海角大神

What can we learn from 'untranslatable' words?

A British researcher is tracking words related to positive psychology but considered 'untranslatable' into English, hoping they can shed light on wellbeing.

Have you ever felt Treppenwitz? For non-German speakers, the word may be unfamiliar, but the feeling is not:听coming up with a witty remark, or tossed off joke, that occurs to you only seconds too late.

It's a translation of the 18th century French phrase l'esprit de l'escalier (or 鈥渨it of the staircase鈥�), while the closest English equivalent is perhaps a 鈥渃omeback.鈥�

But with its exact meanings ranging from a personal circumstance to an irony of history 鈥撎齱hen an official who campaigned for peace instead declares war, for example 鈥撎�Treppenwitz is one of many words considered 鈥渦ntranslatable,鈥� without an English equivalent that conveys the same meaning.听

Now, Tim Lomas, a researcher at the University of East London, is attempting to track a specific set of these words: ones that relate to positive psychology, a field that often focuses on the study of 鈥渇lourishing鈥� or wellbeing, 听Positive psychology research听has been applied to coping with the stresses of war, or helping students , for example.听

By creating an index of these words, Dr. Lomas hopes to improve understanding and research into positive psychology, as well as bringing in beneficial ideas from other cultures that researchers may not have thought of previously.

鈥淲hile the field has generally been well-received since its inception, it has drawn some perceptive critiques,鈥� he writes. 鈥淧rominent among these is that its constructions of wellbeing have been shaped by the Western cultural context in which the field emerged. Now, though, the field is becoming more attuned to variation in how wellbeing is conceived and experienced in other cultures.鈥�

That lack of diversity is a concern shared by some linguists. 鈥�Most language studies are more focused on W.E.I.R.D. society, Western Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic,鈥� Hyejin Youn of the Santa Fe Institute, who conducted a study looking at how the meanings of words involve and relate to each other, told 海角大神 in February.

In an article in the Journal of Positive Psychology, Lomas identified 216 words, grouping them thematically into a variety of categories, such as 鈥渇eelings,鈥� 鈥渞elationships鈥� and 鈥渃haracter.鈥� Since then, to 601 words in 72 languages, he writes. But that鈥檚 out of spoken around the world.听

The words reveal a variety of nuances and values that some cultures share, Lomas writes in the January article. The Sanskrit word karuna and the Hebrew koev halev, for example,听refer to identifying with the suffering of others closely enough that 鈥渙ne鈥檚 own heart aches in sympathy.鈥�

Other cultures define similar emotions based on different cultural contexts. The Portuguese word saudade, he writes, is a melancholy longing for a faraway person, place, or thing, either in terms of space or time. In Japanese, by contrast, natsukashii is a nostalgic longing for the past that combines both happiness for a fond memory, yet sadness that it is only a memory.

In rare cases, he writes, 鈥渦ntranslatable鈥� words such as the German Sehnsucht, or 鈥渓ife longings,鈥� have been . That is the type of research Lomas says he hopes to encourage by collecting the words into what he calls a 鈥減ositive cross-cultural lexicography.鈥�

Previously, linguists have found that the environments in which particular languages were used has also shaped their characteristics.听

In a more physically disrupted environment, such as a forest with dense trees and hills,听languages tend to have more steady sounds, particularly vowels, Ian Maddieson, a phonetician and linguist, told the Monitor in November. That also means that as groups migrate, their language also evolves, though likely only slowly over many generations.

Describing the English language as a melting pot made of words borrowed and eventually 鈥渁ssimilated鈥� from many languages, Lomas says many of the words he has identified began as a mystery to him. Others had meanings that he could identify but couldn鈥檛 precisely define when he first discovered them.

But that鈥檚 a benefit, he writes, pointing to a French word that indicates a mix of excitement and fear.

鈥淓ven as it is though, there is a certain frisson from knowing such terms exist; from knowing that our world 鈥撎齪arsed and circumscribed as it is by the limits of our vocabulary 鈥撎齣s far more stranger and more magical than we have ever imagined,鈥� he writes.