Words with way too many uses like “doch” in German, “passer” in French, and “to get” in English.

Words that just don’t have simple, accurate translations like “saudade”, “cafuné” and “macumba” in Portuguese, “imbroglio” in Italian, “Zeitgeist”, “Wanderlust” and “Schadenfreude” in German, “Hygge” in Danish, “zalatwic” in Polish, “Тоска” in Russian, and many, many more. 

Reblog this with more examples, as even though these are a great source of stress, they’re also incredibly interesting!

Ever wonder what black-bellied in Japanese referred to?  Or little white face in Mandarin?  What if someone has a blue head in Hebrew, or if they ate the green and the dry in Arabic?  Are you, as the Greek saying goes, one that holds a red sheet in front of a bull?  Or maybe you are yellow around the mouth in Bulgarian terms.  See why it can be sweet to give someone the blue from the sky (Czech) but maybe not spend to much time thinking about blue almonds (Polish).  Learn all of these color idioms and hundreds more that have all been collected from thirty-eight languages in Alan Kennedy’s chart: Color Idioms in Different Languages.

Luis Camnitzer - All those who don’t know how to read English are stupid, 2009

About a month ago I went to the Museum of Contemporary Art in Detroit. I saw this piece in which the six official languages of the UN repeats the phrase, “All those who don’t know how to read (Insert language here) are stupid.” This piece purposefully includes and excludes its reader. I feel that it moves them to feel insecure about their knowledge of other cultures - as only assuming that the other lines repeat the phrase stated in the line that we actually can understand. That insecurity moves us to engage in social understanding and cultural sensitivity; we can promise that this kind of thinking can build a better global community and serve as a muse to the artists who wants their art to make a change for the betterment of humanity.