How a Meme Exposes the Flaws of Translation

Behold, the years begin coming and they do not cease from coming

Map of Alexandria (1575) by Georg Braun. Original from The MET Museum. Digitally enhanced by rawpixel.com — in the Public Domain

Translation is a fickle beast.

There’s nothing that shows this flaw to the same degree as that one meme where someone translates the lyrics from Smash Mouth’s ‘All Star’ into a language then back into English — usually something a bit outlandish like Aramaic…