(?)
Quotes are added by the Goodreads community and are not verified by Goodreads. (Learn more)
Ursula K. Le Guin

“Need every word be translated? Sometimes the untranslated word might serve to remind us that language is not meaning, that intelligibility is an element of it only, a function. The untranslated word or name is not functional. It sits there. Written, it is a row of letters, which spoken with a more or less wild guess at the pronunciation produces a complex of phonemes, a more or less musical and interesting sound, a noise, a thing. The untranslated word is like a rock, a piece of wood. Its use, its meaning, is not rational, definite, and limited, but concrete, potential, and infinite. To start with, all the words we say are untranslated words.”

Ursula K. Le Guin, Always Coming Home
Read more quotes from Ursula K. Le Guin


Share this quote:
Share on Twitter

Friends Who Liked This Quote

To see what your friends thought of this quote, please sign up!


This Quote Is From

Always Coming Home Always Coming Home by Ursula K. Le Guin
4,548 ratings, average rating, 603 reviews

Browse By Tag