I recently (ish) taught my counselor I see weekly the word agobiada because when she was asking how I was doing, I used that and said I felt like it was more appropriate than saying overwhelmed.
Are there any words for emotions in Spanish you feel convey things differently than their English translation/equivalent that you prefer?
My general opinion is that English approaches things... almost scientifically with words. It feels like for English we have so many more words that convey very specific feelings compared to other synonyms, so I find that I'm almost translating my feelings rather than the words
I've said it before in other posts I think but in English "giggle", "chuckle", "scoff", and "snicker" have totally different vibes but if you look up the words in Spanish it's usually both reír "to laugh" and then you have to add a qualifier
Like "to scoff" is sometimes reír de forma contemptuosa/disgustada "to laugh in a contemptuous/displeased way", while "giggle" I've seen come out as reír disimuladamente "to laugh discretely"
And though I do get the feeling, it kind of takes me out of it - but on the other hand it must be so confusing for a Spanish-speaker to be trying to decide which word is best
English has a very "there's a perfect word for this" while Spanish is more free form and built on vibes and context, and has better words for community, family, and intense and subtle emotions while English is like surgically picking something very specific
Usually it's the other way around for me. Spanish doesn't have a good enough distinction between words of horror in my opinion
Things like "creepy" are harder to translate because there's espeluznante which can be "hair-raising" or "terrifying" but it's hard to convey the same... vibe of "it could be dangerous but it might not be"
I usually have to say mal rollo like "bad vibes" or some other kind of word to get the idea
Emotions in general are harder to translate well; especially happiness and joy, or fear
For Spanish there are just... I don't know there are more specific words that I wish English had
I can't translate mala leche into English very well but any Spanish-speaker knows the intense bad vibes that mala leche has
[also not counting really specific words like tocayo/a "someone who has the same name as you", or "namesake" and "someone you were named after; which makes sense in regions that had strict name regulations coming from Latin or the Bible/saints for many decades]
The other word that I have to always preface is la comida
Because it does mean "food", but it's also "meal". But more importantly, la comida is sometimes the big midday meal we would call "lunch", which is all very different as far as the eating schedule in places with siesta culture rather than the three main meals of (American) English
Also I feel like English has better words that come from onomatopoeias or at least more variety in some of them; to me "squish" and "squash" have different feelings like there's a sound that plays in my head, but it all kinds of comes out as aplastar "to crush" in Spanish