of us, the nuances of which (linguistically) may vary depending on the culture in which they develop. But, on the other hand, the possibility exists that some cultures are unable to experience certain feelings because they lack the (linguistic) tools to express them.

“When you learn something, learn its concept, not just its name. ”Richard Feynman

© Giusy Letizia

While researching these untranslatable emotions, I found some that are very common and others really curious. I also realized that they express feelings common to current generations. They deal with issues that are at the heart of so many contemporary issues, related to how young people today cope with events such as pandemic, war, climate change. Nothing new in short, but it is also true that in the past certain emotions were not addressed as significant topics, social anxieties and fear of failing were seen more as weaknesses than feelings to be analyzed and addressed. Today we are lucky enough to be able to go to google and find out that in another language there is a word that perfectly expresses the state of mind you are in. This way we know that someone else has already experienced it and taken the trouble to name it, so a simple word can help you feel less alone.

Here is a short list with some of them:

Engentar

You know when you feel overwhelmed by the movement of a big city, by a crowd, by the people around you? When you need to be peopled out, in Mexico the Spanish word engentar expresses exactly this feeling: to seek and allow yourself a serene, enriching solitude. A space just for you, so that you can then devote yourself to others with greater awareness.

Wabi-sabi

Wabi-sabi is the word that in Japan reminds people to appreciate imperfect beauty, understanding and accepting that what makes it so wonderful is that stain, that imperfection. The term comes from the combination of the word wabi, which expresses that part of beauty that is simplicity, flaws and imperfection; to the word sabi, which describes its ephemeral and changing appearance. Meaning together not only that beauty is imperfect and temporary but that this is what we should appreciate in it.

In Japan, broken objects are often repaired with gold. The flaw is seen as a unique piece of the object’s history, which adds to its beauty.

© Pinterest

Meraki

The word meraki in Greek describes that passion and love you put into creating something of your own. The term actually derives from a Turkish word: “merak” or labor of love. It is when you put part of your soul into it, devoting time and care to it. It can be the devotion you dedicate to your work or a hobby of yours, it can be the creativity you express through one of your artistic creations but it can also be a simple daily activity like baking a cake or cleaning as long as they are completed in a ritualistic way. The important thing is to devote yourself entirely to its realization.

Torschlusspanik

If you ever find yourself thinking “what am I doing with my life?”and worrying that you are falling behind in reaching your goals, the German word Torschlusspanik can perfectly explain your feeling. Apparently, the term dates back to the Middle Ages and refers to the panic that medieval peasants felt when they had to hurry back into the city gates before they closed at nightfall. In fact, it literally means “panic of the closing door.” Nowadays this feeling can be related to the fear of having fewer and fewer options as we age.

Saudade

Saudade is one of the most used words in love poems and romantic songs in the Portuguese language, according to legend, arose in the period of the discoveries and defined the loneliness that the Portuguese, who came to Brazil, had of their land and their relatives. This term describes the mixture of the feelings of loss, lack, distance and love. But while nostalgia is, for example, the melancholy produced in the person exiled by homesickness, saudade is the nostalgic yet gentle memory of people or things that are distant or extinct, accompanied by the desire to see them again. It is something that you miss with joy.