In this essay, I present three found poems consisting of discussion thread titles from a popular bilingual dictionary website, WordReference.com. Browsing these forums during a translation project, I became fascinated by the ways in which thread titles hinted at larger narratives, and I wanted to investigate what these user queries might reveal about the sorts of language that people need, sometimes desperately. The poems are preceded by a personal essay investigating the difficulties of maintaining authority and confidence as a non-native speaker and translator.

Keywords:
Translation, Dictionary, English language, Online discussion forum, Found poem
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2019
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