Joy English · Level C2 · Short storiesjoy-english.com
The translator and the untranslatable
Name:Date:
Follow a reflective narrative with contrast and a quiet resolution.
Listen to each sentence and write what you hear.
Audio and answer checking: https://joy-english.com/listening-lessons/the-translator-and-the-untranslatable
Words to know
- defied
- Refused to be controlled or solved.
- longing
- A strong wish for something.
- counterpart
- A thing that matches another in a different place.
- apologetic
- Showing regret.
Answer key
- Aiko had translated novels for most of her career, yet one small word in the final chapter defied every equivalent she tried.“Defied” has stress on the second syllable. “Yet” here means but, with a note of surprise.
- It named a particular longing, tender rather than sad, for which her own language seemed to have no counterpart.“For which” puts the preposition before the pronoun, a formal pattern. “Rather than” contrasts the two feelings.
- She tried a phrase, then a paragraph, and finally a footnote, each more apologetic than the last.The list builds in size. “Each more apologetic than the last” is a reduced clause with the verb left out.
- Only after she stopped trying to capture the word did she consider letting its surroundings carry the feeling instead.After “only after” the helping verb comes first: “did she consider”. “Stopped trying to” is followed by an infinitive.
- The revised sentence was longer and plainer, and, to her relief, it ached in exactly the right place.“To her relief” is an aside, spoken lower. “Ached” is one syllable and ends with a t sound.