Metaglossia: The Translation World

Need to hasten the hiring of interpreters for the trial of former President Rodrigo Duterte so that it may be broadcast in Tagalog.

"International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor and Senior Trial Lawyer Julian Nicholls on Wednesday requested the tribunal to hasten the hiring of interpreters for the trial of former President Rodrigo Duterte so that it may be broadcast in Tagalog.

This developed amid the ICC Registry’s concerns with interpretation. The Registry said that some witnesses in the case would be speaking in two languages.

“My understanding is that nothing can happen after the confirmation decision, but I just wonder if it can be sped up because six months is a long time. Some of the feedback that we received, that my friends representing victims would know better, is that… there’s a lot of interest in this case in the Philippines,” Nicholls said during the case’s first status conference.

“And having it not broadcast — I know that’s not the main point and we don’t always do that — but it would be much, much better for the population and the victims and people interested in this case if it could be broadcast in Tagalog or the other languages,” he added.

Nicholls said that though they may begin with English-speaking witnesses, some individuals may be unable to keep up with the trial as well as they should..."
https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/topstories/nation/989189/icc-prosecutor-interpreters-duterte-trial-broadcast/story/?amp
#metaglossia
#metaglossia_mundus

Une traduction est-elle une preuve objective ou déjà une forme d’interprétation ? Une affaire texane relance le débat sur la fiabilité des traductions dans les procédures pénales et, demain, sur la place de l’IA dans les tribunaux.

 

 

Par

Frederick T. Davis

Publié le 27 mai 2026 à 07:00

 

 

Par Frederick T. Davis, ancien procureur fédéral et membre des barreaux de New York et de Paris

 

Comment les traductions sont-elles utilisées dans les affaires pénales ?

Dans les procédures pénales, il existe deux situations fondamentalement différentes dans lesquelles des informations dans une langue doivent être traduites dans une autre. Dans chacune de ces situations, la langue « cible » est celle du siège du litige : le tribunal et les autres participants doivent pouvoir comprendre les éléments de preuve dans la langue locale applicable.

 

La première situation concerne les déclarations orales examinées « en temps réel », comme lors d’une procédure judiciaire. L’interprétation de ce type est généralement simple : une personne compétente dans les deux langues est désignée comme interprète et restitue dans la langue locale ce qu’un témoin dit dans une autre langue. Cette interprétation peut être soit « consécutive », le témoin marquant une pause après chaque phrase pour permettre à l’interprète d’intervenir, soit « simultanée », le témoin s’exprimant normalement et sans pause particulière, tandis qu’un interprète — généralement isolé derrière une paroi insonorisée — traduit immédiatement les propos diffusés ensuite par écouteurs. Ce processus a l’avantage d’être transparent : la partie adverse et son conseil suivent la traduction et peuvent, s’ils ne comprennent pas eux-mêmes la langue source, faire appel à leur propre interprète pour vérifier l’intégrité de la procédure et contester d’éventuels contresens.

 

Une situation tout à fait différente se présente lorsque des éléments de preuve écrits existent dans la langue source et doivent être traduits dans la langue locale pour être utilisés en justice. Dans ce cas, la traduction n’est pas réalisée publiquement ; c’est un traducteur qui, travaillant de son propre chef, établit un nouveau document prétendument fidèle au contenu du document source. Les exemples classiques comprennent des documents commerciaux tels que des contrats, ainsi que des correspondances comme des lettres et, de plus en plus, des courriels. Au cours de la procédure, c’est le document traduit qui peut être déterminant, dans la mesure où le document original serait généralement incompréhensible pour les participants.

 

Dans les tribunaux fédéraux américains, les interprétations orales en temps réel sont régies par la règle 604 des Federal Rules of Evidence, qui dispose simplement qu’« un interprète doit être qualifié et prononcer un serment ou une affirmation solennelle de fournir une traduction fidèle ». Cette disposition est complétée par une loi relativement récente qui enjoint l’administration judiciaire fédérale de mettre en place une procédure de « certification des qualifications des personnes pouvant exercer en qualité d’interprètes agréés », et traite des situations « dans lesquelles aucun interprète agréé n’est raisonnablement disponible, » pour les « procédures devant les tribunaux fédéraux ». L’interprétation en salle d’audience est ainsi bien établie et constitue une source d’emploi pour de nombreux linguistes ; dans la grande majorité des cas, cette procédure ne suscite aucune controverse. Les rares décisions judiciaires qui l’examinent soulignent que c’est au juge présidant l’audience qu’il appartient de s’assurer que les interprétations sont équitables et exactes.

 

Aucune règle ne traite, en revanche, de la procédure applicable lorsque des éléments de preuve écrits ont été à l’origine établis dans une autre langue que celle du for, problématique récemment abordée au Texas.

 

Qu’a fait le tribunal local et quelle était sa logique ?

En 2025, un certain Rovirosa a été mis en examen devant un tribunal fédéral texan pour violation du Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, il lui étant reproché d’avoir collaboré avec plusieurs complices pour corrompre des fonctionnaires mexicains. Sans grande surprise, une large part des éléments de preuve était constituée de courriels et d’autres communications, en espagnol, échangées entre le prévenu et ses complices. Les textes originaux en espagnol de ces communications n’ont jamais été soumis au jury. Le procureur a au contraire produit de nombreux documents présentés comme des traductions en anglais, accompagnées d’une forme de « certification » quant à leur fiabilité. Le procureur a expliqué que les versions en anglais avaient été réalisées par une société commerciale privée réputée, spécialisée dans la traduction, mais que les différents individus ayant réalisé ce travail n’ont pas comparu comme témoins. Lors de la production de ces traductions en tant que preuves, la défense s’est systématiquement opposée à leur admission au motif qu’elles constituaient du « ouï-dire » en l’absence du traducteur comme témoin, sans toutefois proposer de traductions alternatives.

 

En apparence, cette procédure semblait conforme à une jurisprudence bien établie, selon laquelle, si le prévenu conteste une traduction, il lui incombe de « contester son exactitude en présentant une traduction alternative, afin que le jury puisse choisir laquelle croire ». Ainsi, il était généralement admis que, si la défense et l’accusation divergeaient de manière substantielle sur le sens réel d’un élément de preuve dans la langue source, c’est aux jurés qu’il appartiendrait in fine de trancher, mais seulement si la défense contestait activement la traduction en en proposant une autre, ce que Rovirosa n’a pas fait.

 

Les jurés ont condamné Rovirosa, mais après le procès le juge a annulé la condamnation et classé l’affaire pour insuffisance de preuves, considérant que les traductions en anglais produites n’auraient pas dû être soumises aux jurés et que, sans elles, aucune culpabilité ne pouvait être établie. Au cœur de son raisonnement se trouvait l’idée que les traducteurs étaient eux-mêmes des « témoins » sans le témoignage desquels les jurés ne pouvaient apprécier de manière fiable l’intégrité et la valeur des éléments de preuve sur lesquels le ministère public s’appuyait. Le tribunal a noté que dans de nombreux cas il peut ne pas exister une seule traduction « correcte », car « les nuances régionales et les considérations textuelles » peuvent créer des gradations de sens qu’un interprète donné pourrait ne pas saisir. Il a ainsi conclu que si le procureur souhaitait établir en anglais ce que le prévenu et ses complices avaient dit en espagnol, il lui faudrait citer les traducteurs comme témoins soumis au contre-interrogatoire devant le jury, ce qui « permettrait de mettre en lumière les enjeux de sensibilité culturelle » et d’explorer dans quelle mesure les traducteurs possédaient les « connaissances spécialisées » nécessaires pour rendre compte de telles nuances.

 

En somme, le juge a intégré le processus de traduction, habituellement banal, dans la dynamique du système pénal accusatoire et adversaire. Il a implicitement rejeté l’idée qu’il puisse exister une seule traduction « officielle », affirmant au contraire que, dans une affaire pénale, le ministère public supporte la charge de prouver non seulement ce que le prévenu a fait et dit dans la langue source, mais également ce que cela signifie réellement en anglais. Ce faisant, le juge s’est largement appuyé sur le Sixième amendement de la Constitution des États-Unis, qui garantit à tout prévenu le droit « d’être confronté aux témoins à charge », ainsi que sur l’interprétation célèbre qu’en a donné la Cour suprême dans l’arrêt Crawford c. Washington, dans lequel la Cour a rejeté la validité de condamnations pénales fondées sur le témoignage de personnes n’ayant pas été soumises à un contre-interrogatoire devant le jury.

 

Le ministère de la Justice a interjeté appel de cette décision, une procédure qui pourrait prendre plusieurs mois, voire davantage.

 

Quel est l’impact probable de cette décision ?

L’une des questions est bien sûr de savoir si la décision survivra à l’appel. Il est probable que le raisonnement central du juge sera approuvé, car il constitue une application adaptée de la « Confrontation Clause » du Sixième amendement. Bien que le juge ne l’ait pas explicitement examiné, le procédé qu’il propose est très similaire à l’utilisation, dans les tribunaux fédéraux, de témoins experts — des experts qui expliquent aux jurés la meilleure interprétation et évaluation des données scientifiques et autres. Un traducteur est, en un sens important, simplement un expert proposé, et une traduction est par nature un « avis » émis par un expert. La procédure pénale américaine ne prévoit pas la désignation d’un expert « officiel » sur une quelconque question contestée ; la poursuite comme la défense sont libres d’identifier et de mandater leur propre expert, et si le juge estime que chacun possède les « connaissances, compétences, expériences, formation ou éducation » requises dans le domaine concerné, les deux peuvent témoigner, laissant aux jurés le soin de déterminer quelle version retenir. Certaines affaires donnent effectivement lieu à ce que l’on appelle une « bataille des experts ».

 

Pour l’avenir, le raisonnement du tribunal n’est pas susceptible d’affecter la majorité des affaires pénales dans lesquelles les documents traduits ne sont pas controversés et où la défense ne ferait que perdre du temps en exigeant de « confronter » le traducteur devant un jury. Mais il est également probable que les avocats de la défense avisés insisteront de plus en plus pour obliger le ministère public à établir l’intégrité des traductions importantes, et à soumettre les traducteurs au contre-interrogatoire, dans l’espoir de « semer un doute » sur la culpabilité. Il est également possible que les procureurs renforcent les procédures qu’ils suivent pour obtenir des traductions importantes (la procédure dans l’affaire Rovirosa semble avoir été assez négligente), ce qui serait bien évidemment une bonne chose.

 

Un épisode de l’affaire Rovirosa soulève une question curieuse : au cours de leurs délibérations, les jurés ont demandé à consulter les originaux en espagnol des communications impliquant le prévenu, ce que le tribunal n’a pas autorisé. Les tribunaux futurs devront se pencher sur la question de savoir si les jurés devraient avoir accès aux deux versions lorsqu’ils sont chargés d’évaluer une traduction. Si le bon sens suggère que cela serait souhaitable, la situation pose néanmoins un problème pratique : certains jurés pourraient maîtriser la langue source — ou croire la maîtriser sans l’avoir réellement. Nous ne connaissons pas la composition du jury dans l’affaire Rovirosa, mais un jury dans le sud du Texas comptait très probablement des hispanophones. Accorder à certains jurés une compréhension plus approfondie qu’à d’autres est susceptible de soulever de sérieuses difficultés.

 

Pour la suite, les tribunaux devront se pencher sur une question en plein essor qui ne se posait pas dans l’affaire Rovirosa : quelle procédure suivre lorsqu’une traduction n’est pas réalisée par un être humain mais par une plateforme d’intelligence artificielle dont des études montrent qu’elle est déjà capable de fournir des traductions égales, voire supérieures en qualité à celles des traducteurs humains. Comment contre-interroger un « bot » ? Et que se passe-t-il si la défense utilise un système d’IA différent pour produire une traduction concurrente ? Au lieu d’une « bataille des experts », aurons-nous une « bataille des bots » ? C’est dans cette direction que le monde s’achemine rapidement.

"(CNN) — As a courtroom interpreter in Texas’ immigration system, it was Meenu Batra’s job to make sure migrants understood the proceedings of immigration court – the good and the bad.

In March, Batra was exposed to the other side of the immigration system when she was detained by the Department of Homeland Security after decades spent living and working in the United States.

Batra, a mother of four US citizens who transitioned to interpreting in other courtrooms after years spent in immigration court, was detained for more than six weeks – a harrowing experience from which she says she’s still recovering.

She came to the US in 1991, she said, a fragile 18-year-old traumatized by the killing of her parents in a spate of anti-Sikh violence in India. She rejoined her older siblings who were already in the US and applied for asylum.

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Batra declined to give details about how she entered the US but was given a final order of removal by an immigration judge in 2000, under President Bill Clinton, according to DHS, her attorney and a judge’s ruling in her current case. But the same day, she was granted withholding of removal, a legal protection similar to asylum that says she cannot be deported to India. The government never appealed that decision, and she was released and spent the last 25 years without any formal interactions with immigration authorities, she says.

That’s until March 17, when she was detained at an airport while on her way to interpret Punjabi for a trial in Milwaukee.

DHS called Batra an “illegal alien” and said she was arrested during a “targeted enforcement operation.”

“We will continue to fight for the removal of illegal aliens who have no right to be in our country,” an agency spokesperson said in a statement when asked for comment about Batra.

The Trump administration has continually said officials are focused on deporting the “worst of the worst,” migrants with serious criminal records. But President Donald Trump’s sweeping deportation campaign has seen people with no or minor criminal records detained for weeks on end or deported, too. Many of them have spent years building lives, careers and families in the US, like Batra, whose attorney said has no criminal record.

Batra said her experience in detention has given her even more insight into the experience migrants face in the American court system. In detention, she said, she fought to help other detainees understand their legal rights and advocate for themselves.

Now she hopes her experience will help highlight the ordinary people detained by DHS – and “how we are denying the basic human rights to people who have been and who are part of this society and this country.”

“I’m just hoping that this brings some attention to those who don’t have a voice,” she said.

Hope for a better life
Batra came to the US like many immigrants do: hoping for a better life.

In 1984, Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by two Sikh bodyguards. The killing prompted organized pogroms against Sikhs across the country. Batra’s parents were among those killed, she says.

“I just became numb” after the killings, she said. When she came to the US, “I was leaving everything that was familiar to me, my friends. I didn’t get much chance to say goodbye to many of them.”

Batra spent a few years living on the East Coast before relocating to Texas in 2002. It was in the Lone Star State she first took advantage of her language skills and began working as an interpreter. She lived just 30 minutes from the US-Mexico border, where there were several DHS detention centers – and, she discovered, a need for interpreters of South Asian languages.

Her first experiences working in immigration court were disorienting enough that she considered quitting outright. “You have to go through security. It was always nerve-wracking,” she said. “And then you see the detainees coming. Sometimes they will be in chains. And you wonder, ‘Why are they in chains?’”

But she came to see the importance of making sure migrants were able to understand the proceedings and meaningfully participate in their own cases. “It was always satisfying when I was able to give them good news,” she said.

She became the only certified Hindi, Punjabi and Urdu courtroom interpreter in all of Texas, she said, and interpreted for countless immigration cases before transitioning to work in district and state courts just before Trump took office for his first term. Her work as an interpreter instilled a deep sense of respect for the American legal system, she said, a feeling that “there’s a right way to do things, and that’s exactly what I’ve been trying to do for 35 years.”

Falling ‘into a black hole’
When Batra was arrested at Valley International Airport in Harlingen, Texas, she said she felt like she was falling “into a black hole.”

“Fear” and “numbness” poured through her body as an officer asked her to step outside of the Transportation Security Administration line and later handcuffed her outside the airport.

And on her mind, too, was the Milwaukee jury trial for which she was hired to interpret: “It had never happened before that I was ever late for my work, and now I’m going to be a no-show,” she remembers thinking. The scarcity of certified interpreters of South Asian languages across the US often leads Batru to travel out of state for work.

Until she arrived at the detention center, she had kept a hope that “this was just a big mistake” – that officers would look at her Real ID and her work authorization documents and let her go.

Instead, she was processed at the El Valle Detention Center in Raymondville, Texas, where she would spend 45 “long, strange days.”

Batra’s attorney, Deepak Ahluwalia, said he believed she was targeted at the airport based on the flight’s manifesto. He cited a Reuters review of internal Immigration and Customs Enforcement data that found TSA shared over 31,000 traveler records with ICE for immigration enforcement, leading to over 800 arrests. DHS didn’t respond to questions from CNN about whether TSA shared her information with ICE but repeated Batra was targeted for being in the US “illegally,” putting the word in bold in its reply.

The process of being arrested, processed and detained was “humiliating,” Batra said.

“You just become smaller and smaller with each moment. Even way before I was in a cell, you start feeling imprisoned already.”

As a fluent English speaker who understood immigration laws from her years spent working as a courtroom interpreter, Batra said she saw herself as a person of “privilege” in the detention center, with a responsibility to help other detainees understand their rights and advocate for themselves. Some detainees had been behind bars for years, she said.

Because she was granted withholding of removal to India, Batra said, she was scared she would be deported to a conflict-ridden country to which she had no ties – like South Sudan or Congo, to which the US has deported people.

A federal judge ruled the administration’s practice of third-party deportations unlawful in February. The State Department, which negotiates agreements for countries to accept third-country deportees from the US, has broadly defended the practice, according to The Associated Press.

‘A new reality’
In the days after she was detained, Batra called her adult daughter – a challenging reversal of her usual role as a single mom who prided herself on providing support and stability for her children – who quickly hired an immigration lawyer to fight for her mother’s release. The legal team filed on March 26 a petition for habeas corpus, a form of relief whose use has skyrocketed in immigration cases since Trump took office again.

Federal judge Rolando Olvera granted Batra’s request for a temporary restraining order on April 30, ordering DHS to release her and not detain her again “until they have provided her with notice of the reasons for re-detention and an opportunity to respond.”

The judge wrote that Batra “was arrested and detained for no discernible reason, with no identified change in circumstance bearing on the likelihood of removal.”

Batra said she didn’t quite believe she was really free until her daughter was driving her away from the detention center. She broke down crying – the culmination of weeks spent away from her family.

The temporary restraining order preventing Batra from being detained is set to expire May 27. Ahluwalia, her attorney, says he expects the habeas petition will be ruled in their favor, keeping Batra out of detention.

But the ramifications of her detention are long-lasting. Batra said her daughter has struggled to sleep through the night in the days since her mother returned home. She jumps when a car passes on the street out of fear that “somebody is coming to get mom,” said Batra.

“It’s a new reality we’re living in,” she said. Living close to the border, DHS vehicles and officers are a frequent sight – and a potent reminder of Batra’s ordeal and her still uncertain future.

One of Batra’s sons joined the military months before her detention, which may provide a pathway for the interpreter to pursue a green card through the parole-in-place program, according to Ahluwalia.

Ahluwalia said he was “shocked” by the government’s efforts to detain and deport Batra. “I do believe that we need to bring, you know, compassion and the human element back to immigration enforcement,” he said. “Otherwise, we’re going to lose ourselves.”

Batra, meanwhile, said she has kept her faith in America’s ideals.

The country “is based on people who want to work hard, and that is a fundamental human right — that we can dream and make attempts to live a better life for ourselves,” she said.

“I believe we must stand up for those ideals, to protect those and to make sure that they are there for other generations that are coming.”

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved."
May 26, 2026
By Zoe Sottile, CNN

https://kvia.com/cnn-national/2026/05/26/this-interpreter-helped-migrants-navigate-immigration-court-then-she-was-detained-by-dhs/
#metaglossia
#metaglossia_mundus

"[Kim Seong-kon] Mistranslations and liberal translations

Recently, the Literature Translation Institute of Korea celebrated its 30th anniversary. As LTI Korea President Chon Soo-young mentioned in her welcome speech, LTI Korea has recently achieved two memorable accomplishments: the first Nobel Prize in literature awarded to a Korean novelist, Han Kang in 2025, and the establishment of the Graduate School of Translation, scheduled to open in 2027. This year, LTI Korea has also launched an ambitious project to publish 100 volumes of Korean classical literature.

The importance of translation cannot be overstated. As many great writers have noted, without translation, a writer cannot cross the borders of his or her country and become a global writer or an international celebrity. Therefore, it is imperative for a writer to have an excellent translator. All Nobel laureates have acknowledged the important role of their translators. The same is true of Han Kang and her translator, Deborah Smith.

Sometimes translators are prone to making mistakes because of cultural differences. For example, when Western translators read Kim Sowol’s poem “Azaleas,” they might assume that it depicts a man’s sorrow over losing his girlfriend, rather than that of a woman.

In Western culture, it is often a man who brings flowers to his girlfriend and scatters them in her path, if necessary. How, then, could Western translators fully understand the unique sentiment of Korean women in Kim Sowol’s time? Fortunately, we have a superb translator, David McCann, whose translation of the poem is impeccable thanks to his profound understanding of Korean culture.

As a translator myself, I have always been interested in mistranslations and liberal translations. While reading Korean translations of foreign books, I have found many cases of incorrect translation caused by the translators’ lack of cultural understanding. For example, “Lewis and Clark” has been translated into Korean as “Superman and his girlfriend.” But Superman’s girlfriend is Lois, not Lewis. Lewis and Clark were two US Army officers assigned by President Thomas Jefferson to survey the American West.

I also found that “Mason and Dixon” was translated as “outlaws of the American West.” “Bonnie and Clyde” and “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” were outlaws in the West, but not Mason and Dixon. In fact, Mason and Dixon were British surveyors who drew the boundary line between the North and the South in Britain’s American colonies.

In fact, there is a plethora of mistranslations. For example, “fall guy” means “a scapegoat,” yet it is frequently translated as “autumn man.” “Churchyard” refers to a cemetery in the yard of a church, but it is often translated as “the church’s backyard.” “Knock on wood” means “wish for good luck,” but it is sometimes translated literally as “tap on wood.” The same mistake occurs with “keep one’s fingers crossed,” which also means “wish for good luck,” and “by the book,” which means “according to the rules and regulations.” Unaware of these connotations, some Korean translators have translated them word-for-word.

Likewise, the post of “minister” in Korea is equivalent to that of “secretary” in the US government, but some Korean translators translate it as “biseo,” meaning “personal secretary.” Others have translated “Quantico” and “Langley” as if they were people’s names. In fact, they refer respectively to the headquarters of the FBI and the CIA. “Security detail” has also been mistranslated by Korean translators as “details on security protocol.” In fact, it means “a dedicated team of bodyguards assigned to protect important people.”

Some people think that AI will soon take over translation. But not yet. For example, AI translates the Korean title of Pak Kyongni’s novel “Toji” as “Land” in English correctly. However, when it translates the English title of Pak’s novel “Land” into Korean, it translates it as “Tang,” rather than preserving the original Korean title.

Sometimes liberal translations sound better than the original. For example, the title of the famous Hollywood film “Dead Poets Society” was translated into Korean as “The Society Where Poets Are All Dead.” Although it is not a correct translation, the Korean title sounds more appealing because we now live in such a society.

The title of a Hollywood Western, “Man Without a Star,” might refer to “a man who no longer has a guiding star” or “a man without a sheriff’s badge.” However, the Korean translation is “Man Who Resembles a Shooting Star,” which sounds more intriguing.

The same applies to the titles of literary works. Emily Bronte’s novel “Wuthering Heights” is the name of a mansion. However, its Korean title translates roughly as “Hill of Windstorms,” which sounds far more poetic and charming.

Another example is Charles Dickens’s novel “Great Expectations.” In 19th-century England, “great expectations” referred to the prospect of receiving a large inheritance. Yet the Korean translation is “The Great Legacy,” which sounds more elegant and suitable considering the novel’s theme.

Therefore, we do not need to translate everything word for word. Instead, we should embrace liberal translations and adaptations that better suit the target language and its readers.
- - -
Kim Seong-kon

Kim Seong-kon is a professor emeritus of English at Seoul National University and a visiting scholar at Dartmouth College. The views expressed here are the writer's own. — Ed.

khnews@heraldcorp.com"
May 27, 2026 - 05:30:00
KIM SEONG-KON
https://m.koreaherald.com/article/10756429
#metaglossia
#metaglossia_mundus

"Translation is a process of understanding. To translate something, one must choose what survives until a clear picture emerges. Lukas Devos, a research software fellow at the Center for Computational Quantum Physics at the Simons Foundation’s Flatiron Institute, and filmmaker Danya Abt collaborated on a short film, Lacunae, to pose a question: How does the process of translation shape what it leaves behind?

The experiential documentary examines translation as a process of selection and loss using digital video noise and erasure poetry. While noise in digital video is often viewed as a flaw to be removed, Lacunae suggests that this chaotic interference is a characteristic that makes a source feel more authentic, reflecting the inherent imperfection of the natural world. The film invites viewers to consider how defining “noise” is, in fact, a way to measure detail.

This film was made as part of Symbiosis, a two-week program that pairs scientists with filmmakers to create short films. This year’s Symbiosis is aligned with the Simons Foundation’s Infinite Sums national initiative, which focuses on the beauty and ubiquity of mathematics.

Symbiosis is part of the Simons Foundation’s Researcher Engagement program, an initiative of the foundation’s Science, Society & Culture division. You can learn more and stream the films here."
https://www.simonsfoundation.org/2026/05/27/watch-an-experiential-documentary-on-the-power-of-translation/
#metaglossia
#metaglossia_mundus

"Subs, dubs, and AI flubs: Lost in film translation
Culture

When I travel, I like to think I am not like the other British tourists. I try my best to blend in with the locals – attempting (and sometimes failing) to remain nonchalant on complicated metro systems, eating local cuisine, and avoiding ‘loud’ clothing. On a recent solo trip to Stockholm, however, my expectations were challenged by what I believed to be a given: English. I had been to Italy, where English captions accompany pretty much everything, and France, where the same is true, though it is offered with more reluctance. In my ignorance, I had not bothered to learn any Swedish beyond a measly ‘engelska?’, which became problematic as I quickly discovered that my bleached-blonde hair made me look like a Scandi girl to the locals.

I should experience some local culture, immerse myself in the arts scene, I thought as I settled into my hotel. Checking the programme of the capital’s Kulturhuset Stadsteatern, or ‘city theatre’, the single showing with English subtitles was the Austrian film How to Be Normal and the Oddness of the Other World, directed by Florian Pochlatko. Sure, it wasn’t Swedish at all, but how else would I understand the story, if it wasn’t for English subtitles? As I hurriedly approached the Kulturhuset, one Ryanair flight and a frenzy through the Stockholm metro behind me, I was suddenly informed that there would be no subtitles at all.

How hard could it be to watch an entire film in German when I could not even introduce myself in the language? Quite hard, it turns out. Sure, body language and visual effects went a long way, and I felt the beautiful serendipity of discovering a Swedish review on Letterboxd from a local at the same screening, but I missed almost every joke, and felt myself growing increasingly bored as the film progressed. The biggest surprise for me in Stockholm was just how English-less it was, from road signs to price tags to food labels – I had to open Google Translate in the middle of 7/11 to work out if I could eat my halloumi wrap cold.

I do not expect sympathy at all, as my own ignorance led to this situation. But the experience did make me reflect on the relationship between native English speakers and subtitling in film. My not-so-Swedish encounter was certainly extreme, with no subtitles, or even a warning, beforehand – but I was not so turned off by the experience so as to never do it again. It made me wonder, are sole English speakers reliant on subtitles? Do they add or detract from the viewing experience?

Subtitles themselves are in many ways crucial, so that we may broaden our tastes and learn about other cultures. After accepting the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film in 2020, Parasite director Bong Joon Ho famously stated that “once you overcome the one-inch-tall barrier of subtitles, you will be introduced to so many more amazing films”. I do believe that progress is already well underway in the globalisation of film, as what was once potentially a pursuit of only the avant-garde film student is now available to the masses. This is particularly thanks to the rise of Letterboxd, where international arthouse cinema is compiled into digestible lists.

The art of translating subtitles is also, perhaps surprisingly, one of the few language-based jobs not being ravaged by advancements in AI. Despite the now infamous case of Duolingo replacing much of its staff with AI, translator vacancies continue to grow, owing to the simple fact that AI is not currently capable of the quality control and idiomatic knowledge possessed by a human. Have you ever tried to translate complicated Swedish halloumi wrap instructions with Google Translate? In regard to film, it is vital that translated subtitles do actually convey the meaning of the scene, which is why the role of humans is still absolutely necessary.

Yet, anxieties concerning AI continue to plague the translation industry, and may result in changes to subtitling in the future. Hollywood actresses Demi Moore and Reese Witherspoon have both come out in favour of AI, with the latter even stating that “it’s so, so important that women are involved in AI because it will be the future of filmmaking”. AI tools continue to improve, and it is difficult to predict the accuracy of both Witherspoon’s statement and the concerns felt by translators, but the reality is that AI usage is already commonplace in filmmaking, from editing to script-writing and more. AI dubbing is also prevalent, with new software able to move actors’ mouths to fit speech in other languages. Controversy arose last year when generative AI was found to have been used to translate speech from English to Hungarian in The Brutalist – I, for one, am pleased that the Academy has since cracked down on AI-generated content in film, but I do worry about the future opportunities for translators in film, as well as for actors who do actually speak foreign languages.

While it is easier than ever to watch films entirely in English, are we missing something by neglecting their original languages? I think that it is important to note that my choice of film in Stockholm was heavily influenced by which ones had English subtitles listed as available. I do not think that cinemas in other countries should bow down to the English language at all, but English speakers may be surprised to realise just how much they can understand without subtitles, and how thought-provoking the result may be. Maybe if I had the guts for it at the time, I would have complemented my Swedish journey with a piece of local culture, and learned something beyond ‘engelska’.

Far from wanting to sound pretentious, I want you to understand that subtitles – both their existence and a lack of them – do not have to be a barrier to a good cinematic experience. It could be fun, even enriching, to actively try to watch film in a different way, such as by watching a colour film in black and white, or without sound. It almost feels like a reinvention of the creativity that comes with watching a silent film in the present day, where a chosen musical accompaniment can completely change our perspective. Watching Murnau’s silent Nosferatu on Wikipedia (yes, you can do that) was a very different experience from, say, the live organ accompaniment to the Oxford Festival of the Arts’ screening of The Cabinet of Dr Caligari at Magdalen Chapel.

There may be limits to this approach, however. Maybe the screenplay of How to Be Normal and the Oddness of the Other World did a lot of heavy lifting, with psychedelic visuals conveying the psychological focus of the film – although the Ed Sheeran poster on main character Pia’s wall completely threw me off, and made me worry more about the state of British cultural exports than her deteriorating mental condition. Ginger singers aside, my point still stands that even without subtitles, foreign-language films can be thoroughly enjoyed."
By
Emma Heagney
26th May 2026
https://cherwell.org/2026/05/26/subs-dubs-and-ai-flubs-lost-in-film-translation/
#metaglossia
#metaglossia_mundus

"ICC tackles Filipino language use, interpretation issues for upcoming Duterte trial

In the first status conference of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the crimes against humanity case against former President Rodrigo Duterte, discussions included the possibility of conducting parts of the proceedings in Filipino, along with issues with interpretation and the proposed trial schedule.

The panel of the prosecution proposed the possibility of starting the trial earlier than initially scheduled. Principal Counsel Paolina Massidda of the Office of Public Counsel for Victims said consultations with clients showed openness to an earlier trial date.

“After resubmission of the parties, we had further consultations with our clients. They are amenable to start this trial on November 30, which at the moment seems to them still a reasonable period of time,” Massidda noted, adding that January 2027 is considered “still too long.”

Presiding Judge Joanna Korner raised concerns over the availability of interpreters for witnesses expected to testify in Filipino.

“There is a problem raised that we don’t have interpreters ready as yet to deal with the two languages that are apparently going to be spoken by some of the witnesses,” Korner said.

She added that interpreter recruitment may be manageable, and that field interpreters could be trained for court use.

Marc Dubuisson, the director of the Division of Judicial Services of the ICC, flagged interpretation logistics as a key concern, specifically for witnesses who will require translation in the languages being spoken in the Philippines.

“There are a number of items we need to look at here, who will be interpreting for specifically,” Dubuisson noted.

He said the court will need to identify and train interpreters for simultaneous interpretation, adding that some witnesses may testify in English while others will require interpretation.

“Our top priority is the language of the accused and the language of the witnesses,” he emphasized."
by Aliyah Dinglasan
27 May 2026
https://www.dzrh.com.ph/post/icc-tackles-filipino-language-use-interpretation-issues-for-upcoming-duterte-trial
#metaglossia
#metaglossia_mundus

A viral AI-powered collar from China claims it can translate pet thoughts into full sentences and even help humans “talk” back to cats and dogs.AI-powered pet collar that claims to translate dog barks and cat meows into full human sentences with an astonishing 95% accuracy.

 

"A China-based startup has sparked massive online debate after launching an AI-powered pet collar that claims to translate dog barks and cat meows into full human sentences with an astonishing 95% accuracy. The product, developed by Hangzhou-based company PettiChat, has quickly gone viral across social media platforms, leaving pet lovers both fascinated and skeptical.

 

According to the company’s post on Instagram (@airmerges), the smart collar uses microphones, motion sensors, and artificial intelligence models to analyse pet vocalisations, emotions, and body language. Built using Alibaba Cloud’s Qwen AI technology, the system was reportedly trained on millions of pet voiceprint data samples to understand patterns in animal communication."

Written By :

Manvi Kulashri

,News18.com

Last Updated:

May 25, 2026, 13:27 IST

https://www.news18.com/amp/viral/chinese-startup-launches-pet-translator-with-95-accuracy-internet-says-ai-barely-understands-humans-ws-l-10110702.html

#metaglossia 

#metaglossia_mundus 

"À partir du bac 2028, les élèves ayant suivi une spécialité dans une langue régionale pourront passer l’épreuve dans cette langue au grand oral. La deuxième spécialité devra être passée en français.

 

Les lycéens ayant suivi une spécialité dans une langue régionale pourront, à partir du bac 2028, passer l’épreuve correspondante du baccalauréat dans cette langue, a indiqué le ministre de l’Éducation nationale, Édouard Geffray, au quotidien Ouest-France, mis en ligne dimanche. « À partir du moment où un élève aura suivi une spécialité sur les deux années de première et de terminale (…) dans une langue vivante régionale, il pourra passer l’épreuve correspondante dans cette langue », a affirmé le ministre, expliquant que le sujet d’examen serait « le même, simplement traduit ».

 

Pour une seule spécialité

Logiquement, le grand oral du baccalauréat étant adossé aux deux spécialités, « la partie qui porte sur celle suivie en langue régionale pourra, elle aussi, se dérouler dans cette langue », a expliqué le ministre. Cette disposition vaudra cependant « pour une seule spécialité », l’autre devant « être obligatoirement préparée et passée en français », a-t-il affirmé. Par exemple, « un élève qui aura suivi la spécialité maths en breton pourra la passer en breton, et la spécialité physique-chimie en français », a expliqué Édouard Geffray. Aujourd’hui, même si un élève a suivi une spécialité entière en langue régionale, il ne peut que passer son épreuve en français, « sauf si la langue elle-même constitue la spécialité », a-t-il souligné.

 

Les élèves concernés continueront à passer l’essentiel de leurs épreuves en français, au sein d’un parcours scolaire bilingue que l’institution reconnaîtra enfin à sa juste valeur.

 

Le ministre a rappelé que ce principe existait déjà dans l’enseignement supérieur. Ainsi, un étudiant en droit qui suit un cours en anglais « passe ses partiels en anglais pour le cours correspondant ». « Le baccalauréat étant le premier diplôme de l’enseignement supérieur, la même logique doit lui être appliquée », selon lui.

 

 

À lire sur le sujet

Bac en breton : une première pour les lycéens de Diwan pendant la pandémie

« Véritable section bilingue »

En matière de calendrier, Édouard Geffray a assuré que les textes sortiront « au cours de l’été, pour que les élèves entrant en première à la rentrée prochaine puissent accomplir leur cycle terminal dans ce nouveau cadre ». « Leur première épreuve en langue régionale se tiendra donc à la fin de leur terminale, lors de la session 2028 », a-t-il affirmé.

 

Cette « véritable section bilingue », selon le ministre, « ne menace ni ne fragilise en rien le français » et, d’ailleurs, « les élèves concernés continueront à passer l’essentiel de leurs épreuves en français, au sein d’un parcours scolaire bilingue que l’institution reconnaîtra enfin à sa juste valeur »."

Par Le Télégramme avec AFP

Le 24 mai 2026

https://www.letelegramme.fr/bretagne/une-epreuve-de-specialite-du-baccalaureat-pourra-etre-passee-en-langue-regionale-a-partir-de-2028-7049716.php

#metaglossia 

#metaglossia_mundus 

"New Zealand tightens English language rules, expands investor visa options
Mid-skilled work visa changes ensure workers can communicate effectively, understand workplace rights, and engage in the community.

Investor migrants can allocate up to 20% of their investment up to NZ$1 million to philanthropic gifts, with the rest in higher-growth assets.
WELLINGTON: New Zealand will tighten English language rules for mid-skilled work visa applicants while expanding philanthropy options for investor migrants, immigration minister Erica Stanford said on Monday.
The changes, effective from June 1, cover the Accredited Employer Work Visa and the Active Investor Plus Visa Growth category. The government is also preparing to introduce two new skilled residence pathways in August.

English language requirements under the Accredited Employer Work Visa will extend to skill level 3 roles such as hospitality and trades, aligning them with the existing standard already applied to skill levels 4 and 5.

“Being able to communicate in basic, everyday English ensures that workers understand their rights and engage effectively at work and in the community while they are here,” Sanford said in a statement.

Global Workforce Seasonal Visa and Peak Seasonal Visa applications are not subject to the English language requirement, which also does not apply to job change applications.

Active Investor Plus Visa Growth category applicants will be able to allocate up to 20% of their total investment – up to NZ$1 million (US$587,600) of the NZ$5 million minimum – to philanthropic gifts, with the remainder in higher-growth assets."
https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/world/2026/05/25/new-zealand-tightens-english-language-rules-expands-investor-visa-options
#metaglossia
#metaglossia_mundus

"Survey about freelance translators

Help researchers get more information about our profession
Are you a freelance translator? Your experience matters. An international research team is conducting a study on the working lives of translators, including work satisfaction, work-life balance, technology, and industry changes affecting our profession. The survey takes only 10–15 minutes to complete, is fully anonymous, and your participation can help contribute to a better understanding of translators’ working conditions worldwide.

Dear CATI and ATA Colleagues,
We are an international research group based at Kansai University (Japan), University of Portsmouth (UK), University of Surrey (UK), and Dublin City University (Ireland). We are conducting a research study to measure the quality of the working lives of translators, particularly the effects of technologies and other recent changes in the translation industry.
Our final aim is to understand the factors that are affecting the working lives of translators and how they can lead to an improvement in working conditions.
The survey was conducted in the UK in 2024 and we would like to expand the scope of the study to the US. The UK report is available here.
https://www.iti.org.uk/resource/twrqol-iti-final-report.html
If you are a professional freelance translator (whether part-time or full-time), your perspective would be extremely valuable.
If you are interested, you are invited to complete an online questionnaire that will take approximately 10–15 minutes. The questions will ask you your opinions about different aspects of your working life as a translator, such as working conditions, work satisfaction, work-life balance, and translation technologies. No personal or sensitive questions are included; all responses will remain anonymous and confidential.
You can take the survey using a PC, tablet, or cellphone.
You can access the survey here: Take the survey
or copy and paste the URL below into your internet browser

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/5BK2WT7

This survey is conducted by the Translator WRQoL Research Team.
Prof. Akiko Sakamoto, Kansai University, Japan (Lead researcher)
Dr Darren Van Laar, University of Portsmouth, UK
Dr Joss Moorkens, Dublin City University, Ireland
Dr Félix do Carmo, University of Surrey, UK

If you have any questions about this survey before you start, please contact akiko-s@kansai-u.ac.jp .

If you know of other translators who meet the criteria and might be interested, please feel free to share this invitation with them.
Thank you.

CATI is a regional Chapter of the
American Translators Association"
https://catiweb.org/3278-2/
#metaglossia
#metaglossia_mundus

AI Mode's multilingual models have made it easier to expand across countries and languages

"Reid said AI Mode's multilingual model architecture has made it easier to expand across countries and languages.
She said Google uses existing Search ranking work to help ground AI Mode responses based on location.
The interview restated the I/O keynote announcements without rollout timelines.
In a post-keynote interview, Google's Liz Reid told NDTV that AI Mode's multilingual models have made it easier to expand across countries and languages.

Google’s Liz Reid told NDTV that expanding AI Mode across countries and languages has been easier than with earlier features.

Reid, VP and Head of Search, made the comments in a post-keynote interview at Google I/O. The interview covered the same announcements from the keynote, including information agents and the redesigned Search box.

Faster Expansion Across Languages
Reid said previous Search features sometimes took “months or even years” to bring to all countries and languages. She said AI Mode shortened that process.

She told NDTV that AI Mode reached “many, many countries, in many, many languages” within a few months.

Reid attributed the speed to the models themselves, saying the technology is more multilingual by design. She didn’t provide specific timelines or comparison data for previous feature rollouts.

Location-Aware Grounding
Reid also described how AI Mode adjusts responses based on where someone searches. She said Google uses its existing web ranking systems to help ground AI Mode responses. The system considers which content may be more useful for a user’s location.

She didn’t provide examples of how this works. Google has localized traditional Search results by location for years.

How This Fits Reid’s Recent Comments
The NDTV interview continues Reid’s broader public messaging that AI can expand how people use Search. She told NDTV the technology lets people “ask the questions they really want” and access information across languages.

Reid called AI Search “expansionary” in an blog post. She made similar points in a Wall Street Journal interview. She repeated them on Bloomberg’s Odd Lots podcast in April. Those appearances haven’t offered independently verifiable traffic data for the claims cited in this article.

Why This Matters
Reid’s comments suggest AI Mode changes may reach markets outside the U.S. within months rather than years. Google announced at I/O that AI Mode has surpassed one billion monthly users globally.

Looking Ahead
Google hasn’t published a country-by-country rollout timeline for the AI Mode features announced at I/O 2026. Reid’s comments suggest the company expects faster expansion, but no benchmarks were shared.

For a broader look at what I/O means for SEO, see our analysis of the real risks."
Matt G. Southern

https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-says-ai-mode-can-now-scale-faster-across-languages/575791/
#metaglossia
#metaglossia_mundus

"Deadline: 23-Sep-2026
The European Commission’s Horizon Europe call supports research and innovation projects that promote multilingualism, protect linguistic heritage, and preserve endangered and marginalised languages across Europe. With €11.5 million in funding, it focuses on language documentation, multilingual education, digital inclusion, and community-based approaches to sustaining linguistic diversity and intergenerational transmission.

What is this EU Multilingualism Initiative?
This funding opportunity is part of the Horizon Europe launched by the European Commission.

It supports research and innovation projects aimed at strengthening linguistic diversity and protecting Europe’s endangered and minority languages.

Purpose of the Programme
The programme aims to:

Promote multilingualism across Europe
Protect endangered and marginalised languages
Strengthen linguistic heritage preservation
Improve multilingual education systems
Enhance digital language inclusion
Support intergenerational language transmission
Map and document linguistic diversity
Highlight cultural and wellbeing benefits of language diversity
Key Focus Areas
Language preservation and documentation
Mapping linguistic diversity across Europe
Documenting endangered languages
Preserving oral traditions and storytelling
Recording cultural and linguistic heritage
Multilingual education and inclusion
Strengthening multilingual learning systems
Supporting language learning in schools and communities
Enhancing access to multilingual education resources
Promoting inclusive language policies
Digital and technological inclusion
Digital tools for language preservation
AI and data-driven language documentation
Expanding digital access for minority languages
Supporting multilingual digital environments
Cultural and community engagement
Community-based language preservation initiatives
Intergenerational language transmission
Oral heritage, music, and storytelling traditions
Gender and cultural dimensions of language use
Research and interdisciplinary collaboration
Linguistics and heritage studies
Media, theatre, and literary studies
Migration and socio-economic research
Cultural and museum studies
Funding Details
Total funding available: €11,500,000
Funding type: Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Action (HORIZON-RIA)
Focus: Research, innovation, documentation, and policy-relevant outputs."
Who can apply?
Any legal entity globally, including universities, NGOs, and international organisations
What types of languages are included?
Endangered, marginalised, minority, and regional languages in Europe
What are key activities funded?
Language mapping, documentation, digital tools, and education initiatives
Is community involvement required?
Yes
Projects must include cultural and community-based approaches...
👇🏿
https://www2.fundsforngos.org/arts-culture-2/call-for-proposals-safeguarding-linguistic-diversity-grant/amp/
#metaglossia
#metaglossia_mundus

"Interpreters Unlimited (IU), a leading national provider of language services, has announced the launch of a new suite of AI powered assistants designed to streamline communication, simplify workflows, and enhance the overall experience for both customers and linguists.

 

The newly introduced IU AI Assistants bring intelligent, real-time support directly into the hands of users through a simple, conversational interface, making it easier than ever to access critical information, manage appointments, and navigate the platform without friction. At the heart of the launch are two primary tools, the Client AI Assistant, built for customers, and the Linguist AI Assistant, designed specifically for interpreters and translators.

 

For organizations and individuals relying on language services, time and clarity are critical. The Client AI Assistant allows users to instantly retrieve important appointment details, ask platform related questions, and get guided support 24/7 without having to search through multiple pages or wait for assistance.

 

Using natural language, customers can ask questions such as, “Show my upcoming events,” “Give me upcoming events in California,” or “How do I reset my password” etc. The assistant then delivers clear, relevant answers in real time, pulling directly from system data and trusted knowledge sources.

 

For interpreters and translators, the Linguist AI Assistant introduces a faster, more intuitive way to manage daily workflows. From viewing and accepting assignments to submitting timesheets and accessing event details, linguists can now handle essential tasks through a single conversational interface. Key capabilities include viewing upcoming, ongoing, and past assignments, accessing detailed event information (date, time, location, language), accepting assignments directly through the assistant, completing and submitting timesheets, payment related questions etc.

 

Both the Client and Linguist AI Assistants operate through two intuitive modes. Appointment Mode, which provides real-time access to event and scheduling information, and General Mode, which answers common questions and provides platform guidance. This dual-mode approach ensures users can quickly get the information they need, whether it’s related to a specific assignment or general support.

 

Users can access the AI Assistants in the main navigation menu of interpreters.com and creating a secure account with an email and password, ensuring a personalized and protected experience.

 

“The goal was simple,” said Interpreters Unlimited CEO Shamus Sayed. “We wanted to remove friction, so whether you’re a customer needing quick answers or a linguist managing your schedule, everything is easier, faster, and more intuitive.”

 

In addition to customer and linguist tools, IU has also developed an internal AI Assistant for staff, designed to enhance day-to-day operations for the IU team, improving response times, and increasing overall efficiency across the organization.

 

With the launch of these AI Assistants, Interpreters Unlimited continues to expand its investment in technology, combining human expertise with intelligent tools to better serve a diverse and multilingual world. As demand for fast, accessible communication grows across industries, IU’s latest innovation reflects a broader shift toward smarter, more responsive language solutions. Try the IU AI Assistants today at interpreters.com.

Contact

Interpreters Unlimited

Marc Westray

800-726-9891

www.interpreters.com"

https://www.pr.com/press-release/965913

#metaglossia 

#metaglossia_mundus 

"Google has announced sweeping changes to its Search engine, introducing a redesigned AI-powered Search experience, new autonomous “Search agents” and tools capable of building interactive apps and dashboards directly inside Search, Qazinform News Agency correspondent reports.

 

At the center of the changes is a new AI-driven Search box that Google described as the biggest upgrade to Search in more than 25 years. The redesigned interface allows users to submit longer and more detailed questions using text, images, videos, files and even Chrome tabs.

 

The company said the new system is designed to better understand user intent and provide AI-generated suggestions that go beyond traditional autocomplete. Users will still receive standard Search results alongside AI generated responses.

 

Google is also making conversational Search more prominent. Users can now continue asking follow-up questions directly from AI Overviews, with Search retaining context throughout the interaction.

 

The company said AI Mode, introduced a year ago, has surpassed one billion monthly users, while AI-related queries have more than doubled each quarter since launch.

 

Google is also introducing what it calls “Search agents,” AI systems designed to monitor information continuously in the background. The agents will scan websites, news, social media and live data sources to provide updates tailored to user requests.

 

The feature is aimed at tasks such as tracking apartment listings, monitoring product releases or following sports news. Information agents will first launch this summer for Google AI Pro and Ultra subscribers.

 

Search is also expanding its automated booking features. Users will be able to search for local services or experiences using detailed requests, such as finding a karaoke venue or arranging appointments. For some services, including home repair, beauty and pet care, Google said Search will be able to contact businesses on a user’s behalf. Those features are expected to roll out in the United States this summer.

 

Another major addition is the integration of Google’s “Antigravity” technology and Gemini 3.5 Flash AI model into Search. Google said Search will be capable of generating custom visual interfaces, simulations, tables and interactive tools in real time in response to user questions.

 

The company also plans to let users create personalized dashboards and mini apps directly within Search for ongoing tasks such as fitness tracking, wedding planning or moving homes. These capabilities will initially be available to Google AI Pro and Ultra subscribers in the United States in the coming months.

 

Google further announced an expansion of its “Personal Intelligence” features to nearly 200 countries and territories in 98 languages. Users will be able to connect services such as Gmail, Google Photos and eventually Google Calendar to provide Search with more personalized context. Google said the feature will remain optional and under user control.

 

Earlier, Qazinform News Agency reported that Google unveiled AI-focused Googlebook laptop line."

https://qazinform.com/news/google-unveils-biggest-search-overhaul-in-more-than-25-years-28bb4b

#metaglossia 

#metaglossia_mundus 

St. Augustine: Pentecost reverses chaos of Babel, unites Church under the Holy Spirit On the solemnity of Pentecost, St. Augustine reminds us to reflect on the the necessity of a globally unified Church, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

"Trending News St. Augustine: Pentecost reverses chaos of Babel, unites Church under the Holy SpiritWas Tom Bombadil God in Disguise?How Catholics can receive a plenary indulgence on Pentecost

HomeArticleSt. Augustine: Pentecost reverses chaos of Babel, unites Church under the Holy Spirit

 

The oldest surviving fresco of St. Augustine dating from the sixth century and preserved in St. John Lateran Basilica in Rome. | Credit: http://www.30giorni.it/us/articolo.asp?id=3553, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

 

On the solemnity of Pentecost, St. Augustine reminds us to reflect on the the necessity of a globally unified Church, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

 

By Tyler Arnold, May 24, 2026 – EWTN News

 

On May 24, Catholics around the world celebrate the solemnity of Pentecost — the day on which the Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples of Christ who gathered in Jerusalem 50 days after his resurrection on Easter Sunday.

 

At Pentecost, there “appeared to them tongues as of fire … and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues.” The gift of tongues allowed them to speak and for every person gathered to hear them “in his own native language.”

 

“Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit,” St. Peter said in Acts 2:38-39. “For the promise is made to you and to your children and to all those far off, whomever the Lord our God will call.”

 

Pentecost is considered the birth of the Church, and the gift of tongues allowed Christians to embark on their mission to convert all nations by removing the impediment of language barriers united under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

 

St. Augustine of Hippo — the fourth- to fifth-century bishop, theologian, and philosopher — wrote about the solemnity in sermons in the late 300s and early 400s. He contrasted the gift of tongues with the chaos established in Genesis 11 when God punished humanity with separate languages for trying to construct the Tower of Babel to reach heaven.

 

In Sermon 271, Augustine explains that after the Flood, “the ungodly pride of men built a high tower against the Lord, and the human race was deservedly divided by languages, so that each nation would speak its own language and thus not be understood by the others.”

 

Augustine contrasts the pride of humanity in Genesis with “the devout humility of the faithful” who gathered together 50 days after the resurrection of Christ. At Pentecost, that humility prompted God to instill the gift of tongues to bring unity to the Church despite “the variety of their different languages,” he writes.

 

With this gift, the theologian explains, “the scattered members of the human race, as of one body, might be attached to their one head, Christ, and so reunited, and fused together into the unity of the holy body by the fire of love.”

 

“Whoever received the Holy Spirit, even as one person, started speaking all languages,” he writes. “So too now the unity itself is speaking all languages throughout all nations; and it is by being established in this unity that you have the Holy Spirit; you that do not break away in any schism from the Church of Christ which speaks all languages.”

 

In Sermon 267, Augustine writes that at the Pentecost, “the Church was then in one house.” He adds: “That small church spoke in the languages of all nations” and 400 years later, “this great Church now speaks in the languages of all nations from the rising of the sun to its setting.”

 

The growth of the Church over those four centuries, Augustine writes, is a fulfillment of God’s promise to reach across nations and languages: “You were promised to yourself: but promised in few, fulfilled in many. The Holy Spirit is the soul of the body of the Church.”

 

In Sermon 268, Augustine expands on how the Pentecost points to the necessity of unity in the Church under the Holy Spirit, writing that it showed “the unity of the Church in the tongues of all nations” in a small room following Christ’s resurrection. Now we see “the unity of the Catholic Church, spread throughout the whole world.”

 

“The duties of the members are distributed, but one spirit contains all,” he continues. “Many commands are given, many things are done: One commands, one is served. That is our spirit, that is, our soul, to our members; this is the Holy Spirit to the members of Christ, to the body of Christ, which is the Church.”

 

Augustine is one of the Church’s greatest theologians and philosophers. He strongly influenced the Catholic understanding of the Trinity and the Holy Spirit more specifically, with writings such as “On the Trinity.”

 

Pope Leo XIV, the first Augustinian pope, discussed Augustine’s writings about Pentecost in a homily on Sept. 1, 2025, telling his Augustinian brothers: “You are members of the body of Christ, who speaks all languages.”

 

“If not all those of the world, certainly all those that God knows to be necessary for the fulfillment of the good that, in his provident wisdom, he entrusts to you,” Leo said. “Live these days, therefore, in a sincere effort to communicate and to understand, and do so as a generous response to the great and unique gift of light and grace that the Father of heaven gives you by summoning you here, specifically you, for the good of all.”

 

Tyler Arnold is a staff reporter

https://ewtn.co.uk/article-st-augustine-pentecost-reverses-chaos-of-babel-unites-church-under-the-holy-spirit/

#metaglossia 

#metaglossia_mundus 

"MILWAUKEE, Wis. (WFRV) – An airport in Wisconsin is now the first in the state to offer free access to an American Sign Language interpreting service.

Officials state that Aira ASL is a service that helps bridge the gap between the deaf and hearing, allowing travelers to connect on-demand with a professional ASL interpreter. Access to this service is now reportedly available for free at the Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport.

At MKE, we’re always on the lookout for the latest technology to make travel more accessible and welcoming for everyone. This addition ensures that all our travelers have the support they need for a smooth and enjoyable experience. Free services like Aira ASL are just another reason for Milwaukee travelers of all abilities to fly from our hometown Airport.

MKE is now said to be the first airport in Wisconsin to offer free access to this service. Airport officials add that the service can be used for a variety of situations, from help at the baggage check to getting information about flight statuses and ordering food in the terminal. The service is also said to be usable before a flight’s take off for real-time interpreting about any emergency instructions or pre-flight announcements.

Access to this free service comes after MKE became the first airport in either the State of Wisconsin or Illinois to offer free access in 2018 to Aira Explorer, an app to connect those who are blind or have low vision with trained visual interpreters.

Being able to communicate efficiently and independently while travelling makes a huge difference. Aira ASL is the perfect tool for this because it is on-demand and available whenever a communication barrier presents itself. We are proud to grow our partnership with Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport as they expand the ways travelers can get the information they need.

In order to use the Aira ASL service, which can be used for calls by both deaf and hearing individuals, simply download the app to connect with a professional interpreter. The service is free while on MKE Airport property and is available 24/7/365 with no reservations"
https://www.aol.com/articles/airport-wisconsin-becomes-first-state-190837000.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAJ_8xmPtilUGGWQxjNA4GfpOUaps65G69ajPJjr9LfOGoSQk7yTRVX8OKc4Omhcn5MfJFNlfhFW488KNR8x0eTt8RNcSEkkwHKHioyP9f1Q16aHQJNwnJslFjPoJwQxKgjXHAMfTIh-gnXx7GvZkD4238-j-gDt9FuP8G5OxBY0C
#metaglossia
#metaglossia_mundus

"CALLING ALL LOCAL FREELANCE COMMUNITY INTERPRETERS NEAR OLDHAM (UK)!

THG Fluently is currently recruiting for face-to-face interpreters to support NHS assignments.

If you are a fluent speaker of another language, have experience of interpreting, and are based in or near Oldham (UK), we would love to hear from you!

We are particularly keen to hear from speakers of :

Albanian
Arabic
Bengali"

https://talents.studysmarter.co.uk/companies/language-connect-international-ltd-t-a-thg-fluently/face-to-face-freelance-community-interpreter-oldham-uk-21404238/
#metaglossia
#metaglossia_mundus

" 'This Is Qatar' encyclopedia now in 12 new languages. 

Originally available in English, French, Spanish, Turkish, and Italian, the Ministry has worked in cooperation with several embassies in the country to make it available in Urdu, Hindi, German, Thai, Japanese, Chinese, Greek, Dutch, Portuguese, Russian, Filipino, and Korean.

At the opening of the 35th edition of the Doha International Book Fair on May 14, the Ministry of Culture had announced that 'This Is Qatar' was this year's guest of honor.

In this regard, Director of the Department of International Cooperation at the Ministry of Culture, Nasser Al Maliki said that 'This Is Qatar' is a cultural project that introduces the State of Qatar to the world in a comprehensive manner, reflecting its history, cultural identity, and developmental and humanitarian achievements.

Being a soft power tool to strengthen Qatar's cultural presence globally, the encyclopedia offers a modern knowledge-based discourse that addresses peoples in their own languages, Al Maliki said.

Through 'This Is Qatar', the Ministry of Culture seeks to promote cultural dialogue and openness, while also showcasing Qatar as a country where authenticity and modernity blend, he added, stemming from the Ministry's conviction in culture's role as a bridge among nations and peoples.

The Director of the Department of International Cooperation said that launching the encyclopedia in multiple new languages comes as part of the Ministry of Culture's commitment to delivering Qatari cultural content to the widest possible range of communities and cultures around the world, thereby strengthening the country's presence on the international cultural scene.

Combining both national and international dimensions, 'This Is Qatar' encapsulates Qatari identity and preserves the country's cultural memory, Al Maliki said, while targeting international audiences by means of translation into multiple languages, making it an effective tool for introducing Qatar culturally.

The Department of International Cooperation is working to employ the encyclopedia in the framework of cultural diplomacy, reaching out to embassies and international cultural and academic institutions for 'This Is Qatar' to increasingly feature in exhibitions, events, and joint cultural programs, he said.

Along with forging partnerships with universities, research centers, and international libraries to make Qatari cultural content accessible to researchers and those interested in Arab and Gulf cultural affairs, added Al Maliki.

The Director of the Department of International Cooperation pointed to the goal of increasing the encyclopedia's distribution through embassies, cultural attaches, and Qatari cultural centers abroad, to reach a broader audience and enhance the country's cultural image internationally.

'This Is Qatar' is a cultural investment in soft power, presenting the Qatari narrative to the world, he said, underscoring that a country's image is no longer shaped solely through politics or economics, but also through its ability to present its identity, values, and culture in a compelling and relatable way.

The encyclopedia's significance lies in introducing foreign readers to Qatar beyond stereotypes, thereby promoting a genuine and balanced understanding of the country, Al Maliki said. 

Making 'This Is Qatar' available in multiple languages reflects the Ministry's belief in the importance of communicating with peoples in their own languages and cultures, giving the project an important diplomatic and cultural dimension and making it a tool for cultural dialogue between Qatar and the world, he added.

The Director of the Department of International Cooperation said that 'This Is Qatar' will feature at international book fairs, academic programs, intellectual forums, and university libraries as a cultural reference presenting Qatar in a contemporary and accurate manner, in addition to being a cultural medium adopted 

by Qatari embassies and cultural centers abroad.

Maliki said that 'This Is Qatar' embodies the Ministry's vision of "Heritage, Influence, and Legacy," through investing in Qatari heritage to create a cultural and intellectual influence that reaches across the world."

Doha, May 23 (QNA) 

https://qna.org.qa/en/news/news-details?id=ministry-of-culture-offers-this-is-qatar-in-total-of-17-languages&date=23/05/2026

#metaglossia 

#metaglossia_mundus 

Curtin launches Kayan Ethnographic Online Dictionary to preserve indigenous heritage

"MIRI (May 22): Curtin University Malaysia has launched the Kayan Ethnographic Online Dictionary, a first-of-its-kind digital repository hailed by scholars and community leaders as a landmark effort in preserving Sarawak’s indigenous heritage.

 

More than a collection of words, the resource documents the living essence of one of Borneo’s most culturally rich yet increasingly endangered languages, capturing its traditions, worldview, and oral history.

 

The dictionary was launched at the university’s auditorium here by Deputy Minister in the Sarawak Premier’s Department (Labour, Immigration and Project Monitoring) Datuk Gerawat Gala, who described the initiative as vital to safeguarding Sarawak’s multicultural identity.

 

The Mulu assemblyman said language was not merely a means of communication but the ‘soul’ of a community, carrying its history, values, oral traditions, and identity.

 

“The Kayan language is integral to Sarawak’s multicultural and multilingual richness, and preserving it means safeguarding the identity and diversity of the state itself,” he said.

 

He added that Sarawak’s development should not only be measured through infrastructure and economic growth, but also by how well its cultural heritage, traditions, and indigenous knowledge are safeguarded for future generations.

 

The project is the brainchild of Dr Roselind Wan, a Kayan researcher and Academic Skills Advisor at Curtin Malaysia.

 

Developed through years of fieldwork with elders and community knowledge holders, the initiative received support from the Endangered Language Fund following concerns over the Kayan language’s endangered status, as classified by Ethnologue.

 

Curtin Malaysia deputy pro vice-chancellor Prof Tuong-Thuy Vu described the dictionary as more than a digital platform.

 

“It is a living repository of language, culture, memory, and tradition — a bridge connecting generations and ensuring that the voices, expressions, and wisdom of the Kayan people continue to endure in the modern world,” he said.

 

What distinguishes the dictionary is its ethnographic approach, where every word is placed within its cultural, ecological, and historical context rather than presented as a bare definition.

 

Roselind cited the Kayan word ‘penganen’, meaning python or large snake, as an example.

 

“Within the Kayan worldview, the word reflects the interconnected relationship between humans, animals, and the forest ecosystem.

 

“An ethnographic approach allows us to see that language is not documented in isolation, but in close connection with its cultural context,” she said.

 

“In many cases, a single word in Kayan is not just a linguistic item, but also carries cultural meaning, social practice, and historical knowledge.”

 

Community knowledge formed the foundation of the project, with contributions from Kayan elders and oral tradition custodians, including former paramount chief ex-Temenggong Pahang Deng, Jok Ngo, Connie Layun, Urai Anyi, and Luhong Ngau.

 

Roselind said their contributions preserved not only vocabulary, but also the wisdom, memories, and lived experiences embedded within the language.

 

Tuong said Curtin Malaysia’s role extended beyond academia to supporting cultural sustainability, indigenous scholarship, and community empowerment.

 

The launch also unveiled a dedicated YouTube channel for the project, while a Kayan language website is currently in development to broaden access for educators, researchers, diaspora communities, and the wider public.

 

Gerawat commended the digital initiatives as proof that technology, when used purposefully, could become a powerful tool for cultural preservation.

 

Roselind expressed hope that the project would inspire similar efforts among the Kelabit, Kenyah, Berawan, Tring, Jatti Miriek, Lun Bawang, and other Sarawak communities.

 

“When we record the Kayan language, we are not just saving words—we are preserving knowledge for the next generation, so that what we have today is not lost tomorrow,” she said.

 

The event was attended by members of the Kayan and Kenyah Councils of Elders, community leaders, academics, senior university officials, and members of the media.

 

Proceedings opened with a traditional ‘tekna’ singing performance and cultural dance presentation, reflecting the heritage the dictionary aims to preserve."

By Philip Kiew on May 22, 2026

https://www.theborneopost.com/2026/05/22/curtin-launches-kayan-ethnographic-online-dictionary-to-preserve-indigenous-heritage/

#metaglossia 

#metaglossia_mundus 

"LINGUA Africa Open Call for Inclusive AI Language Projects
Across Africa, thousands of languages remain underrepresented in modern AI systems. When languages are not well represented in datasets, models, and tools, communities face barriers to accessing education, healthcare information, public services, financial inclusion, and other opportunities increasingly shaped by digital technologies.

To help address this gap, Microsoft AI for Good Lab, the Gates Foundation, the Masakhane African Languages Hub, and Google.org are joining forces to launch LINGUA Africa, an open call designed to strengthen the language foundations needed for inclusive AI in Africa.

“LINGUA Africa seeks to encourage bold and innovative thinking by breaking down barriers that have long held back AI progress across the continent—vital access to data, computational power, and technical assistance. With these resources unlocked, I am truly excited to witness the transformative innovations that will emerge from this initiative.”

— Howard Lakougna, Senior Program Officer, Gates Foundation
Our commitment
LINGUA Africa builds on lessons from LINGUA Europe, which supported open datasets and evaluation resources for underrepresented European languages. For Africa, we are taking that approach a step further by prioritizing projects that connect open language resources to real-world use cases and community outcomes.

This is in partnership with Masakhane African Languages hub, who have been stewarding the African NLP ecosystem grounded in community.

“The future of AI must be shaped by the people it serves. This opportunity provides much needed resourcing in the form of funding and compute to enable African led AI solutions with a lasting impact on enabling access to relevant tools for day to day needs.”

— Chenai Chair, Director of Masakhane African Languages Hub

"AI only delivers value when people can actually use it, and language is the bridge. For example, in agriculture, farmers increasingly rely on digital advisory services for crop management and market information. If that guidance isn’t available in a language they understand, it fails to translate into action. This applies across sectors, from healthcare to education. LINGUA Africa is an important step toward grounding innovation in real-world impact by supporting community-led efforts and enabling people to act on critical information in their own languages.”

Who Should Apply
The open call will invite proposals from nonprofits, universities, research institutes, social enterprises, cultural organizations, startups, and consortia working in the public interest. We strongly encourage collaborative proposals that bring together complementary organizations and capabilities, particularly where partnerships can deepen community engagement, cross-domain expertise, and pathways to impact.

Applications are open to organizations both based in Africa and outside Africa, provided they demonstrate meaningful partnership with Africa-based institutions, communities, or implementers where relevant. 

Selected projects will be eligible for funding support, Azure compute credits and Google Cloud Platform (GCP) credits, in-kind technical collaboration from Microsoft AI for Good Lab, and additional collaboration opportunities through the broader LINGUA Africa ecosystem.

We welcome proposals focused on the following:

Data creation: projects primarily focused on building, curating, documenting, translating, validating, or licensing datasets and language resources. Suggested support: up to $50K in cash and up to $50K in compute credits.
Model or tool development: projects primarily focused on creating or adapting models, benchmarks, tooling, or technical infrastructure for African languages. Suggested support: up to $100K in cash and up to $100K in compute credits.
Sectoral applications: projects focused on deploying or piloting language technologies in a real-world setting with a credible pathway to measurable social or economic impact across different sectors. Suggested support: up to $250K in cash and up to $400K in compute credits.
Proposals spanning multiple activities may still apply, but they should be submitted under the category that best reflects the primary objective and main use of requested funds. The ranges above are intended as guidance rather than rigid ceilings; exceptional requests may be considered with strong justification.

Priority will be given to projects that demonstrate strong community engagement, cross-institutional collaborations, and a credible path to impact in areas such as agriculture and food security, education, healthcare and public health, financial inclusion, and government or civic services. We are especially interested in proposals that show not only what will be built, but who will benefit, how the resources will be used, and why the work matters for speakers of underrepresented African languages.
All supported projects will be expected to contribute openly licensed resources, with documentation and governance that enable reuse in research, open models, and practical applications. Our aim is to help ensure that African languages are not treated as an afterthought in the AI era, but as essential parts of a more inclusive digital future.

Submit application
Application Deadline: 15 June 2026
We are grateful to the researchers, practitioners, community leaders, and partner organizations already helping shape this initiative. By investing upstream in data, evaluation, and applied language innovation, LINGUA Africa aims to expand data access, strengthen local capacity, and support African languages to drive impact on the ground."
#metaglossia
#metaglossia_mundus

"Un médecin décroche le Comar d’Or 2026 en langue française pour son premier roman "Sangoma le guérisseur"

 

TUNIS,24 mai (TAP)- Le palmarès de la 30e édition des Prix littéraires Comar d’Or, distinctions annuelles consacrées à la production romanesque tunisienne en langues arabe et française, a été dévoilé lors d'une cérémonie officielle organisée à la grande salle du Théâtre de l'Opéra, à la Cité de la Culture de Tunis.

 

L'écrivain et médecin Hichem Ben Azouz a remporté la distinction suprême en langue française pour son premier roman "Sangoma le guérisseur" (éditions Hikayet), aux côtés de l'auteur arabophone Nasr Belhaj Bettaieb, primé pour son œuvre "Saif Assaouane" (éditions Khraief).

 

Cette 30e édition anniversaire, marquant les trente ans d'existence de ces prix créés en 1997 par COMAR Assurances (Compagnie Méditerranéenne d’Assurances et de Réassurances), a été caractérisée par un volume inédit d'œuvres en compétition et une revalorisation des dotations financières. Le Prix Comar d'Or, dont la dotation est passée de 10 000 à 15 000 dinars, récompense les deux romans majeurs de l'année.

 

Les Prix Spéciaux du Jury, revalorisés à 7 000 dinars pour distinguer l'originalité d'une œuvre, ont été attribués à Hella Feki pour "Une reine sans Royaume" (éditions JC Lattès) en langue française, et à Fahmi Al-Balti pour "Dam Saye'e" (éditions Kabsa) en langue arabe.

 

Les Prix Découverte, dotés de 3 000 dinars pour encourager les auteurs prometteurs, reviennent quant à eux à Sofiene Ben M'rad pour "Tunis Arkana" (éditions SIKELLI) pour le volet francophone, et à Najoua Kadri pour "Al Majda" (éditions Arkadia) pour le volet arabophone.

 

Pour évaluer les ouvrages, deux comités distincts ont mené les délibérations. Le jury de langue arabe était composé de Mohamed El Qadhi, Naziha Khlifi, Saadia Ben Salem, Toufik Aloui et Neila Jalled. Le jury de langue française réunissait quant à lui Ridha Kefi, Issam Marzouki, Amina Chnik, Mokhtar Sahnoun et Azza Filali.

 

La soirée officielle de remise des prix s'est intégrée dans un programme débuté à 19h00, comprenant une exposition documentaire rétrospective sur les œuvres lauréates depuis 1997, une introduction musicale, ainsi qu'une série d'hommages officiels. Ces distinctions ont honoré les personnalités ayant contribué à la création des Comar d'Or ainsi que six lauréats emblématiques des éditions précédentes : Rachid Ben Jemia, Hatem Bourial, Chokri Mabkhout, Hédi Timoumi, Yamen Manaï et Faouzia Zouari.

 

L'événement s'est conclu par un concert de l'Orchestre Symphonique de Carthage sous la direction de Hafedh Makni, faisant suite à une rencontre thématique organisée la veille à la salle des Jeunes Créateurs sur le rayonnement international du roman tunisien.

 

Sur le plan statistique, la session 2026 enregistre un record historique de participation avec 92 romans candidats, dont 59 œuvres en lice en langue arabe et 33 en langue française, contre 13 au total lors de la première édition. Les romans participant à cette édition ont été écrits par des auteurs de nationalité tunisienne et publiés en Tunisie ou à l’étranger entre le 1er avril 2025 et le 31 mars 2026.

 

Depuis la création du prix, 1 271 romans ont été examinés au total, se répartissant entre 846 ouvrages en langue arabe (650 par des hommes, 196 par des femmes) et 425 en langue française (295 par des hommes, 130 par des femmes).
Par Fatma Chroudi"
https://www.tap.info.tn/fr/Portail-%C3%A0-la-Une-FR-top/20214907-un-m%C3%A9decin-d%C3%A9croche
#metaglossia
#metaglossia_mundus

"Let’s start with some low-hanging fruit. When, in Henry V, the king inspires his army before Agincourt, the Danish translator – here, Niels Brunse – can hope for a relatively easy win: ‘Vi fa, vi muntre fa, vi flok af brodre.’ Or, in the classic Schlegel-Tieck version of Macbeth, now rooted in German literature, the cursed usurper finds that tomorrow and tomorrow ‘Kriecht so mit kleinem Schritt von Tag zu Tag’. Linguistic kinship, comparable speech rhythms, shared verse forms: sometimes the happy not-so-few, the global band of brothers (and sisters) who translate Shakespeare out of English, face a stiff but still feasible task.

Even in familiar languages, though, pitfalls await in every line. Surely, Richard III’s opening soliloquy will slip smoothly into French? Well, now: ‘Maintenant’ sounds a draggy word to launch a torrid play. Enter Jean-Michel Déprats, raiding an older French word hoard: ‘Ores voici l’hiver de notre déplaisir’. Lear’s bleak quintuple ‘Never’ could easily become the Spanish ‘Jamás’, except that the syllabic stress would shift. So Vicente Molina Foix pivots, and retains those trochees of sheer despair: ‘Núnca, núnca, núnca, núnca, núnca.’ Besides, the natural pick may not quite work. A dozen eminent Spanish translators have Hamlet ponder ‘Ser o no ser’; not one of them has the Prince consider the (obvious) ‘pregunta’. Instead, ‘enigma, problema, dilema, duda’, even ‘cuestión’.

What about The Merchant of Venice in Japanese? Macbeth in Swahili? Othello in Azeri? Romeo and Juliet in Thai? A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Hindi? Or Julius Caesar in Latin – where ‘Et tu, Brute’ becomes, thanks to the Victorian scholar Henry Denison, the (probably more authentic) Greek ‘Kai su, teknon’: you too, son? Daniel Hahn’s funny, learned and invigorating book about translations of Shakespeare scours the planet and beyond for its evidence. We even hear about a translation of Much Ado About Nothing into Klingon. Endlessly erudite, never pedantic, the author dives deep into Shakespeare’s reinvention not just in neighbour languages but those where few or no basic markers – pronouns, syntax, grammar, word order, punctuation – have close parallels in English.

Shakespeare can do ‘wondrous things with a monosyllable’, for sure, but many languages don’t feature that lexical concision. In Greek, the only one in a core list of 100 everyday words that might fit is the borrowed ‘keik’ (say it). Still, there’s plenty of gain as well as loss. Agglutinative tongues can roll entire Shakespearean phrases into a single word. The murderer Macbeth may say that ‘I have done the deed’; in Swahili he simply has to growl ‘Nimelifanya’. Orsino in Twelfth Night demands ‘Give me some music’; but in Georgian one word could suffice: ‘Momasmeninet’.

Puns, wordplay, tongue-twisters, verbal gags – they are never ‘untranslatable’ (Hahn scorns the notion), but invitations to seek ‘not exactitude of meaning but equivalence of effect’. Portia in The Merchant of Venice wants to be ‘light’ in the sense of radiant, not flighty: in Sho Kawai’s Japanese, she can be bright (‘akarui’) but not weightless (‘karui’). As Hahn puts it: Chapeau! The Greek play literally known as ‘Love’s Barren Struggles’ may seem to have missed a trick in its transition until you realise that (thanks, Errikos Belies) it’s ‘Agápis Agónas Ágonos’.

When Lear ambiguously mourns that ‘my poor fool is hanged’ (the Fool himself, or Cordelia?), Brunse’s Danish can seize on its single-letter gap between ‘little fool’ and ‘little darling’: ‘lille nar/lille nor’. One scene in The Merry Wives of Windsor riffs on rude schoolboy twists on Latin phrases; in French, Déprats and Jean-Pierre Richard ‘made a list of all the Latin words that made them giggle at school’ and ran riot with them. As Hahn says, translators should be ‘faithful to the laugh’.

If This Be Magic is both enormous fun and an intellectual treat. Hahn could have trawled translation history (Dutch gained The Taming of the Shrew as early as 1654, Gujarati the same problematic piece in 1852) and delivered a very interesting study that nonetheless kept readers at a distance. Rather, this accomplished and versatile translator in his own right (Portuguese, Spanish, French) has found a smarter way. Exchanges with colleagues anchor a witty and spirited dive into Shakespearean translation topics ranging from metres to genders, names to accents and commas (inflexible in German) to puns. It succeeds as a workshop, a masterclass and a practical taster, as Hahn makes us spot verbal shapes, sequences and patterns even in the lines of non-Latin scripts, from Thai to Korean. Chapeau, too, to Canongate’s typesetters for their virtuoso performance.

What about Macbeth in Swahili? Othello in Azeri? Romeo and Juliet in Thai?

‘Nobody reads more closely than a translator’, and this celebration of their art also illuminates the texts that they transform. Shakespeare’s words present translators with a ‘multi-dimensional choice’, but theatre doesn’t live by words alone. Hahn acclaims and analyses translations that convey the full package – ‘meaning and music and detailed dramatic effect’. When Lady Macbeth asks her indecisive spouse ‘Are you a man?’, the withering resonance of that ‘man’ is, we learn, notoriously tough to transmit. Kudos to Te Haumihiata Mason, translating into te reo Maori, for her ‘He raho ranei ou?’ ‘So have you got balls, or what?’

It is the close-up, fine-grained case studies – with a bravura chapter devoted to one scene in Twelfth Night – that make this polyglot panorama so special. Yet Hahn (whose Brazilian great-grandfather translated Hamlet into Portuguese) widens his focus with essays on Shakespearean music and art, the making of literary canons and the ominous ascent of AI translation – ‘a handy tool for humans, not a bargain substitute for them’. He even examines various schemes to translate Shakespeare into English, from fixes snuck in by directors in order to sidestep obscurities to the dismal efforts to ‘simplify’ or ‘modernise’ his language. One supposedly up-to-date Hamlet has the Prince ponder: ‘To live or not to live. That is the issue.’

Got something to add? Join the
https://www.spectator.com.au/2026/05/macbeth-in-swahili-there-might-even-be-improvements/
#metaglossia
#metaglossia_mundus

The research questions guiding this project are: (1) Does a multimodal translation module have an impact on the development of students’ Critical Language Awareness (CLA)? If so, how? (2) Do students’ translation competences evolve throughout the module? If so, how? (3) Are there changes in students’ attitudes toward linguistic varieties and their own linguistic identities?

"Even though research on Spanish as a Heritage Language (SHL) has increased the use of more critical pedagogies (Beaudrie & Wilson, 2021; Leeman & Serafini, 2016), there is still very limited empirical evidence on how functionalist translation can be used as a critical tool to develop heritage learners’ (HL) Critical Language Awareness (CLA). Most of the existing studies have focused on lexical acquisition, without exploring how translation, from a functional and multimodal perspective, can develop critical reflection on linguistic ideologies, power structures, and identity.This study seeks to address this gap by analyzing the impact of a pedagogical intervention in an SHL course at the University of Arizona. The proposed module is based on a functionalist approach to translation (Nord, 1997) within a multiliteracies framework (New London Group, 1996; Kalantzis & Cope, 2005, 2010), using CLA lenses for both instruction and analysis. A mixed sequential design (Creswell & Creswell, 2018) was used to collect data. The study gathers both quantitative and qualitative data through questionnaires, interviews, translation tasks, critical reflection activities, and classroom observations. Thirty-four students participated: 23 were assigned to the experimental group, which completed the translation module, and 11 to the control group, which followed the regular course sequence. The research questions guiding this project are: (1) Does a multimodal translation module have an impact on the development of students’ Critical Language Awareness (CLA)? If so, how? (2) Do students’ translation competences evolve throughout the module? If so, how? (3) Are there changes in students’ attitudes toward linguistic varieties and their own linguistic identities? The aim is to investigate the effects of this module on students’ CLA and translation competence. In doing so, the study contributes to the advancement of empirical research in heritage language pedagogy and translation studies, providing evidence of how translation can be meaningfully integrated into SHL curricula as both a linguistic and sociopolitical practice. The results show significant improvements in the development of CLA and in the strategic subcompetence of translation competence in the experimental group. Participants in this group progressed from translations focused on linguistic equivalence to more contextualized productions oriented toward audience and translation purpose. Also, positive changes were observed in attitudes toward linguistic diversity and Spanglish, whereas the control group showed no significant transformations."
https://repository.arizona.edu/handle/10150/680256
#metaglossia
#metaglossia_mundus

"A comprehensive look at lesser-taught languages (LTLs) in multilingual education, seeking to broaden existing notions of minority languages and elucidate key issues and challenges specific to them in educational settings.

 

The volume is organized around different sections, structural characteristics, and the implications for teaching, methodological considerations, issues around language and identity, and language policy and planning. Case studies from a range of settings are considered, including formal and informal educational contexts, community literacy activities, and out-of-school language classes. In so doing, the book seeks both to bring a critical perspective at the historical and epistemological foundations underpinning existing research and innovative insights into important connected themes for future study.

 

This book will be of interest to students and scholars in multilingualism, language education, sociolinguistics, applied linguistics, and language policy.

 

Table of Contents

Introduction: Framing Lesser-Taught Languages in Contemporary Multilingual Contexts

 

SERAPHIN KAMDEM AND GILLES FORLOT

 

PART I: Variation

 

1 Minority Language Instructors as Agents of Standardization: Confronting Variation during the Introduction of Picard in Schools

 

JENNIFER COX

 

2 Teaching for Variation in a Sacred Language: Beyond Pluricentricity in Dakota/Lakota Language Revitalization

 

ANKE AL-BATAINEH

 

3 The Place of Variation in Maya as a Second Language Classes: A Comparative Analysis between Merida (Mexico) and Paris (France)

 

MARGARITA VALDOVINOS

 

PART II: Learning & Teaching

 

4 Analysing Secondary Students’ Note-Taking in Basque: Implications for Immersion Education

 

ROBERTO ARIAS-HERMOSO, ENERITZ GARRO LARRAÑAGA, AND AINARA IMAZ AGIRRE

 

5 Language Ideologies and Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Reading Education in Philippine Classrooms

 

JACKSON G. ORLANDA AND PORTIA P. PADILLA

 

6 Longitudinal Relationship between Vocabulary and Word Reading Fluency in Multilingual Kapampangan-Filipino-English Speakers

 

PORTIA PADILLA AND ALEXANDRA GOTTARDO

 

PART III: Language and Educational Policies

 

7 The Teaching of Mə̀dʉ̂mbɑ̀, Nda’nda’, and Yemba in Secondary Schools of the West Region of Cameroon: Assessing the Challenges and Issues Faced in Teaching Lesser-Taught Languages

 

HUGUES CARLOS GUECHE FOTSO

 

8 Creating Equitable Hybrid Interaction Spaces to Revive Okpella, a Nigerian Language

 

ABDULMALIK YUSUF OFEMILE

 

9 Nigeria’s Indigenous Languages and the National Policy on Education: The Case of Efik in Primary Schools in Calabar Metropolis

 

EYO MENSAH AND UCHENNA AJAKE

 

10 Spanish as a Lesser-Taught Language in Los Angeles: Family Socialization, Educational Discontinuity, and Bilingual Agency in a Contact Zone

 

ERIC ALVAREZ

 

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