Lost in Translation.

Cause I'm feeling a little romantic and sappy, I'm sharing with you today some words about love that have no English language equivalent.  I found them through a random tumblr post, of all places.    

• Koi No Yokan (Japanese): The sense upon first meeting a person that the two of you are going to fall into love.

• Mamihlapinatapei (Yagan, an indigenous language of Tierra Del Fuego): The wordless yet meaningful look shared by two people who desire to initiate something, but are both reluctant to start.

• Yuanfen (Chinese): A relationship by fate or destiny.  This is a complex concept; it draws on principles of predetermination in Chinese culture, which dictate relationships, encounters and affinities, mostly among lovers and friends.

• Cafune (Brazilian Portuguese): The act of tenderly running your fingers through someone's hair.

• Retrouvailles (French): The happiness of meeting again after a long time.

• Forelsket (Norwegian): The euphoria you experience when you're first falling in love.

Finding untranslatable words like these was one of my favorite parts of learning a foreign language (German, in my case).  Weltschmerz - or "world hurt," the feeling of sadness while thinking of the evils of the world - is still in my vocabulary, for example.  But the above are a lot lovelier than that, so forget I ever mentioned weltschmerz :)

xo. di.

*The Notebook image via; untranslatable words via