Metaglossia: The Translation World

Précis writing involves intense brain work. While writing précis the following rules should be kept in mind:
Read the passage thoroughly to get the general 'idea, then read it carefully again and again to have clarity till you understand its subject and what is said about the subject. Give a short title to passage, which will express its subject. Write down the main points in proper sequence in the form of outline. Compare the outline with the original passage. Note the length of the passage and write a rough précis comprising of one-third the number of words in the given passage.The gist of précis should be written in students' own words. As far as possible do not copy words, phrases, sentences and quotations from the passage. Avoid using repetitions, quotations, illustrations, proverbs, etc. Do not add anything. Make no comments, Correct no fact, and do not give your opinion. Maintain proper sequences of ideas. Language should be simple and direct with short sentences. As far as possible, write the précis in third person, indirect speech and in past tense. Revise your draft and compare it with the original passage. If it too long compress it by omitting all unnecessary details. Correct all spellings re-check grammar and language.Write it neatly with proper heading of the passage.   

 

Why learn an African language?

A short version of this article appeared in the M&G print verison on May 24 2013.

Every thinking white South African must have at least toyed with the idea of learning to speak an African language. Few however have made the effort. Nor it seems are their children learning. The department of basic education is now formulating policy to make an African language compulsory in all schools, perhaps as soon as next year. Practical issues aside, why is this good policy? As for white adults, how difficult is it? What is to be gained? Where would one start?

I can now answer some of these questions from personal experience. Learning isiXhosa has been quite an adventure. It has been frustrating, revealing and surprising. It has not revolutionised my world, but it has changed who I am, and it has changed the people around me.

My teacher was quite blunt at our first meeting. “Look, you’re a 40-year-old adult. You’re just not going to learn to speak isiXhosa like a Xhosa person.”

 

João José de Almeida, professor do Núcleo Básico Geral Comum da Faculdade de Ciências Aplicas da Unicamp (FCA), em Limeira, lançou em Portugal uma tradução bilingue  do livro "Observações Sobre o Ramo Dourado de Frazer", do filósofo Ludwig Wittgenstein.

As notas de Ludwig Wittgenstein sobre O Ramo Dourado discutem os mecanismos aí invocados pelo autor, James George Frazer (nascido em 1854), para estabelecer um amplo quadro explicativo da magia e religião. A obra, que foi traduzida do original em alemão para o português, mereceu destaque na edição portuguesa do Jornal Le Monde e ainda não foi publicada no Brasil.

Nebraska Education Commissioner Roger Breed announced Friday that test scores show an improvement in writing proficiency of 8th and 11th grade students across the state.

Après de nombreuses polémiques, le projet de loi voté jeudi élargit finalement l'enseignement en langues étrangères dans les universités françaises.

Toulouse. 'Le Forom des Langues du monde est la première fête des langues à poser l'égalité culturelle de toutes les langues : plus de dialectes, plus de patois, plus de petites...

Le Sénat a voté jeudi soir un article sur les langues régionales dans la loi de refondation de l'école qui permet la reconnaissance notamment de l'enseignement bilingue français-langue régionale

Les personnes bilingues peuvent facilement jongler entre deux langues. Une étude montre qu’elles seraient capables de distinguer deux systèmes de sons différents et de les manipuler en fonction de leur interlocuteur.

Dhanush to work with K.V. Anand in his next untitled Tamil film. Read full news.. Top Tamil news - Read latest Updates on Tamil Movies on Desimartini.com.

It’s not for us to predict who needs to know what from where. We produce the resource and then we open it up, says Martin Benjamin. Photography: Bo

France’s lower house will start debating a proposal Wednesday to introduce more courses in English at universities, amid a storm of controversy in a nation fiercely protective of its identity.

To paraphrase the newspaper editor from The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance: “When the error becomes correct, print the error.” That was what we did in a headline on a news page on Monday, reporting on a street festival in Berlin.

WASHINGTON — A majority of U.S. priests said they dislike the translation of the Roman Missal introduced at Advent 2011, a new survey found.

Overall, 59 percent of responding priests said they disliked the new English translation of the third edition of the Roman Missal. At the same time, 39 percent of respondents said they liked the text.

The survey by the Godfrey Diekmann, OSB Center for Patristics and Liturgical Studies at St. John's School of Theology-Seminary in Collegeville, Minn., also found that 80.1 percent of respondents found some of the language in the missal "awkward or distracting."

Researchers conducted the survey from February through early May. A total of 1,536 priests participated, a response rate of 42.5 percent. All 178 Latin-rite dioceses in the U.S. were invited to participate in the survey; 32 dioceses accepted the invitation. There are more than 14,000 priests in the U.S.

Chase Becker, the survey's project manager, described the results as surprising in an interview with Catholic News Service.

"When you look through the optional comments that priests were able to leave, I just was really struck by the things that surfaced," Becker said. "A lot felt the translation affected negatively on their own prayer life or the ability to connect with their parishioners.

"These priests have devoted their lives to their work, and the celebration of Mass is the huge part of their work and their own identity as priests. Clearly this is something that has touched them on a very deep level," he said.

 

There have been big changes in the classrooms over the last two years thanks to the Common Core Standards, which has been adopted in 45 states so far.

In the European Union, every language is an official language. Government officials speak in the official language of their country, and those comments are then translated into 22, soon to be 23, other languages.

The rise in immigration in Hunterdon County during the last five years has placed more demand upon Hunterdon Helpline’s Translation Center.

Dhanush to work with K.V. Anand in his next untitled Tamil film. Read full news.. Top Tamil news - Read latest Updates on Tamil Movies on Desimartini.com.

Del 3 al 10 de junio, se celebrará en el Centro Cultural El Torito de Madrid, El Festival europeo de traducción teatral, Europa de los Teatros que tiene como objetivo la promoción de la traducción teatral en Europa y en las regiones próximas, por...

Por Susana Romano Sued*

La traducción, que por cierto no es únicamente el paso de una lengua a otra instrumentado por medio de gramáticas y diccionarios, coloca a los traductores ante el dilema de los sentidos de los textos para su adecuado vertido a la lengua de llegada que normalmente es su lengua materna. Siempre hay más de dos soluciones para un problema de sentido y significado, luego la decisión por alguna de ellas implica un desafío, una responsabilidad ética, ligada a un contexto histórico preciso. Las traducciones, por ello, nunca son definitivas.

Por otra parte, diáspora, término proveniente del griego que significa “desparramar”, “dispersar” y también “diseminar”, me parece un nombre adecuado para el fenómeno de la traducción. Su uso corriente tiene connotaciones dolorosas, pues se aplica al desplazamiento forzado de personas, de comunidades enteras, o de sus antepasados, fuera de su lugar, de su tierra, de su acervo, de su lengua, de sus tradiciones y experiencias. Pero a a vez su significación es positiva en la metáfora de la semilla dispersa que germina allende los sitios y épocas de origen.

He llamado así a la traducción al considerarla como la realización utópica y ucrónica de obras de arte, de literatura, de pensamiento, de credo y de sociedad. Hace posible que en otro tiempo y en otro lugar se mantengan las memorias del pensamiento y de la cultura y con ellas rasgos identitarios que quedan albergados más allá de las fronteras temporales, geográficas y lingüísticas primigenias. Y en este complejo proceso están implicadas personas individuales, grupos e instituciones con sus acervos y posiciones políticas e ideológicas.

La naturalidad de las traducciones

Habitamos en un mundo de traducciones de manera natural participando del contrato ilusionista que los lectores establecemos de manera espontánea con las obras: leemos y citamos por ejemplo a Descartes, a Einstein, a Freud, a Shakespeare y a Balzac, cual si fueran autores vernáculos.

Desde los remotos tiempos del mito de Babel, la zozobra devenida de la súbita multiplicidad de lenguas que levantó muros de incomprensión y silencio entre las gentes. La ajenidad, de la diferencia, de la amenazante extranjería causada obligó a los hablantes a establecer modos y técnicas de intercambio de los sentidos puestos en juego y en tensión. De esa emergencia nació la figura y el oficio del traductor.

Las innumerables tentativas de encuentro entre gentes y lenguas diversas, (por cierto no siempre pacíficas ni exitosas), que se sucedieron desde entonces, han quedado plasmadas en las diferentes teorías, métodos, fórmulas y técnicas que atraviesan la historia de los pueblos, sus prácticas de traducción, con sus consecuencias multiplicadoras de creencias, legalidades y costumbres.

Estos sistemas de representación complejos integran el abundante acervo que actualmente nutre a los Estudios de Traducción: la historia, la filosofía y las ciencias del lenguaje, entre otras, aportan a la dimensión teóricoepistemológica que integran los Estudios de Traducción, verdaderas aduanas del conocimiento.

 

On April 11, 2013 – Rosh Hodesh Iyyar 5773 – the Jerusalem Magistrates Court (Judge Sharon Lari-Bavli) denied the State’s request to release the Respondents on a recognizance that would prohibit their access to the Western Wall for the Rosh...