Schmor (2023), "Discovering Languages: 'Untranslatable' Words in Amharic" — CASLT blog

• Author: Rebecca Schmor.
• Publication: Canadian Association of Second Language Teachers (CASLT) blog, November 6, 2023.
• URL: https://www.caslt.org/en/blog-discovering-languages-amharic/
• Type: secondary/popular — a language-education-outlet listicle-style post; stance is mixed: it uses "untranslatable" in its own title (credulous framing) but its closing line explicitly reframes the words as products of "unique cultural and historical influences" rather than asserting genuine untranslatability (a mildly skeptical hedge, distinct from a purely credulous tourism piece).
• Accessed: 2026-09-04.

Extract

• Tizita (ትዝታ), defined: "A bittersweet feeling of remembrance or longing for a moment, thing, or person in one's past, stronger than nostalgia."
• Direct comparison claim, quoted exactly: "Stronger than nostalgia, this unique Amharic word is perhaps similar to the Portuguese 'saudade'" — an explicit, named cross-reference to this project's own first word case study.
• Three other Amharic words are given in the same post, useful for later expansion but not pursued this session: Issey (እሰይ), an expression of extreme satisfaction at good or bad outcomes, compared by the source to German Schadenfreude (already a word case study on file); Ayzosh/Ayzoh (አይዞሽ/አይዞህ), a gendered comfort expression roughly "be strong"/"have courage"; Intin (እንትን), a filler word ("the thing"), compared to English "umm."
• Closing framing, paraphrased: the words are presented as reflecting Ethiopia's own "unique cultural and historical influences" rather than as proof of genuine untranslatability — a self-aware hedge on the article's own listicle framing.

Used in

• Tizita