5 - Part one: Untranslatable words. Lost in translation.

Those who can fluently communicate in two or three languages may better understand this sentence.

At University my Spanish classmates and myself had a tendency to mix our native language with English words in our conversations. It turned out to be quite natural to keep switching when we thought our idea would be better expressed and understood in English. This is actually something very common to bilingual people speaking in informal interactions. There is even  a technical term for it: code switching.

Fluent communication, and a rapid understanding of the message, is crucial to all species. Being aware that the language we want to use lacks a word for the idea we have in mind can be quite frustrating for the speaker. Thus, we are constantly seeking for the best way to articulate what we want to say, even if that includes borrowing from other languages.

Let's take the word "background", for example. It is a common word that I frequently use when filling out school applications. However, when attempting to translate it to a Spanish student, I oftern find myself struggling: bagaje, historial, conocimientos adquiridos, experiencia....- I would definitely use a whole sentence to make him/her understand what he is required to say/write. Spanish doesn´t seem to have a word that accurately expresses just what the English word "background" does.

My fellow translators would agree that our field has been undervalued in recent years. Very few individuals who speak two languages are able to master the science of translation. Expressing a feeling, an idea or a grammatical entity in a language which doesn´t have an equivalent for it is a real challenge that not many are prepared for. Remember that a good translation is that which maintains the essence of the initial meaning.

Being myself lost in translation so many times encouraged me to carry out a research on those words which seem untranslatable. Hence, I asked several of my international friends to choose a word in their native language and define it in English. The process was very fun and enriching, and the findings were a linguistic lesson to me.

I paid closer attention to the words related to feelings, but I'll leave that for another post.