The sisu within you: The Finnish key to life, love and success
One of the first things any article about sisu will tell you is that this Finnish word is untranslatable. Authors have been trying to find a parallel in English since at least January of 1940, when the opening paragraph of a full-spread piece in the New York Times ventured, “It is not easily translated, because no other language has its precise equivalent.” The headline read, “Sisu: A word that explains Finland.”
So how do you write about a country when its description rests upon an untranslatable word? It’s amazingly complicated, and yet also deceptively simple: Writers resort to explaining what sisu means, and in the process they reveal the inner workings of the people and society of Finland – what you might even call the soul of the country. This is what happens when Joanna Nylund takes on the subject in her book Sisu: The Finnish Art of Courage (2018, UK: Gaia; USA: Running Press)
Read the full story on ThisisFINLAND(Link to another website.) (Opens New Window)