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Is there a word in English which is untranslatable?

The Welsh word hiraeth, the Portuguese word saudade, the Spanish word duende, the German word weltschmerz, Han in Chinese, and others, are considered untranslatable into another language. We can give an approximate translation. "Wistfulness"; "Nostalgia"; "Passion"; "Worldweariness"; "Bitterness".



Doesn't the English word 'spleen' cover the meaning of the above words? It's a word Baudelaire borrows as the title for one of his poems.

And I know at least one word I would not be really able to translate into my language: 'wayfarer'. I admit that it is a poetic word, but we have nothing that evoques the same sentiment.

Last edited by BranShea; 12/13/06 09:41 PM.