萬萬沒想到：英語裏表達情緒的詞竟然這麼少

While investigating non-English words associated with positive emotions and concepts, a British researcher recently discovered 216 foreign words for which there is no English translation.
英國研究人員最近在調查研究表示正面情感和概念的非英語語言的詞彙時發現，有216個詞沒有對應的英語翻譯。

There’s an ongoing debate among scientists about language and its connection to conscious experience. Philosopher and cognitive scientist Daniel Dennett has said that language “infects and inflects our thought at every level,” arguing that a significant portion of our perception of the world is influenced by the words at our disposal.
科學家一直在爭辯語言和意識體驗間的關係。哲學家兼認知學家丹尼爾·達內特曾說，語言“影響並且反映我們方方面面的思想”，我們對世界的感知很大程度上受到我們措辭的影響。

Many psychologists, on the other hand, have a hard time believing that humans aren’t capable of grasping a concept or feeling an emotion just because there’s no word for it.
另一方面，許多心理學家很難相信人們會因爲語言裏沒有對應的用語而無法掌握某個概念、不能體驗某種情感。

But as University of East London psychologist Tim Lomas points out in his new study, expanded vocabularies have the potential to “enrich our experiences of well-being.”Lomas managed to uncover an astounding 216 psychologically positive “untranslatable words”—words that have no English equivalent.
但東倫敦大學心理學家蒂姆·羅馬思在他一項新的研究中指出，詞彙量擴展有望“增益我們的幸福體驗”。羅馬思已經發現了多達216個“不可譯”的正面心理詞彙，這些詞沒有對應的英語。

Lomas wanted to see how other cultures verbalize positive emotional concepts and he organized the words into three categories. Here are some examples:
羅馬思想看看其他文化是如何用語言表達正面的情感的，希望這些詞彙可以豐富英語語言,他把這些詞彙分成三類。示例如下：

Words relating to feelings:
和情感有關的詞彙：

Gula: Spanish for the desire to eat simply for the taste
Gula:西班牙語，用以表達衝着味美想吃的願望

Schnapsidee: German for coming up with an ingenious plan when drunk
Schnapsidee：德語，表示酒醉後突然有了絕妙的計劃

Volta: Greek for leisurely strolling the streets
Volta：希臘語，表示在馬路上悠閒地漫步

Words relating to relationships:
和關係有關的詞彙：

Nakama: Japanese for friends who one considers like family
Nakama：日語，表示視作家人的朋友

Kilig: Tagalog for the butterflies in the stomach you get when interacting with someone you find attractive
Kilig: 塔加拉族語言，表示和你覺得有魅力的人在一起交流時心潮翻騰、內心萌動的感覺

Sarang: Korean for when you wish to be with someone until death
Sarang: 韓語，表示想與人至死不分離的願望

Words relating to character:
和性格有關的詞彙：

Sitzfleisch: German for the ability to persevere through hard or boring tasks
Sitzfleisch: 德語，表示能堅持做完艱難又無趣的任務的能力

Baraka: Arabic for a gift of spiritual energy that can be passed from one person to another
Baraka: 阿拉伯語，表示天賦或精神能量可以相互傳遞

Desenrascanco: Portuguese for the ability to artfully disentangle oneself from a troublesome situation
Desenrascanco: 葡萄牙語，表示金蟬脫殼，能巧妙能擺脫困境