Bilingualism Strikes Me As A Kind Of Synesthesia. Instead Of Seeing Colors Associated With Letters And

“Bilingualism strikes me as a kind of synesthesia. Instead of seeing colors associated with letters and words, instead of hearing melodies, what I hear with language is the play and echo of the other language. The option to say it differently, and thus to live it differently. Language is not only a means of communication or description. It’s a framework in which we process existence. Yi writes: “It is hard to feel in an adopted language, yet it is impossible in my native language.” As every bilingual person and translator knows, there are certain words—a feeling, a way of being—that is absent in one language but perfectly brought to life in another. A word that, by existing, gives permission to be. What if you need that which does not exist in your language?”

— Yoojin Grace Wuertz, “Mother Tongue”

some of you only know pinyin and 可以看出来

As I Was Moving Ahead Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty de Jonas Mekas

The way this represents my life is unbelievable 

Sappho, tr. by Anne Carson, from “If Not Winter: Fragments of Sappho,” (x)