Contribution Form

Share your voice on the Untranslatable interactive poetry map! Begin by entering information about who you are and where you're from.

Introduction

International Mother Language Day began in 2000 as a way to promote linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism. According to the UN, “Languages, with their complex implications for identity, communication, social integration, education and development, are of strategic importance for people and planet. Yet, due to globalization processes, they are increasingly under threat, or disappearing altogether. When languages fade, so does the world's rich tapestry of cultural diversity. Opportunities, traditions, memory, unique modes of thinking and expression — valuable resources for ensuring a better future — are also lost.” It is with this in mind we invite writers to share their voice in honor of their mother tongue.

Model

Typically we work to inspire creative expression by sharing a piece of writing that engages with the generative idea we’re interested in. In the spirit of validating each writers’ linguistic heritage, we are taking a different approach. Below is a list of words that do not have direct equivalencies in English. Words that are difficult to translate. Are there words in your mother language that you find it difficult to translate?

Pana Po’o (Hawaiian): The act of scratching your head in order to help you remember something you have forgotten.

Sobremesa (Spanish): the period of time after a lunch or dinner when you have food-induced conversations with the people you have shared the meal with.

Waldeinsamkeit (German): A feeling of solitude, being alone in the woods and a connectedness to nature.

Depaysement (French): The feeling that comes from not being in one's home country — of being a foreigner, or an immigrant, of being somewhat displaced from your origin.

Komorebi (Japanese): This is the word the Japanese have for when sunlight filters through the trees — the interplay between the light and the leaves.

Mangata (Swedish), Kuunsilta (Finnish): The word for the glimmering, roadlike reflection that the moon creates on water.

Goya (Urdu, Pakistan and India): The transporting feeling of reality and the suspension of disbelief we have when we listen to good storytelling.

Jayus (Indonesian): A joke told so poorly and so unfunny that one cannot help but laugh.

Prompt

Think about your own language(s). Are there words that you associate with difficult moments or experiences? Are there words that refer to beautiful moments? Words that are specifically connected to people you love and who love you? Make a list. Then choose one word or several words to explore in your writing.

Examples:

Elmosolyodni, By Györgyi Mihalyi
The nanosecond it takes for your brain to react
to a compliment, to activate the happiness
from your loved one's smile.
The tiny molecule of time when your lips curve
and break into a smile.
When joy manifests on your face.
The feeling when you can't help but believe
everything will be alright.

Beochaoineadh, By Charlie Malone
The Irish have a word, beochaoineadh,
Which I can barely pronounce.
Because my ancestors left and forgot.
Or, were forced to stop pronouncing and left.
Yet, perhaps, if they were good, if they were kind,
Someone spoke a beochaoineadh after their leaving.
It is a word that means an elegy for the living,
It is a word that means a specific kind of sadness,
A sadness which must have been spoken
By hungry mouths, millions of times.
When I hear the word, I think of the ocean.
I see a tree that has fallen on its side
And shows its roots to the sky.
I feel what it must be like to need a word
That does not exist for any other people..

Stems:
It is a word that means.../I have a word that means…
When I hear the word...I think.../I feel.../I remember...
The way…
The feeling…of...when…
When...happens, we say...

Share your title, poem, and a photo (JPG or PNG) of where you are from.