I don't think anyone ever posited that it's impossible to describe the differences. Only that some languages optimize for things that they encounter regularly.
With respect to snow and snow-related things, I actually ran into this personally. That thick icy crust on snow that you've described in your comment - it has a dedicated word for it in Russian, наст (nast). It never occurred to me that there isn't an equivalent single word for that in English in 20 years of living in English-speaking countries because it simply doesn't occur in the areas where I live. Until, one day, it did, and I realized that I have to explain-translate it.
(Some other languages that have a dedicated word for that are Polish, Swedish, and Norwegian)
when discussing the Inuit, or way up far north people, it is important to recognise there many indipendently invented technologys, and the language to go with them.
I was very surprised one day to encounter snow that would in fact be suitable to cut into blocks and used structuraly.It is not like any other snow
and is composed of a wind blown deposit, but I suspect that the exaxt conditions for the creation and bonding of the particles are rare @ the 45th paralell where I live.
As to language comanalities and roots, ya sure whatever, it is clear that language is inate, and there are endless spontainious dialects and outright new languages poping up, and at ond point someone had a list of actual languages that had less speakers than klingon.
And generational and class cultural boundry's demand some way to keep secrets and invent ways to create a comunication system that allows for planning a friday night after work shindig, blow the roof off, but you still want to sit and chat with grandma.....so
> That thick icy crust on snow that you've described in your comment - it has a dedicated word for it in Russian, наст (nast)
In Norwegian and Swedish the word is "skare". If I were to translate it to English, I'd just translate it to crust, but it has a similar etymology to English "shear".
With respect to snow and snow-related things, I actually ran into this personally. That thick icy crust on snow that you've described in your comment - it has a dedicated word for it in Russian, наст (nast). It never occurred to me that there isn't an equivalent single word for that in English in 20 years of living in English-speaking countries because it simply doesn't occur in the areas where I live. Until, one day, it did, and I realized that I have to explain-translate it.
(Some other languages that have a dedicated word for that are Polish, Swedish, and Norwegian)