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October 15, 2010

By Tingo!

MatadorNetwork has collected 20 Awesomely Untranslatable Words From Around the World, in which terms like “tingo” and “saudade” require whole unwieldy sentences (if not paragraphs) to render in English.

The best part of the article is the comments section, in which many more untranslatable words are submitted.  My favorite being the Afrikaans “grillerig,” “the feeling that something creepy has just happened.”

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