Speaking in Tongues is a conversation between author J. M. Coetzee and translator Mariana Dimópulos. Structured in four themed chapters, the book is a digestible initiation into a philosophy of literary translation that doesn’t answer questions as much as asks them. Coetzee and Dimópulos note that the book ‘aspires to some general statements’, is ‘not a work written by or for specialists’, and has ‘no scientific aspirations’. This is a fair description. Speaking in Tongues only gently brushes against the big topics within its pages.