This is Hidden Brain, I'm Shankar Vedanta.

If you grew up speaking a language other than English,

you probably reached for words in your native tongue

without even thinking about it.

Coachley, it's Werksa.

Mal de porco.

Alma polma.

There are phrases in every language that are deeply evocative

and often untranslatable.

If you're studying a new language,

you might discover these phrases not in your textbooks,

but when you're hanging out with friends.

My name is Jennifer Diakone Cruz.

Jennifer moved to Japan for graduate school.

And I ended up living there for 10 years.

It took just one week of living in Japan

for Jennifer to pick up an important new term.

Mendo Kusai.

Here's what she says it means.

It's this phrase that describes something between

I can't be bothered or I don't want to do it

or I recognize the incredible effort

...