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150 Mobile Culture Studies. The Journal 6 2o20 (Travel) Birgit Englert | On the (im)possibility of writing a travelogue Fig. 13–14: Fight [left: Ramos (2010: 97); right: Ramos (2018: 66)] The written text thus highlights the subjective and incomplete character of the sketch, a dimen- sion that is reduced in the English version. While Portuguese is clearly the main language in the Portuguese editions, the erasure of most of the Portuguese text in the English version brings the multilingual character of the sketches to the fore. Ramos uses English, Amharic, French, Portuguese, Italian, and Span- ish, without providing translations. Examples include EMBAJADA DE ESPANA (p. 36), BEAUTÉS ETÍOPES (p. 40), and SÉANCE PHOTO COM KALASHNIKOV (p. 106). The use of multiple languages without translation can be seen as an (explicit) strategy for creating a certain atmosphere. In his chapter on ‘Hearing’, Tim Youngs (2019) points to the way in which untranslated talk in various languages conveys the feeling of ‘not [being able] to understand’. In the English version which is the focus of this analysis, the textual elements of the sketches that are left rarely have an explanatory function. In most cases, the remaining textual compo- nents of the sketches are indeed part of the landscape or items that Ramos captures in his sketches. The names of certain brands (such as ‘Agip’ and ‘Fiat’) and certain places (such as the urban centres ‘Addis’ and ‘Harar’) thus feature in a good number of the sketches. While Ramos generally does not offer any explanation of his sketches in his text, a kind of caption inserted directly into the sketch occasionally gives a hint of the scene (for example ‘en faisant le plein à Socota’ (p. 23, ‘refilling at Socota’; translation B.E.). This remains the excep- tion, however. The same is true for names of specific people (cf. p. 23). A map with numerous place names is also featured (p. 32), although these places are not