We gravitate toward simple translations. “Tell me what it means.”

And it can be frustrating when there aren’t equivalents.

But some things are difficult to grasp outside of their original forms.

Author Kakuzo Okakura says it this way in The Book of Tea.

“Translation is always a treason, and as a Ming author observes, can at its best be only the reverse side of a brocade — all the threads are there, but not the subtlety of color or design.”

Beautifully put.