The Tongues
by N. Taupe
Quand je traduis,
je ne traduis pas.
Je synthétise les langues1
qui s’embrassent.
La grammaire est rendue tordue
comme un nœud dans une queue de cerise.
And still my father asks me, “why don’t you just put it into Google Translate?”
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1«Les langues» literally translates to “the tongues”, but «langue» is also the only translation for “language”. In English, we may call a language a tongue, but in French, a language is always a tongue, only a tongue.N. Taupe is someone’s pseudonym. They are a queer/disabled/trans/nonbinary person. You can find them @taupe_n on Twitter.