Lost in translation

an illustrated compendium of untranslatable words from around the world

No cover

Ella Frances Sanders: Lost in translation (2014)

English language

Published Nov. 17, 2014

ISBN:
978-1-60774-710-9
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OCLC Number:
866837228

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3 stars (1 review)

"An artistic collection of 50 drawings featuring unique, funny, and poignant foreign words that have no direct translation into English. Did you know that the Japanese have a word to express the way sunlight filters through the leaves of trees? Or that there's a Swedish word to describe the reflection of the moon across the water? The nuanced beauty of language is even more interesting and relevant in our highly communicative, globalized modern world. Lost in Translation brings this wonder to life with 50 ink illustrations featuring the foreign word, the language of origin, and a pithy definition. The words and definitions range from the lovely, such as goya, the Urdu word to describe the transporting suspension of belief that can occur in good storytelling, to the funny, like the Hawaiian pana po'o, which describes the act of scratching your head to remember something you've forgotten. Each beautiful, simple illustration …

5 editions

Subjects

  • Iconicity (Linguistics)
  • Picture-writing
  • Foreign elements
  • Semiotics
  • Translating and interpreting
  • Visual communication
  • Language and languages