Untranslatable

There is a story behind every word. There is a word behind every story. Some concepts require a single word in other languages but paragraphs to explain in English.There are times when it is impossible to have a direct translation of something, to understand an idea at once simple to one mind and unutterably impenetrable to another-except through the bridge of story, through a literal journey into another language, another culture, another mind. The 14 stories in this book are bridges made of words-crossing into language landscapes of Japan, of Sweden, of France, of Portugal, of Tierra del Fuego-glimpses into the worldview and the mindset of cultures different enough from our own to produce a single word that encompasses a world of concepts. Translating the untranslatable. I love Alma Alexander’s writing. Reading one of her stories is like having a beautiful and intense conversation that you walk away from realizing that you’ve learned something you didn’t know about yourself. - Leigh Grossman, author of The Green Lion and The Lost Daughters, creator of Sense of Wonder