Pura Vida:

Some thoughts about translation and semiotics
Pura Vida - an art work by T Newfields
Gwen: (delicately sipping a mochaccino, jazz melodies humming in the background while gazing at a digital artwork) Pura Vida: isn't that a Spanish phrase? To me, it sounds like a sunny catchphrase.
Tara: It is. In fact, that phrase is a cultural meme in Costa Rica. However, it's difficult to translate well in English.
Gwen: Ah, but language is never just words. We should never trust surface translations. Words carry many centuries of cultural sediment.
Tara: (shaking her head) We should never trust surface translations.
Noel: Indeed. Translation is both an art and science—balancing fidelity to words with fealty to meaning and feeling. It's semiotics in motion.