Untranslatable — Alma Alexander

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”