Ella Sanders is a writer and illustrator who’s had a lifelong love of languages. That’s evident in her first book, “Lost in Translation: An Illustrated Compendium of Untranslatable Words from Around the World.”
Sanders is one of the presenters at this week's IdeaFestival in Louisville. She speaks Thursday morning.
Sanders' book focuses on words that aren't easily translated into other languages. In a Skype interview from her home in Bath, England, Sanders discussed some those words and the cultures from which they originated.
[soundcloud url="https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/226023929" params="auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true" width="100%" height="450" iframe="true" /]
On why some words aren't easily translated:
"I think it has a lot to do with culture. Some of the words in the book are kind of emblematic of cultures. We thought of including the word 'serendipity' as an English contender in the book, because we didn't think there was a translation in another language of serendipity. But we decided not to."
For more information on IdeaFestival, go here.
