04-06-2010, 02:04 PM
I think it's great that romance languages have different words for love, such as familial love, platonic love, and romantic love. I talked with Notorious Mental, a Greek member, and he explained the four different words for "love" in Greek to me. It was very interesting
Concerning the different words for "snow", it's true that Eskimo languages might even have over 40 words for snow! I found that to be very surprising. In Swedish, there's about 5, but I only know two: "snö" (snow) and "kramsnö", which is snow that is compact enough to be used with snowballs, snowmen, and so on.
Concerning emotions, I think English does well enough. If I want to say that I am depressed, I can simply use an word like "crestfallen". If that isn't enough to express how depressed I am, I can also default to intensifiers like "very".
Concerning the different words for "snow", it's true that Eskimo languages might even have over 40 words for snow! I found that to be very surprising. In Swedish, there's about 5, but I only know two: "snö" (snow) and "kramsnö", which is snow that is compact enough to be used with snowballs, snowmen, and so on.
Concerning emotions, I think English does well enough. If I want to say that I am depressed, I can simply use an word like "crestfallen". If that isn't enough to express how depressed I am, I can also default to intensifiers like "very".