My friend Dan, mentioned before re 40×365 and altered books, is collecting words that can’t be easily translated from one language to another for a project called untranslatable/
He’s put out a call for submissions that I want to pass along:
I would like collect examples of words that are untranslatable and provide a web-based publishing outlet for them to be found.
I am most interested in single words (lacuna) which require phrases, paragraphs, or pages of explanation to try and give a reasonable approximation of their full meaning, but am open to considering anything at all (really, try me) that fits (or answers to, or responds to) the notion of untranslatability.
When submitting, please include:
- the native language the word (or phrase) appears in
- the target language(s) into which it is known to be untranslatable
- as much explanation as you feel is necessary to communicate the full meaning of the word, possibly using a standard dictionary attempt which fails miserably as a starting point (or not, as you see fit)
or, for submissions that don’t fit this idealized set of guidelines, a brief note explaining your submission’s connection to the concept of untranslatability.
Submissions can be as casual or scholarly as your experience dictates, the format I’m planning will allow multiple approaches to the same translation challenge.
Please address submissions to your favorite word, whatever that may be, at logolalia.com.
The URL is http://www.logolalia.com/untranslatable/
Please circulate this call as widely as possible, to anyone in any country or field of endeavor who might have examples to share. This is an open an ongoing call. I will attempt to accommodate all native and target languages to the best of my abilities.
I submitted a few words today. If you can think of some, Dan would be happy to have them.
