There are no words...

In a recent issue of my favorite magazine, there was a list of foreign words that don't exist in English, but they believe should be added to the dictionary. These words sum up in one word what it can take a few sentences to explain in English. It's like the German word schadenfreude: enjoyment obtained from the troubles of others, especially one who has been exceptionally privileged and fortunate in the past. It perfectly captures the feeling you have when, say, a brown-nosing co-worker gets called into the boss' office and put on probation.  While similar words exist in English (like gloat), they are not exactly the same, nor are they as much fun to say.

Now I, by no means, know every English word, much less every Spanish word, but there are a few common words in English that I struggle to find a common equivalent to in Spanish. For example, the word 'procrastinate'. There is no one single word to describe this verb. Sure, there is delay, postpone, or push back, but when it comes to a synonym in Spanish, the dictionary can only say 'to leave things for later'. I think there could be two possible explanations. One is that necessity is the mother of invention: English speakers tend to intentionally leave things until the last minute so a verb was created to describe the action. The other possible explanation is that procrastinating is more socially acceptable in one culture versus the other. Maybe purposely leaving something until the very last minute still falls under the category of 'getting it done' and carries no negative connotations with it, so no verb is necessary. Just last night, though, the mother of one of the kids I give private lessons to was telling me about a project her daughter had to do and how she'd known about it for a week or so, but was first doing it now. She said she always leaves things for the last minute. I guess that puts the kibosh on at least one of my theories.

UPDATE: I've finished doing some research and found that the verb procrastinar is considered a word, according to the Real Academia Española (the official authority on the Spanish language). It is not in either of the online dictionaries that I usually use though, so I am just going to go ahead and assume that it is not used or known by the general population.

Another word that I need to use in Spanish is the word stare. When the kids at school complain that another student is staring at them, they use the verb mirar (to look at, to watch). To say stare the way I want to say it, you would have to say mirar fijamente (to at something intently). In my opinion, it just doesn't have the same negative connotation in Spanish. When walking down the sidewalk in Spain, you will notice the the gaze from fellow citizens will follow you much longer than what is comfortable for someone from the US. As I remember, in the US once you make eye contact with a person you are passing on the sidewalk, you switch your gaze. They don't play by those rules here. The starers in this country are mostly men as opposed to women, and there doesn't seem to be a time limit on observing a passerby. While in the US, the person would have crossed into 'staring' territory after maybe three seconds, they are still in 'mirando' territory in Spain even after twenty seconds, as far as I can tell. 

A Spanish word that English is lacking is the word estrenar (to use or wear for the first time). Wearing a new outfit for the first time can be exciting. Asking someone, 'Are those new shoes?' sounds so vanilla compared to '¿Estrenas zapatos?' But clothes aren't the only thing you can use estrenar for: new car, using the new light rail for the first time, using a new pen, a new gym, whatever. Doing something or going somewhere for the first time is exciting and English lacks a solid verb to express this small, but exciting part of life.

And a word that I recently picked up at the 'cole' (the elementary school): muda. It appeared on a preschool field trip information sheet for parents. The parents were instructed to send their child to school the morning of the field trip with a bottle of water and 'una muda' (a change of clothes/underwear). I feel like less is more when talking about underwear.