Metaglossia: The Translation World

University Lecturer of German, Specialised Communication and Translation Technology job in Helsinki, Finland with UNIVERSITY OF HELSINKI. Apply Today.

"University Lecturer of German, Specialised Communication and Translation Technology
Employer
UNIVERSITY OF HELSINKI
Location
Helsinki, Finland
Salary
€3,800 to €4,800
Closing date
23 Mar 2025

The Department of Languages at the University of Helsinki’s Faculty of Arts invites applications for the position of

UNIVERSITY LECTURER OF GERMAN, SPECIALISED COMMUNICATION AND TRANSLATION TECHNOLOGY

to be appointed on a permanent basis as of 1 August 2025 or as agreed.

The position is shared between the Master’s Programme in Translation and Interpreting and the Study Track in German within the bachelor’s and master’s programmes in languages. While the Master’s Programme in Translation and Interpreting offers seven languages in combination with Finnish, the bachelor’s and master’s programmes in languages provide studies in about 30 languages.

The university lecturer’s teaching duties include communication in German-language professional and specialised communication, multilingual vocabulary and terminology work, and machine translation and translation technology, including AI. The appointee may also be assigned other teaching duties. In addition, the university lecturer conducts independent scholarly research with other researchers, examines and supervises theses, handles administrative duties as agreed upon collaboratively and contributes to the acquisition of research funding. Additional duties include participating in teaching planning and development.

APPOINTMENT CRITERIA

According to the Regulations of the University of Helsinki, appointees to university lectureships must hold an applicable doctoral degree and have the ability to provide high-quality research-based teaching and supervise theses. When assessing the qualifications of applicants, attention will be paid to scholarly publications and other research results of scholarly value, teaching experience and pedagogical training, the ability to produce learning materials, other teaching merits and, if necessary, a teaching demonstration. Good cooperation and interaction skills are considered an advantage in the overall evaluation of applicants.

Appointees to teaching and research positions at Finnish universities must be proficient in the language in which they provide instruction. Further information on language skills and the demonstration of language proficiency is available on the University website. First-language proficiency in Finnish and excellent skills in German are required, with other language skills considered an asset. Familiarity with the translation sector will be an additional advantage.

SALARY

The salary will be based on levels 5 to 7 of the job requirement scheme for teaching and research personnel in the salary system of Finnish universities. In addition, the appointee will be paid a salary component based on personal performance. The appointee’s gross monthly salary will range from €3,800 to €4,800, depending on their qualifications and experience. The position will include a trial period of six months.

HOW TO APPLY

Applications, together with the required attachments, must be submitted through the University of Helsinki electronic recruitment system by clicking on the link below. Internal applicants (i.e., current employees of the University of Helsinki) must submit their applications through the SAP Fiori portal.

Applicants are requested to enclose the following documents with their applications as a single PDF file. See instructions.

A curriculum vitae
A report (max. 5 pages) on the applicant’s teaching expertise
A report (max. 3 pages) describing the applicant’s research activities (incl. success in obtaining research funding)
A numbered list of publications
The top candidates will be asked to attend an interview and give a demonstration of teaching skills.

The application period ends 23 March, 2025.

FURTHER INFORMATION

Further information about the position is available from Mari Pakkala-Weckström, mari.pakkala-weckstrom@helsinki.fi, and about the recruitment process, from HR Specialist Jenni Syväoja, hr-humtdk@helsinki.fi.
https://www.timeshighereducation.com/unijobs/listing/389249/university-lecturer-of-german-specialised-communication-and-translation-technology/

A notable poet in his own right, he was best known for rendering into English the words of a poet who reacted to the Holocaust by inventing a new version of German.

"Pierre Joris, Translator of the ‘Impossible’ Paul Celan, Dies at 78....

 

The poet and translator Pierre Joris in 2022. He devoted much of his life to grappling with the complex poetry of Paul Celan...

 

By Adam Nossiter

Published March 5, 2025

Updated March 6, 2025, 9:38 a.m. ET

Pierre Joris, a poet and translator who tackled some of the 20th century’s most difficult verse, rendering into English the complex work of the German-Romanian poet Paul Celan, died on Feb. 27 at his home in Brooklyn. He was 78.

 

His wife, Nicole Peyrafitte, said the cause was complications of cancer.

 

Mr. Joris was the author of dozens of volumes of his own poetry and prose. But much of his life’s work was spent grappling with the poetry of Celan, whom many critics considered, in the words of one scholar, “arguably the greatest European poet in the postwar period.”

 

That greatness comes with a hitch for readers, though: the fiendish difficulty of a writer whose lyrics were formed and deformed by the crucible of the Holocaust — “that which happened,” as Celan termed it. Both his parents were murdered by the Nazis in what is now Romania. Less than 30 years later, Celan put an end to his own life in France, jumping into the Seine river in 1970 at the age of 49.

 

In between, he felt he had to invent a new version of German, the cultured language he was brought up in as a member of the Jewish bourgeoisie in Czernowitz (now part of Ukraine). But it had to be cleansed of Nazi barbarism.

 

The result would be “truly an invented German,” as Mr. Joris (pronounced JOR-iss) wrote in the introduction to “Breathturn Into Timestead” (2014), his translations of Celan’s later works.

 

A public reading of Celan’s best-known work, the hypnotic “Death Fugue,” was “an epiphany” for Mr. Joris as a 15-year-old high school student in his native Luxembourg, he told the New York State Writers Institute in 2014. The poem was inspired by the murder of Celan’s mother in 1942...

 

But “Death Fugue” was an early work, later partly disavowed by Celan. It is the enigmatic poetry of his final years that Mr. Joris was determined to take on.

 

The “untranslatability” of late Celan “is a truism in critical discussion,” the poet and critic Adam Kirsch wrote in The New York Review of Books in 2016, in a largely favorable review of Mr. Joris’s work.

 

Mr. Joris took on the challenge. “He did the impossible, because it is impossible to translate Celan,” the Romanian-American poet Andrei Codrescu said in an interview.

 

In eight books of translations published over more than 50 years, beginning when he was an undergraduate at Bard College in 1967, Mr. Joris sought to render in English Celan’s experiment with language: to transmit what can’t be rendered in words — the Holocaust and its many aftermaths, physical and psychological — by creating an open-ended poetry of multiple possible meanings.

 

Celan’s poetry “is the work that came out of the mid-20th century that most directly addresses the disaster, if you want, of Western culture,” Mr. Joris told the Los Angeles Review of Books in 2021.

 

“The absolute poem — no, it certainly does not, cannot, exist,” Celan said in a famous speech in Germany in 1960, when he was awarded a literary prize. And so the translator of Celan has latitude, which Mr. Joris took advantage of — to mostly good effect, in the eyes of critics.

 

Celan’s “view is bound to destabilize any concept of the poem as some fixed and absolute artifact,” Mr. Joris commented in his introduction to “Breathturn.”

 

“Memory Rose Into Threshold Speech” (2020) collected Celan’s first four books, as translated by Mr. Joris. It featured an etching by Celan’s wife, the artist Gisèle Celan-Lestrange, on the cover.Credit...Farrar, Straus & Giroux

At the level of the words themselves, a translator might thus opt for what Mr. Joris termed “elegant, easily readable and accessible American versions of German.” He rejected that approach.

 

Instead, he tried to recreate Celan’s many startling neologisms in English, as the Princeton critic Michael Wood noted, citing, among many other examples, “starred-over,” “ensummered,” “night-cradled,” “day-removed,” “worlddownward" and “more heartnear.”

 

“There are some words that I’m still looking for, that I haven’t found yet,” Mr. Joris told the writer Paul Auster in a public dialogue at Deutsches Haus in New York in 2020. “Fearful polysemy.”

 

While some critics found this approach heavy-handed, Mr. Wood praised Mr. Joris’s adventurousness. “A poet himself, he is not afraid of strangeness in diction,” Mr. Wood wrote in the London Review of Books in 2021. “He doesn’t seek it out, but he knows when it sounds good. He brings us very close to Celan at work, shows him leading the words along and being led by them, as Celan himself describes the process.”

 

In an interview with the poet Charles Bernstein in 2023, Mr. Joris referred to Celan as “the bruised, weary, suspicious survivor who prefers to communicate through his poems, poems meant to ‘witness for the witness.’”

 

Mr. Joris, raised in Luxembourg, the tiny duchy caught between the French- and German-speaking worlds, identified with the linguistic confusion of Celan’s own upbringing in German and Romanian. Mr. Joris grew up speaking the local Germanic dialect, Luxembourgish, as well as German and French. (He called French the “language of the bourgeoisie.”)

 

Luxembourg, he told Mr. Auster, “has the same complexities of language that Celan grew up in.”

 

“That polyglot nature of Celan’s upbringing, we share that,” he added.

 

Pierre Joseph Joris was born on July 14, 1946, in Strasbourg, France, to Roger Joris, a surgeon, and Nora Joris-Schintgen, who assisted her husband’s practice as an administrator. He graduated from the Lycée Classique in Diekirch, Luxembourg, in 1964, briefly studied medicine in Paris to fulfill the wishes of his parents, and then moved to the United States, where he earned a B.A. from Bard in 1969.

 

In 1975, he received a master’s degree from the University of Essex in England in the theory and practice of literary translation. From 1976 to 1979, he taught in the English department of Université Constantine 1 in Algeria. He earned a Ph.D. in comparative literature from the State University of New York at Binghamton in 1990 and taught at SUNY Albany from 1992 to 2013.

 

Mr. Joris’s essays were collected in 2003 in the book “A Nomad Poetics.”Credit...Wesleyan University Press

In addition to his translations of Celan, Mr. Joris published several volumes of his own poetry, including “Poasis: Selected Poems 1986-1999” (2001) and “Barzakh: Poems 2000-2012” (2014); books of essays, including “A Nomad Poetics” (2003); and translations of Rilke, Edmond Jabès and other poets. He also edited anthologies, including the two-volume “Poems for the Millennium: The University of California Book of Modern and Postmodern Poetry,” with Jerome Rothenberg (1995 and 1998).

 

In addition to his wife, a performance artist, he is survived by a son, Miles Joris-Peyrafitte; a stepson, Joseph Mastantuono; and a sister, Michou Joris.

 

Asked to explain why he was drawn to translating, Mr. Joris told the periodical Arabic Literature in 2011: “Because, by accident of birth, I was blessed or damned with a batch of different languages and a perverse pleasure of pitting them and their different musics against each other.”

 

Adam Nossiter has been bureau chief in Kabul, Paris, West Africa and New Orleans, and is now a Domestic Correspondent on the Obituaries desk. More about Adam Nossiter

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/05/books/pierre-joris-dead.html

Artificial intelligence turns static search engines into thought-shaping forces that subtly guide how we think, but who’s in control?

 

"KEY POINTS

Gutenberg unlocked words, and Google unlocked facts. AI shapes thought.

AI shifts from search to influence, framing how we think.

We must recognize AI’s role and stay architects of our minds.

 

Source: DALL-E /

 

A Snapshot of Knowledge

History tells a clear story of how technology amplifies human intelligence. Here’s a condensed perspective that’s not intended to minimize this vast area but to focus on how AI is as fundamental and transformative as the printed book and the internet.

 

The Gutenberg Era: Unlocking words. Before the printing press, knowledge was controlled by a privileged few. Gutenberg changed that, making words—and, by extension, ideas—widely available. Literacy rates increased, fueling the Renaissance, the Reformation, and the Enlightenment. For the first time, information could be mass-produced, shifting intellectual power.

The Google Era: Unlocking facts. The internet and search engines transformed knowledge into an on-demand resource. Information that once required hours in a library became available in seconds. But facts, while powerful, are static. A search engine is a map—it points to existing knowledge but does not create new connections.

The AI Era: Unlocking thought. This is where the shift happens. AI, particularly large language models (LLMs), doesn’t just retrieve facts—it synthesizes them. Instead of guiding users through a pre-mapped landscape, LLMs generate a personalized web of thought in real time. Each interaction produces insights uniquely shaped to the user’s intent and context—knowledge that has never existed in this form before. This isn’t just retrieving knowledge—it’s shaping it. It’s a shift from searching to creating. AI isn’t just a tool—it’s a defining force of The Cognitive Age.

The Rise of the Influence Engine

We once relied on human influencers—mentors, authors, teachers, and thought leaders—to help shape our understanding. AI is now entering that role, not as a personality or a singular voice but as a meta-influencer—a system that curates, filters, and structures the flow of human knowledge. Think about how this shift has unfolded and impacted our lives.

 

Search engines: You type a question, and the engine retrieves the best available answers (user-driven fact retrieval).

Recommendation engines: AI curates what you see based on engagement patterns (algorithm-driven content shaping).

Influence engines: AI actively structures how you think about a topic, suggesting ideas before you even ask (AI-driven cognitive framing).

 

This evolution is subtle but important. AI is no longer just responding to human thought—it is helping to direct its trajectory.

 

The Invisible Influence of AI

In many ways, the real power of an influence engine isn’t just in what it shows you; it’s in what it filters out. Conventional search engines have always optimized results, prioritizing perspectives based on relevance, popularity, and engagement. But AI goes further. Unlike search, which retrieves and ranks existing information, AI synthesizes responses, shaping knowledge before it even reaches the user. It doesn’t just filter what’s visible; it frames the narrative itself.

 

This subtle steering can reinforce certain viewpoints, amplifying some emotions while muting others. Even the pursuit of clarity comes at a cost. AI optimizes for efficiency, smoothing out complexity in ways that may remove the very struggle that fuels deep thinking.

 

A search engine offers a set of options, a map of knowledge to explore. An influence engine goes further: It shapes the terrain, defining what we consider relevant or meaningful.

 

Are we still shaping our own understanding, or is AI shaping it for us?

 

The Death of the Open Question?

The danger isn’t that AI is influencing thought. We’ve always been influenced by external forces. The real danger is that AI feels natural in doing so. Unlike human influencers, whose biases and agendas are visible, AI’s influence is often imperceptible. We experience it not as coercion, but as efficiency. A well-trained AI will never say, “Think this way.” Instead, it will make certain ideas more frictionless, certain connections more intuitive, certain responses more predictable. It creates an ease of thought that, while helpful, might erode the struggle that deep thinking requires. Will we still wrestle with complex ideas? Or will AI smooth the path so completely that we forget how to challenge our own assumptions?

 

Where Do We "Think" From Here?

The transition from search engines to influence engines is already underway—AI is shaping human thought whether we acknowledge it or not. So how do we respond? We can start by recognizing that AI isn’t just surfacing facts but subtly guiding our cognitive pathways. Not all efficiency is progress, so it’s worth seeking friction—embracing the complexity of thought and pushing back against seamless answers. Above all, we must stay the architects of our own understanding, letting AI collaborate without surrendering the curiosity and skepticism that keep us human...

 

But thought isn’t just being unlocked. It’s being shaped. And that may pose the most important question of our time."

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-digital-self/202503/ai-shifts-search-engines-to-thought-engines

 

#metaglossia_mundus 

"SAN FRANCISCO — Alphabet's Google launched an experimental version of its search engine on Wednesday that completely eliminates its classic 10 blue links in favor of an AI-generated summary.

 

The new feature, available to subscribers of Google One AI Premium, can be accessed via the results page for any search query by clicking on a tab labeled "AI Mode" to the side of existing options like Images and Maps.

 

"We've heard from power users that they want AI responses for even more of their searches," Robby Stein, a vice president of product, said in a blog post.

 

Google One AI Premium is a $19.99 per month plan that provides extra cloud storage and special access to some AI features.

 

Google currently displays AI Overviews, summaries that are increasingly appearing atop the traditional hyperlinks to relevant webpages, for users in more than 100 countries. It began adding advertisements to AI Overviews last May.

 

With AI Mode, users see a more comprehensive AI summary with hyperlinks to cited webpages. The 10 blue links have been replaced by a search bar for asking follow-up questions.

 

Google said AI Mode is being powered by a custom version of its Gemini 2.0 model with reasoning capabilities that make it better equipped to handle complex queries.

 

Alphabet's $350 billion in 2024 revenue was primarily driven by search-related advertising. It is facing the biggest challenge to its core business in years from AI challengers led by Microsoft-backed OpenAI, which added search functions to ChatGPT last October.

 

Google has made integrating AI into search its biggest bet, investment chief Ruth Porat said at the Reuters NEXT conference in December.

 

In February, edtech company Chegg sued Google, accusing the previews of eroding demand for original content and undermining publishers' ability to compete."

https://azdailysun.com/google-tests-ai-only-version-of-its-search-engine/article_771ba376-7ab8-5a98-b802-96d4c70bbf4f.html

#metaglossia_mundus 

"Development of web-based resource usage patterns among English-to-Chinese trainee translators 

 

Abstract

The aim of this article was to examine changes in trainee translators’ web-based resource use patterns during a four-month English-to-Chinese translation practice course. An analytical framework was employed to statistically examine resource use development, including new and emerging resources. The research design incorporated four repeated measures with a cohort of 19 participants, and data were collected via the simultaneous use of a key logger and a screen recorder in a remote setting. A quality assessment was conducted to investigate the correlation between resource use and the overall quality of the final translation products. Findings indicate a shift in resource preference from dictionaries to knowledge-based resources, with trainee translators focusing on larger contextual issues rather than lexical problems. The quality assessment revealed a slight negative correlation between the translation error scores and the percentage of time allocated to knowledge-based resources. These findings highlight the importance of understanding trainee translators’ shifting resource use and evaluating their resource competence. The implications of the findings for translator training are discussed, and the need to adapt training programs to meet changing resource landscapes emphasized..."

Yuxing Cai & Vanessa Enríquez Raído 

Humanities and Social Sciences Communications volume 12, Article number: 301 (2025)

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41599-025-04642-0

#metaglossia_mundus 

"...Meidad Ovadia, the creator of the new digital Khoekhoegowab dictionary ‘LexiKhoe’, says with contributions from community members, the dictionary can reach great success.

He was speaking to Desert FM yesterday.

“This whole community can make a great, great project, a great dictionary. And I think that in a year from now, it can consist of thousands of words, and even more,” Ovadia said.

After joining a research group, Ovadia said he noticed there are almost no digital resources in Khoekhoegowab. He added that he saw a demand and need for such a dictionary.

He said he saw the demand for something which is more accessible to the public and more readable for the Khoekhoegowab-speaking community.

“And this is why I decided to create such a dictionary. I’m a software engineer, and when I see something I can solve myself and create a technological solution for it, I’m very excited to do so,” Ovadia said.

He noted that this is a crowdsourced dictionary, which means any user of the dictionary can enter entries into the dictionary.

Ovadia said only time will tell whether it will be successful or not, but he believe it will be successful and will inspire other language communities.

“But, see, we must understand that although there are dictionaries which are very important, language is something that is constantly developing and changing. Obviously, a printed dictionary cannot be published every day, whereas a digital dictionary can be updated any time, any minute,” he said.

Ovadia said it is a much more efficient way of documenting and preserving the language..."

https://www.namibian.com.na/khoekhoegowab-digital-dictionary-launched/
#metaglossia_mundus: Your take?

Vidéo : Pourquoi l'IA ne peut pas remplacer les doubleurs avec Brigitte Lecordier

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x9fdip4

#metaglossia_mundus 

 

 

"Srinagar, Mar 2: To advance research in Indian-language-to-Indian-language (IL-IL) machine translation, the University of Kashmir (KU), in collaboration with the International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT-Hyderabad), organised a four-day workshop on Developing IL-IL Benchmark Data at the varsity from February 25 to 28.
The workshop, part of the HIMANGY (Hindustani Machini Anuvaad Technology) consortium under the broader BHASHINI Project funded by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Government of India, aimed to create benchmark datasets for enhancing machine translation accuracy in multiple Indian languages, including Hindi, Telugu, Kashmiri, Kannada, Gujarati, Sindhi, Dogri, Odia, Punjabi, Urdu, and English.
Vice Chancellor KU, Prof. Nilofer Khan, in her remarks, highlighted the significance of the initiative in strengthening AI-driven language technologies. “Developing robust benchmark datasets is crucial for improving machine translation systems and fostering linguistic inclusivity in the digital era. This initiative aligns with the university’s commitment to interdisciplinary research in Artificial Intelligence and Natural Language Processing,” she said. Prof. Dipti Mishra from IIIT-Hyderabad, emphasized the importance of building strong linguistic benchmarks to support digital inclusivity for Indian languages. “Ensuring representation of diverse languages in machine translation will bridge communication gaps and make digital content more accessible,” she noted.
Prof. Aadil Amin Kak, Department of Linguistics KU, stressed on the workshop’s role in ensuring greater visibility for Kashmiri in the digital space and said that such initiatives would help break linguistic barriers and enhance communication across different language communities. The event saw the participation of 70 researchers from leading institutions across India, including IIT-Patna, Punjabi University-Patiala, IIIT-Bhubaneswar, CDAC-Noida, University of Hyderabad, DAIICT-Ahmedabad, and GCW-Jammu. Experts engaged in collaborative efforts to refine machine translation models, ensuring better accuracy and effectiveness in Indian language processing."
https://risingkashmir.com/ku-hosts-workshop-on-language-machine-translation/
#metaglossia_mundus

An executive order signed by President Donald Trump stating English should be the official language of the United States is ignoring the demographic reality of the U.S. and rejecting a long-standing tradition in American government of making key civic information accessible.

 

Daniel J. Olson

 

Purdue University/The Conversation

ScreenshotThe White House’s Spanish-language page no longer works.

 

 

 

 

English should be the official language of the United States, says a new executive order signed by President Donald Trump on March 1, 2025. The move follows the Trump administration’s termination of the Spanish-language version of the White House website and its Spanish-language account on X, formerly Twitter.

 

Both were abruptly shut down within hours of Trump’s second presidential inauguration. Visitors to whitehouse.gov/espanol were met with “page not found” and a “GO HOME” button that sent the user to the English-language page. This button was later updated to read, “GO TO HOME PAGE.”

 

In halting its Spanish-language communications, the White House is ignoring the demographic reality of the U.S. and rejecting a long-standing tradition in American government of making key civic information accessible to the public. These changes, while mostly symbolic, signal the Trump administration’s unwelcoming stance toward Spanish specifically and multilingualism in general.

 

US is a Spanish-speaking country

“This is a country where we speak English, not Spanish.,” Trump said in a 2015 debate during his first presidential run.

 

But, as a linguist specializing in Spanish and bilingualism, I know that this is simply not true. Historically, the U.S. has had no official language, and Spanish was spoken in the lands that now make up the U.S. well before the country’s founding.

 

Spain founded its first permanent settlement in what’s now Florida in 1565, nearly 50 years before English settlers established Jamestown and the colony of Virginia. Spanish settlements in the Southwest began in the early 1600s, and large numbers of English speakers did not arrive there until the mid-19th century.

 

Today, approximately 43 million people in the U.S. speak Spanish as their primary language, representing roughly 14% of the entire population. If those who speak Spanish as their second language are included, then the U.S. is the second-largest Spanish-speaking country in the world after Mexico.

 

Beyond population size, Spanish speakers help power the U.S. economy, contributing an estimated US$2.3 trillion. That’s more than the gross domestic product of any other Spanish-speaking country in the world. With the help of its Spanish-speaking population, Miami is the financial and commercial capital of Latin America.

 

 

An inclusive communications strategy

Responding to this demographic reality, the Spanish-language content was first included on the White House webpage in 2001 by the administration of George W. Bush, a Republican.

 

In a press release, the Bush White House said that the new WhiteHouse.gov website would now “accomodate Spanish-speaking visitors.” It included both Spanish-language translations of the English materials, as well as feature stories relevant to the Hispanic community.

 

The Bush White House’s website was inclusive in other ways, too, with enhanced content for people who are hard of hearing or visually impaired and special content for kids.

 

The Obama administration maintained WhiteHouse.gov/espanol from 2009 to 2017.

 

Under the first Trump administration, however, the page was quickly removed. At the time, the White House said that the site would be restored shortly.

 

That didn’t happen. The page did not reappear until the Biden administration in 2021.

 

Following the latest removal of whitehouse.gov/espanol, a White House spokesperson has again said that the administration is “committed to bringing back” the website, although no timeline was given.

 

US has multilingual history

The Trump administration’s effort to limit White House communication in languages other than English breaks with not just the recent past but also with the earliest traditions of the republic. Since the inception of the country, there has been a concerted effort to provide information to the public in relevant languages.

 

For example, the U.S. Constitution was translated into German and Dutch in 1787 and 1788, languages that were widely spoken at the time, especially in New York, Pennsylvania and Maryland. These translations helped inform the public of the country’s foundational values and allowed for public engagement and participation during the ratification process.

 

The 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which ended the Mexican–American War and redrew the southern boundaries of the U.S., was written in both Spanish and English, ensuring that Spanish speakers in the territories newly claimed by the U.S. were informed about their citizenship and rights.

 

 

Translators who spoke everything from Italian to Turkish to Albanian were stationed at Ellis Island in the early 20th century to help register and assist immigrants arriving to New York from across the globe. A few decades later, the U.S. government produced World War I propaganda posters in various languages, hoping to convince a culturally and linguistically diverse American public to support the war effort, buy war bonds and enlist in the military.

 

In 1964, the Civil Rights Act, which outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion and sex, also laid the legal foundation for multilingual services in federal assistance programs. In government programs such as Medicaid, people who speak a language other than English are entitled to treatment equal to that of English speakers.

 

The U.S. has never embraced multilingualism. History is rife with campaigns to suppress “foreign” and Indigenous languages. But as these examples show, the U.S. has often taken a policy approach that acknowledges the linguistic needs of the U.S public.

 

Spanish on the campaign trail, not in the White House

Even Trump, who has made anti-immigrant and especially anti-Latino rhetoric a centerpiece of all his candidacies, released multiple Spanish-language advertisements during his 2024 presidential campaign, in hopes of improving his standing with Latino voters.

 

His campaign released several ads targeting swing states with large Spanish-speaking populations, such as Arizona and Nevada, and in October 2024 Trump even participated in a town hall meeting on the Spanish-language channel Univision, where audience members asked questions in Spanish.

 

These voters helped put Trump into office: Exit polling data shows that Trump won 42% of the Latino vote in the 2024 race, the highest percentage for a GOP candidate in at least 40 years.

 

The federal government continues to host Spanish-language information on a variety of agency websites and offers multilingual support for key civic processes, such as filing taxes and requesting passports. The shuttering of the Spanish-language White House website seems largely symbolic.

 

His executive order making English the official language of the U.S. may end up being largely symbolic as well. It allows federal agencies to continue providing information in other languages, effectively separating Trump’s public stance from its practical implementation.

 

But for a president with a staunch anti-immigrant attitude, symbolism is politically advantageous.

 

Trump, it seems, is willing to use Spanish on the campaign trail when it benefits him while reinforcing a public narrative of rejecting Spanish and Spanish speakers.

 

This story originally appeared on The Conversation.

 

 

Professor of Linguistics and Spanish, Purdue University

https://www.tucsonsentinel.com/opinion/report/030325_official_english_op/making-english-official-us-language-cant-erase-fact-that-us-has-millions-spanish-speakers/

#metaglossia_mundus

"What Trump’s order making English the official language in the US could mean
Posted Mar 03, 2025 8:00 PM

BY  FERNANDA FIGUEROA

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Saturday designating English as the official language of the United States. Activists and advocacy groups are alarmed by what it will mean for non-English speakers when it comes to immigration, voter access and other issues.

The order will allow government agencies and organizations that receive federal funding to choose whether to continue to offer documents and services in languages other than English, according to a fact sheet. The move rescinds a mandate from former President Bill Clinton that required the government and organizations that received federal funding to provide language assistance to non-English speakers.

Designating English as the national language “promotes unity, establishes efficiency in government operations, and creates a pathway for civic engagement,” according to the White House. But some activists and organizations think the move is just another way for the president to stoke division and fear.

“This isn’t just an offensive gesture that sticks a thumb in the eye of millions of U.S. citizens who speak other languages, but also will directly harm those who have previously relied on language assistance for vital information,” Vanessa Cárdenas, executive director of America’s Voice, an advocacy group for immigration reform, said in an email.

What does it mean to have an official language?
According to the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, an official language is what is used by the government to conduct official, day-to-day business. Having one or more official languages can help define a nation’s character and the cultural identity of those who live in it.

Prioritizing one language may place certain people in position of power and exclude others whose language is not recognized, according to the institute.

U.S. English, a group that advocates for making English the official language in the United States, believes having an official language provides a common means of communication, encourages immigrants to learn English to use government services and “defines a much-needed common sense language policy.”

Currently there are more than 350 languages spoken in the United States, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. The most widely spoken languages other than English are Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese and Arabic.

People in the U.S. also speak Native North American languages such as Navajo, Yupik, Dakota, Apache, Keres and Cherokee, among others.

Potential impact on citizenship and voting
Anabel Mendoza, the communications director for United We Dream, a nonprofit immigrant advocacy organization, said limiting the language of federal communication will make it harder for people to become citizens if they are denied the ability to speak their native tongue throughout the process. Currently, people of certain age and residency requirements can qualify for a waiver to do the citizenship test and interview in their native language.

“Trump is trying to send the message that if you’re not white, rich and speak English you don’t belong here,” Mendoza said. “Let me be clear: Immigrants are here to stay. No matter how hard Trump tries, he can’t erase us.”

The Congressional Hispanic Caucus announced Friday that New York Rep. Adriano Espaillat, caucus chair, will deliver, on behalf of Democrats, the official Spanish-language response to Trump’s upcoming joint address to Congress.

George Carrillo, co-founder & CEO of the Hispanic Construction Council, said it seems like a step backwards in a country that has championed its diversity. He is also concerned how limiting governmental communication might affect U.S. territories such as Puerto Rico where the predominant language is Spanish.

“This executive order, while framed as promoting unity, risks dismantling critical supports like ESL programs and multilingual resources that help immigrants adapt and contribute,” Carrillo said. “Imagine families navigating healthcare or legal systems without materials in a language they understand, it’s a barrier, not a bridge.”

APIAVote, a nonpartisan nonprofit focused on registering Asian American and Pacific Islander voters, also expressed worry this could mean barriers for millions of voters such as naturalized citizens or elderly residents who aren’t English-proficient.

“It will make it harder for them to participate civically and vote, as well as access critical healthcare, economic and education resources,” the group said in a statement.

Furthermore, the organization says this action could make anyone who speaks another language a target.

“The exclusionary nature of this policy will only fuel xenophobia and discrimination at a time when anti-Asian hate and hate against other minority and immigrant groups are rising.”

States that have English as the official language
More than 30 states, from California to New Hampshire, as well as the U.S. Virgin Islands have already passed laws designating English as their official language, according to U.S. English. Hawaii is the only state to declare two official languages, English and Hawaiian.

For decades, lawmakers in Congress have introduced legislation to designate English as the official language, but those efforts failed. The most recent effort was in 2023, when Sens. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., and JD Vance, R-Ohio, introduced the English Language Unity Act. Vance is now vice president.

How many countries have official languages?
It is estimated that over 170 countries have an official language, with some having more than one language.

Mexico does not have an official language. In Canada the official languages are English and French. According to Canada’s Official Languages Act of 1969, the purpose of designating two languages ensures “the equality of status” and protecting linguistic minorities “while taking into account the fact that they have different needs.”"
https://hayspost.com/posts/205e9831-3b9d-4481-aab3-dd05268d57b3
#metaglossia_mundus

"President Donald Trump signed on Saturday an executive order designating English as the official language of the United States.

The order allows government agencies and organizations that receive federal funding to choose whether to continue to offer documents and services in a language other than English.

It rescinds a mandate from former President Bill Clinton that required the government and organizations that received federal funding to provide language assistance to non-English speakers.

"Establishing English as the official language will not only streamline communication but also reinforce shared national values, and create a more cohesive and efficient society," according to the order.

"In welcoming new Americans, a policy of encouraging the learning and adoption of our national language will make the United States a shared home and empower new citizens to achieve the American dream," the order also states. "Speaking English not only opens doors economically, but it helps newcomers engage in their communities, participate in national traditions, and give back to our society."

More than 30 states have already passed laws designating English as their official language, according to U.S. English, a group that advocates for making English the official language in the United States.

For decades, lawmakers in Congress have introduced legislation to designate English as the official language of the U.S., but those efforts have not succeeded.

Within hours of Trump's inauguration last month, the new administration took down the Spanish language version of the official White House website."

"...The White House document, which was obtained Friday, states that President Donald Trump plans to designate English as the official language of the United States to promote “cohesion” in a nation that has historically been defined by immigration from around the globe.

The document, which was provided by an official on the condition of anonymity, stated that “English is long overdue to be recognised as the official language of the United States.”

Additionally, Trump’s executive order “affirms that a common language fosters national cohesion.”"

BY ABISOYE ADEYIGA

https://newscentral.africa/trump-to-order-english-as-official-language-in-us/

#metaglossia_mundus 

"As more English words enter the Korean language, linguists are fighting back – but finding alternatives to ‘asap’ and ‘deepfake’ isn’t easy

Published: 7:15am, 26 Feb 2025
Kim Hyeong-bae, a South Korean linguist, had a problem: how to translate the word “deepfake” into Korean.

A senior researcher at the National Institute of Korean Language, a government regulator, Kim works in the public language department.

His job is to sift through the many foreign words that clutter everyday speech and bring them to the committee – called the “new language group” – to be translated into Korean.

Deepfake, which is pronounced “dihp-PAY-kuh” and has been appearing in newspaper headlines with increasing frequency, was a textbook candidate.

We can’t rework borrowed words as soon as they appear – we have to observe for a bit until it’s clear that it’s being used widely, after which we can step in
Kim Hyeong-bae, a South Korean linguist
A word-for-word translation would sound like nonsense, so Kim and 14 other language experts in a video conference in autumn 2024 began with two essential questions. How could the word’s negative connotations be accurately expressed in Korean? And was it necessary to use qualifiers like “counterfeit” or “artificial intelligence”?

One participant suggested “intelligent modification”, only for another to object, saying: “That makes it sound like a good thing.”

READ FULL ARTICLE>>>

https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts/article/3300069/koreas-fight-against-english-word-usage-and-challenge-translating-borrowed-words?module=hp_section_lifestyle&pgtype=homepage

Speaking of Words: Can Poetry be Translated?

By Michael Ferber February 24, 2025

Michael Ferber

Speaking of Words
By MICHAEL FERBER

        Almost everyone who cares about poetry will say that poetry, or at least good poetry, cannot be translated into another language.  They may quote Robert Frost, who knew a thing or two about it, as saying, “Poetry is what gets lost in translation.”  They may point to nuances and subtleties of meaning and sound that cannot be carried over into another tongue; they may refer to an inner “spirit” of a language that differs in essence from the spirits of all other languages.  They may say there are no true cross-linguistic synonyms.  And so on.

        And yet quite a few great poets have translated poetry—Chaucer, Milton, Dryden, Pope, Wordsworth, Shelley, Longfellow, Yeats, Millay, Heaney, and New Hampshire’s own Charles Simic, to name a few who worked in English.  Why did they do it, if it cannot be done? 

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        You could argue that what they really wrote were not translations but poems in English inspired by poems in foreign tongues, something like what the French call imitations.  That may be true of some works supposedly in translation, such as Pope’s Iliad, which is brilliant but not very much like Homer’s Iliad, yet many translators have worked very hard to come as close as they can to conveying everything important in a foreign poem.  They wouldn’t have called it a translation if they didn’t think it was.

        In any case, what are we to do?  We can’t learn more than a few second languages, and those who say poetry is untranslatable usually also say that only native speakers can appreciate it.  So only those lucky enough to be bilingual or trilingual from childhood can fully take in poetry in two or three languages.  But most of us aren’t so lucky, and there must be hundreds of languages that have some fine poetry, and maybe several thousand languages, since song and rhythmical music and verbal play are found in every society on earth.

        Frost did not actually say “Poetry is what gets lost in translation,” but something a little less quotable.  He said, in a conversation, “I like to say, guardedly, that I could define poetry this way: it is that which is lost out of both prose and verse in translation.”  Poetry, then, is a certain something that may be found in prose as well as verse, but only in the original language. This something seems to be what John Denham in 1656 referred to: “Poesie is of so subtile a spirit, that of pouring out of one Language into another, it will all evaporate.”  Poetry is a spirit, or a gas, it seems, that evaporates from its vehicle, a liquid, when it is poured from one container to another. 

        It’s certainly true that many subtleties of sense and sound cannot be poured from one language into another.  Rhyme and other sound-effects, for example, are rarely transferable.  Here is a good example.

        One of the most beloved poems in German is Goethe’s “Wanderer’s Night Song”:

Über allen Gipfeln

Ist Ruh,

In allen Wipfeln

Spürest du

Kaum einen Hauch;

Die Vögelein schweigen im Walde.

Warte nur, balde

Ruhest du auch.

Here is a clunky word-for-word version in English: Over all summits / Is rest; / In all treetops / Feelest thou / Scarcely a breath; / The little birds are silent in the woods. / Wait only, soon / Restest thou too.  Even this awkward rendition will convey the stillness of the scene and the suggestion of oncoming evening, with all that evening might imply..

But it has a tight rhyme scheme: ababcddc.  If you want to capture it, you have a large problem.  Hauch must be translated as “breath,” and it needs to come at the end of its short line, but it rhymes with auch (“too” or “also”).  You can’t use “too” or “also” or “as well” or anything of the sort as a rhyme.  In fact there is only one rhyme for “breath” in English, besides proper names and the short form of “methamphetamine.”  That word is “death,” the perfect rhyme-mate for “breath.”  Shakespeare rhymes them three times in the same scene in Richard II.  But do you want “death” at the end of this delicate little poem?  It seems too much, too blunt, for the little suggestion that our “rest” tonight is like our final rest in some night to come.  What to do?

I think Longfellow did as well as one can by using a half-rhyme or off-rhyme, that is, “rest” itself:

O’er all the hill-tops

 Is quiet now,

In all the tree-tops

 Hearest thou

Hardly a breath;

 The birds are asleep in the trees:

 Wait, soon like these

  Thou, too, shalt rest.

He keeps “breath,” and experienced readers will expect “death,” so it will hover silently, as it should, over “rest.”  Rita Dove, in a recent translation of this poem, though it differs from Longfellow’s at many points, resorts to the same half-rhyme.  There is probably no better answer.

So, if many subtle aspects of poetry are lost, what can be translated?  Well, metaphor usually comes across.  Akhilleus leon esti is the same metaphor as “Achilles is a lion,” though perhaps to an ancient Greek leon had slightly different connotations, since European lions were somewhat different from the African lions we normally think of.  Metaphors are essential to a lot of poetry.  Structure and form, too, can usually be preserved; the Petrarchan sonnet, for instance, has been a favorite form for poets in dozens of languages for hundreds of years.  The argument or plot of a poem can also survive the pouring.  These are not trivial aspects. 

        So keep reading translations, if you like poetry, and don’t worry too much about what you are missing.  You’re not missing everything, and if some things get lost other things get found.

        I am happy to hear from readers with comments or questions: mferber@unh.edu.

Michael Ferber moved to New Hampshire in 1987 to join the English Department at UNH, from which he is now retired. Before that he earned his BA in Ancient Greek at Swarthmore College and his doctorate in English at Harvard, taught at Yale, and served on the staff of the Coalition for a New Foreign Policy in Washington, DC. In 1968 he stood trial in Federal Court in Boston for conspiracy to violate the draft law, with the pediatrician Benjamin Spock and three other men. He has published many books and articles on literature, and has a deep interest in linguistics. He is married to Susan Arnold; they have a daughter in San Francisco.

"Retro-Bit has given us the following statement:

We (Retro-Bit) have had success working with a number of translators and programmers to deliver each release. Unfortunately, due to schedule conflicts, we are not always able to work with them on every title. The translator who worked on these titles has a portfolio of translating entire text-heavy games, so we believed he was capable of our translation request since they were games that contained less text. We reached out to the translator for their explanation regarding these claims. After our discussion internally we as Retro-Bit concluded that the final work submitted contained, to a lesser or higher degree, uncredited work. We’ve always had a successful understanding of our shared responsibilities with our collaborators and unfortunately in this instance, we let our guard down.

This was an irresponsible oversight on our end and we take full accountability for this outcome and not verifying the submitted translation. To amend this situation, we will set out to reach those whose work was not recognized to offer a means of resolution.

Although we have upcoming titles that we are excited to release that have never been localized, we will be delaying them to refine our translation and programming procedures to ensure this does not happen again. One of the most rewarding parts of doing these re-releases is collaborating with many talented members of the retro gaming community while being able to support the original developers. Our intent was never to take advantage of that relationship and we apologize for disappointing our fans.

We deeply value the retro gaming community and appreciate your ongoing support and patience as we improve our processes.

Original Story: Retro-Bit, a company which has a long history of re-releasing old-school titles in physical form, has been accused of plagiarising fan-translations—despite its insistence that its localisation efforts are totally bespoke.

Translator Krokodyl has amassed a staggering amount of evidence to back up this claim and has cited four titles which prove it: Shubibinman Zero / Shockman Zero, Assault Suits Valken, Gley Lancer and Majyūō: King of Demons.

The post is worth viewing, as it's quite lengthy and includes an overwhelming amount of information and evidence. To summarise, Krokodyl highlights elements such as copied fonts, near-identical translated text and errors which appear both in the plagiarised translation and Retro-Bit's releases. Krokodyl also uses special tools to analyse and compare hex data to see how closely the two match. It's pretty damning stuff, and it would be amazing if all of this were merely a coincidence.

In Shubibinman Zero, The line よくおぼえておくわ means “I’ll remember this well”. Svambo translated this as “I’ll put you on my list!” and this line is used in the Retro-Bit version, too —  Image: Krokodyl

One of the most compelling pieces of evidence relates to Gley Lancer, which, Krokodyl alleges, is based on MIJET's translation from 2006. The game includes both an English and Japanese script (something Retro-Bit itself fails to note), and MIJET's name appears in the Japanese version of the game's "good" ending—which Retro-Bit's translator clearly didn't read properly.

It's important to note that with all four of these games, Retro-Bit has publicly stated that it has not used any existing translation for its versions. The credits on Retro-Bit's games all list the same person as the translator.

 Image: Retro-Bit / Krokodyl


 Image: Retro-Bit / Krokodyl


 Image: Retro-Bit / Krokodyl


 Image: Krokodyl

"I suspect that several of retro-bit’s releases presented as new and original translations of old SNES and Genesis games are, in fact, plagiarism of existing fan translations or, in at least one instance, other official translations," concludes Krokodyl. "By plagiarism, I mean that they’ve used graphics, code and/or texts from pre-existing translations while claiming otherwise."

Krokodyl notes that Aeon Genesis—the translator behind Assault Suits Valken and Majyūō: King of Demons' previous fan translations—has worked with Retro-Bit in the past and has always been credited. However, Aeon Genesis was not involved with any of these releases, nor were MIJET (Gley Lancer) or Svambo (Shockman Zero), as Krokodyl has reached out to all three and asked.

While Krokodyl admits that some of the evidence could be circumstantial, "having translated about a dozen games from Japanese to English over the last few years as an amateur translator and a professional developer, I am utterly convinced that these four translations by retro-bit use previous fan translations extensively in terms of graphics, game code and scripts. I am convinced that they are not original Japanese to English translations, and can only exist because of previous translations."

Retro-Bit's version of Majyūō: King of Demons uses the same font as Aeon Genesis's translation —  Image: Krokodyl

Krokodyl also points out that, even if these translations had been acquired legally, "the claim of not using existing work would be false advertisement. You can’t have it both ways. I believe that the FAQ that claims that 'a talented programmer' is working on the translations from scratch is a blatant lie. They’re not working from scratch and they are not talented. My understanding is that the translations are commissioned and not done in-house."

Long-standing readers of Time Extension will note that we've covered Retro-Bit's releases in detail in the past. The company has always been kind enough to supply us with pre-release copies of its titles and has helped organise giveaway competitions via social media. In light of these accusations, we will be reviewing this relationship moving forward.

We have also reached out to Retro-Bit over the weekend for a statement and will update this piece when we hear back."

Prof. Dr. S. Goksel Turkozu, the translator of the Nobel Prize-winning book ''The Vegetarian'' by Han Kang into Turkish, received a scholarship from the Korean government and earned his master’s degree in Korean Language Education at Seoul National University in 1996, followed by a Ph.D. in 2004.

How did you grow interested in Korean?

My interest began with the 1988 Seoul Summer Olympics. Growing up, I'd often heard about the Korean War, so I assumed Korea was a poor country. When I watched the Olympics on television, I was amazed to see how modern and developed the country had become. The combination of the Korean War stories I'd heard while growing up and the impression the Seoul Olympics left on me ultimately inspired me to study Korean.

 

How did you learn the language?

When I first visited Korea, I began reading literary works to improve my Korean. As I read, I noticed many cultural similarities between Turkiye and Korea, which sparked my desire to translate Korean literature into Turkish. After returning home, I began working on this.

 

Why did you choose to translate Han Kang's works starting with "The Vegetarian?"

The novel was my first encounter with her writing, and it left a profound impact on me. When April Publishing House approached me in 2015 to translate the novel, I hadn't read her work though I was aware of her name. After reading it, I was deeply moved and knew Turkish readers could relate to it on many levels. Translating the book opened the door to discovering more of Han's works, and each deepened my admiration for her ability to tackle societal structures and resist violence in the world.

 

S. Goksel Turkozu in 2017 meets "The Vegetarian" author Han Kang at a cafe in Seoul.

 

You met Han in Seoul in 2017. What did both of you discuss?

After translating "The Vegetarian," we met in Seoul. She is a respectful and gentle woman and was invited to Turkiye several times, but couldn’t come due to her busy schedule.

 

After the book came out, many readers questioned why it wasn't titled "The Vegan." I asked her this and her response was the term wasn't commonly used in Korea while she wrote the book, and Korean had no equivalent for it. At the time, vegan even in Turkiye wasn't widely known or used.

 

How was translating "The Vegetarian?"

Translating Han's works was a unique experience due to her clear yet profound writing style. Even her simplest sentences carry deep meaning, so capturing that depth wasn't easy. To preserve Han's perspective and emotional tone, I immersed myself in the characters' experiences and tried to see things through their eyes. Sometimes, it took hours or even days just to find the right word or phrase.

 

What do you find unique about Han's works?

The striking power of her language. Her writing is sometimes intense and even overwhelming for the reader, as she doesn't shy away from discomforting or challenging emotions. She pushes readers to think deeply and empathize with her characters, making the translation process demanding. It wasn't just about finding the right words but also maintaining the emotional weight and authenticity of her characters' journeys.

 

In literary talks you've attended, what do strikes readers the most about this book?

In the many literary discussions I attended, I was once asked if I liked the main character Yeong-hye, which was such a thought-provoking question. My answer was a definite yes.

 

Based on my experience, Turkish readers deeply appreciate Han's language. Korean literature was relatively unknown in Turkiye, but it's become significantly more recognized thanks to her. Those who read Han's works have grown curious about other Korean authors. But Korean literature is still not as well known as its Western, Latin or Japanese counterparts. For Korean literature to gain further recognition, more quality translations are needed.

 

What advice do you have for those interested in translation of Korean literature?

To be a good translator, my humble advice is to read a variety of literary works from different genres and translations from different languages. You also need a solid command of your own language. Finally, a translation is always incomplete if the translator lacks deep and extensive understanding of the target language's culture, history and people.

https://www.korea.net/NewsFocus/HonoraryReporters/view?articleId=265934

"...The challenges of translations

This novel — titled Uma Jornada de Amor e Aprendizagem in Portuguese or Un Voyage d’Amour et Apprentissage in French— narrates the everyday life of a Black family, exploring themes of interrelationships, well-being, and positive parenting. Through this work of translation, I’ve seen translation not just as a linguistic task but as an act of cultural preservation — one that ensures narratives remain authentic while becoming accessible to a wider audience.

 

 

 

 

In an interview with The Varsity, Da Silva explains her book and its main objectives in French, stating that, “Mon objectif était d’aider les parents à mieux comprendre les besoins émotionnels de leurs enfants et à cultiver des relations plus harmonieuses et intentionnelles” ​​(My goal was to help parents better understand their children’s emotional needs and foster more harmonious and intentional relationships). 

 

The translation process for the novel involved more than just converting words from one language to another. It required a degree of cultural understanding to ensure that the message retained its original meaning and emotional impact. Some phrases — particularly those related to conscious parenting — had no direct equivalent in some target languages. In these cases, the translation had to be adapted rather than translated literally to preserve the essence of the text’s original meaning. 

 

Additionally, certain cultural perspectives on discipline and parental authority must be carefully balanced to remain faithful to the original intent while making sense to a different audience. Beyond the important devotion to linguistic accuracy, the translation process also required translators to convey the emotions, values, and deeper messages of the novel.

 

Da Silva went on to say that, “Par exemple, certaines expressions autour de l’éducation bienveillante n’ont pas d’équivalent exact dans toutes les langues. Il a fallu reformuler certaines phrases pour qu’elles gardent leur essence sans perdre leur signification pour les lecteurs d’une autre culture” (For example, some expressions related to gentle parenting do not have an exact equivalent in all languages. It was necessary to rephrase certain sentences so that they retained their essence without losing their meaning for readers from another culture).

 

Translating any text — whether an article or a novel — requires cultural sensitivity and careful navigation of nuanced concepts. In this way, the process for Da Silva’s book ensured an accurate rendering of ideas like conscious parenting and discipline, making the book accessible to a wider audience. Beyond broadening its reach, the translation also fosters meaningful discussions about conscious parenting within Black communities, amplifying their experiences within the global conversation.

 

Translation and representation

 

As translators, it is important to stay updated with any terms added in the languages we work in. This way we can guide readers into an up-to-date translation while maintaining the original meaning of the message being delivered. 

 

A prime example of this is Úrsula, a novel written by Maria Firmina dos Reis, who broke new ground in Brazil’s literary scene and revolutionized history — particularly within the Afro-Brazilian diaspora. Set in the nineteenth century, the novel explores themes of slavery, oppression, and resilience through the story of its titular character, Úrsula, and the enslaved people around her. 

 

Translation, in this sense, is an act of cultural preservation and empowerment.

 

William U. Ferreira Da Silva, Varsity Contributor

 

Úrsula gave a new voice to the Afro-Brazilian experience, critiquing the brutal realities of slavery to not only mark a milestone in Brazilian literature, but also become a powerful testament to the strength and agency of the Afro-Brazilian diaspora.

 

In Úrsula, the resistance portrayed is not just against the institution of slavery, but against the systems that sought to strip people of their humanity. The novel gives voice to characters of African descent who resist the dehumanizing forces of slavery in various ways. From subtle acts of defiance to outright rebellion, these characters fight to maintain their dignity and assert their right to freedom. Their resistance bore a testament to the strength of those who lived under oppression but never accepted it, and the novel played a crucial role in shaping nineteenth century abolitionist discourse.

 

Racial identity in Úrsula links itself to this resistance. The novel highlights the complexity of Afro-Brazilian identity, showing that even within the brutal confines of slavery, characters strived to preserve their sense of self and their cultural heritage. Through their experiences, the novel critiques the rigid racial hierarchies of nineteenth-century Brazil, challenging the dehumanizing stereotypes of Afro-descendants. The novel makes it clear that slavery not only oppressed bodies but also sought to erase cultural identities. 

 

 

 

 

Yet, through acts of resistance and self-preservation, Úrsula ultimately affirms the humanity, worth, and identity of Afro-Brazilian people — pushing for a broader understanding of racial equality. It also gave a stepping-stool for the native speakers to reclaim their history in their own linguistic and cultural framework, strengthening the African diaspora. From Úrsula’s lessons, the work of translation exemplifies how a simple text can not only inform, but also empower marginalized communities by reinforcing their cultural and linguistic heritage.

 

Just as actress Lupita Nyong’o speaks of the power of seeing someone who looks like you achieve the impossible, I’ve come to understand the profound impact translation can have in making stories from underrepresented communities more visible and accessible. In translating Uma Jornada de Amor e Aprendizagem, I realized that the work went beyond converting words between languages — it meant breaking down barriers and fostering understanding. 

 

As I carefully navigated the nuances of language, I felt myself helping to preserve and amplify the voices of Black families whose stories deserve to be heard on a global scale. 

 

Translation, in this sense, is an act of cultural preservation and empowerment, allowing important narratives from Black history and culture to reach broader audiences and inspire change. Let it remind us that when we share these stories, we do not just translate words — we make history more inclusive and shape a more informed future."

 

https://thevarsity.ca/2025/02/23/breaking-language-barriers-the-power-of-translation-in-cultural-preservation/

EqualyzAI, a pioneering African-centric AI start-up, has developed an AI app that supports native tongues.

"...Founded by award-winning experts, Dr. Olubayo Adekanmbi and Dr. Ife Adebara, EqualyzAI is committed to ensuring African languages, cultures, and contexts remain central to the global AI evolution.

 

Adekanmbi, at the unveiling event, over the weekend, in Lagos, to commemorate International Mother Language Day, said the company’s mission is to ensure that AI speaks Nigerian local languages, understands contexts in text, speech, images, and videos, and solves Nigerians’ unique challenges.

 

“Our mission is to ensure that AI speaks our languages, understands our contexts in text, speeches, images and videos, and solves our unique challenges. This is not just about technology; it’s about empowerment and inclusion. At EqualyzAI, we are bridging this gap by creating AI solutions trained on African realities, ensuring that no one is left behind,” Adekanmbi averred.

 

 

Adebara further emphasised the importance of localized AI solutions, stating: “Language is a gateway to knowledge, opportunity, and identity. By building AI that understands and speaks African languages, we are preserving our cultural heritage and creating tools that can transform lives. Africa is home to over 2,000 languages, yet most AI models struggle to understand even a fraction of them. Our goal is to change this by developing AI that speaks and understands Africa’s languages, unlocking new opportunities for education, business, and social impact.”

 

At the event, EqualyzAI demonstrated its cutting-edge AI solutions designed to address critical challenges in Africa while promoting linguistic diversity. Key innovations include: DataCollect, a platform designed to collect hyperlocal datasets needed to build AI solutions that speak many African languages, ensuring inclusivity and representation; AfroSLM 1.0, a Small Language Model (SLM) optimised to improve financial literacy in Yoruba and Hausa, empowering users with accessible financial education in their native languages and uLearn, an LLM-powered tool for teachers to generate lesson plans, notes, and quizzes in English and local languages, revolutionising education delivery across Africa.

 

 

Additionally, EqualyzAI shared its recent white paper, titled “How Small Language Models (SLMs) Are Revolutionizing Localized AI Innovations for Social Good in Africa.” The paper explores the transformative potential of SLMs in addressing Africa’s unique challenges and advancing AI accessibility.

 

EqualyzAI is not just building AI models—it is fostering a movement to democratize AI and make its possibilities accessible to all Africans. By investing in hyperlocal AI innovations, the company aims to create solutions that empower communities, drive economic growth, and preserve Africa’s linguistic heritage.

 

 

https://leadership.ng/nigerian-startup-develops-ai-app-to-support-native-tongues/

#metaglossia_mundus 

Digital communication is reducing vocabulary among youth, impacting cognitive abilities. Experts warn of the risk to critical thinking and cultural heritage.

https://www.turkiyetoday.com/lifestyle/are-young-people-losing-their-linguistic-skills-experts-warn-of-alarming-trend-122872/

The rise of digital communication is leading to a sharp decline in vocabulary among young people, which in turn is negatively impacting their cognitive abilities, experts warn.

Professor Deniz Melanlioglu, a faculty member at Istanbul University’s (IU) Department of Linguistics, emphasized the alarming trend: “Young people today use a very limited number of words. They often shorten words when expressing themselves. If we lack a rich vocabulary, we also lack sufficient capacity for critical and creative thinking.”

A language shaped by geography and history
Speaking to Anadolu Agency on the occasion of International Mother Language Day, Professor Melanlioglu highlighted the fundamental role of geography and history in shaping a language.

“Geographical conditions influence human physiology and the development of vocal organs. Some sounds that exist in Turkish, such as ‘ü, ö, i,’ do not appear in other languages. Likewise, the guttural ‘h’ sound is challenging for Turkish speakers due to anatomical factors. Over centuries, language is shaped by how people interpret and define their environment,” she explained.

Melanlioglu also noted the socio-cultural factors that influence language evolution. “For instance, in early Turkic societies, horses were central to daily life, so the language had many words related to horses. However, as modern life has changed, the vocabulary related to horses has significantly diminished,” she added.

Professor Deniz Melanlioglu from Istanbul University is giving a statement to an AA reporter. (AA Photo)
Is Turkish language at risk?
Despite global threats to linguistic diversity, Melanlioglu believes that Turkish remains protected. She emphasized that strong educational policies are key to preserving a nation’s language and identity.

“Being a nation starts with having a collective identity, and language is the primary unifying factor. Without a shared language, individuals remain isolated as ‘I’ rather than forming a ‘we.’ If a society loses its language, it risks losing its national identity as well,” she warned.

She pointed to positive steps in Türkiye’s education system, such as requiring students to repeat a grade if their Turkish language skills fall below a certain level. Additionally, Türkiye’s Ministry of Education has developed programs to help Turkish children abroad maintain their native language.

Thousands of languages face extinction
According to UNESCO, more than 7,000 languages are spoken worldwide, but many are at risk of extinction. “This is not just an issue for small indigenous languages. Even in Europe, many languages are struggling to survive. Institutions such as the European Council are actively working to prevent linguistic extinction,” Melanlioglu noted.

While Turkish remains one of the widely spoken languages across Asia, Africa, and the Balkans, it does not have the same global influence as English, Chinese, or French. “The widespread use of these languages is largely due to colonial history and population size rather than linguistic superiority,” she remarked.

A beginner Turkish language learner writing ‘Hello=Merhaba’ for homework, captured in a close-up shot of a notebook. (Adobe Stock Photo)
Should foreign words in Turkish be a concern?
Language evolution is inevitable, and borrowing words from other languages is a natural process, Melanlioglu argued.

“Throughout history, Turkish has absorbed words from Arabic, Persian, and French. Take the word ‘merdiven’ (staircase) for example—it originated from Persian but has been adapted to fit Turkish phonetics. If a word conforms to our language’s sound rules, it becomes part of our vocabulary,” she explained.

Impact of social media on language
Digitalization has had a profound effect on language use, particularly among young people. Social media has introduced a more condensed form of communication, reducing the variety of words people use in daily interactions.

Melanlioglu warned that this trend could have significant cognitive consequences: “Language is the foundation of thought. If we do not possess a rich vocabulary, we cannot fully develop our ability to analyze, criticize, and create. To preserve our native language and pass it on to future generations, we must actively expand our vocabulary.”

She stressed the importance of initiatives aimed at enriching linguistic skills, highlighting that efforts to enhance vocabulary are crucial for maintaining both cultural heritage and intellectual development.

Claudia Quevedo-Webb, César Hoyos Álvarez, María Jesús Barros García and Spencer Striker have been named the 2025 recipients of the Alumnae of Northwestern University’s Award for Curriculum Innovation.

"...Although study abroad experiences are recognized for developing critical intercultural communicative competence (ICC) in language learners, not all students can study abroad, and if they do, they may not have the opportunity to take part in cultural practices.

 

The team's curricular innovation utilizes VR to immerse students in various scenarios and real-life situations. Paired with classroom discussions, cultural comparisons, and self-reflection, this approach helps students develop cultural competence and a deeper appreciation for different cultures.

 

 

María Jesús Barros García

Quevedo-Webb’s research focuses on using new technologies in the language classroom and diversity and inclusion practices. She joined Northwestern in 2022.

 

Hoyos Álvarez joined Northwestern in 2022. His research centers around the application of critical pedagogies and addresses the need for more inclusive learning environments that cater to the linguistic and socio-affective needs of emergent bilinguals.

 

Barros García joined Northwestern in 2018. Her research focuses on intercultural pragmatics, politeness theory and second language acquisition.

 

The future of digital media design

Spencer Striker is an associate professor of digital media design at Northwestern Qatar.

 

His curricular innovation is to integrate creative production curriculum with NU-Q’s AIM Lab research to advance human centered AI innovation in media, creative production and digital communication..."

https://news.northwestern.edu/stories/2025/02/award-for-curriculum-innovation/

#metaglossia_mundus 

 

La littérature bretonne dans le sillage de Gwalarn

Cette année 2025 est celle du centenaire de la création de la revue Gwalarn (165 numéros publiés de1925 à 1944) par Roparz Hemon (1900-1978), centenaire qui va être commémoré tout au long de l’année. Cette revue en langue bretonne fut la revue phare de l’école Gwalarn, mouvement littéraire d’une langue bretonne modernisée, normalisée et ouverte sur le monde comme en témoignent les nombreuses traductions en breton d’oeuvres littéraires majeures de France et du monde.

 

 

Lire, traduire et produire des oeuvres prestigieuses en breton

 

 

Combien de Brezhonegerien (Bretonnants ou néo-bretonnants instruits, c’est-à-dire capables et désireux de lire du breton) achètent à l’heure actuelle au moins un livre en breton par an ? Faire connaître les traductions en breton d’oeuvres prestigieuses d’écrivains étrangers ne serait-il pas l’un des moyens de motiver les adultes comme les adolescents à lire du breton ? 

 

 

 

 

• Le Conseil régional de Bretagne subventionne les traductions et la publication en breton d’une liste de romans classiques ou modernes célèbres en français ou en langues étrangères. Cette liste est téléchargeable sur le site de l’OPAB (Office Public de la Langue Bretonne). 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• À l’ICB-SUAV (Institut Culturel de Bretagne), dont la médiathèque comprend 20% de livres en breton, 200 livres d’écrivains étrangers traduits en breton ont été répertoriés.

 

 

 

 

Oeuvres de William Shakespeare traduites en breton

 

 

Pour les oeuvres de W. Shakespeare, l’CB peut citer cinq traductions : d’une part les trois livres publiés par Al Lanv en 2007 puis 2011 Makbez ( Macbeth) ; Ar Geben Doñvaet (La mégère apprivoisée), traduction de Y.L. Emili, Romeo ha Julieta, et Otello, les deux traductions de Marsel Klerg. D’autre part en 2014, chez Skol Vreizh : Komedienn mil luiet (The Comedy of errors), traduction de Marie-Hélène Morvan et S. Botrel. Et en 1999 (N° spécial 213 de la revue Brud nevez) Buhez ha maro ar Roue Yann (Vie et mort du Roi Jean), traduction de J.C. Miossec.

 

 

Quelle autre œuvre de Shakespeare, pouvant notamment intéresser les troupes de théâtre en breton, retiendra l’attention des traducteurs ? Pourquoi pas Hamlet ? Ou Richard III, pièce qui donne l’occasion d’évoquer l’implication de la Bretagne de François II dans la guerre-des-deux-Roses ? Ou une pièce plus courte qui retient encore l’attention de notre monde telle que The Tempest ? Ne serait-ce pas un bon objectif pour le centenaire de Gwalarn ?

 

 

Littérature fantastique pour adolescents

 

 

Les adolescents qui sont fascinés par les mangas ou privilégient le monde de la littérature fantastique, peuvent déjà lire en breton: Harry Potter ha Maen ar furien ou Harry Potter ha kambr ar sekredou 

 

 

Citons  aussi la traduction en breton de The Hobbit de JRR Tolkien An Hobbit par Alan Dipode et Joshua Tyra publié par Evertype en 2020.  A noter que la trilogie Le seigneur des anneaux  est sur la liste des oeuvres à traduire que propose l’OPAB , ainsi que l’oeuvre de Salman Rushdie Haroun and the sea of stories.

 

 

Une proposition de traduction à l’attention des adolescents

 

 

Qui s’engagerait à traduire par exemple l’œuvre de l’écrivain anglais Philip Pullman né en 1946, dont le premier tome de la trilogie À la croisée des mondes est paru en 1995, marquant profondément l’imaginaire collectif ? Traduite en 40 langues et totalisant près de 20 millions d’exemplaires vendus, l’oeuvre a été jouée au National Théâtre de Londres avant d’être transposée au cinéma, dans un film au casting prestigieux. Lauréat de la médaille Memorial Astrid Lindgren, l’équivalent jeunesse du prix Nobel, l’auteur a aussi reçu en Grande-Bretagne deux prix majeurs de littérature générale, jamais décernés auparavant à un livre pour enfants : Philip Pullman est lauréat du British Book Awards 2018 et du Prix J.M. Barrie en 2019.

Policymakers must balance the need to preserve mother tongues while educating young people in a lingua franca such as Portuguese.

"As the world marked International Mother Language Day on 21 February, two former Portuguese colonies with diverse linguistic traditions faced distinctly different challenges in balancing the preservation of culture with the need to exist in an increasingly connected world.

 

The majority of the 16 mother languages of Timor-Leste are quickly disappearing amid the proliferation of official languages (Portuguese and the largest native language, Tetum) and lingua francas (Indonesian and English). Besides Tetum, which is used within the Catholic Church, only two other languages have a strong base of native speakers in the country: Makasae (spoken mainly in the eastern Baucau municipality) and Mambae (spoken across several west-central municipalities, such as Ermera, Aileu and Ainaro). 

 

The other 13 languages identified by Davi Albuquerque in his 2003 paper As línguas de Timor Leste: perspectivas are rapidly disappearing or even extinct, as is the case with Makuva, now used solely in rituals conducted by elders in Lautém, the country’s eastern-most municipality.

 

“All Timorese must defend their mother tongue because it represents their culture and identity,” remarked Rosa Tilman, director of the National Institute of Linguistics at the National University of Timor-Leste, to the Portuguese news agency Lusa. With so many of the languages having no written component, she pointed out, increasing the number of speakers is vital.

 

Another lusophone nation, Mozambique finds itself facing the opposite problem. The southern African country boasts more than 40 mother tongues, and the majority of the population speaks one or more as their first language. Portuguese, the official language of Mozambique, is far less widespread, with around 90 percent of Mozambican children beginning school without knowing it.

 

Mozambican authorities introduced bilingual education in primary schools in 2015 to address this problem, and by 2024, a total of 2,894 schools used the bilingual model, benefiting a total of 886,998 students, according to government data. Yet the model has fallen far short of its goals, according to Armindo Ngunga, a linguistics professor at Eduardo Mondlane University (UEM) and former deputy minister of education, who worked on the rollout a decade ago.

 

Ngunga lamented the lack of emphasis on bilingual education in the country, telling Lusa that teachers often end up passing children who don’t know the material “because if they were to fail them, they would fail everyone.” He called for more training, so teachers are equipped with the tools they need to provide a bilingual education, and to extend the curriculum to secondary schools. 

 

Ngunga believes these changes and a clear political will are necessary to reach the goal set by the government in 2019 of over 5 million students studying in both Portuguese and a native language by 2029."

https://macaonews.org/news/lusofonia/native-languages-present-unique-challenges-across-the-portuguese-speaking-world/

"...Les motifs sont nombreux dans cette œuvre méticuleuse, furieusement engagée dans son sujet jusqu’à la fin. Les métaphores se tissent, mais sans surplomber l’œuvre d’un regard politique ou critique. Les jeunes actrices décrivent Une langue universelle comme un film sur l’amitié et sur le croisement entre deux cultures très éloignées, la canadienne et l’iranienne, qui en viennent pourtant à se ressembler. « Il n’y a pas de temps ni de lieu. Il n’y a pas d’horloge. Je n’ai jamais vu un film comme celui-là, qui croise de cette manière deux cultures », remarque Rojina..."

https://www.ledevoir.com/culture/cinema/836920/langue-universelle-comme-soeurs

#metaglossia_mundus 

A lightly satirical and surrealist comedy imagines the snowy Canadian city in the style of the Iranian New Wave.

"...“Universal Language” is likely to most please the viewer who has dwelt, so to speak, on one side or the other of the imagined Winnipeg (or both). But when all smushed together into one plot and laced with humor about Canada, they take on a dreamy quality, augmented by sequences (like one with a skater in a sparkly costume) that seem dislocated entirely from time and space. Instead of positing a world where one culture has assimilated into the other, “Universal Language” imagines a world where the two have merged, and now a new cultural identity peacefully exists, a culture in its own right..."

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/13/movies/universal-language-review.html
#metaglossia_mundus

El nuevo libro del argentino Andrés Neuman recrea la historia de esa lingüista excepcional, autora del diccionario más completo y divertido del español.

"...Hija de un médico de a bordo que enfiló hacia la Argentina, espaciando los contactos hasta esfumarse, y de una de las pocas mujeres de su época que sabía leer y escribir, María Moliner fue una self made woman que Neuman recrea con elocuencia, desde una infancia en la que se conjugan “una madre enferma, un padre fantasma y ningún capital”, con la ambición de soñar un diccionario y la hazaña solitaria de concretarlo como puntos culminantes.

Últimas noticias

Durante su investigación, el autor de Bariloche se sentó a leer ambos tomos de cabo a rabo y afirma que sus páginas cifran una autobiografía secreta de la filóloga y una contestación tan documentada como elegante al diccionario de la Real Academia Española de 1956 con el cual debatía.

En el verbo “bloquear”, por caso, María agregó a las acepciones oficiales una ausente: “detener o interceptar algo para que no llegue al sitio donde va dirigido; por ejemplo, una pelota o una emisión de radio”. Junto al modelo deportivo contrabandeó el otro, especialmente significativo en dictadura.

A medida que el diccionario fue invadiendo cada rincón del departamento (las entradas abordan definiciones, sinónimos, expresiones, frases hechas y familias de palabras; dos fichas por hoja, un vocablo por ficha, que ocupaban incluso el baño), María temió no terminarlo jamás. No lo apuró, sin embargo; lo cocinó a su modo, incluyendo “una gramática de andar por casa”..."

https://www.clarin.com/opinion/maria-moliner-mujer-sono-diccionario-ahora-novela_0_QyaElgWwXD.html
#metaglossia_mundus