sketchbook
Tem texto que é muito bom pra ficar esquecido numa página de word.
Escritos autorais de alunos e ex alunos.
The Untranslatable Sense Of Belonging
Diego Betioli
Is there any word that is impossible to translate into any language?
If you pay attention to the translation of the meaning itself, you would probably say “no”. But if we talk about the feeling behind each word — what it really means to the region and people from whom these words belong — we could list several examples, especially looking at our Brazilian Portuguese (which is, to be honest, the official Portuguese language. Right?).
In an article for the mainstream Brazilian journal Folha de São Paulo, the actor and writer Gregorio Duvivier spoke delved into this feeling using the word “capricho” as an example: it is a word that, in Brazil, means to do something with care, offering the best as a service. It can be applied to all kinds of situations, but when buying food, for example, you are asking the seller to be generous in how he is preparing your order. You could translate it into English to something like “do the extra” or anything similar to it; but this is not the real meaning for us, Brazilians. Because it’s not only related to the size or quality of the product or service; when we ask someone to “caprichar”, we are expecting it to be done like the seller was preparing it to his own mother; to someone he loves. With affection.
While reading this article, I realized how many other words evoke the same feeling, and how hard it is, actually, to “translate ourselves” into other languages. When you start speaking other languages, you aren’t just talking, but, somehow, impersonating a whole culture. Thinking about that, I traveled back to the day when I had a band (I miss that so much. Or, could I say” saudades disso”). I used to be the vocalist and main composer, and there was a real difference between the lyrics I wrote in English and in Portuguese. Despite not having the same knowledge of the language, it was always hard for me to put my feelings on the paper in English. That’s why my lyrics in other languages usually were more “superficial”, meanwhile the ones in Portuguese were richer not only in prose, but in feeling. In meaning.
It reminds me of one song in particular that I wrote in Portuguese, called Eclipse (Ad time: you can click here to listen to it on Soundcloud!). It has a very intense prose, more than anything that I composed in English, combining a world-ending feeling and rebirth aspiration by a mix of opposite words. In the two verses, the contrast between the first chorus and the last one that was only possible to be done in Portuguese, by its words and meanings in this language. Notice that, even though the song’s name doesn’t need to be translated into English, its meaning would not be the same if you just wrote the lyrics on Google Translator.
Music is, actually, a pretty good way to testify these differences. There are many bands which write their songs in more than one language, and what you notice while listening to them is, usually, a difference which can be related to the sense of belonging. Maneskin, probably my favorite band ever, is a great example. They started creating songs in Italian — songs that were, in general, more lyrical, almost poetic. Then, due to the success of their English covers (especially Beggin’), they began producing their own English tracks. The first two albums mixed both languages, and if you stop to listen to it with attention, it is really easy to notice what differs one from another: the passion. The ones in Italian seem to really capture Damiano (vocalist and composer) feelings, while the ones in English sound more commercial and generalist. In their last album, Rush!, there are only three songs in Italian among many others in English. They followed a more commercial path — who am I to judge? — but you can really feel the difference while listening to it.
I recommend you to listen to my favorite song from them, Coraline:
Can you feel how passionate this song is? How does the choice of words sound so poetic and unique?
Maybe I’m not qualified to do a technical explanation, but I can just feel it. I feel how passionate and true they are while singing in Italian, and how they find the proper words to express their feelings. I don’t think this is random; it is only possible due to the connection with your own language, culture and who you are in essence.
I love the Chorus, which is:
“E Coraline piange
Coraline ha l’ansia
Coraline vuole il mare ma ha paura dell’acqua
E forse il mare è dentro di lei”
We could translate it to something like this:
“And Coraline cries
Coraline is anxious
Coraline wants the sea, but she is afraid of water
And maybe the sea is inside of her”
Of course this English lyric could be improved, but the real meaning would not be the same, I assure you. Not the same as the Italian prose provides while listening to each phrase tone. I guess this kind of inspiration — to create a piece of art that sounds so meaningful — can only be reached while thinking (and feeling) in your own language.
So, for me, the meaning of a word is not related to the meaning present in the dictionary. It goes way far: there are several words that can be understood, but never really felt by someone that isn’t from the culture where it came from.
Language is the sense of belonging to something, somewhere, someone; yourself. It’s something that lives, and what lives goes beyond translation.
An essay:
The Stranger x Limbus Company
Emilie Mendes
In Albert Camus’ The Stranger, the protagonist Meursault is condemned less for his crime than for his failure to conform to society’s expected emotional responses, such as grieving at his mother’s funeral. Similarly, in the video game Limbus Company, the twelve “Sinners” are forced to confront their past traumas and irrational impulses in a bleak, corporate-run purgatory where adherence to predefined narratives is ruthlessly enforced.
Some argue that both works critique a modern society that prioritises social performance and utilitarian logic over authentic human experience. Others contend that these narratives simply reflect the inherent danger of rejecting all social norms without building a meaningful alternative.
Discuss both these views and give your own opinion.
Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.
Write at least 250 words.
In "The Stranger" by Albert Camus we are introduced to Meursault, an algerian man in his early 30s who works in an office and lives a very ordinary life. "Mother died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don't know." This is the sentence that opens the book; it can also be interpreted as its conclusion. Throughout the book, Meursault commits murder, killing a man with a gun. When he arrives in court, he is tried not for the crime itself, but for his supposedly abnormal way of expressing his feelings. In the end, Meursault is convicted not for killing someone, but for not acting emotional enough at his mother’s funeral, and is sentenced to death for being a potential menace to society.
The game Limbus Company makes an adaptation of Meursault from the book in a completely different universe, him being one of the main characters in the game. The world that is decipted in Limbus Company is a distopian city where murder is not considered a crime and it can happen at any time. In this world, Meursault is a man whose sole purpose is to obey without asking any questions about what he is told no matter what, to survive, making him an unemotional, extremely rational and peaking robotic person, who does not care for people's ideals and rights and wrongs.
Both are very different from each other. In the book he is someone who likes exclusively to experiment sensations and does everything on his own, whenever he wants. While in the game, he is devoted to his job, does anything he is ordered to do and has no interest in life's pleasures. They have two important things in common: the indifference to life and the unusual way of feeling and expressing emotions.
We can compare both media's realities and argue that social construct is a fundamental aspect that makes Meursault in both universes be who he is. The book's society and reality are the same as ours, and Meursault even if not in court, is judged by how he acts and feels, by society's generalist perception of how someone has to experience life, and because he does not follow these imposed patterns, he gets sentenced to guillotine execution, not by his crime. While inside the game, society forces Meursault to be who he had become, it does not give him an option since he would else be killed. Book Meursault's indifference results in inconsequence actions that led him to his death, however, Limbus Company Meursault's self repression leads him to a life without any happiness to be lived.
Even though in the book Meursault had been convicted guilty, he lived a life empty of any guilt, proving that even if it may cost your life, being yourself is better than just following blind directions from others to achieve certain expectations. We can also conclude that our social experiences build a significant part in our own behavior and world perception, and these two artworks are capable of building the narrative around Meursault and society and how they relate to each other in a way that is close to perfection.