3 ms·

>Trying to preserve this through translation is never going to work for many reasons, mainly because turning meaning from something continuous into discrete wor

>Trying to preserve this through translation is never going to work for many reasons, mainly because turning meaning from something continuous into discrete words is done differently in different cultures so a words true meaning can be hiding between several words of the language you wish to translate to. Therefore some things become hard to say which used to be common phrases. This has obvious consequences for culture but it also means that often when you as an individual move from one language to another you unlock more of your innate assumptions and see how your language defined your approach to problems in some ways. Gaining understanding of these assumptions gives more 'room to move in', perspective wise, I find. I get what you mean, but you should give some examples, if possible. Nothing cements abstract notions in the mind quite like examples - in my experience, anything hard requires 1. an example that demonstrates the phenomena, then 2. the theory necessary to properly understand which aspects of the example you're referring to that demonstrate the phenomena, before you finally understand the phenomena as it acts in the example and 3. can model the concept in your mind independent of the example.

michaelbuckbee 9y ago
I'm not sure if this is exactly what the commenter above was referring to (or what you're looking for), but a really tricky aspect of translation is humor. Things like alliteration, rhyming, and homophones are all incredibly difficult to move across languages and those are _easy_ compared to the slang and idioms. An example: In Tagalog, the word for blue is "asul" which more or less directly leads to an English/Tagalog joke about how "People have been telling me to cheer up all week, they keep calling me an 'asul'". Which to understand, you need to be fluent in Taglog, English slang and have the cultural background to understand that "blue" means sad (which isn't universal).
- ASalazarMX 9y ago
  To support your point, blue (the color) is "azul" is Spanish, but blue (the feeling) is "triste". As a native Spanish speaker, I was lost for a few seconds with your example.

michaelbuckbee 9y ago

I'm not sure if this is exactly what the commenter above was referring to (or what you're looking for), but a really tricky aspect of translation is humor. Things like alliteration, rhyming, and homophones are all incredibly difficult to move across languages and those are _easy_ compared to the slang and idioms. An example: In Tagalog, the word for blue is "asul" which more or less directly leads to an English/Tagalog joke about how "People have been telling me to cheer up all week, they keep calling me an 'asul'". Which to understand, you need to be fluent in Taglog, English slang and have the cultural background to understand that "blue" means sad (which isn't universal).

ASalazarMX 9y ago
To support your point, blue (the color) is "azul" is Spanish, but blue (the feeling) is "triste". As a native Spanish speaker, I was lost for a few seconds with your example.