Language
Why language carries an emotion no translation can ever convey
There are sentences you can translate completely accurately — and they still lose their emotion.
You realise this especially when you live abroad for a long time. You learn other languages, use them every day, work in them, think in them… But some things you still feel, and can only express, in your mother tongue.
Humour is one of the best examples. Some jokes simply do not work once they are translated. The same goes for emotions, memories, and the way we speak to the people we love.
One ordinary word can instantly take you twenty years back, into childhood, to the family table, to a town that probably no longer even looks the way it did then.
That is the reason the audience in the diaspora reacts so emotionally to events in our language. People find the content interesting, but their feelings and reactions are stirred precisely by recognising that someone understands them without any further explanation.
I see it at plays and concerts every single time. People laugh differently, react spontaneously — as if for a few hours they set down the weight of constantly adapting.
I think language is not just a means of communication — it carries identity, mentality, and emotion.
And maybe that is exactly why no translation can ever fully replace the feeling of hearing something "in your own".
— Evica
Our stories
Why people from the Balkans leave so often, yet find it so hard to stop thinking about it
Evica Marković1 October 2026When you have lived away from the country you came from for a long time, your relationship with it becomes more complicated than you imagined at the start. Distance sometimes sharpens the view and sometimes clouds it with nostalgia…
Read moreEleven days when Zurich lives through film
Evica Marković23 September 2026Every autumn the area around Sechseläutenplatz changes almost overnight. Festival signs appear, queues form in front of the cinemas, around town you hear more and more conversations about films nobody has had the chance to see yet, and people who might otherwise never meet end up in the same auditorium because they picked the same title from the programme…
Read moreWhen design steps out onto the streets of Zurich
Evica Marković17 September 2026There are things we use every day and almost never think about. The chair we sit on, the glass we drink water from, the sign at the stop that tells us where to go, the light in a restaurant that keeps us there longer than we planned, or a poster on the street that makes us stop…
Read more
FAQ
Frequently asked questions.
HELSE is a Swiss cultural association that fosters exchange between Switzerland and Serbia. Through theatre, film, music, stand-up and children's workshops we build cultural bridges — alive, inspiring and open to everyone.
Our programme is diverse: theatre performances, film screenings, stand-up comedy, concerts, readings, seminars and children's workshops.
Events run year-round — the current schedule lives in the Events section.
Tickets are sold online via each event's page and, for some programmes, at the door before the show. HELSE members receive discounts on selected events.
Membership is open to anyone who wants to support the association. The annual fee is CHF 70, with reduced rates for students and pensioners.
Sign up via the Membership page — for any additional questions, write to info@helse.ch.