Translating the Untranslatable

On today’s Please Explain, we’ll attempt to understand what it’s like to translate the untranslatable! English audiences rely on translators for access to much of the world’s most important literature and religious texts, from Cervantes, to Voltaire, to the Bible. But unfortunately there is no magic formula when it comes to choosing comparable words from one language to another. Our guests for today's Please Explain argue that there is no such thing as a literal translation – rather, it’s a task that veers into the philosophical, and depends on each individual word, language set, and text. 

Esther Allen is a Professor at Baruch College, co-founder of the PEN World Voices Festival, and board member of the American Literary Translators Association. Jacques Lezra is Professor of Spanish, English, and Comparative Literature at New York University. He also was an editor for The Dictionary of Untranslatables.