Untranslatable #1

{Living in Portugal, I’ve often found myself in (Portuguese) conversations where at some point something or other (an expression, a joke) would be described as “untranslatable”.  The speaker would look at me apologetically, but also in a slightly gratified way, and shrug: “Sorry, this is untranslatable.”  At first I felt bewildered at my sudden, almost accidental exclusion.  But I’ve come to accept the untranslatable, to ponder and marvel over my own “untranslatable” experiences t/here, and to explore their naming and the inexorable openings in interpretation…}