"Untranslatable" is a lazy word. Anything can be explained. The real question is which ideas a language thought worth a single short word — because what earns a short word is evidence of what mattered. The Malayalam words English needs a whole sentence for. Malayalam — Manglish — English: കൈപ്പുണ്യം — kaippunyam — "hand-blessing": why one person's cooking is simply better വാത്സല്യം — vaatsalyam — love flowing downward: parent to child, teacher to student പ്രാരാബ്ധം — praarabdham — the accumulated weight of a life's obligations മടി — madi — the inability to bring yourself to do the thing കൊതി — kothi — craving for a food; longing for what another has, without envy കുശുമ്പ് — kushumbu — petty, comic jealousy. Not അസൂയ (asooya, real envy) ചുമ്മാ — chumma — just, idly, for no reason — and "only joking" സാരമില്ല — saaramilla — never mind. A whole attitude to misfortune ഗൃഹാതുരത്വം — grihaathuratvam — the homesickness of one who is away നാട് — naadu — "your place" — still said by a man thirty years in Dubai തറവാട് — tharavaadu — the ancestral house, and the lineage ഊണ് — oonu — the sit-down rice meal, with its own verb ഉണ്ണുക (unnuka) പൊതി — pothi — a parcel; പൊതിച്ചോറ് (pothichoru), rice in a banana leaf ഉഷാർ — ushaar — alert, sharp, in good form അടിപൊളി — adipoli — excellent. Younger speakers now say പൊളി (poli) അലമ്പ് — alambu — trouble, a scene Then it reverses. Malayalam has no ordinary word for sibling, none for cousin, and no word for "please". So how is Malayalam polite? Grammatically: തരൂ — tharoo — give തരാമോ — tharaamo — could you give ഒന്ന് തരാമോ — onnu tharaamo — could you just give More settings than "please" has — and why a Malayali speaking English can sound abrupt without meaning to. Slow and clear, for English speakers, heritage learners and the Malayali diaspora. Which word does your language not have? Comment below.