Unlock the secrets of untranslatable emotions: words you never knew you needed

HAVE you ever tried to describe a feeling so specific, so delicately human, that no English word could quite hold it?

- VUYILE MADWANTSI

DISCOVER the untranslatable words that beautifully encapsulate our emotions, revealing the complexity of feelings that English often fails to express.

(Pexels)

That tug between heartbreak and hope, or the quiet courage to keep going when the world feels heavy, those emotions exist, but English often fails to name them.

Around the world, other languages have done what English hasn't: they've given names to the unspoken corners of our hearts. As someone who often drifts between words and worlds, I've found English to be... limited. It's practical, yes.

But when it comes to the poetry of being human to the bittersweet ache of nostalgia, the thrill of near-love, or the fragile beauty of impermanence, English stumbles.

And maybe, just maybe, that’s why so many of us find comfort in borrowing words from other cultures, little emotional souvenirs that help us say what we've always felt but never quite managed to articulate.

Let's journey through the untranslatable, the words that feel like emotions you've known all your life but never had a name for.

1. Onsra (India): To love knowing it’s the last time

There's something tender, almost cinematic, about loving someone while knowing it won't last. Onsra captures that ache of the sweetness of holding on while already preparing to let go.