Metaglossia: The Translation World

 

By Sanjana Gupta
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Sanjana Gupta
Sanjana is a health writer and editor. Her work spans various health-related topics, including mental health, fitness, nutrition, and wellness.

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Published on May 03, 2024
Reviewed by David Susman, PhD
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Table of Contents
The 8 Different Types of Intelligences
Understanding Interpersonal Intelligence
Developing Interpersonal Intelligence
Benefits of Interpersonal Intelligence
Interpersonal vs. Intrapersonal Intelligence
Takeaways
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We’ve all been there: saying something super awkward, feeling lost at parties, or having trouble making friends at work. If we’re being honest, these situations can feel really confusing and uncomfortable. It’s not about wanting to be the life of the party or the most popular person in the room, but about really connecting with others. That’s where interpersonal intelligence comes in.

Interpersonal intelligence is about understanding others’ emotions and being able to interact with them successfully, says Tatiana Rivera Cruz, MSW, LCSW, a therapist at ADHDAdvisor.

Fortunately, interpersonal intelligence is a skill we can develop. In this article, we explore what it is, why it’s important, the benefits it offers, and how to develop it.
At a Glance
Want to be more of a people person? There’s a special kind of intelligence for that. Interpersonal intelligence is a specific skill that helps us connect and bond with others.

You can boost your interpersonal intelligence by learning to listen, empathize, and connect with others on a deeper level. With practice, you’ll find yourself making more friends and feeling more confident in social situations.

The 8 Different Types of Intelligences
The concept of interpersonal intelligence was first proposed by Howard Gardner, a developmental psychologist and professor at Harvard University.1 Dr. Gardner felt that instead of a single type of intelligence, which we try and measure through IQ tests, there are actually eight different types of intelligences:2

Interpersonal intelligence: Connecting with others and forming relationships
Intrapersonal intelligence: Understanding our own emotions, motivations, and goals
Naturalist intelligence: Understanding and interacting with the natural world
Logical-mathematical intelligence: Reasoning, analyzing, problem-solving, and critical thinking
Spatial intelligence: Visualizing distance, depth, area, and space
Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence: Having good physical coordination and movement
Linguistic intelligence: Reading, writing, language, and communication skills
Musical intelligence: Understanding, creating, and performing music
We’re all born with varying degrees of each of these types of intelligences.3 However, with effort and practice, we can improve our skills in each of these areas.4

Understanding Interpersonal Intelligence
These are some of the characteristics of interpersonal intelligence:

Empathy: Interpersonal intelligence helps us put ourselves in other people's shoes and understand their feelings and motivations. This helps us connect with others on a deeper level.
Social awareness: Interpersonal intelligence involves a high degree of social skills, helping us initiate conversations easily, build relationships with others, and navigate social situations smoothly.
Communication skills: Interpersonal intelligence helps us express ourselves clearly and pick up on nonverbal cues like body language and facial expressions.
Adaptability: Interpersonal intelligence also involves adaptability in various social situations. It helps us adjust our communication style, behavior, and approach to different personalities, cultures, and situations.
Teamwork: This is a key skill for good teamwork. It helps us work effectively within a group, collaborate with others, and appreciate their contributions. It also makes us more likely to ask for help when we need it.5
Leadership: Interpersonal intelligence is often associated with good leadership abilities. Leaders with this intelligence inspire trust, motivate others, and create a supportive environment that encourages collaboration and growth.
Conflict resolution: Interpersonal intelligence plays an important role in conflict resolution. It helps us see different sides of an issue, find common ground, and mediate between opposing viewpoints.
Why Can’t I Make Friends?
Developing Interpersonal Intelligence
It's never too late to develop your interpersonal skills. These are some strategies that can help:

Strike up Conversations
It can be helpful to practice having friendly conversations. You can chat with your neighbor while you get the mail, talk to the person sitting next to you on the train or plane, or make conversation with the person waiting in line with you at the coffee shop.

Find Common Ground
An easy way to bond with someone is to look for common ground with them. When you find things you’re both interested in, you’ll automatically have plenty to talk about.

Show Empathy
Try to put yourself in other peoples’ shoes to see things from their perspective. Practice empathy by acknowledging and validating their feelings, perspectives, and experiences.

Become a Keen Observer
When you talk to people, pay attention to nonverbal cues like their body language, facial expressions, and tone of voice. These can give you valuable insights into how they really feel about something.

Listen Actively
Active listening goes beyond simply hearing someone speak. It involves paying close attention to what they’re saying and showing them you’re interested in their life. Maintain eye contact with them while they talk to you, ask follow-up questions, and avoid interrupting them.

Be Positive
Be positive, approachable, authentic, and respectful in your interactions with others.

Participate in Social Activities
Use social activities and networking events as opportunities to practice your interpersonal skills in real-life settings. Join clubs, volunteer groups, or professional organizations to meet new people and build relationships.

Reflect on Your Interactions
After social interactions, take some time to reflect on how things went. What went well? What could you have done differently?

Learn From Mistakes
Everyone makes mistakes in social situations. Don't beat yourself up, instead, use them as learning opportunities to improve your interpersonal skills.

Study Role Models
Identify role models or mentors who demonstrate effective communication, empathy, and relationship-building skills, and study their behavior.

Try Role-Play
Practice your social skills in a safe space with a trusted friend or family member. You can role-play different scenarios and get feedback on your communication style.

Take a Class
Consider enrolling in a communication class. This can provide you with a structured learning environment and the opportunity to practice your skills with others.

What Are the Signs That Someone Doesn’t Want to Be Your Friend?
Benefits of Interpersonal Intelligence
These are some of the benefits of interpersonal intelligence:

Stronger relationships: By understanding and connecting with others on a deeper level, we can build more meaningful and lasting relationships. This applies to friendships, family bonds, romantic relationships, and even workplace connections.
Reduced social anxiety: As we develop our interpersonal skills, we start to feel more confident in social situations. We’re able to navigate conversations and interactions more easily, with less social anxiety.
Increased open-mindedness: Interpersonal intelligence teaches us to be empathic and understanding of others' perspectives, emotions, and needs. This helps us be more inclusive and open-minded.
More favorable negotiations: Whether we’re negotiating a business deal or mediating between our friends or siblings, interpersonal intelligence is key. We can understand the other person's perspective, build a rapport with them, and find solutions that benefit everyone involved.
Greater career success: This type of intelligence helps us build professional connections, foster mentorship relationships, and advance in careers that require strong interpersonal skills, such as sales, leadership, negotiation, counseling, and customer service.
Improved well-being: Strong interpersonal relationships are essential for our emotional well-being.6 By fostering these connections, we can live happier and more fulfilling lives.
By developing interpersonal intelligence we learn how to understand others’ needs, develop empathy, and strengthen our relationships. At the same time, we learn to see the world from a different perspective.

— TATIANA RIVERA CRUZ, MSW, LCSW
Interpersonal vs. Intrapersonal Intelligence
Let’s take a look at the differences between interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligences.

Interpersonal Intelligence
Focuses on connecting and interacting effectively with others

Emphasizes building relationships and social connections

Includes skills such as empathy, active listening, and communication

Makes us good team players and leaders

Contributes to our social development

Intrapersonal Intelligence
Focuses on understanding our own thoughts and feelings

Emphasizes self-discovery, self-reflection, and self-awareness

Includes skills such as emotional regulation and decision making

Makes us independent and self-motivated

Contributes to our personal development

Takeaways
By working on your interpersonal intelligence, you can bridge the gap between awkward small talk and meaningful conversations. With time and practice, you can build deeper bonds and stronger connections in your personal, professional, and social life. You’ve got this!
50 Deep Conversation Starters for Meaningful Connections
6 Sources

By Sanjana Gupta
Sanjana is a health writer and editor. Her work spans various health-related topics, including mental health, fitness, nutrition, and wellness.

#metaglossia_mundus

Chapter 6. Translating Discourse Particles: A Case of Complex Translation was published in Incorporating Corpora on page 95.

 

Chapter 6Translating Discourse Particles:A Case of Complex Translation1KARIN AIJMERIntroductionIt is a common observation that discourse particles ‘do not translatewell’ in the sense that they have no satisfying correspondences in otherlanguages (Fillmore, 1984: 128; cf. Wierzbicka, 1976: 327). Joan Tate, wellknown for her translations from Swedish into English, found them trickybecause they can have many different functions depending on theircontext and because of their expressive qualities:All those small words are tricky and can mean different thingsaccording to context...Much more difficult to translate are what Icall ‘Swedish noises’
jaha,jaha du,joda ̊,jasa ̊,jasa ̊a ̊a ̊a ̊,ja visst ja,java ̈l,men du,vet du vad,sa ̈ger du det,na ̈men du,jara ̊,visst,visst inte,nej du,nejda ̊,nera ̊,joda ̊,jasa ̊du,ojda ̊,ojojojda ̊,usch,ajda ̊,vad sa ̈ger du,sa ̈ger dudet du,voj voj! English has more or less nothing butyes,no,well,umorer
and nothing like the expressiveness of those sounds.(personalcorrespondence with Joan Tate)Words that lack systematic lexical correspondences in anotherlanguage constitute ‘a crucial and stimulating area for translation theory’(Bazzanella & Morra, 2000). The translator’s problems may reflectlinguistic differences between languages that have consequencesfor the way in which people think and act (Gumperz & Levinson,1999: 2) and for the general problem of translation (cf. for example,Bazzanella & Morra’s discussion of Quine’s theory of the indeterminacyof translation).In English there isohas an alternative corresponding to what Joan Tateso aptly called ‘Swedish noises’.Ohis one of the most frequently useddiscourse particles in English and is interesting to study from atranslation perspective. In this chapter I will show how translationsinto one or more languages can help us to get a better picture of itsmeaning and of its correspondences. To begin with, we need to describewhat we mean by discourse particles.

 

#metaglossia_mundus

"Un juge s’en prend à l’obligation de traduire immédiatement en français les jugements

Stéphanie Marin

Publié et mis à jour le 3 mai

Dans un geste plus qu’inhabituel, le juge Dennis Galiatsatos, de la Cour du Québec, a décidé qu’il allait trancher la validité constitutionnelle de l’article de la Charte de la langue française qui obligera dans un mois la traduction immédiate des jugements rendus en anglais — même si personne ne lui a demandé de le faire.

Ce débat a eu lieu dans le dossier criminel de Christine Pryde, accusée de conduite dangereuse et de négligence criminelle ayant causé la mort d’une cycliste en 2021. Elle a choisi d’avoir un procès en anglais, un droit qui lui est conféré par la Constitution canadienne.

Le contexte politique derrière cette affaire est le suivant : en juin 2022, le gouvernement caquiste a fait adopter la Loi sur la langue officielle et commune du Québec, le français (ancien projet de loi 96), qui a modifié la Charte de la langue française (communément appelée « loi 101 »).

 

Conséquemment à cette réforme, l’article 10 de la Charte, pas encore en vigueur, prévoit désormais que les jugements rédigés en anglais doivent être déposés simultanément avec leur version française. Bref, un jugement en anglais ne peut être rendu tant que sa traduction n’est pas prête.

Ce qui peut prendre des semaines, voire des mois, selon ce qu’écrit le juge Galiatsatos dans sa décision rendue mercredi.

 

Ce dernier ne s’oppose pas à la traduction des jugements en français, « au bénéfice de la population et pour le bien-être de la langue française ». Mais cela devient « problématique », dit-il, quand elle « obstrue le déroulement des procédures criminelles ». Il y voit une possible violation du partage des compétences entre le provincial et le fédéral — ou, autrement dit, entre la Charte québécoise de la langue française et le droit criminel, qui est de compétence fédérale...."

#metaglossia_mundus: https://www.ledevoir.com/societe/justice/812191/justice-juge-prend-obligation-traduire-immediatement-jugements-anglais

 

A Chinese-language interpreter was arrested on Friday for his involvement in crimes linked to a Chinese abduction gang in the Din Daeng area on April 25, said Pol Maj Gen Noppasin Poonsawat, deputy Metropolitan Police Bureau (MPB) commissioner.

#metaglossia_mundus

"Sapeer Mayron  May 4, 2024 ....

Daniel Hahn is a translator by trade. He takes other people’s writings and deftly converts them from Portuguese, Spanish and French into English for English readers.

He’s translated over 100 fiction and non-fiction books from all over the world, and written his own books too – Catching Fire: A Translation Diary, and the Oxford Companion to Children's Literature.

 

After 40 minutes over a video call, Hahn seems much more writer than translator.

He gets excited about the nuances of a sentence without worrying too much about exactly what parts of speech are called, and is passionate about conveying the intentions of the works he translates, more than their exact words in the order the writer laid them out.

This month, he will appear in three events at the Auckland Writers Festival.

Raised in a Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking home, Hahn has first-hand appreciation for how important translation choices are.

“There are lots of bits of writing where meaning is not, in fact, the most important thing. You might have to sacrifice a little bit of meaning for voice or for humour or for the cadence,” he says.

“Think of a piece of writing that's funny. You could translate the meaning of the joke absolutely accurately, but I think that would be a terrible translation because you're not translating the most important thing.”

When he first got started in translation he wasn’t as bold as he is now, he says. But these days he realises he’s actually “in the business of making my writers look good”, and says it’s rare that a writer would disagree with a choice he makes or offers them.

“I do sometimes drop a note to a writer and say, ‘I'm gonna take your joke out and replace it with this joke, I presume that's OK’,” Hahn says.

“It would be strange for a writer to say ‘no, please give the readers the one that will make them think I'm less good than I am’.

“One of the things I get from the writer is permission to do what I need to do… Everyone always says yes.”

 

It’s part of why he describes the work of a translator as much more active than perhaps people give it credit for.

When he’s not crafting the English versions of other people’s writing, he is seeking out work that he believes should be translated or advancing the field generally.

Translators, Hahn says, are a community of people interested in advocacy for “internationalism and linguistic pluralism, and a kind of diversification of publishing that still needs to happen”.

“A lot of people assume being a translator means sitting quietly in the cupboard under the stairs. Occasionally a publisher opens a door, tosses you some scraps of work for which you are grateful for, which you do, they give you $50 and you go back into your cupboard and shut up.”

Rather, promoting that people read works written in anything other than their native languages feels like an important effort, he says.

Firstly, the obvious reason: engaging with stories you’re not familiar with, other people’s contexts and experiences can widen our own worlds.

“But there's also a much more banal reason, which is like 90-something per cent of the world does not have English as a first language,” he says.

(According to several sources just 5% of the global population speaks English as their first language.)

Adds Hahn: “To decide I'm only going to read stuff written by the people who happen, by some peculiar quirk of nationality, geography, or history of empire to share my language seems like an extraordinarily arbitrary way to deprive yourself of surely some things that are very good.

“You are not going to run out of good writers if you only read English-language writers, but you're going to miss out on some quite good things.”

Luckily for Hahn, there is also growing intrigue around translation itself, which his own book is a testament to. Originally 24 blog posts where Hahn chronicled his experience translating just one book, Catching Fire has been popular since it was published.

He is currently working on a book on how William Shakespeare’s works are translated.

As one of the most famous writers in the English- and non-English-speaking worlds, Shakespeare’s vast body of work can act as a sort of case study for how translation works, Hahn says, even after 400 years.

 

“It’s not about performance history, or cultural reception, it’s about, literally, what does a translator have to do if they take this 10-syllable line, which is doing 43 things in English?”

For Hahn, the book is not written for Shakespeare or translation scholars to pore over, but for everyone, a way to introduce the work of translation to the general public.

Shakespeare’s work, being so familiar to so many people, has an example of almost anything Hahn might want to highlight about how translation works.

As recently as 15 years ago when Hahn was just entering the field, publishers would say things like ‘of course I love it, but you know what readers are like’.

Today, though there is still work to be done, it takes less argument to get publishers to take translated works, and the public seems to be more interested in these kinds of stories too, Hahn believes.

“The fact that I'm a translator speaking at the Auckland Writers Festival, I don't know whether that would have been a thing very many years ago.”

Daniel Hahn will be appearing at three events at the Auckland Writers Festival May 14-19. For information and tickets visit www.writersfestival.co.nz"

#metaglossia_mundus

"Abstract  The Multilingual Voice-Based Image Caption Generator (MVBICG) is a versatile tool with numerous applications spanning communications, culture preservation, business, and technology, making it indispensable in the interconnected world. The task of image caption generation combines computer vision and NLP (natural language processing) concepts, enabling the system to understand the details or complexities of the image context and describe them in natural language. Image descriptions serve as an invaluable solution for visually impaired individuals. The MVBICG system is designed to provide real-time image descriptions in the form of voice in multiple languages as per user requirements. With the use of an MVBICG, the descriptions can be obtained as a voice output in different languages. Converting a voice into multiple languages with the help of the Google Translate API is often referred to as “multilingual voice conversion” or “multilingual speech synthesis." It leverages the latest advancements in deep learning, particularly convolutional neural networks (CNNs) for image feature extraction and recurrent neural networks (RNNs) with attention mechanisms for natural language generation. In the future, image processing is expected to take center stage as a critical research domain primarily dedicated to the preservation and protection of human lives. The MVBICG demonstrates remarkable performance with BLEU scores of 0.483601 for BLEU-1 and 0.320112 for BLEU-2, indicating its proficiency in generating precise and contextually relevant image captions. These scores further underscore its value in bridging language barriers and enhancing accessibility, highlighting its potential for broader societal impact. Additionally, the system's training progress is illustrated by a loss plot, showing the convergence of the model over time. As image processing continues to advance, the MVBICG emerges as a pivotal research domain, focusing on the preservation and safeguarding of human lives through advanced technologies."

#metaglossia_mundus

"Posté par lejocelyn (site web personnel) le 06 mai 2024 à 11:10. Édité par 11 personnes. Modéré par bobble bubble. Licence CC By‑SA.

Comme beaucoup de domaines scientifiques, la documentation de la diversité linguistique entretient une relation forte avec les mondes du Libre. Dans cette dépêche, je vous propose de découvrir ce domaine à travers la présentation de plusieurs logiciels et ressources libres ou en accès ouvert. La documentation des langues étant un thème peu courant sur LinuxFr.org, on commencera par une présentation de cette problématique. Nous continuerons par une description des deux ressources principales existantes pour cataloguer et se repérer au sein de cette diversité linguistique. Je parlerai ensuite d’ELAN et de FLEX, deux logiciels utilisés pour annoter des enregistrements audio-visuels, une étape clef dans l’analyse linguistique, et qui permet le partage et la réutilisation de ces enregistrements. Enfin, après un court passage sur la question de l’archivage, je présenterai deux compilations de corpus de documentation en accès libre, une pratique récente qui permet de nouveaux questionnements quantitatifs sur les langues orales peu documentées, et qui contribue également à la transparence et la traçabilité des analyses linguistiques.

Sommaire

• L’étude des langues à travers le monde
• Quelques concepts et termes liés à la documentation des langues
• Les catalogues et base de données pour l’identification des langues
  • • L’Ethnologue et l’ISO 639 : une norme gérée par le Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL)
    • Glottocode : par le Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
    • Les autres
• Documenter les langues
  • ELAN : des schémas d’annotation flexibles
  • FLEX : gérer un projet de documentation
  • Et il y en a bien d’autres encore
• L’archivage et la compilation de corpus
  • DoReCo
  • Multi-CAST
• Conclusion

L’étude des langues à travers le monde

Actuellement, environ 7000 langues ont été recensées à travers le monde. Ce chiffre ne peut être qu’une approximation car, il n’y a pas de consensus sur la définition de ce qu’est une langue. Une difficulté par exemple est de définir à quel moment une langue est distincte d’une autre. Lorsqu’il y a variation, mais intercompréhension, de nombreux linguistes s’accordent à dire qu’il s’agit alors de dialectes d’une même langue, et donc, lorsqu’il n’y a pas intercompréhension, alors il s’agit différentes langues. Cette perspective considère que tout le monde parle un dialecte (que ce soit celui de référence, ou un plus régional comme celui de Paris, de Marseille, du Québec), la langue n’étant qu’une abstraction permettant de regrouper les diverses pratiques langagières. En ce qui concerne l’intercompréhension, ce critère n’est malheureusement pas absolu car elle peut varier selon les personnes et leur parcours personnel. Et lorsqu’on considère l’évolution d’une langue à travers le temps, sa diachronie, définir ce qu’est une même langue à travers ses évolutions temporelles se complexifie d’autant plus.

Si certaines langues ont émergé récemment, on pense assez souvent aux langues dites créoles (le Bichelamar, les créoles malais, à Madagascar ou au Cap Vert), ou également lorsque certains dialectes se distinguent suffisamment pour ne plus être intercompréhensibles, la tendance actuelle est surtout à la disparition massive des langues. Cette disparition est souvent rapportée à travers la mort des derniers locuteurs et locutrices, on peut aussi considérer qu’une langue meurt lorsqu’elle n’est plus parlée d’une part, et qu’elle disparait si elle n’est pas documentée. Si certains aujourd’hui se questionnent sur la corrélation entre la diversité culturelle et la diversité écologique, il est évident que la disparition des langues correspond également à des inégalités et des tensions socio-politiques.

Bref, la documentation des langues, c’est un sujet actuel, et d’un point de vue scientifique, la perte de cette diversité aura de tristes conséquences sur la connaissance des langues et de l’univers des possibles languagiers, encore souvent sous-estimé :

• l’article The myth of language universals : Language diversity and its importance for cognitive science d’Evans donne un bel aperçu du débat qui existe entre les linguistes fonctionnalistes, notamment les approches générativistes telles que proposées par Noam Chomsky. Pourtant, régulièrement à travers la documentation des langues, des catégories cognitives jusque-là non-soupçonnés, voire rejetées car non-observées, sont identifiés. Nous nous sommes rendu compte récemment qu’un quart des langues grammaticalisaient l’emploi d’évidentiels, ces morphèmes qui indiquent la source d’une information. Au niveau de l’odorat, des neurologistes pensaient que si nous n’avions pas de termes abstraits pour catégoriser les odeurs, c’était lié au fait que notre cerveau ne le permettait pas. La description des termes liés à l’odorat en Jahai (par ici si vous souhaitez écouter du Jahai), qui possède donc des termes spécifiques pour catégoriser les odeurs, a montré le contraire.
• accéder à des facettes non-matérielles de la préhistoire, non-accessibles à travers l’archéologie. La documentation des langues nous permet d’accéder, dans une certaine mesure, aux termes et aux concepts utilisés durant les différentes préhistoires à travers la comparaison des langues et de leurs structures. Les travaux sont nombreux et anciens en ce qui concerne les langues européennes, mais les recherches en linguistique historique (ou comparée) portent également sur toutes les langues connues à travers le monde. Les chercheurs et chercheuses de ce domaine collaborent assez régulièrement avec les archéologues pour retracer les mouvements de population.
• mettre au point des systèmes d’écriture pour les langues orales, ou simplement des traitements de texte adapté aux écritures existantes. Parfois, certaines personnes savent écrire dans la ou les langues officielles du pays, mais ne connaissent pas d’écriture pour une de leurs langues régionales. C’est ainsi souvent le cas pour les personnes au Vanuatu. Le pays reconnait même le droit d’enseigner les langues locales à l’école, mais il n’existe que très rarement des ressources (que ce soit les personnes ou les manuels) pour cela. Parfois, les gens ne connaissent tout simplement pas de système d’écriture.

Quelques concepts et termes liés à la documentation des langues

Comme tout domaine de recherche, la terminologie et les concepts linguistiques évoluent au gré des discussions et peut se distinguer de l’usage attendu des termes. Une étape importante dans la documentation d’une langue est la production d’une grammaire décrivant les structures linguistiques de cette langue. De nombreux linguistes estiment alors qu’on peut dire que cette langue est décrite. Il ne faut pas se tromper cependant, aucun linguiste ne considère qu’une langue est alors complètement décrite. Une grammaire ne contient que quelques aspects estimés actuellement essentielles par les linguistes de terrain. Ces points sont, le plus souvent, une description du système phonologique d’une langue (c’est-à-dire comment les sons d’une langue sont organisés les uns vis-à-vis des autres), des morphèmes et des processus morphologiques associés (la conjugaison, l’expression de la possession, les déclinaisons, les genres, les classifications, etc.) d’une langue et souvent un début de description des processus syntaxiques. Il existe de nombreuses approches pour décrire les faits linguistiques, et la description d’une langue se fait souvent en dialogue avec les pratiques et terminologies qui ont été employées dans l'aire linguistique concernée.

Depuis l’article Documentary and descriptive linguistics de Nicholaus Himmelman, qui a promu la distinction entre la documentation linguistique et la description linguistique, on accorde beaucoup plus d’importance à la production d’un corpus d’enregistrements annotés. On dit alors d’une langue qu’elle est documentée si des enregistrements annotés, de préférences audio-visuels, de cette langue existe. Enfin, il existe la problématique de l’outillage d’une langue, c’est-à-dire si ses locuteurs et locutrices ont accès ou non aux outils informatisés, du traitement texte aux dictionnaires informatisés en passant par la reconnaissance vocale, la transcription automatique, voire aujourd’hui aux modèles de langues et autres ressources nécessitant des corpus beaucoup plus grands.

Les catalogues et base de données pour l’identification des langues

Une problématique récurrente dans le domaine des langues est de clairement identifier la langue sur laquelle on travaille. Cependant, identifier une langue, ce qui relève ou non de cette langue, où elle est parlée, est l’enjeu de nombreux débats, souvent politique, et n’est pas une tâche simple. Quoi qu’il en soit, il existe des ressources, bases de données, qui proposent d’associer à des noms de langues, endonymes ou exonymes, des codes pour rendre leur identification univoque.

L’Ethnologue et l’ISO 639 : une norme gérée par le Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL)

Ethnologue, Languages of the World, ou plus simplement l’Ethnologue, est une base de données développée et maintenu par l’organisme évangélique SIL, Summer Institute of Linguistic depuis 1951. Elle vise à recenser toutes les langues du monde. L’ISO 639 est une norme issue de ce catalogue, également maintenue par le SIL. Cet organisme est très actif au niveau de la documentation des langues et de la création d’écritures, car un de ses objectifs est de traduire la Bible dans toutes les langues du monde. Historiquement, l’Ethnologue est un des premiers catalogues dont l’objet a été de recenser les langues. Si cette norme semble le plus souvent suffisamment exhaustive pour les besoins liés à l’informatique, après tout, les internautes consultent Internet en très peu de langue, d’un point de vue linguistique, il possède de nombreuses lacunes.

Un premier souci est la nécessité d’avoir une granularité plus importante que simplement la langue. Les linguistes travaillent sur des dialectes et des variétés, sur des familles de langues, et parfois ont travaillé sur des distinctions qui n’ont parfois plus cours. Afin de pouvoir associer ces ressources à des langues, ou des entités linguistiques particulières, l’approche du SIL ne suffit pas.

Enfin, la gestion du catalogue par un organisme religieux, donc avec parfois d’autres enjeux qu’uniquement scientifiques, le fait qu’il s’agisse d’une norme, donc la nécessité de collaborer avec l’ISO, et le fait que seule une partie du catalogue est accessible (il faut un abonnement pour accéder à la totalité de la ressource) rend la ressource moins pertinente pour de nombreux linguistes. Ces limites ont poussé des linguistes à proposer une ressource alternative.

Glottocode : par le Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.

Le projet Glottolog, initialement développé par Sebastian Nordhoff et Harald Hammarström, catalogue non seulement les langues du monde actuelles et passés, les familles de langues et leurs différentes branches, mais également « les restes » des hypothèses de langues ou de regroupements historiques. Cette granularité permet de retrouver les documents associés à chacun de ces objets. Si le catalogue est dédié aux langues moins connues, les langues les plus centrales sont elles aussi répertoriées. Il s’agit actuellement du catalogue mis en avant par les linguistes documentant les langues à travers le monde. L’application Glottolog est disponible via la licence MIT.

Si aux premiers abords, la liste des langues du Glottolog ne se distingue pas franchement de celle de l’ISO 639, c’est parce qu’il faut regarder plus en détail pour comprendre les différences essentielles entre les deux ressources. Notons tout de même la colonne « Child dialects » : « Dialectes enfants », et les champs vides au niveau des colonnes Top-level-family et pour la langue Abai Tubu-Abai Sembuak dans la colonne « ISO-639-3 ». La colonne « Child dialects » représente une information qui n’est pas documenté dans l’ISO 639, ce n’est pas son objet après tout, mais qui est intéressant pour les linguistes travaillant sur cette langue, indiquant qu’un minimum de données sociolinguistiques sont disponibles. Les champs vides dans la colonne « Top-level family » sont dus au fait que ces langues sont des isolats, c’est-à-dire que la linguistique comparée ne trouve pas de correspondances significatives entre cette langue et d’autres langues qui permettraient de les regrouper en une famille. Enfin, le vide dans la colonne ISO-963-3 révèle que la langue Abai Tubu-Abai Sembuak ne possède pas d’entrée dédiée dans la norme.

Ainsi, lorsque l’on consulte une langue en particulière, ici le Nisvai, on voit apparaitre tous les embranchements existants associés à cette langue :

Cette vue de l’arborescence associée à une langue particulière révèle tous les embranchements auxquels peut⁻être associée une langue. Et à chacun de ces embranchements, si des ressources linguistiques ont été identifiées par les mainteneurs du Glottolog, celles peuvent être proposées. Cette fonction permet aux linguistes de trouver des ressources sur les langues proches, non pas géographiquement (même si en pratique c’est le plus souvent le cas), mais d’un point de vue généalogique.

Les autres

Il existe d’autres initiatives pour cataloguer les langues du monde, que ce soit la liste proposée par Wikipedia, la liste de la CIA ou encore The Linguasphere Register, mais ces initiatives ne sont pas aussi pertinentes du point de vue de la documentation des langues.

Documenter les langues

ELAN : des schémas d’annotation flexibles

ELAN est un des logiciels libres (GPL3) les plus utilisés par les linguistes pour annoter des enregistrements audio et vidéo. Il permet d’élaborer des structures d’annotation complexes permettant ainsi de rendre compte des analyses que les linguistes souhaitent associer à un enregistrement. Ces couches d’annotation sont reliées les unes aux autres par des relations logiques, avec le plus souvent une couche de référence indexée temporellement à l’enregistrement. Les annotations les plus courantes sont une transcription, une traduction et une annotation morphologique. Mais des nombreuses autres analyses peuvent être incluses, que ce soit les parties du discours, les références et anaphores, l'animéité, mais aussi les gestes, la structuration du discours, les signes pour les sourds et malentendants.

Dans cette capture d’écran issu d’un texte de DoReCo retravaillé par l’auteur, on aperçoit un extrait de quelques secondes d’une narration nisvaie. Il s’agit d’un des modes de visualisation des annotations proposées par ELAN pour représenter les différentes couches d’annotation. Certaines de ces annotations ont été réalisées à la main par l’auteur, d’autres ont été retravaillées par les algorithmes mis en place par DoReCo, puis manuellement corrigés. Enfin, il y a également des couches d’annotation de la prosodie par le biais de SLAM+.

FLEX : gérer un projet de documentation

FLEX est un logiciel développé par le SIL et dont le code source est régie par la licence LGPL 2.1. Il est conçu davantage pour coordonner l’ensemble d’une documentation linguistique, de la gestion des textes à l’élaboration d’un dictionnaire, en passant par les analyses linguistiques. En revanche, il ne gère pas réellement l’annotation d’enregistrements. De nombreux linguistes l’utilisent en complément d’ELAN.

Si le logiciel est prometteur sur le papier, à chaque fois que je l’ai essayé, j’ai été rebuté par son côté usine à gaz, et surtout ses nombreux plantages notamment lorsqu’on essaie de gérer des fichiers multimédia avec. Et il en est de même pour les autres logiciels développé par le SIL, tel que SayMore pour gérer les métadonnées des enregistrements, WeSay pour faire des dictionnaires en collaboration avec les locuteurs et locutrices, à chaque fois que je les ai essayés, enthousiasmé par leurs fonctionnalités, j’ai été déçu par le fait qu’ils ne fonctionnaient pas correctement sur mon ordinateur.

Cette capture d’écran illustre un des modes de saisie de FLEX, ici la vue tabulaire du lexique, qui permet de rentrer et gérer les définitions des lexèmes (les entrées du dictionnaire) de manière assez rapide. On aperçoit dans la partie en haut à gauche les autres modes d’édition du lexique, et en dessous les autres catégories liées à la gestion d’un projet de documentation : Texts & Words, Grammar, Notebook et Lists. C’est à travers la catégorie Texts & Words que l’on peut par exemple importer des textes transcrits, voire des fichiers ELAN pour peupler la base de données lexicales. Grammar permet de décrire les paradigmes grammaticaux, FLEX propose d’ailleurs quelques algorithmes qui aident à la construction des paradigmes grammaticaux. Notebook et Lists servent à la gestion du projet, le premier pour prendre des notes diverses, et le second pour créer des listes, en particulier des tâches encore à réaliser.

Et il y en a bien d’autres encore

Il existe de nombreux autres logiciels similaires, tels qu’EXmaralda pour l’annotation des enregistrements (surtout utilisé en Allemagne à ma connaissance), Sonal (non libre, et dont le développement semble arrêté) qui est utilisé par les sociologues et les anthropologues pour une annotation thématique de leurs entretiens, Anvil, qui semble intéressant mais que je n’ai jamais réellement vu utilisé, ou enfin le vieux Transcriber qui lui était encore employé par certains projets il y a quelques années. Rentrer dans le détail de tous ces logiciels dépasserait le cadre d’une dépêche comme celle-ci, mais énumérer la diversité logicielle montre qu’il s’agit d’un secteur un minimum dynamique, d’ailleurs la question de la transcription et de l’annotation des enregistrements ne se limite pas du tout qu’au domaine de la documentation des langues du monde.

L’archivage et la compilation de corpus

Afin de conserver et partager les corpus et donnée enregistrées par les linguistes, chercheurs voire simplement les personnes ayant documenté une langue, il existe des archives, le plus souvent en ligne. Il y a en France par exemple Pangloss, géré par le LACITO, dédié aux langues orales, ou ORTOLANG, plus générique, pour les corpus de langue. En Océanie, il y a Paradisec. Il y a aussi ELAR, autrefois à Londres, et qui a déménagé récemment à Berlin récemment.

Ces archives proposent diverses interfaces pour déposer, gérer et parfois même consulter les enregistrements et les annotations réalisés par les linguistes et leurs collaborateurs·e·s. À noter que pour ces archives, Ortolang décrit son architecture logicielle qui repose sur des briques ouvertes, en revanche concernant Paradisec et Pangloss, bien que leur statuts soient sûrement similaires du fait de la démarche générale de ses ingénieurs, je n’ai pas trouvé de liens vers les logiciels employés. Quant à ELAR, le logiciel utilisé est Preservica, une solution propriétaire qui, quand on a le malheur de devoir l’utiliser, fonctionne bien lentement.

La compilation de corpus, si elle se rapproche de l’archivage en ce qu’il s’agit également de recueillir, conserver et publier les corpus des linguistes, correspond également à une édition particulière de ces corpus. La compilation de corpus est réalisé à travers la mise en place de processus de qualité, d’annotations et de conventions particulières. Les deux compilations de corpus présentées ici sont des compilations de corpus de documentation de langues orales. Les enregistrements ont été systématiquement annotés en utilisant une convention nommée les gloses interlinaires (le nom fait en fait référence à la pratique ancienne d’insérer des explications entre les lignes d’un texte. En pratique aujourd’hui, ce n’est plus vraiment ce que font les linguistes, puisque le travail est informatisé et les annotations ne sont plus entre les lignes, mais, le terme a cependant été conservé).

DoReCo

DoReCo est une compilation de 52 corpus en accès ouvert (NdR : auquelle l’auteur a contribué). La compilation a nécessité la mise en place de processus de qualité afin d’assurer la cohérence de l’ensemble et de fournir un certain nombre de garanties quant aux qualités du corpus.

Une première qualité, et l’une des originalités de DoReCo, est de proposer un alignement temporel est très fin. La durée de chaque phonème, de chaque morphèmes, de chaque mot (ici suivant la définition de la personne à l’origine du corpus, car la définition d’un mot n’a rien d’une évidence) et enfin de chaque groupe de souffle est fournie. Une deuxième qualité a été de s’assurer que pour l’ensemble des retranscriptions, chacun des termes et des morphèmes possède une glose, c’est-à-dire qu’ils possèdent une explication linguistique.

La compilation totalise une centaine d’heures d’enregistrements audio, en grande majorité des narrations monologiques. À noter que les corpus de la compilation sont accès ouvert, via une licence Creative Commons, mais que les droits d’utilisation varient d’un corpus à l’autre. Les données sont accessibles aux formats d’ELAN : .eaf, de Praat : . TextGrid, TEI.xml, et.csv.

Multi-CAST

Multi-CAST est également une compilation de 18 corpus de documentation de langues différentes. Les textes annotés via le logiciel ELAN. Contrairement à DoReCo, l’alignement temporel des annotations n’est pas réalisé de manière précise, mais manuellement, par les personnes à l’origine du corpus, à l’échelle de l’énoncé. Les textes sont également en grande majorité des narrations monologiques. L’originalité de cette compilation de corpus vient du fait que les textes contiennent trois couches d’annotation particulières : GRAID, Grammatical Relations and Animacy in Discourse, (voir), puis RefIND et ISNRef (Referent Indexing in Natural Language Discourse, voir Schiborr et al. 2018).

Cette compilation de corpus est aussi disponible dans plusieurs formats. XML évidemment, puisque c’est le format natif d’ELAN, mais aussi TSV et il existe également un paquet pour R. Tout cela est disponible via la licence CC-BY 4.0.

Conclusion

J’espère que vous avez apprécié cette introduction à la documentation des langues à travers les logiciels libres. L’idée est surtout d’attiser la curiosité, car il reste évidemment encore de nombreux aspects ou points à discuter et à approfondir. La prochaine fois que j’aborderai le thème de la documentation linguistique ici, j’espère que ça sera pour présenter mon application basée sur Django pour faire de la lexicographie.

Il y a également un autre sujet sur lequel j’aimerais bien échanger ici prochainement : la question des licences des données collectés et la négociation lorsque l’on travaille avec des personnes à tradition orale. Si ouvrir l’accès aux données de recherche et aux corpus peut sembler être une évidence pour certains, il ne faut pas oublier que souvent, les chercheurs et chercheuses de terrain collectent des informations personnelles, que la connaissance n’est pas forcément considérée comme un bien public et les enregistrements, notamment les narrations, qui ne sont pas forcément perçues comme des fictions, sont souvent couverts par des droits locaux. Enfin, ouvrir ses données de recherche, si c’est permettre à d’autres de réutiliser ses données, requiert beaucoup de travail de la part des linguistes, c’est une tâche longue, ingrate et surtout peu valorisée. Alors qu’il est de plus en plus précaire d’être chercheur en sciences humaines, il est aussi difficile de demander à ces chercheurs et chercheuses de consacrer une grande partie de leur temps à des tâches qui ne leur permettront pas de se constituer un CV, nécessaire si l’on souhaite avoir un poste stable (c’est-à-dire plus de deux ans).

Label sans IA : ce texte a été rédigé sans aucun aide de la part d’une LLM."

#metaglossia_mundus

"EJIE recibe un premio internacional por su desarrollo tecnológico con el traductor Itzuli

• La Sociedad Informática del Gobierno Vasco (EJIE) ha visto reconocida su labor en innovación aplicada al traductor neuronal Itzuli por Red Hat, el principal proveedor mundial de soluciones de código abierto
• Itzuli se basa en la inteligencia artificial y facilita la traducción de textos del euskera al castellano y viceversa, así como a otros idiomas como el francés y el inglés
• Itzuli ha llegado a tener hasta 300.000 consultas en su solo día y, gracias a la Inteligencia Artificial posibilita la traducción, transcripción (de voz a texto en euskera y castellano) y síntesis (texto a voz en euskera, español, francés e inglés)
• También han sido premiados los proyectos tecnológicos del Banco de Amazonia, el operador nacional de la red eléctrica de Nueva Zelanda (Transpower New Zealand), y el líder mundial en servicios de asesoría tecnológica, Capgemini. En el concurso han participado cerca de trescientas empresas de todo el mundo

EJIE ha recibido un nuevo reconocimiento en su labor de digitalización de los servicios públicos de Euskadi. En esta ocasión por su desarrollo del proyecto de traductor neuronal Itzuli. La Sociedad Informática del Gobierno Vasco ha sido elegida como uno de los cuatro proyectos de innovación más destacados sobre un total de 280 presentados a los premios organizados anualmente por Red Hat, el principal proveedor mundial de soluciones de código abierto. Esta compañía reconoce de este modo logros tecnológicos de todo el mundo que demuestran un pensamiento creativo, determinación en la resolución de problemas y un uso transformador de la tecnología.

Adscrito al Departamento de Gobernanza Pública y Autogobierno del Gobierno Vasco, EJIE trabaja diariamente en el impulso de Itzuli, una experiencia de éxito y calidad puesta en marcha en 2019 juntamente con el Departamento de Cultura y Política Lingüística. Como botón de muestra de su implantación cabe destacar que cada día se realizan alrededor de 300.000 consultas en esta herramienta basada en la inteligencia artificial y el desarrollo tecnológico para realizar traducciones (euskera a castellano, francés e inglés), transcripciones (de voz a texto en euskera y castellano) y síntesis (de texto a voz en euskera, castellano, francés e inglés). Ofrece la posibilidad de obtener, casi de forma inmediata, traducciones gratuitas sobre todo en euskera a través de esta aplicación a la que se accede en la dirección www.euskadi.eus/itzuli/. También se puede bajar la aplicación al móvil o la tableta con sistemas Android e iOS.

El proyecto Itzuli se diseñó con tecnología de código abierto (también conocido como kubernetes) que posibilita adaptarse a las necesidades de carga de forma adaptativa.

Además de EJIE, han sido premiadas otras tres entidades y organizaciones: el Banco de Amazonia, Transpower New Zealand (operador nacional de la red eléctrica) y Capgemini (asesoría internacional de empresas para transformar su negocio aprovechando el poder de la tecnología)."

#metaglossia_mundus

"The internet doesn’t forgive and forget – and Karla Panini is learning the hard way as her story has been translated into multiple languages.

BY JEANETTE HERNANDEZ

05.09.24 at 10:01 am

The internet doesn’t forgive and forget – and Karla Panini is learning the hard way. Her drama with former friend and costar Karla Luna didn’t stop at English and Spanish, it turns out social media users are translating it into multiple languages – fictional included.

After the South Korean YouTuber Stephanie Soo translated the Panini-Luna drama into English, the Mexican comic went on a nearly 10-minute rant about being “canceled.” But that didn’t stop people from reacting to the chisme – it looks like it made it more viral. 

For those who don’t know, Panini was part of the popular Las Lavanderas duo with Luna. Both comedians reached the masses by gossiping and even went on tour together in the 2010s. However, they disbanded when Panini had an affair with her best friend’s husband Américo Garza. And get this: she ended up marrying him after Luna passed away from cancer in 2017. 

Now, the story of betrayal is reaching new audiences thanks to language-savvy internet users. From sign language to High Valyrian, the tea is getting passed around to all corners of the world and beyond...."

#metaglossia_mundus

"9th May 2024

 

• A quarter of illustrators (26%) and over a third of translators (36%) have already lost work due to generative AI.
• Around 1 in 10 translators (8%) and a smaller proportion of illustrators (5%) said they have used generative AI in their work because their publisher or commissioning organisation asked them to.
• Almost two-thirds of writers of fiction (65%) and over half of non-fiction writers (57%) believe that generative AI will negatively impact future income from their creative work.

 

Throughout January 2024, the EWC Member The Society of Authors (UK) ran a survey of its 12,500 members and other authors, and received 787 responses on experiences of generative artificial intelligence (AI) systems, and authors’ views and concerns about the future impact on creative careers.

The respondents included writers of fiction and non-fiction, scriptwriters, poets and journalists, as well as illustrators and translators – many well-established, others early in their careers, and both traditionally and self-published. Regardless of type of author and career stage, almost all respondents called for transparency from developers, safeguards introduced by Government, credit and compensation when work is used, and ethical approaches both to the development of generative AI systems and in practice when they are used by industry. To the results.

Selected findings:

While some respondents are starting to use generative AI as a tool in their work out of choice, others – specifically some translators and illustrators – are now being asked to use it by publishers and commissioning organisations.

• Approximately 1 in 5 respondents (22%) said they had used generative AI in their work.
• This included 1 in 10 illustrators (12%), a third of translators (37%), a fifth of fiction writers (20%) and around a quarter of non-fiction writers (25%).
• Around 3 in 10 illustrators and writers (31%) said they have used generative AI for brainstorming ideas.
• Around 1 in 10 translators (8%) and a smaller proportion of illustrators (5%) said they have used generative AI in their work because their publisher or commissioning organisation asked them to.

Creators’ livelihoods at risk

Concerns about the impact of generative AI on creative careers included groups of authors who are already experiencing loss of work, or the devaluation of their work, as a direct result of new technologies.

• A quarter of illustrators (26%) and over a third of translators (36%) have already lost work due to generative AI.
• Over a third of illustrators (37%) and over 4 in 10 translators (43%) say the income from their work has decreased in value because of generative AI.
• Almost two-thirds of writers of fiction (65%) and over half of non-fiction writers (57%) believe that generative AI will negatively impact future income from their creative work, with this rising to over three quarters of translators (77%) and illustrators (78%).
• More than 8 in 10 respondents (86%) said they are concerned about their style, voice and likeness being mimicked or reproduced in generative AI output.
• More than 8 in 10 respondents (86%) are concerned that the use of generative AI devalues human-made creative work."

#metaglossia_mundus

"Sarah Cameron Sunde on Translating the Nobel Laureate's Complex Silences for American Audiences

By Sarah Cameron Sunde

May 6, 2024

My father was born and raised in Norway, and I’ve spoken the language since living there for seven months when I was 12. In 2003, while visiting family in Oslo, my Dad’s cousin and her husband (who I consider my aunt and uncle) introduced me to the work of Jon Fosse. I read Fosse’s play Vinter (Winter) in his original New Norwegian (nynorsk), and later that night went to see the National Theater’s production at Torshovteatret in Oslo. I was blown away.

From a formal written aesthetic perspective, Fosse’s play was unlike anything I had ever read before, and it moved me deeply. It looked like poetry on the page, with lots of white space, no punctuation, and clear musicality. The story was a simple, everyday encounter between two people, but it resonated on a universal scale in all its complex silences. The text begged to be spoken aloud and was imbued with layers of subtext; the pauses were clearly just as important as the words. I felt I’d stumbled across the most important writer of our time. When I saw the performance that night and read in the program that Fosse had already been translated into over 40 languages and produced all around the world, I couldn’t understand why no one had brought his work to the U.S. yet.

Fosse’s acknowledgment of time and our own vulnerability illuminates our existence and creates real possibility for positive change.

When I got back home to New York, armed with Fosse’s complete works in Norwegian, I searched the NY Public Library for an English translation to share with potential producers and collaborators and found only one: a British translation of Natta Syng Sine Songar (translated into: Nightsongs—which I found strange, because the original title is inherently poetic in its literal translation: the night sings its songs.) I reached out to Jon Fosse over email and boldly asked for the rights to produce and direct his U.S. debut production. To my surprise, he answered enthusiastically within two hours.

As we continued our conversation, Fosse acknowledged the challenge of translation and encouraged me to consider translating specifically for production in New York. He sent me two other attempts at American-English translations of Natta Syng Sine Songar. I read the first few pages of each, but one felt too literal and highlighted the foreign nature of the work while the other felt like it was trying too hard to sound American. I remember looking back at Jon’s original text in nynorsk and then reading the first few pages of the British version. And suddenly I realized that none of them were articulating quite what I saw and felt when I read his work in nynorsk, or when I saw it on stage in Oslo.

To our American ears, the British translations render Fosse’s characters higher class than how he writes them. I had initially thought it could be ok to replace a few British idioms with American ones, but as I skimmed those first few pages of the British text, I saw implied class differences everywhere, in every character.

For example, in the second scene of Natta Syng Sine Songar / Night Sings Its Songs (which is how I would later translate it), The Young Man says to his father, The Old Man: “Du må berre setje deg ned,” which the British version translated as “Do sit down.” This might work well for a British audience, but for New Yorkers, this would sound stuffy and pretentious. While the characters clearly had some awkward family dynamics in the room, my understanding from the nynorsk was that this family was not nearly so formal. I asked myself: why on earth would we put this delicate poetic text through a British sensibility in order to reach us on this side of the pond? [Later, I would decide to translate this line as: “Have a seat.”]

Instances like this presented themselves on every page of the play, in the syntax of so many common phrases. If Fosse’s work was going to resonate with my New York audience, it would be vital that his characters read as everyday people. They needed to feel like you or me.

So I returned that British translation to the library, deleted the other two electronic files that Fosse sent me, decided to only look at his original text in nynorsk from that moment on, and with the encouragement of Fosse and my dad, I became a translator. Although I had never translated much more than emails from family, let alone one of the world’s most produced playwrights, as a director, I knew what it takes to make text work onstage and how to create a good piece of live performance—with moments of surprise and tension, moments that are full of possibility. So I threw my heart and soul into the task at hand.

From a technical perspective, Fosse uses words sparingly, with no punctuation except for line breaks and the choice between beginning each line with a capital letter or a lowercase letter. Words, phrases, and ideas are repeated in variations. Sparse dialogue builds slowly, repeats, connects, shifts slightly, and accumulates to create suspense and a powerful sense of rhythm. His poetic form makes every word vital and extremely active. The most common words sometimes convey vast existential ideas.

One such word that appears again and again (over 150 times, in fact) in Natta Syng Sine Songar is “ja”—I had noticed that this repetition was missing in the British translation, and instead the translator had chosen to replace each “ja” with what he thought it meant in each given moment—which often meant “yes” and sometimes deleting it entirely, when it seemed like filler word. But the repetition felt critical to me for several reasons: 1) the everyday quality of the word as it is spoken, not written, 2) the way this “ja” could function to build tension between live performers, 3) and how it unites the characters despite the vast space between them.

I spent a lot of time workshopping how to best translate this one small word. The first time I gathered some actors to read the play out loud, I gave them a piece of paper that had a list of all the words they could insert when they saw the word “yeh” in their script. To my surprise and delight, they all chose to play with the repetition rather than find alternatives. From my final translation notes:

Norwegian “ja” = yes = yeh

Yeh = the most common version of an American “yeah”, only not so nasal, and not necessarily enthusiastic.

Yeh = yep, hmm, ok, so, well, fine, oh, sure, yeah, uh-huh, tsk, ugh…basically all the filler words—how we speak, not how we write.

This is part of what is revolutionary about Fosse’s work—he finds the simplest way to say something, and within this everyday speech, there is deep complexity through repetition and slight variations. It is both simple and complex, both realistic and very heightened at the same time.

This is the reason I was so attracted to Fosse’s work—the way that potential hangs in the air, the way his characters represent all of humanity in the turn of a phrase, the way the past merges with the present and the future. Standing still is a primary action and “moving towards each other” is what happens next. Location is immaterial, but every breath, every turn of phrase, and slight physical action is important. So is the wind, the rain, and the sea. Death is always present, and its constant proximity challenges characters and the audience to assess their humanity. Fosse’s acknowledgment of time and our own vulnerability illuminates our existence and creates real possibility for positive change. Every time I entered Fosse’s world , I was reminded that we are only on this planet for a short time and must be brave enough to take action while we are here.

Sometimes I would sit with a few lines for days, and then discuss with my brilliant dramaturgs (one Norwegian and one American) all the possibilities of what could happen during this particular moment in performance. It was a group effort, and eventually we would land on what felt like the closest to Fosse’s nynorsk, acknowledging that we would never get there completely—it was an impossible task, like moving towards infinity. Always getting closer to both the specificity and the openness.

And so I came to embrace an idea that stems directly from Fosse’s text and would define my translation (and directorial and overall artistic) approach: specific ambiguity. The goal was always to be as specific as possible with every word/phrase I chose, but to create enough room for multiple interpretations from any person who receives it—whether that be actors on stage, or people in the audience. Onstage, this meant directing the actors to consider all the possibilities of which action they could take in any given moment, and then keep all those choices alive in their body even after making a choice.  It also meant encouraging actors to keep their choices to themselves and be comfortable with disagreeing with their scene partners about what was happening in a given moment. This was not always easy, but it meant that the audience was confronted with their own mysterious piece of art, and they had to translate it through their own sensibility in order to take in and make sense of what was happening.

 

I learned to listen—to the silences between people, to what’s happening in a breath, and to the more than human world.

The first time I met Jon in person as I was halfway through the translation process of Natta Syng Sine Songar / Night Sings Its Songs, with a solid draft, but not honed yet. I shared my directorial vision with him, and the lines in the play upon which my vision was hanging, when The Young Woman, in a moment of crisis is searching and says:

DEN UNGE KVINNA                               THE YOUNG WOMAN

Veit du det                                                   You know
at alltid skjer berre eit eller anna          that something or other always happens
Eg liker ikkje at noko skjer                      I don’t like it that something happens
Alt skal helst vere roleg                            I’d rather everything stayed calm
og berre det vante                                     and that only the usual things
det ein kjenner til                                       things that you’re used to
skal skje                                                        would happen
Men så skjer jo alltid noko uvanleg      But something unusual always happens
Alltid                                                             Always

 He looked at me and said (something like): Du forstar stykket. (You understand this work). His confidence—that I could translate his singularly spiritual perspective and capture it in my own theatrical language, finding simple words and actions to convey his vast existential ideas—that faith powered me through so many of my early days and made my commitment to creating the best possible translation and production even stronger.

Then during that first rehearsal process, whenever I would write to Fosse with a question—often about what was happening in a certain moment—he would usually respond: “You know the answer, Sarah.” As a young artist at the beginning of a new millennium, I was searching: what did I have to say? Fosse’s unwavering trust in me meant that I had to trust myself. I had to slow down and tune into my vision for the work, translating the play Norwegian to English, then page to stage—as I saw it, heard it, and felt it.

Through the process of working with six of Fosse’s masterful texts over the next 11 years with him as a friend and collaborator, I found my voice as an artist. I learned to slow down and be still. I learned to listen—to the silences between people, to what’s happening in a breath, and to the more than human world. I learned about philosophy, duration and time, scale, resilience, and survival.

All of this learning fed directly into my next decade of artistic practice. My project, 36.5 / A Durational Performance with the Sea, was created over nine years on six continents from 2013-2022, and was a different act of “translation,” but very much informed by my ethereal Fosse productions. Moved by Hurricane Sandy’s impact on New York City, I felt an impulse to translate the seemingly abstract concept of sea-level rise into an embodied experience. It began as a small poetic gesture—I walked out into the sea to listen to water as it rises with the tide—and this turned into a series of large-scale participatory performances and video works made with communities around the world. Hundreds of people joined me standing in water and thousands witnessed from land and through livestream. Whether they know it or not, what everyone experienced was an intentional act of specific ambiguity—tiny vulnerable humans standing still in a vast landscape, looking towards the sea, flirting with danger, helping to create an open-ended image that contains layers of meanings, inviting the participants and audience alike to reflect on their own humanity. Just as Fosse asked of me.

*

MAY 6, 2024: 11am-9pm at the Segal Theatre in the Graduate Center, CUNY

Join Us! Oslo Elsewhere reunites 20 years after the U.S. debut of Fosse’s work. For an all-day event to hear experimental readings of five plays by 2023 Nobel Laureate Jon Fosse, in Sunde’s American English translations.

Sarah Cameron Sunde Sarah Cameron Sunde is a New York based interdisciplinary artist working at the intersection of performance, video, conceptual and public art. She investigates scale and duration in relation to the human body, environmental crisis and deep time. She is creator of 36.5 / A Durational Performance with the Sea, and internationally known as Jon Fosse’s primary American English theatrical translator and director. Sunde is a 2021 recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship and a 2023 Cultural Leader with the World Economic Forum."

#metaglossia_mundus

"Englishlush has transcended its origins to become the lingua franca of the modern world, shaping communication, culture, and commerce on a global scale. In this exploration, we delve into the significance of English as a global language, examining its impact, challenges, and future prospects.

Historical Context

English’s journey from a regional dialect to a global phenomenon is a testament to historical factors such as colonialism, trade, and globalization. British colonial expansion in the 17th to 19th centuries facilitated the spread of English to regions around the world, laying the groundwork for its subsequent dominance.

Technological Advances

The advent of the internet, mass media, and digital communication platforms has accelerated the global reach of English. English-language content pervades cyberspace, from social media and online news to entertainment and e-commerce, facilitating cross-cultural communication and exchange.

Facilitator of Communication

English serves as a bridge across linguistic and cultural barriers, enabling communication and collaboration among speakers of diverse mother tongues. Its widespread use in international diplomacy, business, academia, and tourism underscores its role as a global medium of communication.

Cultural Exchange

English facilitates cultural exchange and understanding by providing a common language for the sharing of ideas, art, and literature. From Hollywood films and British literature to K-pop lyrics and Bollywood movies, English-language media transcends borders, connecting people from different cultures and backgrounds.

Linguistic Imperialism

The dominance of English has sparked debates about linguistic imperialism and cultural homogenization. Critics argue that the spread of English threatens linguistic diversity and marginalizes indigenous languages and cultures, perpetuating unequal power dynamics in global discourse.

English Proficiency Divide

Disparities in English proficiency create socioeconomic divides within and between countries, limiting access to education, employment, and opportunities for social mobility. Addressing the English proficiency gap is crucial for promoting equitable access to resources and fostering inclusive development. Initiatives aimed at improving language education and providing support for language learners, such as 314159u, play a vital role in bridging these divides and empowering individuals to thrive in an increasingly interconnected world.

Global Communication

 English serves as a primary vehicle for global communication, facilitating interactions between individuals and nations with diverse linguistic backgrounds. As a widely spoken language, it enables seamless communication in various domains such as business, diplomacy, science, and academia. The ability to communicate effectively in English has become increasingly important in today’s interconnected world, allowing individuals to engage in cross-cultural dialogue, collaborate on international projects, and access information and resources from around the globe.

Linguistic Diversity

 Despite the prevalence of English as a global language, linguistic diversity remains a hallmark of human communication. While English serves as a common medium of communication, it coexists with thousands of other languages spoken by communities worldwide. Linguistic diversity enriches the tapestry of human culture and reflects the unique identities, histories, and worldviews of different societies. Efforts to preserve and celebrate linguistic diversity are essential for promoting cultural understanding, safeguarding indigenous knowledge, and preserving the rich heritage of languages threatened by extinction.

Economic Integration

English plays a pivotal role in economic integration by facilitating trade, investment, and collaboration across borders. In today’s globalized economy, proficiency in English is often a prerequisite for accessing international markets, attracting foreign investment, and participating in global supply chains. English-language skills enhance employability and competitiveness in the global job market, offering individuals and businesses greater opportunities for growth and success in a rapidly changing economic landscape.

Cultural Exchange

 English serves as a conduit for cultural exchange, enabling the sharing of ideas, values, and traditions among people from different cultural backgrounds. Through literature, music, film, and other forms of artistic expression, English-language media transcend geographical and cultural boundaries, fostering cross-cultural understanding and appreciation. Cultural exchange enriches societies by exposing individuals to diverse perspectives, fostering empathy and tolerance, and promoting intercultural dialogue and cooperation on global issues.

Language Acquisition

 English-language acquisition plays a crucial role in fostering global citizenship and intercultural competence. Learning English opens doors to educational, professional, and personal opportunities, allowing individuals to connect with people from diverse backgrounds and participate in global conversations. Language acquisition also promotes cognitive development, linguistic proficiency, and cross-cultural communication skills, empowering individuals to navigate the complexities of our increasingly interconnected world with confidence and fluency.

FAQs about English as a Global Language

How Many People Speak English Worldwide?

English is estimated to be spoken by over 1.5 billion people globally, either as a first or second language. Its status as a global lingua franca ensures its widespread use in diverse domains, from business and academia to entertainment and diplomacy.

What Factors Contribute to the Global Dominance of English?

Historical factors such as colonialism, trade, and technological advancements have contributed to the global spread of English. Its versatility, ease of learning, and status as a language of innovation and opportunity further reinforce its dominance in the modern world.

How Does English Impact Indigenous Languages and Cultures?

The spread of English has raised concerns about the erosion of linguistic and cultural diversity, particularly among indigenous communities. English-language dominance can marginalize indigenous languages and perpetuate cultural hegemony, highlighting the importance of language preservation and revitalization efforts.

What Role Does English Play in Globalization?

English serves as a key facilitator of globalization, enabling communication, commerce, and cultural exchange on a global scale. Its dominance in international business, diplomacy, and media reflects the interconnected nature of the modern world and the importance of linguistic proficiency in navigating global opportunities.

How Can English Proficiency Gaps be Addressed?

Addressing English proficiency gaps requires investment in education, language training programs, and infrastructure to ensure equitable access to English-language resources and opportunities. Emphasizing communicative competence and cultural sensitivity can empower individuals to navigate the complexities of global communication effectively.

Conclusion: Embracing Linguistic Diversity in a Globalized World

English’s status as a global language brings both opportunities and challenges in an increasingly interconnected world. While its dominance facilitates communication and collaboration across borders, it also raises concerns about linguistic hegemony and cultural imperialism. As we navigate the complexities of English as a global language, it is essential to promote linguistic diversity, equity, and inclusion. By embracing multilingualism and fostering intercultural dialogue, we can harness the transformative power of language to build bridges, foster understanding, and shape a more inclusive and equitable global community. "

#metaglossia_mundus

By Alondra Tamayo, May 7, 2024

"For the longest time, I felt like I had no voice, because the one I had would get ridiculed.

I grew accustomed being cut off in conversations and asked where I was from because of my accent. I became used to being mocked because of the way I pronounced certain words instead of being corrected. Those encounters killed my self-esteem and heightened my anxiety on public speaking because I felt like the way my voice sounded was more important than what I had to say. There were instances where I was mocked in group settings only to realize they weren’t laughing with me, but at me.

I thought being bilingual would bring me more opportunities; instead, I faced bullying, discrimination and mocking – even from my own friends and teachers. I was once told my homework wasn’t good enough because of the assumption having an accent equated to a lack of understanding.

Since CPP is a diverse campus, with many different ethnic backgrounds, cultures and different unique accents.

I wondered if classmates with accents similar to mine have had similar experiences.

Business student Maria Rodriguez faced discrimination growing up with a Latino accent.

“One time there was a group project and the person who felt like the group leader started assigning tasks,” Rodriguez said. “I enjoyed public speaking, especially because in my native country I never faced any challenges publicly speaking. So I decided to volunteer and say that I could do the presenting, but everyone in the group told me that nobody would understand me anyways and that we might lose points because I wouldn’t be able to deliver the information like they would.”

According to an article led by a psycholinguistics researcher Alice Foucart, having a foreign accent can lead to discrimination and judgements from individuals who don’t speak your native language. Foucart stated this happens because the human brain puts extra effort into understanding individuals with an accent. This extra work shows in native English speakers brain activity, indicating a struggle to process words and their meanings. This can make individuals have a negative perception of people with foreign accents.

Expressing a foreign accent can often bring feelings of discouragement and low self-worth. This might happen because of stereotypes or biases people hold about accents. Some might wrongly assume that a Latino accent means a lack of proficiency in English or intelligence. However, accents don’t reflect a person’s abilities or worth. Instead, they showcase diversity and richness in language.

A study by Laura Cerrato, a student at Helsink, Finland Metropolia University of Applied Sciences, demonstrated that individuals with a foreign accent find it harder to find a job and are perceived as less educated simply because the way they speak English is different.

I have lived in this country for about 18 years now, my accent is still strong and I have lost interest in “bettering” it because it’s a unique part of me and is a voice to my Spanish speaking parents.

“I have now realized that having an accent doesn’t mean I am not less intelligent, less educated or the jester for the night,” Rodriguez said. “It means that my brain is able to process information in two different languages, that I am educated and that I can express myself in two different languages. I have a voice, and I intend on using it no matter how it sounds.”'

#metaglossia_mundus

"Urgently ARABIC Interpreters Required Job details Posting date: 07 May 2024 Hours: Part time Closing date: 06 June 2024 Location: PE11 Remote working: On-site only Company: Aqua Interpreting Group Job type: Temporary Job reference: Apply for this job Summary Urgently ARABIC Interpreters required.

Urgently ARABIC Interpreters Required Job details Posting date: 07 May 2024 Hours: Part time Closing date: 06 June 2024 Location: PE11 Remote working: On-site only Company: Aqua Interpreting Group Job type: Temporary Job reference:  

Apply for this job

Summary

Urgently ARABIC Interpreters required.
Aqua Interpreting Group is currently recruiting freelance interpreters in all languages to meet the growing demand for interpretation services. Interpreters will work in a variety of situations including Insurance Interviews, Investigations, Reading statements, Solicitors' offices, Barrister's Conferences and various Public and Private Sector organisations. The role will involve assisting clients with language difficulties. Excellent rates of pay and travel expenses.

To apply, please email us your CV with the languages you speak fluently, your full address and post code and phone number. Without these details your CV will NOT be considered.
The subject line of your email needs to say: Language, Interpreter – Your location. For example: Polish Interpreter – Manchester

Preference will be given if you have a Diploma in Public Service Interpreting (DPSI), Diploma in Translation (DipTrans), Diploma in Police Interpreting (DPI), MET Police Test, Certificate in Bilingual Skills, MA in translation/interpreting, Home Office assessed interpreters, Community Interpreting Level 3.

If you speak any other language, please do email us your CV. We are very interested in rare languages and dialects too!
NO PHONE CALLS PLEASE
www.aquainterpretinggroup.com"

#metaglossia_mundus

"Joseph Sharpe  May 7, 2024 Updated May 7, 2024

The family of Teddy Sharik has established the scholarship for Sinclair Interpreter Education students.

DAYTON, OH – The Sinclair Community College Foundation and the family of Lima resident Teddy Sharik have established a scholarship to honor Teddy’s memory and to support American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter students.

 

Teddy lived in Lima for five years before his passing on February 4, 2023, following a 2-month battle with cancer.  Teddy was profoundly Deaf his entire life and was a strong advocate for creating a more inclusive world for individuals with hearing impairments. During the final seven weeks of his life at St. Rita’s Hospice in Lima, Teddy and his family utilized ASL interpreters, who were Sinclair Community College graduates, to bridge communication gaps.   

 

“There is so much I could say about these interpreters. They were a phenomenal group, and they were Teddy’s voice. They traveled the two hours each way from Dayton to Lima and sometimes slept overnight at the hospital to provide 24/7 interpreting between Teddy, our family, and the hospice staff,” said Scott Sharik, Teddy’s brother. “It struck me so much as to the value of these bridge building interpreters and the importance of interpreting that my sister and I decided we wanted to set up a scholarship fund to help ASL interpreter students get into school and to manage the finances for their education.”

The Teddy Sharik Memorial Scholarship, established through the Sinclair Foundation, will provide financial assistance for tuition, fees, and books for students enrolled in the Interpreter Education associate degree program at Sinclair Community College in Dayton.

 

"The Teddy Sharik Memorial Scholarship embodies the values that the Sinclair Foundation holds dear – empathy, inclusivity, and the power of education to transform lives. We are proud to be able to honor Teddy Sharik's legacy and support students," added Dr. Zachary Beck, Chief Development Officer – Sinclair Community College Advancement Division.

The Sinclair Community College Associate of Applied Science Interpreter Education (ASL) degree prepares students with the skills necessary to successfully function as an interpreter for Deaf, Hard of Hearing, and DeafBlind individuals in a variety of educational and community settings.

“Sinclair Community College is incredibly proud of the Interpreter Education Program graduates who make such a meaningful impact in the lives of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing individuals. The Teddy Sharik Memorial Scholarship is an incredible way to support students who have chosen a career path that creates a more inclusive world,” said Dr. Jessica Minor, Chair – Sinclair Community College Education Department.

 

Over the past five years, more than 50 Sinclair students have graduated with an Interpreter Education (ASL) associate degree.

“My brother's life was a testament to resilience and the power of communication. He showed me the importance of bridging the gap between the hearing and Deaf communities. I want to honor his memory by supporting students who share his passion for sign language interpretation and are committed to breaking down communication barriers. There is a mission here and there is a purpose that is deep and impactful on lives," added Scott Sharik.

To support the Teddy Sharik Memorial Scholarship, visit Give.Sinclair.edu or contact the Sinclair Foundation at Foundation@Sinclair.edu or call 937-512-2510.

Copyright 2024 by Lima Communications Corporation. All rights reserved."

#metaglossia_mundus

"The need for immediate communication in a world characterized by an ever-increasing flow of information has led to a rapid increase in volunteer translation in recent decades. While previous studies have focused on aspects such as volunteer translators’ motivation and the attendant ethical issues of voluntary translation, comparatively little research has explored the phenomenon from a discursive perspective. The research reported in this article explored the discursive construction of the volunteer translator in non-governmental organizations (NGOs) active in Spain using critical discourse analysis. Drawn from analysis of 25 semi-structured individual interviews with volunteer translators in five different NGOs, the findings reveal that volunteer translators are seen either as an agent and actor of social change who facilitates communication and possesses a strong sense of identity and social status, or as someone who is interfering in a sector traditionally limited to professional translators and who consequently has a weaker sense of identity and social status. This suggests that the role of the volunteer translator currently lacks definition, and that further research is needed to better understand the relationship between volunteer and professional translators in the 21st century."

#metaglossia_mundus: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41599-024-03103-4

 

"UMBC's Ryan Bloom, senior lecturer in English, has received the 2024 Guggenheim Fellowship for translation to work on the first complete edition of the French-Algerian author Albert Camus's notebooks, journals, and other works. This year, 188 grants were awarded from more than 3,000 applicants from over 52 academic disciplines across the U.S. and Canada. Fellows are provided funding to freely pursue their creative projects through their unique process without any special conditions. 

Published: May 7, 2024

By: Catalina Sofia Dansberger Duque

Ryan Bloom. (Elizabeth Haynes)

Ryan Bloom, senior lecturer in English, has received the 2024 Guggenheim Fellowship for translation to work on the first complete edition of the French-Algerian author Albert Camus’s notebooks, journals, and other works. This year, 188 grants were awarded from more than 3,000 applicants from over 52 academic disciplines across the U.S. and Canada. Fellows are provided funding to freely pursue their creative projects through their unique process without any special conditions. 

“In many ways, the situation Camus experienced in post-World War II Paris bears similarities to our own times here in the States. To give just one example, one of Camus’s great fears was a world where, in support of ideology, people were willing to excuse, if not actively cheer, the murder of other human beings,” says Bloom. “We need only turn on the news or scroll through our social media feeds to understand how some might feel that same fear today.”

Bloom has been translating Camus’s work for more than a decade. Most recently, he completed translations of Camus’s North and South American journals, Travels in the Americas: Notes and Impressions of a New World (Chicago University Press, 2023) as well as Camus’s Caligula and Three Other Plays (Penguin Random House, 2023). His translation of Albert Camus’ Notebooks 1951 – 1959, (Ivan R. Dee Publishing, 2008) was a finalist for the French-American Foundation and the Florence Gould Foundation’s Translation Prize for outstanding published English translations of prose originally written in French; his translation of Travels in the Americas is again a finalist for this year’s prize, to be awarded in June. Bloom notes that his drive to translate Camus’s work stems from the relevance the author’s work still has today, more than 65 years after Camus received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1957.

“Humanity faces some profound existential challenges,” said Edward Hirsch, award-winning poet and president of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. “The Guggenheim Fellowship is a life-changing recognition. It’s a celebrated investment into the lives and careers of distinguished artists, scholars, scientists, writers, and other cultural visionaries who are meeting these challenges head-on and generating new possibilities and pathways across the broader culture as they do so.”

In 2017, Deborah Rudacille, professor of the practice in English, was the first UMBC faculty to receive a Guggenheim Fellowship. Rudacille received it for science writing.

“Ryan Bloom’s Guggenheim shows the wide range of research and teaching that takes place in the English department,” says Jessica Berman, professor of English and director of the Dresher Center for the Humanities. “That students have access to a translator of Ryan’s caliber when they sign up for his composition or creative writing classes and have the opportunity to learn from his careful approach to language adds immeasurably to their experience. UMBC is very lucky to have him in our midst.”"

#metaglossia_mundus

"With its technology, Orange aims to produce 500 English-language manga per month.

A Japanese startup said Tuesday it aims to use artificial intelligence to help translate manga comics into English five times faster and 90% cheaper than at present.
Manga series such as "One Piece" and "Dragon Ball" are a huge success story for Japan, with the market projected to be worth $42.2 billion by 2030, according to the startup, Orange.

But it said only about 2% of Japan's annual output of 700,000 manga volumes are released in English, "partly due to the difficult and lengthy translation process and the limited number of translators."

But with its technology, Orange aims to produce 500 English-language manga per month, five times more than the industry's current capacity, and 50,000 volumes in five years. Other languages will come later.

"Compared to translation of a book, translating Japanese used in manga, which uses very short sentences of conversational language often full of slang, is extremely difficult," said Orange's marketing vice president Tatsuhiro Sato.

"It is also difficult to figure out if a particular quote was actually said at a scene, or if the line was a murmur inside one's heart describing a mental landscape," Sato said.

Other challenges include the original text often being written vertically and finding equivalents for Japan's many onomatopoeic words.

The firm announced that it had raised ¥2.92 billion ($19 million) in funding from major publisher Shogakukan and nine venture capital groups including the government-backed JIC Venture Growth Investments.

It said that its tool will also help the industry fight piracy in the industry, which is estimated to be worth $5.5 billion annually according to the Content Overseas Distribution Association."
#metaglossia_mundus

"Using these expressions with native speakers will make you sound like a master of French

Has your neighbour told you they have been combing the giraffe at work? 

 

Sophie Parsons

PUBLISHED Tuesday 07 May 2024 - 10:44 LAST UPDATED Tuesday 07 May 2024 - 16:27

French, like any other language, is full of weird and wonderful expressions and phrases that do not make sense when directly translated.

Some of these expressions have made their way into everyday usage, and to a native French speaker are as simple as saying ‘ça va !’ 

Others are common with the younger generations.

They can leave learners scratching their heads, however, wondering what a well-groomed giraffe has to do with someone’s slow day at the office (more on this below).

Sometimes the expressions are still not clear even with the benefit of context, so it is useful to take note of the ones you see.

Below we list seven that you can hear in everyday exchanges, but may be unlikely to grasp based on translation alone.

We give the direct translation in the heading and a possible English equivalent.

 

Au bout de rouleau – at end of the scroll

Directly translated, être au bout de rouleau means to be at the end of the scroll. Rouleau has a few meanings including scroll, roller, rolling pin or roll. 

It is used in frustration the same way an English speaker might say they are at the end of their tether.

If you are really fed up, you can use je suis au bout de rouleau to express your frustration with the situation. 

Claqué au sol - slammed to the ground

When you hear something described as claqué au sol, it is not a good thing.

It is used in the same way as nul, suggesting something is bad quality or not worth it. 

The expression has been around since about 2019, and is popular in internet culture, meaning it is more common amongst younger speakers.

Read more: The French you learn at school is often not what you hear: 5 examples

Craquer son slip - to split your pants 

Translated directly, this means to split your pants – craquer can mean to split or crack, and slip refers to underwear (usually knickers). 

Putting them together in this phrase however signifies that someone has really lost their temper.

It is more colloquial, and is like saying someone ‘has lost their shit’ in English.

Être à coté de la plaque - to be next to the plank

‘Être à côté de’ translates as ‘to be next to something’, and la plaque can mean lots of different things depending on context, such as a plank, badge, patch or even number plate. 

In this phrase, the two combined mean to miss the point of something or to be mistaken. 

It is the same as saying something is ‘well off the mark’ or ‘well off-target’ in English.

Mettre de l’eau dans son vin - putting water in your wine 

Mettre de l’eau dans son vin literally translates as putting water into your wine, but the conjured image of mixing two things together is only partially correct.

The phrase is used in situations when two people disagree, and must make an effort to compromise.

Our English equivalent could be to reach a consensus, or to (both) back down in an argument. It only really works if both people put the work in to do so.

Read more: Useful informal French expressions you don’t learn at school 

Peigner la girafe – to comb the giraffe

Peigner la girafe translated directly means to comb the giraffe, which gives very little indication of what the expression relates to.

If you were to comb a giraffe, it would be a long and pointless task, which is a hint towards its meaning.

When you hear someone say this, it means that they are working very slowly or very inefficiently completing a task – like ‘twiddling your thumbs’ in English.

Coincer la bulle - Trapping the bubble

This expression comes from the military, where it was used to describe soldiers manning artillery guns.

To calibrate the gun to the correct position, soldiers would use a device similar to a spirit meter, that saw a ‘bubble’ lined up between two markers, showing the mortar was in a straight line.

Once they had done this, the soldiers had to simply stand around and wait for the order to fire. Therefore, they had lots of time to ‘trap the bubble’. 

In English, this could be considered the equivalent to resting on one’s oars, it simply suggests doing nothing or resting.

It must be said, however, that this is not an everyday expression, and is slightly more poetic than its English counterpart."

#metaglossia_mundus

By GEORGINA KOREI TRANSLATING the Word of God will be an excellent Government initiative to preserve Papua New Guinea’s 800-plus languages, PNG Bible Translation Association (BTA) executive director Nelson Tapineng has said.

#metaglossia_mundus

"Since they first met in 2015, Ulrike Almut Sandig and Ukrainian poet and musician Grigory Semenchuk have formed a close artistic bond. So what happens to a poem when it gets translated into another language – and turned into a film? Word! The Language Column 

WORD! THE LANGUAGE COLUMN How to Translate a National Anthem

Not exactly an everyday task: Ulrike Almut Sandig has translated the Ukrainian national anthem into German. Not only is it a fine literary rendering, but it’s singable – and it rhymes! She envisions its performance at a concert, free of charge and accessible to one and all, at the border crossing between Poland and Ukraine.

Ulrike Almut Sandig

In the previous episode of this trip around the world, we put in a stop to see my fellow poet and musician Grigory Semenchuk in Lviv, over in western Ukraine. Let’s linger in the vicinity and board the time machine of poetry for a dash into the past.

The Ukrainian anthem

Back in 1862, when Ukraine was still little more than an idea germinating in the minds of a handful of intellectuals, an impoverished nobleman’s son, who’d grown up on a farm near Kyiv, wrote a patriotic poem. His name was Pavlo Platonovych Chubynskyi. The poem was published and disseminated throughout the land: owing to its “harmful influence on the minds of the common people”, he was exiled for seven years to the cold northern Russian province of Arkhangelsk.

 

 

But the poem was just as unstoppable as the idea of an autonomous Ukrainian state. It was set to music by Mykhailo Verbytskyi, a Catholic priest, and premiered in the town of Przemyśl three years later. We know the song now as the Ukrainian national anthem.

We look like Ukrainians

Przemyśl, located in the foothills of the Polish Carpathians, is an important border town these days. Civilian flights have been suspended since the Russian invasion, so, after getting their bags and passports checked, travellers from Ukraine change to Polish trains in Przemyśl. The Ukrainian trains are opened one carriage at a time: this nerve-wracking procedure takes hours. On my way home to the EU via Przemyśl last autumn, a friend of mine who happened to be standing behind me in the queue recognized my weary face and remarked, “We look like Ukrainians.”

One syllable at a time

Existential threats run through the whole history of Ukraine, which seems to lurch from one attempt at its annihilation to the next. Is this why Ukrainians love their anthem so much? Given my mixed feelings about being German, I can’t help admiring the way they stop whatever they’re doing and pause for a moment whenever they hear the anthem being played.

In early April 2022, as Russia was raining fire on Ukraine, my colleague Claudia Dathe asked me out of the blue whether I could imagine translating the Ukrainian national anthem into German. Dathe is a sought-after translator of contemporary Russian and Ukrainian literature. The director of the Checkpoint Charlie Museum in Berlin, Alexandra Hildebrandt, who’s of Ukrainian descent herself, had pointed out to her that although there were various German translations, none of them was of high literary quality, let alone singable.

So we got down to work. Never before had I spent such a long time translating a single poem – and never been so nervous about it either. In order for the hymn to be sung, not only does the number of syllables have to be just right, but so does the alternation between stressed and unstressed syllables. Claudia Dathe translated the Ukrainian original word for word into German, suggesting alternatives and commenting on intonation and specific linguistic features. And after I’d compared every single syllable with the original and with the musical notation, I pieced the whole puzzle together.

Ukrainian original:
Душу й тіло ми положим за нашу свободу,
І покажем, що ми, братття, козацького роду.

Interlinear translation:
Soul and body we give/lay down for our freedom
And show that we, brothers, are of the Cossack nation.

English translation
Body and soul rise on the wind of our freedom,
We’ll prove that we are true children of the Cossacks.

Claudia would call me back when I’d strayed too far from the original, whereupon I’d emend it accordingly and send her the rewrite. It was like doing fine embroidery work. After a month, we’d adapted all three stanzas – in singable form. We’d taken the greatest liberties with the chorus. While body and soul are sacrificed for freedom in the original, they rise on the up-wind of freedom in my German adaptation.

Our German version of the national anthem was premiered on 20 November 2022 at the Literaturhaus Bonn by members of the Bonn Opera Choir: four sopranos (Vardeni Davidian, Christina Kallergis, Jeannette Katzer and Katrin Stösel) and an alto (Simone Degner) accompanied by Joonhee Lee on piano. I think it sounds upbeat – and very Ukrainian.

Zukunftsmusik

I dream of the anthem being performed again someday in Przemyśl, with free admission for all travellers and the train crew, for all the Polish and Ukrainian border officials and their families, followed by the inauguration of a brand-new barrier-free border crossing at Przemyśl. Will we get a chance to sing the anthem in German again in the meantime? As a sign of hope for the future and favourable winds.
 

Word! The Language Column

Our column “Word!” appears every two weeks. It is dedicated to language – as a cultural and social phenomenon. How does language develop, what attitude do authors have towards “their” language, how does language shape a society? – Changing columnists – people with a professional or other connection to language – follow their personal topics for six consecutive issues.

May 2024

Ulrike Almut Sandig is a writer and performance poet living in Berlin. She has published poems and stories, music albums and radio plays as well as the highly acclaimed novel “Monster wie wir”. As the frontwoman of the German-Ukrainian poetry collective “Landschaft”, she makes poems dance in a fusion with film and electronic music. For her stage performances, she often translates poetry from other languages, especially English and Ukrainian. Most recently, her adaptation of "Funkhaus", the poems of queer Māori poet Hinemoana Baker, was published.

Translation: Eric Rosencrantz

Copyright: Text: Goethe-Institut, Ulrike Almut Sandig. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution – Share Alike 3.0 Germany license.© Goethe-Institut e. V./Illustration: Tobias Schrank"

#metaglossia_mundus

"El Instituto de Idiomas crea por su 50º aniversario un premio destinado a traductores e intérpretes

 CAD  08 MAYO 2024 15:00 H.

Los beneficiarios de la primera edición serán los ceutíes Diego Parra y Carmela Ríos: el uno, por sus trabajos de traducción para el doblaje de películas y videojuegos; la otra, por su desempeño como corresponsal de Antena 3 y CNN+ en Francia

La Consejería de Educación, Cultura y Juventud ha anunciado este 8 de mayo que el Instituto de Idiomas prevé celebrar un acto institucional con motivo de su 50º cumpleaños. Según han adelantado desde la parcela que encabeza la consejera Pilar Orozco, la actividad tendrá lugar en el Teatro Auditorio del Revellín este próximo viernes, día 10.

Dice la Ciudad que, en la gala, tomarán parte tanto alumnos del centro como el personal de este mismo. Dentro del catálogo de propuestas, figuran "obras de teatro originales" y hasta "obras esenciales de autores fundamentales dentro de los idiomas que se imparten en el Instituto".

Por si no hubiese ya suficientes, el organismo ha decidido aprovechar su medio siglo de vida para crear un nuevo galardón: el llamado 'Premio de Idiomas'. La organización busca, a través de él, "reconocer a personas cuya carrera profesional haya estado vinculada a otras lenguas".

El primer beneficiario de la primera edición del reconocimiento será el traductor ceutí Diego Parra, recientemente premiado por la llamada 'Asociación de Traducción y Adaptación Audiovisual de España'. Entre sus últimos trabajos, destacan la traducción para el doblaje de películas como El superviviente de Auschwitz, Vengeance y Rojo, blanco y sangre azul.La segunda adjudicataria será la periodista caballa Carmela Ríos, quien, a lo largo de su dilatada trayectoria profesional, ha ejercido como corresponsal en Francia para medios de comunicación de la talla de Antena 3 y CNN+.

El área de Educación ha adelantado que pondrá el broche de oro a la ceremonia Yasmina, una intérprete ceutí que, antaño, fue alumna del Instituto y que, a día de hoy, interpreta canciones en francés e inglés."

#metaglossia_mundus

Miquel Giménez El desespero del traductor de catalán

Publicado: 09/05/2024 04:45

Actualizado: 09/05/2024 04:49

"Con tanto debate en cadenas de ámbito nacional en el que los candidatos se expresan en catalán hay quien va a acabar con un surménage de padre y muy señor mío. Nuestros políticos tienen la característica de hablar rápido, de interrumpirse, de murmurar por lo bajini y eso hace que quien tiene que traducir se las vea y se las desee para poder hacer su trabajo. No radica ahí tan solo la dificultad. Existe otra barrera, esta propia de cualquier lengua, que es el empleo de modismos, frases hechas, palabras que a pesar de tener un sentido se utilizan en el contrario, de casi imposible traducción. Como servidor es catalán y he visto unos cuantos debates en mi vida con traducción simultánea les pongo ejemplos. Cierta vez un candidato de la por entonces CiU acusaba a un socialista de somiar truites. Traducción literal, soñar tortillas. Ahí le quiero ver, traductor, porque esa expresión se emplea como figura que designa a alguien que no toca con los pies en el suelo, que es soñador, que tiene la cabeza a pájaros, pero tampoco es exactamente todo eso aun cuando lo sea. Me estoy liando, pero traducir es difícil, traduttore traditore.

La de no tot son flors i violes tiene más fácil traducción, no todo es coser y cantar, es decir, no todo es simple y fácil; más todavía, ets curt de gambals, lo que traducido literalmente es que tienes cortas las correas, gambals, que atan el estribo a la silla de montar de una caballería. Efectivamente, es incómodo y peligroso si la medida no se ajusta a la estatura del jinete, pero en catalán se emplea despectivamente hacia una persona a la que se quiere significar de corto, bobo, que no da pa más, vamos; otra, al cul me les fotin bullides lo que, y ustedes perdonen, significa al pie de la letra que en el culo me las metan hervidas poniendo de manifiesto quien así habla que le da lo mismo lo que le pase. Ya sé que es casi imposible que Aragonés, tan institucional, o Illa, tan peripuesto que parece Mr. Chips, digan esa ordinariez.

Su catalán es ortopédico, normativamente aburrido y carente de ese jugo que debe tener toda lengua local para ser atrayente

Tampoco es que hablen muy bien la lengua de Rupert de Nola o Francesc de Eiximenis. Su catalán es ortopédico, normativamente aburrido y carente de ese jugo que debe tener toda lengua local para ser atrayente. La reforma de Pompeu Fabra dejó al catalán de los campesinos y pescadores, de los vendedores ambulantes y la menestralía, seco y arrugado como una pasa. Y como aquí se habla mucho de la lengua pero nadie se interesa por ella, salvo por cuestiones políticas sucias y partidistas, ese sucedáneo de catalán es con lo que se manejan quienes salen en televisión, máxime cuando de políticos se trata. Bien pensado, para nuestros traductores casi es mejor, porque imaginen si esos candidatos empleasen el catalán de Pla y ya no digo el del Rector de Vallfogona, llamado por nombre Francesch Vicens García Ferrandis, que vivió entre el 1579 y el 1623, sacerdote y poeta que gustó de ironizar básicamente sobre, y perdonen de nuevo, la cosa de cagar. Porque los catalanes somos muy de estos asuntos, véase el Caganer que adorna nuestros belenes navideños, y ese acto natural nos produce una hilaridad semejante a la de los alemanes, pueblo también proclive a que todo el humor gire alrededor del culo. En su obra Desengany del món, Desengaño del mundo, azotó a la sociedad de su tiempo con una sátira que equivale a la de Quevedo. Seca como un golpe de tralla, insolente, inmisericorde con los poderosos y los cobardes. Sería fantástico que lo que regurgitan los políticos catalanes de hoy lo tradujera Don Francesch. O Quevedo. O ambos. Porque lo que ganamos en muchas cosas lo hemos perdido en crítica y gracia. Y dispensen el tono de este artículo. Servidor, debo reconocerlo, también es un somia truites..."

#metaglossia_mundus

"A treinta años del fallecimiento del autor de Música de cañerías, dialogamos con el poeta Esteban Moore, traductor de la poesía de Charles Bukowski al español.

Moore se centró en la obra poética, la cual ha sido traducida en menos medida que sus relatos y novelas, y en el legado literario de Bukowski.

El Rastro, la columna de Nelson Díaz, en Justos y pecadores."

#metaglossia_mundus

"Coherence of Translation Programs and the Contexts of Translation Movements, ca. 500–1700 AD

*Call for Journal Articles*

The Hungarian Historical Review (https://www.jstor.org/journal/hunghistrevi; https://hunghist.org/) invites submissions for its second issue in 2025, the theme of which will be "Coherence of Translation Programs and the Contexts of Translation Movements, ca.

 

CfA – Coherence of Translation Programs and the Contexts of Translation Movements, ca. 500–1700 AD

Call for Journal Articles

The Hungarian Historical Review (https://www.jstor.org/journal/hunghistrevi; https://hunghist.org/) invites submissions for its second issue in 2025, the theme of which will be "Coherence of Translation Programs and the Contexts of Translation Movements, ca. 500–1700 AD".

The deadline for the submission of abstracts: June 15, 2024.

The deadline for the accepted papers: December 15, 2024.

CfA – Coherence of Translation Programs and the Contexts of Translation Movements, ca. 500–1700 AD

This Special Issue aims to explore the complex historical, literary, and material backgrounds that are conducive to producing translations from any source language (Greek, Arabic, Armenian, Syriac, Hebrew, etc.) into Latin and from Latin into the vernaculars or local dialects from Late Antiquity until the end of the Renaissance period. The special issue investigates triggers and factors that helped produce Latin translations and eased the reception of Latin texts by non-Latin-using audiences. The variety of source and target languages creates a comparative framework that enriches our understanding of complex translating processes as historical phenomena.

Topics of interest include (but are not limited to):
- The birth of the idea of translating specific texts or corpora;
- The relation between geopolitical shifts and translation programs;
- The role of translators in pursuing programs;
- Translators’ development/ professionalization over the course of the centuries or within a specific epoch in pursuing specific programs;
- Movement and travel of translators as a trigger behind translations;
- Interreligious relations and cultural and economic exchange between West and East as a broader backdrop for translations;
- The role of patrons and audiences, systematizing tendencies of patrons;
- Scientific, political, educational, and religious networks behind translations;
- Personal initiatives and the lack of coherence behind translated texts.

We welcome submissions from scholars in various disciplines, including medieval and renaissance history, literary and philological studies, art history, archaeology and material culture, and Islamic, Hebrew, and Byzantine studies. We especially encourage submissions that offer interdisciplinary perspectives and engage with current historiographical debates.

Please send an abstract of no more than 500 words and a short biographical note with a selected list of the author’s three most important publications (we do not accept full CVs) no later than June 15, 2024.

Proposals should be submitted to the special editor of the issue by email: peterbara@peterbara.com

The editors will ask the authors of selected papers to submit their final articles (max. 10,000 words) no later than December 15, 2024.

The articles will be published after a double-blind peer-review process. We provide proofreading for contributors who are not native speakers of English.

All articles must conform to our submission guidelines.

The Hungarian Historical Review is a peer-reviewed international quarterly of the social sciences and humanities, the geographical focus of which is Hungary and East-Central Europe. For additional information, please visit the journal’s website: https://hunghist.org/

Kontakt

peterbara@peterbara.com

https://hunghist.org

#metaglossia_mundus: https://www.hsozkult.de/event/id/event-143967