Word and World

Abstract

In the previous chapter, I raised the authenticity of stories told by intercultural writers and discussed this issue with a number of authors in both English and in German. If one takes the concept of truth in the four languages in this book, English, Irish, German and French, one will find that the corresponding words for truth, fírinne, Wahrheit and vérité coincide to a certain extent. However, expressions regarding truth do not always translate directly from one language into another. In English and in French, one can penetrate the truth but this is not a common expression in German. In English, one can be right — or one is in the right. In Irish and in German, one has right (tá an ceart agat and du hast recht). In French, the expression reveals some form of equivalence between the individual and truth (tu as raison).