About Untranslatable.org
Untranslatable.org celebrates "Treasure Languages" – the thousands of small languages still spoken in the world today.*
Why small languages?
Talk to a speaker of a major language and you'll quickly discover a cherished word that is apparently untranslatable. Portuguese has saudade (longing), German has schadenfreude (gloat), Dutch has gezellig (cosy), Greek has μεράκι (with passion), and so on. These are well known, so this site covers small languages and previously unreported words.
When linguists journey to remote places, they record speakers of undescribed languages. In the process of compiling the first ever dictionaries for these languages, we stumble on intriguing words and ideas. Our work has us delving into out-of-print dictionaries, and then we hit an entry that makes us laugh out loud.
When linguists journey to remote places, they record speakers of undescribed languages. In the process of compiling the first ever dictionaries for these languages, we stumble on intriguing words and ideas. Our work has us delving into out-of-print dictionaries, and then we hit an entry that makes us laugh out loud.
Why share untranslatable words?
They’re fun! They shed light on other cultures, reveal different patterns of thought, and spark our curiosity. Sometimes, they influence how we analyze and classify the world around us.
When they compiled their dictionary of Nootka, Edward Sapir and Morris Swadesh need not have included šiˑšaˑwiɬtaqyo because its meaning is predictable from its parts. But we think Sapir and Swadesh knew what they were doing as lexicographers, and chose to include this word because its meaning is so comical to westerners. So, following the example of Sapir and Swadesh, the linguists contributing to this site want to share more of these `untranslatable' words, and in the process, show why these small languages are distinctive, valuable, and powerful. Each one a treasure for all the world.
When they compiled their dictionary of Nootka, Edward Sapir and Morris Swadesh need not have included šiˑšaˑwiɬtaqyo because its meaning is predictable from its parts. But we think Sapir and Swadesh knew what they were doing as lexicographers, and chose to include this word because its meaning is so comical to westerners. So, following the example of Sapir and Swadesh, the linguists contributing to this site want to share more of these `untranslatable' words, and in the process, show why these small languages are distinctive, valuable, and powerful. Each one a treasure for all the world.
Want to do more to celebrate linguistic diversity?
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*Treasure Language is a term coined by the Rama people of Nicaragua (source).
