Pet peeve:
Linguists who claim that no words are truly "untranslatable", then launches into a 5000 word explanation of a concept that doesn't exist in the target language.
Look, I get that sometimes you need to modify existing concepts with an adjective/adverb or preposition, so I'll give you a few world. But it you need more than five words to "translate" a foreign one, you haven't translated it, you have explained or defined it, and the word is untranslatable.
For example, using some of the most common language examples from Swedish to English: the swedish word "mångata" is easily translated as "moonlight shining on still-ish water". "Fika", on the other and, could just be translated as "coffee break", but then you'd lose 98% of the context: it doesn't have to have coffee, it could be a lighter meal, like a snack, it doesn't have to be a break, it can happen at home, it's usually a very communal activity, but it doesn't have to be, but it if it is, it kind of requires you to sit down together, however briefly. The archetype has baked goods, like pastries or open face sandwiches, but I have friends who refer to their mid-morning rice cakes as fika because she can't have gluten. You see the issue. That wasn't a translation.
Thank u for coming to my TED talk.
