The language of love is not one that translates smoothly, especially when it comes to international romances.
Sweet nothings really do mean nothing when you realize that a slight mispronunciation has had you whispering “You have the most beautiful horses I’ve ever seen” in the ear of your new Parisian petit amour.
But is it really just down to those hours spent only half listening in high school language classes? Or is there something fundamentally different about the way different countries and cultures experience love that makes it so impossible to translate? Famously, the Star Trek language of Klingon has no verb “to love” (only “to unhate”).
These ten words, some of the most culturally specific in the world, go to show that love is just as many cultured as it is a many splendored thing.
1. Fensterln (German)
The ultra-precise German way of sneaking into the house of the girl you’re seeing by climbing through a window to get into her bed without her parents knowing. Methodical, efficient, well-planned. Fantastisch.
2. Oodal (Tamil)
The act of fake-sulking after getting into a trivial argument with your loved one in order to get them to apologise first. We have all oodaled.
3. Cafuné (Brazilian Portuguese)
The act of running your fingers through a lover‘s hair. Portuguese speakers are all about the fondling: romantics in mainland Portugal can also enjoy use of the phrase Cheiro No Cangote, meaning “to gently nuzzle someone’s neck with the tip of your nose”.
4. Media naranja (Spanish)
In Costa Rica you can schmooze your valentine by calling them your media naranja, “the other half of your orange”. Sweet, dimpled and infinitely juicy: the orange is the queen of the citrus fruits.
5. Mamihlapinatapei (Yaghan)
The Yaghan are an indigenous people inhabiting an archipelago at the southernmost tip of South America. In Yaghan culture mamihlapinatapei is a wordless, yet meaningful look between two people who both desire to initiate something, but are too scared to make the first move. It was listed in the 1994 Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s most succinct word.
6. Manabamate (Rapa Nui)
The aboriginal Polynesian inhabitants of Easter Island have a word for the lack of appetite you suffer when falling in love. Luckily, German has a word for all the junk food you eat during a break up: kummerspeck, directly translating as “grief bacon”.
7. Queesting (Dutch)
When you invite someone into your bed for some pillow talk. The Urban Dictionary example of usage reads: “Queesting was her strong suit, snoring was mine”.
8. Ya’aburnee (Arabic)
This Arabic phrase translates as “you bury me”. It refers to the hope that the person you love will outlive you so you don’t have to go through the pain of living without them.
9. Cavoli riscaldati (Italian)
Literally meaning “reheated cabbage”, this describes the moment when you attempt to rekindle a failed relationship knowing full well that the results will be messy and unsatisfying. In a nation famed for both its passion and its cooking, cavoli riscaldati is a cardinal sin.
10. Mon petit chou (French)
While in Italy, cabbage is the ultimate romance-killer, in France it’s perfectly acceptable to refer to your sweetheart as “my little cabbage”.
As you might expect from supposedly the world’s most romantic culture, the French manage to turn almost any word into a term of endearment. From ma puce (“my flea”) to ma caille (“my quail”), is there is no animal that cannot be made sexy by a French accent?
