Most languages fail when they try to find an equivalent translation for my favorite Portuguese word: saudade…It can describe an emotional state of melancholy, of longing for a loved one or a loved place or a sentimental event, often with no happy end. The Portuguese poet Teixeira de Pascoaes defined saudade as desire for the beloved thing, made painful by its absence. Portuguese speakers complain of “dying of saudades” (morrendo de saudades), or wanting to “kill saudades” (matar saudades) by fulfilling desire. 

 Germans might try to call call it  “Sehnsucht” or “Weltschmerz“, Orhan Pamuk wrote an essay about Turkish “Hüzün”. Be it “saudade” or “hüzün“ it is no coincidence that these feelings are more naturally felt in beautiful port cities like Rio de Janeiro, Lisbon or Istanbul. But every human with a heart may succumb to saudades, not just in Rio or Istanbul, but seriously all over the world.