Five foreign words capture experiences English misses: tsundoku (Japanese for buying books you never read), sisu (Finnish perseverance), Schnapsidee (German for a drunk idea that's terrible sober), juicy (Swahili for the day before yesterday), and l'esprit d'escalier (French for the comeback you think of too late). These words expand how we notice the world.
Some languages have words for experiences that English can't even name. Here are 5 of my favorites. Number 1, tsundoku. It's Japanese for buying books and letting them pile up unread. You walk into a bookstore, inhale that intoxicating smell of paper and possibility, and suddenly you've bought 5 books you may never read. Congratulations! That's tsundoku. Sisu. It's Finnish for extreme perseverance in the face of adversity. Starting a company when everyone says it'll fail? Running mile 25 of a marathon? In Finland, they say that takes real sisu. But not all untranslatable words are heroic. That leads to number 3, Schnapsidee. It's German for the brilliant plan you hatch while drunk. Let's open a surf shop in Nebraska. At the time, it sounds visionary. The next morning, you realize that was a total Schnapsidee. Number 4, Juicy. That's Swahili. It's a single word for the day before yesterday. English needs 4 words. Swahili needs one. When did it happen? Not yesterday. Juicy. I love that one. And number 5, l'esprit d'escalier. It's French. The perfect comeback you think of after you've left the conversation. You're halfway home and suddenly think, ah, that's what I should have said. Other languages just don't give us new words. They give us new ways to notice life. Sometimes A single word names a feeling we thought only we had.
