Metaglossia: The Translation World

Quelles sont les grandes langues véhiculaires en Afrique subsaharienne ? Par quelles dynamiques sont-elles traversées ? En quoi la période coloniale les a t'elle impacté, notamment dans leur enseignement ?

The Canadian government is braced for a possible lawsuit aimed at forcing it to give "certain aboriginal languages" the same official status as English and French, according to an access-to-information document obtained by Postmedia News.
The July 2010 briefing note to Heritage Minister James Moore, who also oversees the country's Official Languages Act, indicates that "the Assembly of First Nations is considering taking the government of Canada to court" to enshrine an unspecified number of indigenous languages as "official" in Canadian law.
The document advises Moore that if the subject arises, he should emphasize that the government is "committed to supporting the preservation and revitalization of First Nations, Métis and Inuit languages" and is currently "providing $16 million annually" for that purpose.

Le Sénégal s’est engagé dans une ‘’initiative importante avec 8 autres pays africains’’ en prenant la décision de redémarrer l’expérience de l’introduction des langues nationales au niveau du cycle primaire à partir d’octobre 2012, a appris l’APS, mardi à Dakar.

‘’Il y a une initiative importante dans laquelle le Sénégal est avec 8 autres pays appuyés par l’Organisation internationale de la francophonie (OIF) pour redémarrer l’expérience de l’introduction des langues nationales à l’école’’, a annoncé à l’APS le directeur de l’Alphabétisation et des Langues nationales (DALN), Elh Meïssa Diop.

Le groupe international du Parlement européen pour les droits des minorités et des langues nationales...

L'ONG Aide et Action qui promeut le droit à l'éducation pour tous, se mobilise pour la défense des langues en Inde et en France. Elle participe au Salon Expolangues du 1er au 4 février 2012.

The battle for supremacy or survival of indigenous languages is once again threatening to fracture South African society in what resembles the Soweto Uprising, also known as June 16.In that particular protest, Soweto High School students had filed out in their numbers to the streets to protest the introduction of Afrikaans as the medium of instruction in local schools on June 16, 1976.About 176 studeznts were reported to have lost their lives in that protest.
The Afrikaans Decree of 1974 had forced all blacks schools to use Afrikaans and English in a 50-50 mix as languages of instruction.

AfriForum has warned the Departments of Basic Education, Higher Education and Training, as well as Arts and Culture specifically, but also Government in general to make an end to its openly malevolent attitude to Afrikaans and to ensure that the proposed Languages Act will be balanced. This warning follows in response to reports that the proposed Languages Act has now been amended to force state departments and national entities to use a minimum of three South African languages, of which two should not be either Afrikaans or English.

"In effect when faced with a choice between Afrikaans and English as the third language option, English will be chosen, as it is the one language that has been used almost exclusively to date by these entities, even though it is the home language of very few South Africans," said Alana Bailey, Deputy CEO of AfriForum.

"Even though departments will have the freedom to use more than three official languages, cost implications make the use of more highly unlikely, unless legislation entrench this principle. This is but yet another example of the conscious onslaught against Afrikaans waged by state officials. Before, Afrikaans and the other nine indigenous South African languages had to cope with the State's benevolent neglect, but it seems as if the gloves have now come off and Afrikaans is specifically being targeted."

Language barriers are obviously an impediment to communication. If one man speaks Chinese and another Swedish, it may be hard for them to settle even simple matters, let alone the deep issues of the day. Yet there can be language barriers even within a language, such as when people use ill-defined terminology. In fact, some debates rage on endlessly partially because people who have the same tongue are, sometimes unknowingly, speaking a different language.

This occurs to me when I hear many arguments about Left versus Right. For example, it’s not uncommon for conservatives and liberals to debate whether groups such as the Nazis and Italian fascists were of the Left or Right. Of course, it’s not hard to figure out who takes what position! What, however, is the truth?

As a language teacher, I have been following the furore about African languages being axed from schools with great interest. I have been reading and trying not to be cynical about every new article announcing that yet another school will no longer offer isiZulu or isiXhosa in the foundation phase. There have been interesting comments made on this topic which I find hackneyed, and it is an issue we really need to stop evading in this country. Why are we surprised that African languages are being marginalised in South Africa, especially in our classrooms?

Seeing as there are distinct systems of education in this country — one for the rich and one for the poor — there are different arguments for teaching African languages (other than Afrikaans, for example, isiXhosa or isiZulu) depending on the system of education learners are in.

English would be named the state's official language if Sen. Don Benton, R-Vancouver, has his way.

But Benton's bill doesn't seem to do anything more than designate English as the official language. The bill claims it would save the state some money on translation services but doesn't explain how.

Kennewick City Councilman Bob Parks said the bill does send a message he can support but feels watered down since there are a lot of exemptions.

Although Senate Bill 6053 states that English should be used for all official business of the state, it still allows other languages to be used to protect health, safety and liberty, and would not change the need to print ballots in Spanish or provide translators to criminal defendants in court who are not fluent in English.

Parks said he is been frustrated with bilingual requirements for jobs and agencies such as school districts being forced to use a language other than English.

THE government’s constitutional obligation to ensure the equal status of official languages should see at least three languages used by government services, including public enterprises such as Eskom, Arts and Culture Minister Paul Mashatile said on Friday.

Mr Mashatile said the use of African languages by the government was not just necessary because of constitutional obligations, but would also ensure high levels of public service to speakers of African languages.

The draft South African Languages Bill is before Parliament and aims to provide for regulation and monitoring of official language usage by the government.

National and provincial government are required to use at least two official languages.

English and Afrikaans, however, are predominant, and critics say indigenous African languages are being sidelined.

SA does not have legislation regulating language use by the government, with the Cabinet having rejected a Language Bill in 2007. The Pan South African Language Board (Pansalb), the chapter 9 institution set up to promote indigenous languages, has been criticised as dysfunctional.

However, critics say in its current form the bill is unlikely to result in government departments using more than two languages.

India is fast turning into a nation of linguistic half-castes with English-speaking youths unsure of their own mother tongue, warned diplomat, writer and translator Pavan K Varma on Sunday.

South African Model C primary schools have been quietly removing Zulu and Xhosa languages from their curriculum leaving English and Afrikaans, popularly known as “the oppressors’ language” during the apartheid era as the medium of Instruction.

Officially, students should be taught in their mother tongue from Grades 1 to 3, but a survey by the Sunday Times newspaper found this was not happening. In fact, by the time they got to 12th year, most pupils were opting for Afrikaans as their first additional language after English with 68,455 choosing Afrikaans, 10,943 choosing Zulu and 1,547 choosing Xhosa.

A letter from Mntomuhle Khawula of the Inkatha Freedom Party and an education advisor, was particularly critical: "Exclusion of African languages (isiZulu and isiXhosa) in some former Model C Primary schools is systematically discriminating and singling out certain racial groups."

"We cannot sideline our African languages because not only is it an insult to those who speak it but it's reviving the struggle of languages like it happened many years ago with Bantu education, we need to find a curriculum that will accommodate each and every language."

Bobby Soobrayan, director of basic education, countered: “It is misleading to say that because of government policy, schools are scrapping African languages in favor of Afrikaans…” However, he added, “Because school governing bodies determine the language policy, some schools choose to offer Afrikaans as the first additional language.”

Un enseignant du second degré me prend à partie dans le courrier des lecteurs du Quotidien de ce vendredi 13. Cet enseignant ne fait pas honneur à l’Education nationale tant par ses divagations linguistiques qu’en matière d’histoire de France.

The word “minority” is perhaps a well used in Indonesia’s public sphere. Despite the fact that, in terms of legal status, we do not recognize ...

Le Forum mondial de la langue française proposera aux participants de tous les continents des échanges portant sur la place et l’avenir du français.

Unfortunately interdisciplinary approaches are often declared but rarely put into practice. That’s why I was especially happy to take part in a joint endeavour of linguists and anthropologists at the Foundation of Siberian Cultures in Germany to organize a seminar and a joint publication project on language preservation and education activities in indigenous communities in the North and in the South.

English really isn't a Native American language, but virtually all of today's Indians speak this as their first and primary language. During the past several centuries the English-speaking Europeans and their descendents who have come to occupy what is now the United States and Canada have consistently shown intolerance for other languages. Consequently, native languages have been suppressed. Native Americans have been required to learn English, and have not been allowed to use their native languages.