"Lost In Translation"

From "Lost In Translation" by Eva Hoffman

I chose to write about 2 quotes from the excerpt which describes Eva’s transition from Poland to Vancouver.

“There are some turns of phase to which I develop strange allergies. “You’re welcome” for example, strikes me as a gaucherie, and I can hardly bring myself to say it, I suppose because it implies that there’s something to be thanked for, which in Polish would be impolite. The very places where language is at its most conventional, where it should be most taken for granted, are the places where I feel the prick of artifice.” (Hoffman, 389)

“Nostalgia is a source of poetry, and a form of fidelity. It is also a species of melancholia which used to be thought of as an illness. And I walk the streets of Vancouver, I am pregnant with the images of Poland, pregnant and sick, Tesknota (nostalgia) throws a film over everything around me, and directs my vision in word. The largest presence within me is the welling up of absence, of what I have lost. This pregnancy is also a phantom pain.” (Hoffman, 394)

The first quote describes Eva’s thoughts on learning a new language. She moved from Poland to Vancouver and was forced to learn English even though she was used to speaking Polish. She describes how she was allergic to certain phrases because they meant different things in each language. I thought this was a creative way of explaining how she didn't understand every aspect of her new language. I was also surprised to learn that English was not her first language because she wrote creatively, as if she had always known how to speak and write in English.

Nostalgia is defined as a sentimental longing for the past and the second quote describes how nostalgic she felt towards Poland. She compares this feeling to being sick, being pregnant and as a phantom pain. Eva describes how her nostalgia has an impact on everything she does. 

Word Count: 334