Translation? IMPOSSIBLE !! 🙅‍♀️

One thing I’ve always noticed about Tamil literature is how certain works refuse to change their names, even when they are translated. திருக்குறள் remains Thirukkural, not "The Book of Couplets". சிலப்பதிகாரம் stays Silapathigaram, not "The Tale of the Anklet". The same goes for Manimegalai, Akananooru, Purananooru, Kurunthogai, Paripadal, and Naladiyar. Their meanings may be explained in English, but their names are left untouched.

I once read a story where people feel a sudden excitement the moment they hear a word from their own language. To someone else, it may sound like just another word, but to the person who belongs to that language, it carries familiarity, warmth, and a sense of identity. Hearing one’s language spoken in an unfamiliar country feels almost like hearing the national anthem abroad, it makes the eyes light up without conscious effort.

That feeling explains why some words and texts resist translation. It is not that they cannot be translated, but that when they are changed, they risk losing something essential. Every word that refuses translation has its own speciality, because it carries memories and emotions that cannot survive substitution. The meaning may remain, but the feeling often fades.

This is not unique to Tamil. Every language has words that lose their depth when moved into another language. But because Tamil is the language I have been learning from birth, I feel this more personally. It shapes how I think, feel, and connect with literature. So when Tamil works keep their original names, it feels less like resistance and more like respect, a way of preserving the identity and emotion that only the original language can carry.

Here are some lines from the tamil literature which I think that could never be translated. 

"எல்லா விளக்கும் விளக்கல்ல சான்றோர்க்குப் பொய்யா விளக்கே விளக்கு"

Not all lights cause illumination; For the wise, Only the light of truth is illuminant.

“தீதும் நன்றும் பிறர் தர வாரா”

Good and evil do not come from others; they arise from one’s own actions.

“யாதும் ஊரே யாவரும் கேளிர்”

Every place is my town; everyone is my kin.

"இரும்பிழி மகாஅரிவ் அழுங்கல் மூதூர் விழவின் றாயினும் துஞ்சா தாகும்" 

Though there is no festival to keep them awake, yet the people of this restless village do not go to bed. 

At first glance, it seems simple, even funny. The heroine is worried that the villagers’ restlessness might ruin her secret rendezvous with her lover. Yet, the way it’s written makes it feel grand, almost like an epic tale. The words, the rhythm, and the phrasing all lift a small moment into something impressive and memorable.

This is exactly why some Tamil texts cannot be fully appreciated in translation. The humor, the tension, and the subtle emotions are tied to the language itself. Even when we understand the meaning in English, the original Tamil carries a life, a pulse, that no translation can replicate.