To me, “untranslatable self,” explains that who we are as persons cannot be explained by the ways we look, the beliefs we hold or even the religions we hold. No matter how one looks externally or  what one believes in, the factor that defines who one is one’s soul. Although “untranslatable self” defines a person through his/her soul, at the same time, I also believe that the soul cannot be explicitly expressed.

I believe that our soul is an indistinct volatile being; it changes throughout one’s life and one’s experiences affects one’s soul either positively or negatively. Just like how the narrator in the poem, “Song of Myself,” could not explain what a grass is more than the child who asked him the question, the soul, I believe, works in a similar way: “How could I answer the child? I do not know what it is any more than he.” If someone were to ask me to tell him/her about who I am and my personalities, of course, I am able to explicitly tell him/her about what I believe are my personalities; but, are these personalities truly who I am? I believe not, I believe our soul is our personality and defines who we are. The reason I believe most of us can never truly define ourselves and are “untranslatable” is due to the fact that we have never distinctly felt the separate entity, which is our soul, that resides in ourselves.

Maybe, the only way to truly combat the effect of “untranslatable self” is when one has reached the end of the natural order, death. Just like how the narrator of the poem feels that life and death are all connected to the natural flow of universe, maybe one day, all of us, at the end of our own journeys will be able to finally make sense of the world around us and figure out about our true selves.

-Tun