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Scooped by
Charles Tiayon
November 24, 2016 9:30 PM
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In 1994, two strange manuscripts, with only minor variations, turned up in the British Library and the Bodleian Library. The Book of Soyga, also known as Aldaraia, is a text once thought lost. The most famous copy belonged to John Dee, a scholar, magician, astrologer and astronomer, who was one of Queen Elizabeth I’s foremost advisers. One of Dee’s projects was the establishment of a national library, and while he never saw this happen, he did amass a major collection of books himself. When he died in 1608 (or 1609), the collection was scattered.
Dee was an intriguing personality. During his life he promoted ideas that seem perfectly rational today – such as a national library, the preservation of old texts and manuscripts, and advancing the technology used in long-distance navigation. But he also busied himself with the summoning of angels, the casting of horoscopes, and the holding of spiritual conferences. Politically, he was a strong advocate of imperial expansion.
During one of his angelic conferences, John Dee claimed to have solved the mystery of the Book of Soyga. Dee and his equally occultist colleague Edward Kelley were, they believed, channelling the Archangel Uriel on March 10, 1582, when Dee asked the angel (who was speaking through Kelley) if he would mind revealing the text’s meaning.
Specifically, Dee wanted to decipher the numerous pages of seemingly random letters contained within the esoteric manuscript. The last 36 pages of the Book of Soyga contained tables of 36 rows and 36 columns of random letters, with no patterns nor recognisable words. Uriel, however, claimed that they were speaking with the wrong angel, and that only the Archangel Michael had the key to translate the work.
(Image: BethNaught; the Bodleian Library in Oxford)
After the Book of Soyga was rediscovered in 1994, by Dee scholar Deborah Harkness, Princeton mathematician James A. Reeds (who’s also been working to decode the Voynich Manuscript) took a shot at cracking the code hidden within the 40,000 or more characters of the esoteric text.
Reeds’ efforts paid off. He decoded the mysterious Book of Soyga with the aid of a six-letter word called the “seed”, which was then used to create a double wheel system. When he decoded the tables, he found that the first 24 were named after the constellations of the zodiac. These in turn were associated with a series of magic words.
In spite of the warning of Dee’s angel that whoever decoded the Book of Soyga would die two and a half years after cracking its code, Reeds is not only still alive, but he’s still decoding. That said, the precise meaning of the manuscript remains up for debate, but at least we’re making progress.
Fans of esoteric texts should check out these 10 mysterious books and ciphers, the meanings of which remain unexplained.
Thanks to the latest AI trends, the future of translation seemed to foretell only doom and gloom. I was determined not to let that stop me The Journey of a Schuman trainee: translating for the European Parliament in the age of AI
"Translating for the European Parliament in the age of AI: the journey of a Schuman trainee
Thanks to the latest AI trends, the future of translation seemed to foretell only doom and gloom. I was determined not to let that stop me
by Monika Pawlak 11-05-2025 07:30Reading Time: 6 mins
A A
The Hemicycle at the European Parliament. Photo by Marius on Unsplash
I realised quite late that translation is what I really wanted to do. And this realisation occurred at the advent of ChatGPT and other heavily praised AI chatbots. Could my timing have been any worse?
I had discerned that in-house translators were slowly becoming extinct and that freelance translation was becoming more and more competitive. Being a good translator was not enough anymore, it seemed. I had to become one of the best. So I started researching options on how I could do that.
That’s when I came across the Schuman Traineeships, which provide vocational training and education in the Secretariat of the European Parliament. Aspiring translators and linguists can apply to three of the numerous traineeships in Parliament’s Directorate-General for Translation. I applied for a traineeship four times. I finally got it on my fourth try.
Progressing Parliament’s multilingual vision
When I started my traineeship, in Luxembourg, I noticed right away how invested the Parliament’s employees were in maintaining Parliament’s multilingual mission. The website makes clear: “The European Parliament differs from the other EU institutions in its obligation to ensure the highest possible degree of multilingualism.” It is fundamental to Parliament that every official EU language holds the exact same importance as all the others.
A commitment to exceptional translation is one of the pillars that supports multilingualism. Fortunately, Parliament, with this multilingualism in mind, has deemed that translation should be more human-based with translators being “assisted” by AI-based machine translation rather than becoming dependent on the technology. As the website says, machine translation is “provided to translators as an additional and optional resource for translation”.
English translation, with the assistance of AI
I was in the English Translation Unit where I translated various non-legal documents relating to Parliament, such as questions written by Members of Parliament (MEPs) and petitions written by concerned citizens and residents. There, I used digital tools for translation, such as SDL Trado Studio, which is a computer-assisted translation tool. And, of course, AI-based machine translation was always present.
I never felt obligated to use it but I did on occasion, for instance when I was stuck on a term and all other resources weren’t helping; or when I wanted to see alternative ways of translating what I had put down; or sometimes when I had really tight deadlines.
This is what translating in harmony with AI looks like. Using it judiciously rather than being an overworked slave to the technology, or worse, feeling bored to tears. And there is a risk of this.
In postediting, for example, which is editing and proofreading translations produced by an artificial neural network, the work can feel quite dull at times. Using AI to make the first version of a translation takes away the exciting aspects. Drafting and checking for accuracy (through research and looking up terms in the dictionary) are my favourite parts of translation, not editing and proofreading the dry and convoluted wording of a machine.
The Clear Language and Editing Unit
Later in the Traineeship, I worked in the Clear Language and Editing Unit and this was where I really learned how seriously Parliament takes its aforementioned multilingual mission.
Here, I got to try out a variety of linguistic tasks. I edited scripts for the news and for podcasts played on EuroParl Radio, such as the podcast for International Women’s Day. This web radio is completely multilingual, playing all news and podcasts in all the 24 official languages of the EU. One writer creates the material for the piece and then colleagues would be assigned to either translate it into their native tongue or to revise it.
I also got the chance to subtitle videos made by Parliament that targeted the public, with stories such as A Polish citizen’s memories of Poland joining the EU. A similar process would occur as for the radio scripts. Either a translator (for each of the official languages) or an editor would be assigned and then there would be a reviser for each language as well.
The SDL Trados software and AI-based machine translation would be present for many of the translation tasks involved, but I felt that these had less importance here since creativity was vital to many of the publications in this unit. And machines have not quite grasped the art of creative writing (yet).
Closing thoughts on my EU traineeship
The Schuman Traineeship was a fantastic opportunity and experience for me and I encourage every translator with ambitions to apply. It is open to EU citizens over the age of 18. It is still possible for UK citizens to be selected, though (unfortunately, and for the reasons we all know) EU citizens are highly preferred.
During my time with Parliament’s Directorate-General for Translation I was able to move along my career trajectory and become more competitive in both the translation market and the job market. But that was not my only motivation. Just being part of these institutions was an awe-inspiring experience and I definitely got to contribute to the EU’s multilingualism mission at a very dire but also riveting time in its history.
I came away with a revived faith in the future of translation. If Parliament at least continues its commitment to multilingualism and its appreciation of the value of human translators, then perhaps translation can be saved from the brink of being annihilated by AI trends.
So, apply and delve into translating in this new and exciting world of AI-assisted translation at an international legislative institution! Trust me. You will not be disappointed."
https://sussexbylines.co.uk/world/europe/translating-for-the-european-parliament/
#metaglossia_mundus
“President Donald Trump’s special envoy broke with long-standing protocol by not employing his own interpreter during three high-level meetings with Russia’s Vladimir Putin, opting instead to rely on translators from the Kremlin,” NBC News reports.
"Trump’s Envoy Used Kremlin’s Interpreter
“President Donald Trump’s special envoy broke with long-standing protocol by not employing his own interpreter during three high-level meetings with Russia’s Vladimir Putin, opting instead to rely on translators from the Kremlin,” NBC News reports.
“Steve Witkoff, a former real estate mogul and cryptocurrency trader, does not speak Russian. By using Kremlin interpreters, he ran the risk that some of the nuance in Putin’s messages was missed and he would not have been able to independently verify what was being said to him.”"
By Taegan Goddard
May 11, 2025 at 7:25 am EDT
https://politicalwire.com/2025/05/11/trumps-envoy-used-kremlins-interpreter/
#metaglossia_mundus: Your thoughts?
When one missionary first set foot in the region of Indonesia where he would be translating Scripture, he was closer to death than he knew.
"Decades of Bible translation work culminate in celebration
By Abigail HoflandMay 12, 2025
Papua (MNN) — When Scripture translator Ed Maxey first set foot in Papua, Indonesia, he was closer to death than he knew. Mission Aviation Fellowship’s Linda Ringenberg tells the story.
“He was so exhausted from the hike that he laid down in the mud. He didn’t know that at that time the Ngalik warriors were hiding and surrounding him because they didn’t know who these people were, and they were going to kill him. The fact that he lay down was a sign of weakness, so they decided they were going to spare his life.”
That was over sixty years ago. Since then, the Ngalik people have benefited from Ed and his wife Shirley’s efforts to translate the New Testament into their language, a work that was completed in 1992. The Maxeys’ son Buzz and his wife, Myrna, became the second generation of translators, heeding God’s call to translate the Old Testament for the Ngalik people.
As of this year, the Ngaliks have a complete Bible in their heart language. It’s a milestone celebrated jointly by the Ngalik people, Bible translators, and MAF support pilots. Ringenberg says MAF has been helping transport Ngalik Scripture portions for years.
Pilots at Ngalik Bible Dedication Celebration. Courtesy of MAF.
“We’d been involved in helping transport even the manuscripts that were handwritten in the past and flown out of the village to be typed up.”
She says translating Scripture into people’s heart language is amazingly significant.
“They get it when it’s in their own language.”
But getting to that point is a long, involved process.
“Missionaries come and take the time to learn their language, which usually is oral and not written,” Ringenberg says. “So it takes many years for the missionaries to learn that language.”
If a people group is illiterate, the work also involves teaching them to read and write.
“The people are just so overjoyed once they are able to read God’s Word in their own language. Sometimes even the reading of their language is a newer thing to them,” she says.
Completion of the Ngalik Bible was celebrated at a dedication ceremony in Papua on February 7. Ringenberg’s husband, a head MAF pilot in Papua, took five plane loads of guests to the interior location where they had the celebration. Festivities included gifts, a greeting line, cultural garb, a worship ceremony, and a pig feast. Central to all was the cherishing of translated Scripture and its distribution to community members..."
https://www.mnnonline.org/news/decades-of-bible-translation-work-culminate-in-celebration/
#metaglossia_mundus
In a world where insights are moving faster than ever, the ability to keep up by delivering fast and contextually accurate translations at a competitive price is becoming a critical necessity. As a COO at Axiom Translate, I have witnessed firsthand how integrating advanced AI technologies pushes the traditional translation model to its limits.
"The new language of research: AI-enhanced & human-refined translation solutions
In a world where insights are moving faster than ever, the ability to keep up by delivering fast and contextually accurate translations at a competitive price is becoming a critical necessity. As a COO at Axiom Translate, I have witnessed firsthand how integrating advanced AI technologies pushes the traditional translation model to its limits.
Always aiming to move at the pace of the industry — and stay one step ahead, we have decided to actively embrace and fully leverage the inevitable integration of AI into the most human of processes: language.
With six ISO certifications ( 9001, 13485, 17100, 27001, 18587, 42001 ) underpinning our operations and proud memberships with MRS and ESOMAR, we have developed an AI-driven technology for the market research that combines the speed of artificial intelligence with the critical expertise of human linguists.
Beyond Speed: Why AI is a Game-Changer for Research Translation
For years, speed and quality were considered mutually exclusive in translation. Rushing translations meant sacrificing nuance, and taking time meant missing deadlines.
Yet today, the speed at which market research insights are needed has grown dramatically, and global studies now span more regions, languages, and diverse respondent groups than ever before. Meanwhile, the reality remains: human translation output per day is relatively fixed.
Bringing AI into the language industry is a must if we're going to keep up with the increasing demand for insights that come in hours, not even days.
However, our in-house research has shown that 99% of the LLMs are not trained on properly classified market research data, further segmented by industry and language. The result is generalized content that may sound fluent but lacks the emotional nuance crucial for authentic sentiment analysis.
Without deep specialization and human oversight, even the most intelligent engines risk jeopardizing data integrity and the raw respondent voice — a loss that can negatively impact critical strategic decisions.
Human-in-the-Loop: Augmented Intelligence at Axiom Translate
At Axiom Translate, we believe a new language is emerging in the research world: one defined by AI-enhanced, human-refined translation solutions built specifically for the complexities of modern market research.
We didn’t just adopt AI – we developed our own hybrid AI/MT engine trained explicitly on five years of proprietary market research datasets, covering over 50 million words. Our solution, accessible via API, is designed exclusively for the needs of insights professionals — a first in the industry.
By combining the best of cutting-edge technology with the deep expertise of human linguists, we make sure translations don’t just sound right — they feel right. Cultural relevance, emotional nuance, and technical accuracy are essential in market research, and they can’t be left to machines alone.
Our human-in-the-loop approach helps us deliver translations that are faster, more reliable, and, most importantly, true to the voice of real people — without ever compromising on authenticity.
7 Key Advantages of Axiom Translate’s Proprietary Solution
1. Custom-built for the Market Research Industry
Draws on a proprietary database of over 50 million words of market research projects across 50 languages built over the years, ensuring translations are specifically adapted to survey language, respondent sentiment, and research-specific terminology.
2. Hybrid AI/MT Technology
Combines dynamic AI learning with traditional machine translation for greater contextual accuracy.
3. Superior Data Security
Operates fully within a secured, private environment (ISO 27001-certified, GDPR-compliant, aligned with MRS/ESOMAR standards) — with no reliance on public servers or third-party platforms.
4. Adaptive Engine Selection
It uses an innovative algorithm that applies the most appropriate AI engine for each task — whether it’s translation, transcription, or coding — to make sure every project gets the most accurate results for the purpose they serve.
5. High ‘First-Pass’ Accuracy
Achieves over 92% first-pass accuracy and significantly reduces the turnaround times without compromising translation quality or data integrity.
6. ‘Human-in-the-Loop’ Quality Assurance
Experienced linguists review the AI-assisted market research output and ensure cultural nuance, tone, and insight fidelity are preserved.
7. Seamless API Integration
Offers direct and secured API integration, providing complete control over the data lifecycle and enabling faster, more efficient project workflows.
Looking Ahead: The Future is Already Here
AI will continue to redefine expectations in market research translation — faster delivery, deeper security, more innovative processing—but not every provider will be ready to meet those expectations.
At Axiom Translate, we aren't just responding to change. We are defining it.
With our proprietary AI/MT engine, secure API integrations, adaptive engine selection technology, and the highest industry certification levels, we offer market research firms a truly future-proof translation service. Quality, security, and innovation are non-negotiable.
The choice is simple: if you want to move fast, stay ahead and keep your data safe.
Curious to hear your thoughts!
Feel free to drop me a message at silvia.zenginova@axiomtranslate.com — I’d love to connect. Your next project deserves nothing less than the best.
By Silvia Zenginova, Chief Operating Officer, Axiom Translate Ltd."
15 May 2025
https://www.research-live.com/article/featuress/the-new-language-of-research-aienhanced--humanrefined-translation-solutions-/id/5138953
#metaglossia_mundus
"In Translation: The Digital Growth of Bengali-Language At-Tamkeen Media
By Cara Rau
16th May 2025
Introduction
On 15 February 2025, the Bengali-language Islamic State-supportive At-Tamkeen Media Foundation created a room on Element. At-Tamkeen Media is an unofficial media outlet that spreads Islamic State propaganda online, targeting the Bengali-speaking community. According to its website, Element is a messaging platform that emphasises secure communications through features such as end-to-end encryption and decentralisation. The use of highly secure platforms such as Element by extremist actors poses a challenge for content moderation and the online-offline safety nexus. This Insight will discuss At-Tamkeen’s recent expansion onto new social media platforms and explore possible avenues for countering its growing online presence. At-Tamkeen should not be confused with At-Tamkin, an Indonesian IS-supportive media outlet.
At-Tamkeen and its online presence have existed for several years. The group has posts on Facebook dating back to as early as 2022. However, beginning in February and March 2025, the group began to expand onto new social media platforms where it did not previously have a presence.
Figure 1: Examples of At-Tamkeen activity on Facebook.
The At-Tamkeen chat room has been active on the Islamic State’s Rocket.Chat server since 1 March 2025, and the group is also active on SimpleX. At the time of writing, the group’s GemSpace and Telegram accounts are suspended. According to Rocket.Chat’s Github repository, it is a free and open-source, fully customisable communications platform for organisations with high standards of data protection. Users can host Rocket.Chat on their own servers, meaning they can run and maintain the service using a private web server instead of relying on a third-party outside of the administrator’s control. This is one of the features that makes the platform highly secure. According to its App Store page and website, GemSpace is a messaging app where chats are encrypted, calls are protected, and communication spaces are private or public, as desired. SimpleX is described on its website as a messenger focused on providing complete privacy to users. Further details on SimpleX will be explored below...
At-Tamkeen’s Content
Since its inception, At-Tamkeen has almost exclusively posted Bengali-language translations of content from IS’s official Nashir and Amaq news agencies. The group shares the latest imagery from Nashir and Amaq, along with translated Bengali claims of responsibility for attacks. The group also releases weekly Bengali translations of the editorials and infographics of the Islamic State’s weekly magazine, al-Naba.
However, it is notable that on 22 and 24 March 2025, respectively, At-Tamkeen shared two posters that appear novel and of the group’s own creation. The posters did not say anything particularly noteworthy; one called for worship during the last ten days of Ramadan, while the other showed a dua (an act of supplication) for Laylat al-Qadr. The posters were captioned with the words Maktabatul Himmah (Library of Resolution/Strength/Ability), and further, were not translations of official IS content. Both posters had been branded with the Maktabatul Himmah branding – a circle containing the words Maktabatul Himmah in Arabic. A user on Facebook used a hashtag including this phrase when spreading translated official IS content.
Figure 3: A User on Facebook spreads At-Tamkeen content uses the Maktabatul Himmah hashtag.
This could be evidence that At-Tamkeen’s content is gaining some support with online Bangladeshi users and beyond. It should also be noted that Maktabatul Himmah was the name of a now-defunct official IS news outlet that distributed IS materials online and offline in Iraq and Syria during the height of the Caliphate in 2014 and 2015. Content was disseminated through pamphlets, books, posters and more. The Bengali-language posters At-Tamkeen shared had the same branding as the previous Maktabatul Himmah. The relationship between the old Maktabatul Himmah and At-Tamkeen’s current content is unclear. However, since some Bengali-language posts now carry the Maktabatul Himmah label and feature original content, this may signal the start of an unofficial IS-supportive Bengali media wing.
Figure 4: Bengali-language posters shared by At-Tamkeen with the Maktabatul Himmah branding (left and centre); An official IS book with the Maktabatul Himmah branding (right)
GemSpace and Telegram Countermeasures to At-Tamkeen
On 17 March 2025, At-Tamkeen posted in Bengali on Rocket.Chat. The post informed followers that it had created a room on Element, which they view as a more stable long-term space compared to their channel on GemSpace. The post gave step-by-step instructions for how users who want to access Element can create an anonymously generated email to enable them to join the platform and view the group’s content securely. Creating a false email is not very complicated, but it still requires some technical know-how. This underscores those behind At-Tamkeen are adaptive and forward-thinking in the technical realm. This is consistent with the high-quality Bengali-language media the group produces, which also necessitates some level of technical skill. The statement about the channel on GemSpace not being a long-term option for the group could be a result of proactive measures by the GemSpace team to curb IS propaganda, though it is unclear if this is the case. The fact that At-Tamkeen alluded to switching to Element as a result of repeated takedowns on GemSpace also shows that continuous takedown campaigns are sometimes an effective tactic to rid platforms of IS propaganda and presence. In this case, the At-Tamkeen producers moved from GemSpace to Element due to repeated takedowns of their GemSpace accounts. This is reminiscent of when numerous official IS channels on GemSpace were removed after the group started using this platform in the wake of mass takedowns of their channels on Telegram in November 2024.¹ In fact, many IS-supportive rooms on IS’s Rocket.Chat server stopped sharing links to official IS channels on GemSpace at the time of writing, very likely due to the continuous takedowns by the platform. At-Tamkeen’s presence on Telegram also seems to be limited by consistent takedowns of the group’s channels. At the time of writing, At-Tamkeen’s Telegram accounts that it shared on Element have been removed by Telegram, and it seems that Telegram and GemSpace are not viable long-term options for the group due to the effective counter-extremism measures displayed, in this instance, by the platforms.
SimpleX
In a notable development, At-Tamkeen set up a SimpleX account on 31 January 2025, where it shares the same content as on all its other channels. At the time of writing, the account had 153 members, but it is unclear how many are real followers of the content and how many are researchers. SimpleX is a highly secure platform; according to its website, “unlike other messaging platforms, SimpleX has no identifiers assigned to the users. It does not rely on phone numbers, domain-based addresses (like email or XMPP), usernames, public keys or even random numbers to identify its users.” The website says that even SimpleX itself doesn’t know how many people use the SimpleX servers. The highly anonymous nature of this platform poses a unique challenge for countering the spread of terrorist propaganda. It highlights that counter-terrorist propaganda campaigns need to adapt to keep up with new technologies as they come to life.
Figure 5: Screenshots of the At-Tamkeen channel on SimpleX.
Amplification on Facebook
While the group has expanded to encrypted, anonymity-focused platforms like SimpleX and Element, At-Tamkeen’s content is also widely disseminated on public Facebook pages.
While some pages share only Bengali-translated official IS materials – mirroring posts on Element, Rocket.Chat, and SimpleX – others include additional extremist-supportive material in Bengali. This other content, not from At-Tamkeen, often has a violent tone and calls for Jihad and the establishment of the IS Caliphate. Some posts call for the killing of Jewish people.
Figure 6: A Facebook page that shares At-Tamkeen content also shared this video of a militant calling for jihad.
Figure 7: A Facebook page that shares At-Tamkeen content has the intro “Oh Prophet incite the believers to kill”
Figure 8: A Facebook page that shares At-Tamkeen content also shared this post calling for the killing of all the Jewish people. The post also boasts about the future return of IS to its previous strength, presumably referring to the height of the caliphate in Syria and Iraq in 2014.
Conclusion
At-Tamkeen has been amplifying its online presence this year. The group is creating new accounts on various platforms and is highly active, spreading Bengali translations of official IS content and creating original materials. Notably, the group is pivoting away from platforms like Telegram and GemSpace, where terrorist content appears to be taken down frequently enough that it has become a hindrance to their cause. At-Tamkeen has moved towards platforms like SimpleX, where effective moderation appears to be extremely challenging due to the highly encrypted interface.
The group is likely expanding its online presence in order to amplify its recruitment efforts in Bengali-speaking online communities. Additionally, the presence of extremist and violent content on Facebook pages that share the At-Tamkeen content is concerning and likely indicates that At-Tamkeen is reaching its target audience. A possible countermeasure to this content proliferating on Facebook is as simple as consistently removing the users who share it. This appears to have proven effective on GemSpace and Telegram and could have the same effect on Facebook. Overall, At-Tamkeen appears resolute in their online propaganda campaign and the situation calls for a steadfast approach by the authorities and social media companies alike to prevent IS recruitment from within the Bengali-speaking community.
Endnote
The group had previously used GemSpace in May 2023, when the platform was known as Gem4Me, but all IS accounts were suspended by the platform within a month.
Cara Rau is an intelligence analyst with experience in monitoring online Jihadist communications. She is particularly interested in terrorism and political violence affecting the developing world and is passionate about the intersection of technology and terrorism. She is also experienced in OSINT investigations focused on human rights abuses and conflict in Africa. Cara holds a Master of Terrorism and Security Studies and speaks Afrikaans, French, Russian and some Levantine Arabic."
https://gnet-research.org/2025/05/16/in-translation-the-digital-growth-of-bengali-language-at-tamkeen-media/
#metaglossia_mundus
"Unlocking educational opportunities in sign languages in Europe
ECML hosts DeafSign workshop in Graz
From 15-16 May 2025 the European Centre for Modern Languages (ECML) hosted a two-day workshop as part of its ongoing project “Unlocking educational opportunities in sign languages in Europe” (DeafSign). The event brought together international experts, policy makers and professionals from 25 countries across Europe, all committed to fostering access to education for vulnerable deaf learners – including deaf signers with refugee and immigration backgrounds, deaf children and their families, and heritage signers.
Building on a Europe-wide survey with over 160 responses from contributors in the education and deaf communities, participants reviewed key findings and collaborated to develop guidelines, recommendations, and practical resources for early childhood and adult education sectors. Among the recommendations discussed in the workshop was the call for deaf-led organisations and deaf experts – especially those with diverse backgrounds such as refugee or immigrant experiences – to be meaningfully involved from the very beginning in developing sign language learning opportunities and assessments for deaf learners.
The DeafSign project (2024–2027) is part of the ECML’s current programme, “Language education at the heart of democracy”, which focuses on inclusion, quality education, and active democratic participation through language learning. It aligns with recent developments such as the International Sign Language version of the CEFR Companion Volume – a milestone that strengthens the visibility and recognition of sign languages across Europe.
The workshop took place at the ECML in Graz, Austria, and facilitated collaboration across sectors and countries. Participants worked on drafting key resources – including a set of recommendations for policy makers, and outlines for future outputs aimed at supporting quality sign language education.
While DeafSign represents a new step forward, it builds on earlier initiatives in this field and reflects the ECML’s continued commitment to supporting sign language learning as part of its broader mission to promote quality language education across Europe.
Learn more by visiting the DeafSign project website or the ECML’s thematic area on sign languages."
Author: Stefanie Plut/16 May 2025
https://www.ecml.at/en/News/ArtMID/2176/ArticleID/2967/Unlocking-educational-opportunities-in-sign-languages-in-Europe
#metaglossia_mundus
""Dinguerie, mon gâté, hallucination : découvrez les nouveaux mots du Petit Robert pour son édition 2026
Après le Petit Larousse, le dictionnaire le Petit Robert a dévoilé ses 150 nouveaux mots pour son édition 2026. Entre intelligence artificielle et mots plébiscités par les plus jeunes, tour d’horizon pour vous mettre à jour sur les nouvelles expressions.
« Oui ma gâtée, RS4 gris nardo »… Combien sommes-nous à avoir fredonné les premiers mots du tube des rappeurs marseillais Bande organisée ? Nombreux, il faut croire puisque le mot « gâté » (qu’on utilise ainsi : « mon gâté » ou « ma gâtée », un terme d’affection équivalent à « mon chéri ») fait son entrée dans le dictionnaire, en l’occurrence l’édition 2026 du Petit Robert. Quelques jours plus tôt, c’est le Petit Larousse qui avait dévoilé ses nouveaux mots.
Pour « mon gâté », le Petit Robert précise que si le terme a connu une expansion après « le succès phénoménal » de la chanson, il est « employé à Marseille depuis plusieurs décennies » et existe même « en créole réunionnais, où il est employé uniquement au masculin, même pour désigner une femme ».
Un verbe et un adverbe de la région de Marseille accompagnent cette arrivée : « tanquer » (se planter, exemple du Petit Robert : La voiture s’est tanquée dans le fossé) et « tarpin » (beaucoup de, très, exemples : c’est tarpin bien, il y a tarpin de monde).
Certains faits d’actualité ou débats de société font entrer de nouveaux mots ou expressions dans les usages, et donc dans les dictionnaires. Le Petit Robert fait donc entrer les mots « chemsex », « cagnotter », « soumission chimique », « débunker »…
Le développement spectaculaire des technologies de l’intelligence artificielle ces dernières années charrie avec lui un nouveau champ lexical. Qu’on connaît essentiellement par les anglicismes comme les deepfakes, ces trucages audio et/ou vidéo plus ou moins réalistes qui permettent de faire dire n’importe quoi à n’importe qui. Vous pourrez désormais parler d’« hypertrucage ». « Prompter » (comprendre : adresser un prompt à une intelligence artificielle, soit le fait de lui donner des instructions) entre aussi dans le Petit Robert. Vous vous souviendrez donc que « prompter », ce n’est pas lire sur un prompteur.
Connaissez-vous le « surcyclage », qui vient de l’anglais upcycling ? Il s’agit d’une forme de recyclage qui consiste à produire, après ledit recyclage, un produit d’une plus grande valeur. « En général, les produits recyclés sont considérés comme étant de valeur inférieure au produit initial », précise le Petit Robert.
Quand l’intelligence artificielle hallucine
Il arrive que des mots disparaissent des usages et fassent leur retour… avec un autre sens. C’est le cas de « dinguerie ». « Attesté pour la première fois dans les années 20, il désigne alors le caractère d’une personne, d’un comportement dingue, ou bien une action de dingue. En somme, c’est un synonyme de folie, avec une connotation plutôt péjorative », nous explique Le Robert. Version années 2010-2020 : « dinguerie » signifie une chose incroyable (en bien ou en mal).
Un autre mot commun connaît, lui aussi, un enrichissement de son sens : « hallucination ». C’est l’intelligence artificielle qui en est la cause. Une IA qui hallucine ? C’est « une erreur de calcul, un bug. Une réponse fausse avec une apparence de vérité », indique le dictionnaire.
Enfin, on pourrait s’étonner de voir entrer la même année des mots comme « muay-thaï », une boxe thaïlandaise connue depuis des décennies en Occident, et « VAR », l’assistance vidéo à l’arbitrage qui se démocratise depuis moins de dix ans dans le football professionnel.
Dans un billet de blog, la directrice de la rédaction du Robert Géraldine Moinard explique que le choix des mots se fait selon trois critères : la fréquence de l’usage du mot, sa diffusion (le retrouver dans la presse, la littérature, les réseaux sociaux…) et sa pérennité (« Avant leur sélection, les mots font l’objet d’une observation attentive par les lexicographes, souvent durant plusieurs années, afin de s’assurer de leur pérennité, ou bien de leur importance pour comprendre l’époque actuelle »).
Quant au mot « VAR », le Robert clôt le débat sur son genre (s’il existait encore) : il faut dire « la VAR ». Depuis Molière, on pensait que c’était clair."
Par Jérémy Hébras
Publié: 16 Mai 2025
https://www.courrier-picard.fr/id631139/article/2025-05-16/dinguerie-mon-gate-hallucination-decouvrez-les-nouveaux-mots-du-petit-robert
#metaglossia_mundus
"When you want to find something online, what do you do? Most people open Google. But did you know that Google is more than just a search engine?
Google started in 1998. Two students from Stanford University, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, created it in a garage. Their goal was to make it easier to find information on the internet. Today, Google is one of the biggest technology companies in the world.
Google does more than help people search the internet. It offers many tools and services. Gmail is Google’s email service. Google Maps helps people find directions and explore places. Google Translate helps people understand different languages. Google Docs lets people write and share documents online. Many students and teachers use these tools every day.
Google also created Android, the operating system used by most smartphones. It even builds self-driving cars and smart home devices. Google’s parent company is called Alphabet, which owns many other technology companies too.
Google’s headquarters is in California. People call it the “Googleplex.” It has fun offices with slides, bikes, and free food. The company wants its workers to be creative and happy.
Google’s mission is to “organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.” That’s a big goal — but every time you search for something and find what you need, Google is doing its job."
By Richard Fan
3 hours ago
https://medium.com/comprehensions-a-to-z/google-more-than-just-a-search-engine-696b862d6630
#metaglossia_mundus
"Three recent incidents are reminders that generative AI tools remain troublesome and unreliable. IT buyer beware.
Enterprise IT leaders are becoming uncomfortably aware that generative AI (genAI) technology is still a work in progress and buying into it is like spending several billion dollars to participate in an alpha test— not even a beta test, but an early alpha, where coders can barely keep up with bug reports.
For people who remember the first three seasons of Saturday Night Live, genAI is the ultimate Not-Ready-for-Primetime algorithm.
One of the latest pieces of evidence for this comes from OpenAI, which had to sheepishly pull back a recent version of ChatGPT (GPT-4o) when it — among other things — delivered wildly inaccurate translations.
Lost in translation
Why? In the words of a CTO who discovered the issue, “ChatGPT didn’t actually translate the document. It guessed what I wanted to hear, blending it with past conversations to make it feel legitimate. It didn’t just predict words. It predicted my expectations. That’s absolutely terrifying, as I truly believed it.”
OpenAI said ChatGPT was just being too nice.
“We have rolled back last week’s GPT‑4o update in ChatGPT so people are now using an earlier version with more balanced behavior. The update we removed was overly flattering or agreeable — often described as sycophantic,” OpenAI explained, adding that in that “GPT‑4o update, we made adjustments aimed at improving the model’s default personality to make it feel more intuitive and effective across a variety of tasks. We focused too much on short-term feedback and did not fully account for how users’ interactions with ChatGPT evolve over time. As a result, GPT‑4o skewed towards responses that were overly supportive but disingenuous.
“…Each of these desirable qualities, like attempting to be useful or supportive, can have unintended side effects. And with 500 million people using ChatGPT each week, across every culture and context, a single default can’t capture every preference.”
OpenAI was being deliberately obtuse. The problem was not that the app was being too polite and well-mannered. This wasn’t an issue of it emulating Miss Manners.
I am not being nice if you ask me to translate a document and I tell you what I think you want to hear. This is akin to Excel taking your financial figures and making the net income much larger because it thinks that will make you happy.
In the same way that IT decision-makers expect Excel to calculate numbers accurately regardless of how it may impact our mood, they expect that the translation of a Chinese document doesn’t make stuff up."
by Evan Schuman
May 16, 2025
https://www.computerworld.com/article/3985809/chatgpt-gave-wildly-inaccurate-translations-to-try-and-make-users-happy.html
#metaglossia_mundus
Alum Claudia Siegenthaler says there’s no doubt that AI is shifting the role of humans in translation and localization management, but she’s seeing a lot of upside as a project manager at a localization company.
"...Many people in the language service industry are anxious about how artificial intelligence (AI) will impact our field, but personally, I’m more excited than scared.
I’m quite lucky to work with AI on a regular basis in my role as a project manager at Intento, Inc., based in San Francisco. We are focusing on configuring AI agents to meet the range of requirements our customers have for translating various types of content across different touchpoints for their customers and employees. I see that AI has a big role to play for companies, translators, and end users. While it will change the way we all work, I’m excited about the potential.
AI Could Help Linguists Spend More Time on What Matters Most
Linguists are asked to do a lot of things when they need to produce a translation, including fixing errors in terminology, tone of voice, and gender forms, and making sure that the translation conforms to the style guide, while also being asked to bring that all-important cultural nuance and context to make the translation authentic for the reader or end user. However, the reality is that linguists don’t get unlimited time to produce a translation and therefore often have to focus primarily on fixing the errors that exist, at the expense of focusing on cultural nuance and context. That’s a loss as that is what makes translation, as a job, rewarding.
We’ve found that our customers want to use AI agents to automate those error-fixing tasks so they can let their linguists focus on making the translations perfect.
Building Technical Expertise Is Key
A lot of my knowledge from the Translation Technology and Website Translation classes that I took at the Middlebury Institute have come into play in understanding the more technical aspects. As our language engineers explain the technical solutions we can provide to clients, it’s important as a project manager to take what they say and help simplify it into less technical, easier-to-digest terms. Being exposed to what goes into training engines with various corpora... has helped give me the tools to explain how large language models (LLMs) can be effective for tasks like linguistic quality assurance (LQA) when training an engine to see how well the engine performs after customization.
Overall, as AI is doing a lot of the work, it also means translators can produce more content, more quickly, with the same human touch, and the end users are getting a better experience as a result!...
The biggest takeaways for me were how LLMs can handle more specialized content. Machine translation (MT) can be quite literal, and we see LLMs more often being used on creative copy. As I get to manage more projects where an LLM engine wins over a neural machine translation (NMT) engine, I also get to see how LLM-based glossaries are applied in translation workflows, something I didn’t know was possible before this webinar!"
https://www.middlebury.edu/institute/news/localization-project-manager-im-more-excited-scared-about-ai
#metaglossia_mundus
Jason M. Baxter: Dante loves the art of word play: rhetorical tropes and schemes from classical rhetoric that we find repellent, he adores.
"The Trials of Translating Dante
By Jason M. Baxter
SATURDAY, MAY 17, 2025
Flannery O’Connor once said this about writing novels: “Writing a novel is a terrible experience, during which the hair often falls out and the teeth decay. I’m always irritated by people who imply that writing fiction is an escape from reality. It is a plunge into reality and it’s very shocking to the system.” I don’t know of a better description of what it’s felt like as I translated Dante’s Purgatorio, which was just released by Angelico Press.
Every morning, during the final six-month stage of this project, I followed the same routine: wake up, get coffee, and build up some psychic reserves of energy for the massively depleting experience. Then I went upstairs, spread out my Italian text and commentaries, and attempt – over and over again – to render in English Dante’s dense web of music and meaning. And, for this reason, for six months (maybe longer: ask my wife), I’ve been a zombie, looking with eyes that don’t see, listening with ears that don’t hear.
Why is translating Dante so psychically depleting? Everyone knows that his poem is an inspiring journey from a “dark wood” that soars up to the Beatific Vision and God Himself. But his language is always working in multiple dimensions. On the most basic and obvious level, Dante is a musician, who wrote in hendecallyables (eleven-syllable long lines) captured well, by iambic verse that’s not too stuffy. Dante also uses rhymes, of course, which Dorothy Sayers went all out to capture. In addition to the rhymes, however, Dante used all kind of dense word play, which he can do, in part, because he’s working with an inflected language: he can leave the root stable – like an Aristotelian substance – while varying the accidents of his inflections.
But then, he also loves to use, on occasion, a maddeningly difficult syntax, a gnarled, thorny wood of grammar often made even more complicated because of the learned circumlocutions he employs. In all fairness, he warned us about such maddeningly difficult syntax and entangled cosmological grammar:
Reader, I know you see that I am raising
my subject, and thus you will not marvel”
if now I use more art (più arte) to reinforce my poem.
(Purg. 9:70 72)
And what does this look like? Dante loves word play and word art. Those rhetorical tropes and schemes from classical rhetoric that we find repellent, he adores. For instance, at one point, when Dante is being interrogated by Beatrice, “when, by her eyes, my eyes were struck” (33:18), the figure Dante quite deliberately uses is anadiplosis (a rhetorical “doubling back”). A modern translation, to make this line feel more natural for us, kills the rhetorical scheme by translating it: “when her piercing eyes met mine.”
Elsewhere, Dante uses chiasmus, an X-like pattern that sets one word on one side of the scale and then balances it out by putting a variant of it on the other side. For instance, at one point, Virgil has intuited that the pilgrim had within him more questions, and then generously proceeds to encourage him to speak forth those hidden doubts. Dante puts it this way: he “by speaking made me bold to speak.” (Purg. 18:7–9). That chiasmus becomes this in one recent translation: “that true father. . ./ spoke and gave me courage to speak out.”
But what is extraordinary is that Dante has the inverse tendency as well. After passing through the “refining fire” that cleanses the distorted love of the lustful, for instance, Dante, Virgil, and Statius have to pause to wait out the night, resting on the steps of a steep stairwell that goes right up the mountain:
And just like goats in tranquil rumination,
who had been rowdy, capricious among
the hills before they’d found repast,
but now in shade are quiet while the sun is hot,
now guarded by the shepherd, who leans upon
his staff and stands to watch their rest;
or like the watchman who sleeps outdoors
and spends the night beside a somnolent herd
and watches lest a beast should scatter them;
just so were we, all three together. And I
was like the goat: and they, the shepherds.
Flanked by walls of lofty rock on either side.
There, little of the outside world could be seen,
except a tiny patch where I could see the stars,
much brighter and larger than is their usual habit.
While ruminating on them and marveling at them,
I was overcome by sleep, the sleep that often
knows the news before it even happens. (27:76–95)
This passage is extraordinary. Not only does it introduce a beautiful, prophetic dream, but uses concrete, bodily metaphor to describe what is, for us, merely an intellectual act. Dante “ruminates” (ruminando) on the beauty of the stars, feeds on them, tastes them, and draws their nourishment into his being by means of “marveling” at them, just as sheep and goats crop, chew, swallow, and digest grass. In other words, Dante here feeds on “the fire of love,” tastes it, chews it, ruminates on it, to absorb the nutritive power of beauty into his being.
This use of concrete, embodied metaphors for intellectual acts is something I have labored to bring out in this translation. Too often, even well-loved, best-selling translations of the Comedy, made by eminent scholars, have inadvertently killed these metaphors and thereby turned Dante’s poetry into something disembodied: too much in the head and too little rooted in the nerves and heartbeat.
One admired translation renders the passage I cited above by replacing the unusual and arresting metaphor of “ruminating” by means of “marveling” with this: “Amidst such sights and thoughts / I was seized by sleep.” At another point, the pilgrim tells his master that the answers he has received are so good that they create within him more questions: “Your words. . .have helped me to dis-cover love, / but this has made me pregnant with more doubts!” (Purg. 18.40-42). An eminent translator has rendered that line: “But that has left me even more perplexed.”
What was in the body – the “womb” of Dante’s mind was “pregnant” with doubts – turns into an intellectual phenomenon, all in the head (“perplexed”). On another occasion, when Dante is speaking with Marco Lombardo, who is disgusted by the world’s greed, the old cavalier experiences a visceral, bodily reaction upon merely hearing Dante’s question:
Deep sighs emerged, squeezed out by sorrow,
into an “Ohh!” then said: “Brother, the world
is blind. It’s clear you’ve come from it.”
(Purg. 16:64–66)
This somatic utterance is rendered by one modern translator: “He heaved a heavy sigh, with grief wrung to a groan.” Dante’s onomatopoeic, bodily grunt of pained exclamation turns into an objective description.
In another place, Dante says that what we could call our “curiosity” is sometimes not content until in confronts the truth eye to eye:
This put into my will a burning eagerness
to contemplate the one who spoke to me,
a will that cannot rest until it’s face-to-face.
(Purg. 17:49–51)
A respected translator puts it this way: “a will that cannot rest short of its goal.”
When Dante answers Guido del Duca obliquely, about where he’s from, the puzzled soul replies:
“If I have sunk my teeth (accarno) into your meaning
with my intellect,” the one I heard at first
replied to me, “you’re talking of the Arno.”
(Purg. 14:22–24)
The shocking word – accarno – was simply too perfect in Italian: it makes the whole argument in two words, by means of rhyming with the feral, brutal, savage “Arno.” An admired translator renders it this way: “If my wit has truly grasped your meaning.”
And finally, Dante says that, when they arrived within the unfamiliar landscape of purgatory, they “looked about confused, like someone tasting something new” (2:53-54), which a professional translator has put this way: “as though encountering new things.”
I could list at least two dozen more: Dante doesn’t “get answers,” he harvests truth or plucks good fruit from words. Meanwhile, because a particularly beautiful song makes him “g[i]ve birth” inside his heart to a mixture of joy and sorrow (23:12: as opposed to “[bring] … delight”); his conscience “bites” and he struggles to “disentangle” himself from the net of error.
As one Italian scholar matter-of-factly puts it: “Dante’s usual practice is to use a concrete verb in order to express moral or psychological conditions.” The point here is not to put down other translators, who are as scholars, in many ways, my betters (I didn’t cite the examples above: don’t look them up!); rather, my point is that I want to help my readers feel how rooted Dante’s poetry is in the humble experience of the body.
In sum, Dante wants a lofty, classical syntax (see 22:127–29), but he also wants a poetry that is embedded in the small, the lowly, the humble. For this reason, his poetry is like some Bach fugue, in which the chords in the right hand are ascending while those in the left hand are descending. Or maybe even better, what you would get if you mixed the Roman epic poet Statius and the Franciscan poet Jacopone da Todi.
In any case, this is the glory of Dante. It’s also why translators find it so hard, and also why I lost so much hair and so many teeth.
Jason M. Baxter
Jason M. Baxter is a college professor..."
https://www.thecatholicthing.org/2025/05/17/the-trials-of-translating-dante/
#metaglossia_mundus
"Paul Reitter was chosen to receive the 2025 Helen & Kurt Wolff Translator's Prize by a three-person jury for his translation of Karl Marx's Capital: Critique of Political Economy, Volume 1, published by Princeton University Press in 2024. The honor will be presented to him at an award ceremony at the Goethe-Institut New York on June 17, 2025.
© Emory Klann
JURY STATEMENT
Friedrich Engels, who published a handwringing essay called “How Not to Translate Marx” in 1885, pronounced Karl Marx’s prose “almost untranslatable.” Small wonder, then, that there have been so few translations of Capital into English, despite its status as one of the most consequential books in history. We are fortunate that Paul Reitter has now achieved the near-impossible task of translating Capital, volume one, into what The Nation has lauded as “crisp and contemporary” English. Our jury has marveled at Reitter’s ability to retain the accuracy of the lengthy original, seemingly forbidding text, while rendering it an inviting and even humorous read. Together with editor Paul North, Reitter has brought us an extraordinary edition that also features a sweeping scholarly apparatus drawing on generations of scholarship and helping to make this new translation the definitive one for our era. We congratulate Paul Reitter on his outstanding achievement, and we are delighted to present this year’s Helen and Kurt Wolff Translator’s Prize to him to honor this impressive work. We are also pleased to learn that Paul Reitter has just been awarded a Guggenheim fellowship to translate volume two of Capital.
THE JURY
Shelley Frisch, Princeton, NJ (Chair)
Elisabeth Lauffer, Hannacroix, NY
Philip Boehm, Houston, TX
ABOUT PAUL REITTER
Paul Reitter received his PhD in German studies from the University of California, Berkeley. For more than twenty years, he has taught in the German department at Ohio State University, where he served as the director of the humanities institute from 2012 to 2018. He writes mainly about German-Jewish culture, the history of the humanities, and translation, and in his own translation projects he has focused on retranslating and reframing texts that deliver philosophical critique and social criticism in enduringly exciting ways. His work has been supported by fellowships from the American Academy in Berlin and the Guggenheim Foundation."
https://www.goethe.de/ins/us/en/kul/bks/hkw/w25.html
#metaglossia_mundus
"Chinese Online Literature is Winning Hearts in Japan
OSAKA, Japan, May 12 (Xinhua) — "Translating Chinese web novels has become my favorite way to unwind as it brings me a sense of fulfillment," said Hikaru Takeuchi, a Japanese screenwriter and director who has become an unlikely ambassador for Chinese online fiction.
Takeuchi is an avid fan of the Chinese web novel Apocalyptic Forecast, a fantasy fiction about a disillusioned young man who gains mysterious powers and is drawn into a hidden world of supernatural conflict and secret societies.
Although she studied classical Chinese literature in school, she had little exposure to the online genre. That changed when work introduced her to Apocalyptic Forecast, which, in her words, "opened up a whole new world."
She was especially struck by the multidimensional characters and the emotional complexity of the protagonist, whose joy and struggles resonated with her.
When the novel ended, Takeuchi felt compelled to write a letter to its author, Feng Yue. The cross-border fan mail became a symbolic bridge between cultures. Speaking with Xinhua in a recent interview, she expressed her hope of introducing more Japanese readers to the rich and emotional world of Chinese web literature.
Now Takeuchi is not just a fan, but also a translator and grassroots promoter of Chinese web literature. Over the past three years, the 50-something creative has translated more than 200 chapters of Apocalyptic Forecast into Japanese and shared them with friends.
As Chinese online literature expands abroad, a growing number of overseas readers are becoming not just consumers, but translators, creators, and even co-developers of new intellectual properties.
She is now planning to participate in the "Fiction Formula" contest — a joint initiative by WebNovel, a platform under China's Yuewen Group, and Japan's CCC Group, which owns the Tsutaya bookstore chain, to try her hand at original writing.
"Japan still relies heavily on cash payments, but through Chinese novels, I've learned about mobile payments and everyday life in Chinese high schools. It's fascinating," Takeuchi said.
For many Japanese readers, Chinese online literature offers a blend of novelty and relatability, a fresh yet accessible lens into contemporary Chinese society.
The success of Apocalyptic Forecast in Japan is far from isolated. Other Chinese web novels, including Joy of Life, The King's Avatar, and Battle Through the Heavens, have also gained loyal followings through localized publishing, anime adaptations, and manga spin-offs.
The King's Avatar has been downloaded over 30 million times in Japanese, and its animated film was screened in nine countries and regions, including Japan, the Philippines, and Singapore. Its manga version has received nearly 8 million likes on the Piccoma platform.
Takeuchi also praised the anime adaptation of Dragon Raja, a Chinese fantasy novel by Jiang Nan, calling it high-quality and widely loved in Japan. She believes that as more Chinese novels evolve into anime, films, and comics, their cultural influence in Japan will deepen.
According to Yuewen Group, by the end of 2024, its international platform WebNovel had launched around 6,800 translated works, supported 460,000 overseas authors, and released roughly 700,000 original stories globally.
With nearly 300 million users across over 200 countries and regions, the platform is quickly becoming a dominant player in global online storytelling. The Japanese market stands out, with a 180-percent user surge in 2024 alone, ranking among the top five growth markets alongside Spain, Brazil, France, and Germany.
Shinichiro Kamaura, executive director of CCC Group, voiced optimism about building a new cross-cultural IP ecosystem in partnership with Chinese firms. He emphasized the potential of blending cultural elements and shared values to inspire a new generation of Japanese creators.
Yuewen Group CEO and President Hou Xiaonan added that web fiction, now a leading force in China's "new cultural exports," is entering a new phase of global co-creation.
In Japan, he noted that traditional Chinese cultural themes, such as the Three Kingdoms, already provide common ground. To truly succeed abroad, he said, Chinese stories must be localized — not just translated — in ways that resonate with new audiences.
(Source: Xinhua)
Editor: Wang Shasha
https://www.womenofchina.cn/womenofchina/html1/In-depth/blendingin/2505/978-1.htm
#metaglossia_mundus
"Chinese Online Literature is Winning Hearts in Japan
OSAKA, Japan, May 12 (Xinhua) — "Translating Chinese web novels has become my favorite way to unwind as it brings me a sense of fulfillment," said Hikaru Takeuchi, a Japanese screenwriter and director who has become an unlikely ambassador for Chinese online fiction.
Takeuchi is an avid fan of the Chinese web novel Apocalyptic Forecast, a fantasy fiction about a disillusioned young man who gains mysterious powers and is drawn into a hidden world of supernatural conflict and secret societies.
Although she studied classical Chinese literature in school, she had little exposure to the online genre. That changed when work introduced her to Apocalyptic Forecast, which, in her words, "opened up a whole new world."
She was especially struck by the multidimensional characters and the emotional complexity of the protagonist, whose joy and struggles resonated with her.
When the novel ended, Takeuchi felt compelled to write a letter to its author, Feng Yue. The cross-border fan mail became a symbolic bridge between cultures. Speaking with Xinhua in a recent interview, she expressed her hope of introducing more Japanese readers to the rich and emotional world of Chinese web literature.
Now Takeuchi is not just a fan, but also a translator and grassroots promoter of Chinese web literature. Over the past three years, the 50-something creative has translated more than 200 chapters of Apocalyptic Forecast into Japanese and shared them with friends.
As Chinese online literature expands abroad, a growing number of overseas readers are becoming not just consumers, but translators, creators, and even co-developers of new intellectual properties.
She is now planning to participate in the "Fiction Formula" contest — a joint initiative by WebNovel, a platform under China's Yuewen Group, and Japan's CCC Group, which owns the Tsutaya bookstore chain, to try her hand at original writing.
"Japan still relies heavily on cash payments, but through Chinese novels, I've learned about mobile payments and everyday life in Chinese high schools. It's fascinating," Takeuchi said.
For many Japanese readers, Chinese online literature offers a blend of novelty and relatability, a fresh yet accessible lens into contemporary Chinese society.
The success of Apocalyptic Forecast in Japan is far from isolated. Other Chinese web novels, including Joy of Life, The King's Avatar, and Battle Through the Heavens, have also gained loyal followings through localized publishing, anime adaptations, and manga spin-offs.
The King's Avatar has been downloaded over 30 million times in Japanese, and its animated film was screened in nine countries and regions, including Japan, the Philippines, and Singapore. Its manga version has received nearly 8 million likes on the Piccoma platform.
Takeuchi also praised the anime adaptation of Dragon Raja, a Chinese fantasy novel by Jiang Nan, calling it high-quality and widely loved in Japan. She believes that as more Chinese novels evolve into anime, films, and comics, their cultural influence in Japan will deepen.
According to Yuewen Group, by the end of 2024, its international platform WebNovel had launched around 6,800 translated works, supported 460,000 overseas authors, and released roughly 700,000 original stories globally.
With nearly 300 million users across over 200 countries and regions, the platform is quickly becoming a dominant player in global online storytelling. The Japanese market stands out, with a 180-percent user surge in 2024 alone, ranking among the top five growth markets alongside Spain, Brazil, France, and Germany.
Shinichiro Kamaura, executive director of CCC Group, voiced optimism about building a new cross-cultural IP ecosystem in partnership with Chinese firms. He emphasized the potential of blending cultural elements and shared values to inspire a new generation of Japanese creators.
Yuewen Group CEO and President Hou Xiaonan added that web fiction, now a leading force in China's "new cultural exports," is entering a new phase of global co-creation.
In Japan, he noted that traditional Chinese cultural themes, such as the Three Kingdoms, already provide common ground. To truly succeed abroad, he said, Chinese stories must be localized — not just translated — in ways that resonate with new audiences.
(Source: Xinhua)
Editor: Wang Shasha
https://www.womenofchina.cn/womenofchina/html1/In-depth/blendingin/2505/978-1.htm
#metaglossia_mundus
Businesses seeking to enforce international arbitral awards in France must ensure that a French translation is submitted at the appropriate stage of the proceedings. A recent ruling by the Paris Court of Appeal confirms that while the translation is mandatory, it may be submitted to courts with the initial request or early enough before the hearing to preserve the adversarial principle.
"French translations needed to enforce arbitral awards in France
15 May 2025, 9:54 am
Businesses seeking to enforce international arbitral awards in France must ensure that a French translation is submitted at the appropriate stage of the proceedings. A recent ruling by the Paris Court of Appeal confirms that while the translation is mandatory, it may be submitted to courts with the initial request or early enough before the hearing to preserve the adversarial principle.
The decision issued earlier this month also clarified the standard of breach of international public policy necessary to challenge the requested enforcement of an arbitral award, under article 1514 of the French Code of Civil Procedure (CPC), as well as the high threshold of proof needed to convince the courts to ‘stay’ enforcement – in effect, pause its effect while waiting for the outcome of the decision on the merits of the challenge – under article 1526 of the CPC, to preserve the efficiency of French arbitration law.
A summary of the case
In 2015, Alessi Domenico S.p.A., an Italian manufacturer and distributor of high-end jewellery, entered into a commercial agreement with Amor Jordan Advanced Jewelry Technologies LLC, a Jordanian company entrusted with the marketing and processing of Alessi’s products in North America. The agreement contained an arbitration clause.
Following a series of unpaid invoices, Alessi Domenico initiated ICC arbitration proceedings seated in Paris, which culminated in an award dated 25 June 2024 ordering the Jordanian company to pay various amounts. Seeking enforcement in France, Alessi Domenico filed a request for ‘exequatur’ – official recognition – before the Paris Court of Appeal. Amor Jordan simultaneously brought an action to set aside the award and opposed enforcement, arguing that the French translation of the award had not been filed in due time and that the award was manifestly contrary to international public policy due to post-award evidence of accounting fraud. It also requested a stay of enforcement while waiting for the outcome of the decision on the merits of the challenge.
The translation question
Article 1515 of the CPC provides that a party seeking enforcement must submit the original award or a certified copy, along with a certified French translation if the award is not in French. While this obligation has long been undisputed, the case at hand offers a new perspective on when the translation has to be produced by, particularly where enforcement proceedings are adversarial rather than undertaken on an ‘ex parte’ basis – which is where only one side has the chance to make representations.
In this case, the Paris court held that when the request for enforcement is made in the context of ongoing litigation – such as in parallel with an action where a party is seeking for an arbitral award to be set-aside – it is sufficient that the translation be produced in time to allow the opposing party to examine and respond to it effectively. Here, the translation was filed more than three weeks before the hearing, and Amor Jordan did not challenge its accuracy. The court therefore found that the procedural rights of Amor Jordan had been respected.
This reasoning is consistent with the case law of the French supreme court, the Cour de cassation, which has repeatedly underscored that enforcement is granted to the award itself, not to its translation. The translation serves merely to authenticate the identity and content of the award, not to substitute for its legal authority. This approach illustrates the French courts’ consistent effort to avoid a formalistic reading of procedural requirements in international arbitration, and it is aligned with the direction and spirit of the recently proposed reform.
The proposed reform of French arbitration law aims to simplify enforcement proceedings by allowing parties to submit free translations of arbitral awards as a default. Under the current regime, the translation must be certified by a translator registered with the court. The reform proposes to reverse this logic: uncertified translations would be admissible in principle, and a certified version would be required only if the accuracy of the initial translation is contested or if the judge raises doubts as to its reliability, especially in the case of ex parte proceedings. This evolution would streamline enforcement while preserving safeguards essential to procedural fairness.
The public policy issue
Amor Jordan attempted to invoke a post-award audit report as evidence that Alessi Domenico had engaged in fraudulent accounting practices, and that, consequently, the award was issued in breach of French international public policy.
The court firmly rejected this argument, noting that the report had been issued after the award and dealt with a period and facts not submitted to the arbitral tribunal. It emphasised that the review of alleged international public policy breaches at the stage of granting the enforcement order, must be confined to the manifest content of the award itself. It considered that permitting external evidence that has arisen after an arbitral tribunal has issued an award to retroactively taint an award would run counter to the finality and legal certainty that underpin requests for enforcement orders.
The court’s approach is not merely doctrinal; it is practical. It shields requests for enforcement orders from becoming a surrogate forum for re-litigation. It also reaffirms that, at the request for enforcement orders, French courts will not substitute their judgment for that of the arbitral tribunal on the merits, nor allow loosely framed fraud allegations to paralyse enforcement without incontrovertible proof. An in-depth review of the compatibility of enforcement with international public policy will only take place when the court reviews the arguments raised in set aside proceedings or, in case of an ex parte enforcement order, at the stage of the appeal.
Obtaining a stay of an enforcement order
The Paris court’s decision also confirms the high threshold that must be met for the enforcement of an award to be suspended while the outcome of a set aside proceeding is awaited – an issue we have explored before.
The court reiterated that the burden of proof lies squarely with the party seeking the suspension of the provisional enforcement of the award, and that suspension should only happen in exceptional cases. Mere allegations of harm or self-produced internal documents are not enough to satisfy the evidence requirements. The applicant must provide concrete, accountant-backed financial documentation establishing the existence of a serious and concrete risk to its economic viability or rights.
In the case at hand, Amor Jordan’s submissions failed to meet this burden. The court found the evidence speculative and lacking in specificity, which can only be provided by objective, independently verifiable data – such as balance sheets, cash flow projections, and auditor reports – rather than unsupported assertions of prejudice.
This evidentiary rigor is a reaffirmation that provisional enforcement remains the rule, and that suspension is the exception."
By
William Brillat-Capello
Legal Director
+33 1 53 53 09 75william.brillat-capello@pinsentmasons.com
https://www.pinsentmasons.com/out-law/analysis/french-translations-enforce-arbitral-awards-france
#metaglossia_mundus
"Apply: CAF Conference Interpreters for African Nations Championship CHAN
Application deadline Sunday, the 15th of June 2025 at 00:00 GMT+3 - Cairo Time.
CAF is recruiting Conference interpreters for African Nations Championship (CHAN), Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda 2024.
Freelance interpreters are invited to express interest in providing interpretation services during CHAN match press conferences and side events. They will be awarded contracts to provide interpretation services at meetings.
You may want to also read Humanitarian Minister Launches Skill To Wealth Program In Lagos
Ready to lead a new era in African football? You believe you have the educational background and professional experience to elevate the organization to the highest international standards? CAF is looking to recruiting Conference interpreters for CHAN, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda 2024.
To set up its database, CAF is calling for applications from qualified freelance conference interpreters with French, English, Arabic, Portuguese and Swahili; to facilitate multicultural communication and overcome language barriers during the final Stage of CHAN 2024.
Main Tasks:
Freelance interpreters provide quality simultaneous or consecutive interpretation services, as required, at match press conferences and meetings during CHAN.
Requirements:
1. A diploma in conference Interpretating from a recognized institution.
2. Knowledge of football / sport terminology is an advantage.
3. Professional residence in Kenya, Uganda or Tanzania
4. French, English, Arabic, Portuguese, Swahili as A language
5. French, English, Arabic, Portuguese, Swahili as B language
Required Skills:
a. Excellent passive comprehension of the source language.
b. Accuracy in interpreting into the target language.
c. Ability to construct complete sentences.
You may want to also read FG Forest Guard Recruitment Approved By President Tinubu
d. An understanding of the appropriate style and register.
e. Good diction and ability to keep up with speed.
f. Open to travel and learning.
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How To Apply:
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Application deadline Sunday, the 15th of June 2025 at 00:00 GMT+3 - Cairo Time.
More information can be find here https://www.cafonline.com/inside-caf/about-us/careers/conference-interpreters-for-african-nations-championship-chan-kenya-tanzania-uganda-2024";
https://www.npowerdg.com/2025/05/apply-caf-conference-interpreters-for.html?m=1
Celebrating 100 years of Afrikaans, exploring its rich, complex history and role as a language of inclusion in South Africa.
"Afrikaans is a vibrant language born over 300 years ago from a mix of Dutch, African, Asian, and other cultures in South Africa. Officially recognized 100 years ago, it grew from everyday people’s voices in kitchens and marketplaces, not from the halls of power. Though it carries a painful history, especially during apartheid, Afrikaans today is spoken by many diverse communities who keep it alive with creativity and pride. The centenary celebration invites all South Africans to see Afrikaans as a shared treasure, a language full of life, stories, and hope for the future.
What is the history and significance of Afrikaans after 100 years?
Afrikaans originated from Dutch settlers and diverse communities in 17th-century South Africa, evolving as a “kitchen language.” Officially recognized in 1925, it reflects a complex history of cultural fusion, resilience, and debate, symbolizing identity, creativity, and ongoing renewal across South African society.
A Milestone at the Castle: Remembering Afrikaans’ Beginnings
The atmosphere inside the Castle of Good Hope in Cape Town feels charged with anticipation. Sunbeams filter through its historic arches, illuminating a diverse crowd. They have gathered not simply to acknowledge a date, but to reflect on the long and intricate journey of Afrikaans—a journey defined by conflict, creativity, and community. The centenary of Afrikaans’ official recognition offers an opportunity to look back on its complex origins and to consider its evolving place in South African society.
Afrikaans’ story stretches far beyond 1925, when the state granted it official status alongside English and Dutch. That official act marked a turning point, yet the language had already been developing for centuries. Its roots run deep, beginning with the arrival of Dutch settlers in the 17th century. As these settlers mingled and sometimes collided with indigenous Khoisan communities, enslaved people from Asia and Africa, Malay traders, and Portuguese sailors, a new language took shape. This linguistic fusion emerged organically, born from daily interactions on farms, in kitchens, and across bustling marketplaces.
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Today’s centenary celebration, spearheaded by the Western Cape Government’s Afrikaans Amptelik 100 initiative, seeks to embrace this layered history with openness and a spirit of renewal. Provincial MEC for Cultural Affairs and Sport, Ricardo Mackenzie, set the tone at the launch event, calling on all South Africans to see Afrikaans as a shared treasure rather than a symbol of separation. His vision urges citizens to recognize Afrikaans as a language that belongs to everyone who speaks or loves it, regardless of background or belief.
Forged in the Everyday: Origins, Adaptation, and Resilience
Walking through the Castle’s storied walls, one senses the weight of untold narratives. Built by the Dutch East India Company, the fortress served as home to soldiers and officials, but also to countless enslaved individuals whose stories rarely appear in official records. Their daily lives—marked by hardship and adaptation—played a profound role in shaping the form and flavor of Afrikaans. From kitchens to docks, and from mosques to marketplaces, people from many walks of life forged a common tongue out of necessity and ingenuity.
Linguists often refer to Afrikaans as a “kitchen language,” a phrase that reveals both affection and insight. This description points to the language’s evolution outside the halls of power, among people working as cooks, cleaners, laborers, and traders. Afrikaans did not gain its early strength from textbooks or government decrees, but from the ordinary conversations of men and women navigating a diverse, often divided, society.
Over the decades, Afrikaans has weathered periods of acceptance and rejection. During the apartheid era, authorities weaponized the language, imposing it in schools and public spaces as a tool of control and exclusion. This policy left deep scars, especially for black and “coloured” South Africans, many of whom found their mother language turned against them. The contradiction remains bitter: communities that helped build Afrikaans into what it is today found themselves marginalized by its official use.
Despite this painful legacy, Afrikaans has demonstrated remarkable resilience. Its speakers include not only descendants of Dutch settlers but also Cape Malays, Griqua, Khoi, and many others who have molded the language to fit their experiences. Sit in a café in Cape Town and you’ll hear Afrikaans spoken with a unique cadence, distinct from forms spoken in other provinces. This diversity testifies to the flexibility and enduring vibrancy of the language.
Honoring Diversity: Celebration, Creativity, and Debate
The centenary events unfolding across Cape Town and the Western Cape aim to shine a spotlight on voices and stories too often overlooked. Throughout the coming months, the province will host exhibitions, community gatherings, and educational programs designed not just to commemorate a date, but to amplify the richness of Afrikaans in all its forms. These events invite artists, writers, musicians, and everyday storytellers—both established and emerging—to share their experiences and perspectives, illustrating how Afrikaans continues to inspire and connect.
In the realm of literature, Afrikaans writers and poets have long captured the complexities of South African life. Adam Small, who hailed from the rural Western Cape, used the language to express both sorrow and joy, blending humor with social critique. Poets and dramatists frequently employ Afrikaans to explore identity, resist oppression, and convey the realities of daily existence. In recent years, musicians like Hemelbesem and the late Angie Oeh have breathed new life into Afrikaans, especially through hip-hop and spoken word, reaching fresh audiences and challenging longstanding stereotypes.
Education remains a particularly contested space in the ongoing story of Afrikaans. Memories of the 1976 Soweto Uprising linger, when students protested against the forced use of Afrikaans as a language of instruction—a watershed moment that became a symbol of resistance. Today, parents and teachers continue to grapple with questions around language, opportunity, and equity. For some, Afrikaans serves as a vital link to cultural heritage and a tool for learning. Others, mindful of its historical baggage, advocate for multilingual classrooms that reflect the diversity of the country. The centenary provides a rare chance to reconsider these debates and search for pathways that honor both tradition and progress.
Everyday Afrikaans: Culture, Memory, and Global Context
Take a stroll through the Bo-Kaap, famous for its pastel houses and winding streets, and you will hear Afrikaans woven through daily life. Here, the language lives not just in classrooms or official documents, but in the spontaneous conversations and laughter of neighbors on stoops, or the quiet prayers inside mosques. The Cape Malay community, with ancestry tracing back to Indonesia and other parts of Asia, has left an indelible mark on Afrikaans vocabulary and cuisine. Words such as “bredie” (stew), “baie” (very), and “piesang” (banana) have roots in Malay and Portuguese, reflecting the cosmopolitan origins of the language.
Similarly, District Six stands as a poignant reminder of Afrikaans’ central role in shaping memory and identity. Before forced removals under apartheid, the neighborhood was a vibrant patchwork of cultures, languages, and faiths. Jazz clubs, corner shops, and bustling markets reverberated with Afrikaans, English, and numerous other tongues. For former residents, Afrikaans is more than a means of communication; it is a vessel for resilience and pride.
Artists continue to grapple with Afrikaans’ layered meanings through visual art, theatre, and film. Satirists like Pieter-Dirk Uys employ the language to lampoon authority and challenge the status quo. Visual artists such as Willie Bester incorporate Afrikaans phrases into mixed-media works, using text and image to confront the troubled history and hopeful future of the language.
The centenary celebrations align with a global movement to revive and celebrate languages that have been marginalized or endangered. Across continents, communities are reclaiming indigenous and creole languages, recognizing that each carries a unique worldview and cultural inheritance. The journey of Afrikaans—from a stigmatized “kitchen language” to a recognized literary and academic medium—mirrors efforts seen in the revival of Irish, Maori, and countless others.
Looking Forward: Transformation, Inclusion, and Imagination
Afrikaans remains a language full of paradoxes. Its words carry echoes of both trauma and joy, exclusion and belonging. Speakers span a broad spectrum—from the vineyards of Stellenbosch to the rural roads of Upington, and from university lecture halls to township streets in Cape Town. The language continues to evolve, shaped by each new generation, each migration, and each creative act.
As centenary festivities continue, the events across the region offer more than celebration—they invite reflection and dialogue. Exhibitions, workshops, and public programs encourage all South Africans to claim a stake in Afrikaans’ future. The enduring vitality of the language rests on its capacity to remain open, inventive, and inclusive. Afrikaans thrives not as the property of a single community, but as a living inheritance shared by many.
In the end, the centenary of Afrikaans reminds us that language is never static. It grows, adapts, and sometimes even heals. Afrikaans, forged in the kitchens and streets of a complex nation, stands as a testament to the resilience and creativity of its speakers. Its ongoing story belongs to everyone willing to imagine, challenge, and renew what it means to speak, write, and dream in Afrikaans.
What is the origin and history of Afrikaans?
Afrikaans originated over 300 years ago in South Africa as a “kitchen language” that developed among Dutch settlers, indigenous Khoisan people, enslaved Africans and Asians, Malay traders, and Portuguese sailors. It evolved organically through everyday interactions in farms, kitchens, and marketplaces rather than from formal institutions. Officially recognized as an independent language in 1925 alongside English and Dutch, Afrikaans embodies a complex history of cultural fusion, resilience, and transformation.
Why is Afrikaans considered a “kitchen language”?
The term “kitchen language” highlights Afrikaans’ roots outside the halls of power—from the daily conversations of cooks, laborers, traders, and ordinary people rather than formal education or government decrees. This phrase reflects both affection and insight into how the language evolved naturally across diverse communities navigating a multicultural and often divided society.
How did apartheid affect the Afrikaans language and its speakers?
During apartheid, Afrikaans was imposed by the government as a language of instruction and control, particularly in schools and public domains, which caused deep resentment and trauma, especially among black and “coloured” South Africans. The language became associated with oppression and exclusion, despite being a mother tongue for many marginalized communities. This legacy remains a source of tension, but Afrikaans has shown resilience by adapting and flourishing in diverse cultural contexts.
Who speaks Afrikaans today, and how is it used culturally?
Afrikaans is spoken by a wide range of communities including descendants of Dutch settlers, Cape Malays, Griqua, Khoi, and others across South Africa. It remains vibrant in literature, music, theatre, and daily life—from the Cape’s Bo-Kaap neighborhood to rural towns and urban centers. Contemporary artists, musicians, and writers use Afrikaans to explore identity, history, and social issues, giving the language renewed creativity and relevance.
What is the significance of the Afrikaans centenary celebrations?
The centenary of Afrikaans’ official recognition in 1925 is a moment for South Africans to reflect on the language’s complex past and its evolving role in society. Organized by the Western Cape Government’s Afrikaans Amptelik 100 initiative, these celebrations include exhibitions, community events, and educational programs that honor Afrikaans’ diverse voices and cultural contributions. The aim is to promote inclusion, dialogue, and a shared sense of pride in Afrikaans as a living language.
How does Afrikaans fit into the global movement of language revitalization?
Afrikaans’ journey from a marginalized “kitchen language” to a recognized literary and academic medium parallels international efforts to revive and celebrate endangered or marginalized languages such as Irish and Maori. The centenary highlights the importance of protecting linguistic heritage while embracing transformation, creativity, and inclusivity—showing that languages can heal, adapt, and foster cultural resilience in a globalized world."
BY LIAM FORTUIN
MAY 16, 2025
https://capetown.today/afrikaans-at-100-a-century-of-language-identity-and-renewal/
#metaglossia_mundus
Andreas Roman is the author of the newly released The Greatest Game of All (Flare Books), his first novel in English.
On Translating Your Own Novel *Back* Into Your Mother Tongue
Hannes Barnard and Andreas Roman Talk to Jessica Powers
By Jessica Powers
May 16, 2025
Andreas Roman is the author of the newly released The Greatest Game of All (Flare Books), his first novel in English. A native speaker and writer of Swedish, Roman wrote The Greatest Game of All in English, then assisted its translation into Swedish for publication before revising the English version again for publication. Hannes Barnard is the author and translator of Halley’s Comet (Catalyst Press) and a forthcoming trilogy, the first book tentatively titled Nebulous (forthcoming from Catalyst Press in 2026). A native speaker of Afrikaans, Barnard originally wrote Halley’s Comet in English. He then translated it into Afrikaans for publication before revising the English version again for publication. I interviewed Andreas Roman and Hannes Barnard about writing novels in English, their second language, then working on the translation into their original mother tongues, then revising again back into English.
Jessica Powers: What made you decide to write a novel in a language that was not your mother tongue? (Just to be honest, it seems like a crazy choice to me!)
Andreas Roman: There was a certain level of insanity involved in it, for sure. Especially since I was doing quite well in my own native language. But there were two simple reasons for it.
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First, I have been working professionally as a writer since 1999, and the vast majority of my work has been to the international market. So writing for an English-speaking audience is in itself well-explored ground for me. The only writing I hadn’t done in English was as a novelist, where I’d remain squarely within the Swedish realm up until I started writing The Greatest Game of All.
And second, the kind of stories I write tend to appeal more to people outside of Sweden. As much as I love our country and the people residing in it, as an audience, we stick to crime and romance. And usually of the vanilla kind. That’s not a bad thing, quite the contrary, but those are genres I would struggle to work in. So eventually, it was just time to try my skills as a novelist on people outside my country.
Jessica Powers: It seems to me that this would be very different for you, Hannes, since English is widely spoken in South Africa.
Hannes Barnard: It is very different in South Africa as English is not only widely spoken and an official language, and although not the biggest language in the country in terms of native speakers, it is the language used for business and as a common ground between people from different cultures. I was also fortunate to grow up in a culturally mixed area, and my school was a double medium school (Afrikaans and English). Therefore, even though it is a second language to me, it is almost like a second first language, and as it is used everywhere in South Africa, it does not feel foreign for the characters to speak it.
Jessica Powers: What was the biggest challenge writing in English and then working on the translation back into your mother tongue and then revising back into English?
Hannes Barnard: When I attempted my first novel, I still lived in the UK (I was there for 12.5 years). I wrote that experimental piece as a hard yards learning experience in English. When I started my second novel, Halley’s Comet, it felt natural to write in English. In all honesty, even though Afrikaans is my mother tongue, I was worried that my written Afrikaans might not be good enough after so many years abroad.
Translating the first English draft into Afrikaans was a bumpy ride. Fiction writing in the past tense in Afrikaans can come across as wordy and even clumsy. That is why the present tense is almost always used in Afrikaans fiction. This was my first challenge. The second was to immerse myself in the rich tapestry of Afrikaans, adopting a “less is more” approach as it is such a descriptive language.
Overall, the process strengthened the story and the characters. The voices became clearer and more authentic, helping me develop my writing. For me, the biggest challenge when I translated the published Afrikaans version back into English was not to lose the nuance I was able to create when playing with language. In this case, the slang use and mixing of Afrikaans and English. It took longer to translate Halley’s Comet back into English than the original draft took to write. Nevertheless, it was rewarding, and I made a few subtle enhancements along the way. If you get a second bite at the cherry, make it count.
Jessica Powers: Andreas, you didn’t actually translate your novel back into Swedish, but you did assist a Swedish translator. What was that process like? Did it change the writing? And then did you use that version to edit and rewrite the English version or did you just treat the English version like a different novel altogether?
Andreas Roman: I can relate to Hannes’ journey. While our travels are quite different, my emotional experience seems close to yours, Hannes. For me, the whole thing was a weird process for both me and the translator, though highly enjoyable. Since Hanna Axén (the translator) did the actual work, and I was only advisor for terms and titles specific for the video game industry, so as far as translations go, it worked like it always does. I was more involved, we talked almost every day over the course of a few weeks, but actually, I would’ve loved that for my other translations as well. I did not, however, look back to it when I updated the English version for publication. In terms of voice and style, the English version is the one most true to my vision.
Jessica Powers: Hannes, you have expressed considerable joy in discovering or rediscovering things about English and Afrikaans through this process. Can you talk about what you discovered?
Hannes Barnard: Perhaps we take the languages we converse, write, and work in for granted. That is why a deep dive exercise such as translating a novel is so amazing. It affords you the time to reflect, wonder, and marvel at what language can do. Listen, just because I say it gives me joy doesn’t mean it isn’t hard. I wrestled with the (seemingly) simplest of words and phrases. Each time, it represents a riddle or a puzzle needing to be solved. In such cases, there is no direct translation, meaning you must find another way. It is a bit like climbing a mountain. Afrikaans is like free climbing straight up the rock face. It’s direct in all senses of the word; it heightens all your senses. English is like trying to find another way up the mountain. It takes you through breathtaking scenery; it is not direct, but you get to the same place.
Perhaps we take the languages we converse, write, and work in for granted. That is why a deep dive exercise such as translating a novel is so amazing. It affords you the time to reflect, wonder, and marvel at what language can do.
I think the best example from Afrikaans is the word “mos.” This word can mean a dozen different things and in informal speech can even be a sentence on its own. It is mostly used in a sentence to affirm something, like the person must know the stated fact. Perhaps I still have a long way to go as a translator, but I have not been able to translate this word effectively. Meaning, I have to find another way up the mountain while not losing the essence or the tempo of the passage. The other side of the coin are English words such as “cool” and “great.” Both sound and work better in English compared to their Afrikaans counterparts. Translation is a dance with words and phrases. Sometimes you miss a beat, and you have to start again. It’s fun, but it doesn’t come without effort.
Jessica Powers: Andreas, did you find that you discovered anything about Swedish or English that gave you joy or a headache during the process?
Andreas Roman: Nothing that I didn’t already know or expect. As in, it would be difficult to write this, no matter. And translating it would be equally painful. I would have to give up a lot of ideas, rethink a few and then just roll with acceptance. The title—The Greatest Game of All—does not work at all in Swedish. So the entire wordplay theme which runs through the book on that title had to be changed, revised, and rethought. I’d say, the translation itself was more headache than joy. The fact that it got translated at all and working with Hanna—all joy. She really respected the material, and she knew very little about the world in which the book is set.
Jessica Powers: My brother and his wife have hosted several foreign students over the years. They have noticed that when those students talk about their experiences in the United States, they inadvertently revert to speaking in English–even when talking to their parents who don’t speak English. And when they talk about “back home,” they will switch to their native language, without even noticing it. Andreas, did you find, as you wrote in English, any difficulty with place-dependent vocabulary? That is, was it a struggle to write about Sweden in English? Was it easier to write about Sweden when you switched to the Swedish translation?
Andreas Roman: Actually, the other way around. Since I was describing Sweden to an audience where I imagined most would not have been here, and mainly had an idea of what Sweden is like based on media outlets and interpretations in popular works of fiction, such as movies, TV shows and other books, I felt obligated to provide a closer and more intimate idea of our country. That somehow came fairly easy to me. When I worked on the Swedish edition, that was a lot harder, since I was now telling the story to an audience who would go “Yeah, I KNOW Sweden has this and that and it’s like that and this.” I much prefer describing Sweden to non-natives than trying to mesmerize the people already living here. Which was part of the point with the book all the time anyway.
Jessica Powers: Hannes, did you find any culturally-based context or concept that was hard to write about in English or vice versa in Afrikaans?
Hannes Barnard: There are two things that spring to mind: 1) In Halley’s Comet, especially when writing the English version, not to lose the feel of an Afrikaans household, how they talk, the respect, and decorum, and 2) I agree with Andreas, in Afrikaans there are certain things you do not need to say as you know your readers will know implicitly or experientially, but when you write for an international audience, such as translating the text into English, you need to step away from assuming the audience will know, and be more descriptive and give the spaces a backstory. I did that in both Halley’s Comet and Nebulous (working title of current translation). I am with Andreas on this one too, it is great describing the landscapes and things we are so used to for non-South Africans. It gives me a greater appreciation for South Africa.
Jessica Powers: Andreas, I’m curious, when you wrote in English, were you thinking about American English or British English?
Andreas Roman: American. Though I’ll admit, to know what’s most appropriate here was—and is—harder than not just sounding Swedish when I write. In the end, Americans have this casual yet elegant way of expressing even the simplest things with breathtaking beauty. British English is equally lovely, but you can really tell when a Brit goes into poetry mode. For Americans, this comes naturally in a way that makes it so much more mesmerizing, to my very Swedish ears.
Jessica Powers: Did it feel like any of your characters’ personalities shifted from one language to another? Did your characters take on non-native characteristics due to the language you were writing in?
Hannes Barnard: It is something I was very mindful of during the process. I didn’t want to lose the things I love about their personalities. I wanted their voices to remain authentic. That said, sometimes you just have to let them be. There are times when a phrase sounds more natural when you step away from the “local voice.” Reading it back, though, usually shows that in context, the voice is intact; it’s a lesson in trusting the language.
There are parts in the book which just don’t translate to Swedish, including the title. I had to rework all parts which refer to the title, both the obvious and subtle ones. That was not easy.
Another good thing when working in a South African context is that, through television, music, and social media, there is a lot of international influence, primarily American. That is why some of the dialogue can be fluid when it comes to language. South Africans, particularly Afrikaners, mix their language a lot, making the transition to English easier and thereby, to some extent, alleviating the potential impact of attributing non-native characteristics to characters when translating. This might be different if one translated the text into a non-South African language such as Spanish or German, but as English is a local language, the impact was minimal.
Andreas Roman: Oh, for sure. My characters are very non-Swedish. Throughout the writing, I couldn’t let go of the typical Stephen King/Stranger Things-kids in my head, as well as those suburban characters you just won’t find here. With a few exceptions—the coffee shop owner is a very Swedish character, with our stigma on our inability to integrate refugees into our society and the grief many of them bring, which we just can’t handle. The landlord, from which Calvin and Cornelia rent their house, is also a very typical Swedish character. But the main ones, they’re all very much fetched from an Americana kind of inspiration. Which is why the Swedish cover looked more like something set in Montana than on the Swedish west coast.
And the English cover is dead on the image of a Swedish coastal community. The irony :). One thing I did, and I don’t know if you meant this literally, Hannes, when you said “reading it back,” but I literally did that—I read the pages and lines out loud, and each of the characters had a voice which I tried to mimic to get the vibe right. I always do that with my screenplays and video game writing, and while it does make me look and sound insane for anyone who’s close, it’s a very efficient way to get the tone right—especially when you’re tampering with another language.
Jessica Powers: Did you regret anything that you wrote in English when you started translating it into your native language? Was there anything you wished you had written differently?
Andreas Roman: No, no when I was done and the book went into translation. But before that, oh yeah, many times. For the first year or two, I was like, “Why on earth am I doing this? I have a career here in Sweden. People like my stuff. No one’s gonna read this in Sweden. No publisher’s gonna pick it up.” And indeed, I went separate ways with my agent during the writing of this book (we’re still friends though, so it’s all good).
So yes and no. But there are parts in the book which just don’t translate to Swedish, including the title. I had to rework all parts which refer to the title, both the obvious and subtle ones. That was not easy.
Hannes Barnard: I agree with Andreas that to get to the final draft, there are multiple rewrites, so you love and loathe many things you put on paper. To answer the question, though, I’ll refer to Halley’s Comet: In the English version, there is an extra chapter and one perspective change in a chapter. I think that brings something different to the reader. I won’t say it necessarily makes the English version better than the Afrikaans version. What it does in the English version suits the English language better, and the Afrikaans version does the same for that language. Writing is such a self-critical job; there comes a point when you have to let go, so I try not to regret anything I have written when I get to that point.
Jessica Powers: Do you feel like this process caused you to grow as a writer–or simply grow in your linguistic abilities?
Hannes Barnard: Translation is a wonderful linguistic exercise. If you don’t do it as a day-to-day job, it is a bit like going to the gym for the first time in months. You exercise muscles you had forgotten you had. It hurts at first, but soon you get into a rhythm and the results follow. So, yes, the process really develops your linguistic abilities. But, a BIG but, I really believe the biggest advantage of the process is in my development as a writer. The process forces you to be creative in both a linear and lateral sense. It makes you think so much more about narrative voice, story, setting, and all the other elements of a book.
Andreas Roman: Both. This is my best work by far. To the point where I’m doubting I’ll ever be this good again. So as a storyteller, this is my magnum opus. As someone who adores and loves the English language, and painfully aware I’ll never be as great as the great ones, I still grew in style and linguistics when I wrote this book, to the point where it’s opened doors for me previously closed.
AfrikaansAndreas RomanCatalyst PressHannes BarnardJessica Powerstranslation
Jessica Powers is a writer, publisher, and freelance editor. Founder of Catalyst Press"
https://lithub.com/on-translating-your-own-novel-back-into-your-mother-tongue/
L’IA progresse dans les rédactions tunisiennes, surtout pour la traduction et l’analyse, mais reste peu exploitée pour les contenus multimédias et sociaux.
"Traduction, vérification, data… Comment l’IA s’installe dans les rédactions tunisiennes ?
Selon des chiffres sur les “Usages déclarés de l’IA dans les rédactions”, les journalistes tunisiens ont principalement recours à l’IA pour des fonctions de traduction automatique (75%), d’analyse de données (58,3%), de vérification des faits (50%) et de génération d’articles simples (41,7%). En revanche, son usage dans la création de contenus pour les réseaux sociaux (audio/vidéo/image) reste marginal, avec seulement 8,3%.
Comparaison internationale : la Tunisie face aux grandes rédactions mondiales
À titre de comparaison :
États-Unis & Europe de l’Ouest : selon une enquête du Reuters Institute (2023), 80% des grandes rédactions utilisent déjà des outils d’IA, notamment pour :
l’automatisation de contenus répétitifs (résultats sportifs, données boursières),
la personnalisation de l’info,
et surtout la production de vidéos, podcasts, et contenus enrichis pour les réseaux sociaux, un domaine encore très peu exploité en Tunisie.
Royaume-Uni : plus de 60 % des rédactions utilisent des outils d’IA pour la vérification automatisée des faits (fact-checking) et la surveillance de tendances sur les réseaux.
Asie (Japon, Corée du Sud) : les rédactions misent sur l’IA pour l’analyse prédictive des intérêts du public, mais aussi pour la synthèse vocale et les avatars IA de présentateurs d’actualité.
Enjeux pour les médias tunisiens : entre prudence et opportunité
L’écart entre la Tunisie et d’autres pays s’explique par :
une méfiance éditoriale,
un manque de formation spécifique,
et des ressources technologiques limitées.
Toutefois, l’usage élevé de la traduction automatique et de l’analyse de données montre une ouverture vers une intégration progressive. La Tunisie pourrait tirer parti d’un accompagnement technologique et d’un cadre éthique clair pour faire évoluer l’usage de l’IA vers des formats multimédias plus engageants.
L’intelligence artificielle fait son chemin dans les rédactions tunisiennes, mais de façon encore prudente. Si la traduction et l’analyse des données sont désormais des outils familiers, le virage vers la création de contenus plus visuels, interactifs et personnalisés reste à initier. Une accélération maîtrisée de cette transition pourrait renforcer la compétitivité des médias tunisiens dans un paysage informationnel mondialisé.
EN BREF
75% des rédactions utilisent l’IA pour la traduction automatique.
L’analyse de données (58,3%) et la vérification des faits (50%) suivent.
Seuls 8,3% l’appliquent aux contenus réseaux sociaux.
Les médias internationaux, eux, exploitent l’IA pour podcasts, vidéos, personnalisation.
En Tunisie, le potentiel de l’IA reste freiné par le manque de formation et d’outils adaptés."
16 mai 2025 Par : Redaction
https://www.webmanagercenter.com/2025/05/16/546246/traduction-verification-data-comment-lia-sinstalle-dans-les-redactions-tunisiennes/
#metaglossia_mundus
L’IA progresse dans les rédactions tunisiennes, surtout pour la traduction et l’analyse, mais reste peu exploitée pour les contenus multimédias et sociaux.
"Traduction, vérification, data… Comment l’IA s’installe dans les rédactions tunisiennes ?
Selon des chiffres sur les “Usages déclarés de l’IA dans les rédactions”, les journalistes tunisiens ont principalement recours à l’IA pour des fonctions de traduction automatique (75%), d’analyse de données (58,3%), de vérification des faits (50%) et de génération d’articles simples (41,7%). En revanche, son usage dans la création de contenus pour les réseaux sociaux (audio/vidéo/image) reste marginal, avec seulement 8,3%.
Comparaison internationale : la Tunisie face aux grandes rédactions mondiales
À titre de comparaison :
États-Unis & Europe de l’Ouest : selon une enquête du Reuters Institute (2023), 80% des grandes rédactions utilisent déjà des outils d’IA, notamment pour :
l’automatisation de contenus répétitifs (résultats sportifs, données boursières),
la personnalisation de l’info,
et surtout la production de vidéos, podcasts, et contenus enrichis pour les réseaux sociaux, un domaine encore très peu exploité en Tunisie.
Royaume-Uni : plus de 60 % des rédactions utilisent des outils d’IA pour la vérification automatisée des faits (fact-checking) et la surveillance de tendances sur les réseaux.
Asie (Japon, Corée du Sud) : les rédactions misent sur l’IA pour l’analyse prédictive des intérêts du public, mais aussi pour la synthèse vocale et les avatars IA de présentateurs d’actualité.
Enjeux pour les médias tunisiens : entre prudence et opportunité
L’écart entre la Tunisie et d’autres pays s’explique par :
une méfiance éditoriale,
un manque de formation spécifique,
et des ressources technologiques limitées.
Toutefois, l’usage élevé de la traduction automatique et de l’analyse de données montre une ouverture vers une intégration progressive. La Tunisie pourrait tirer parti d’un accompagnement technologique et d’un cadre éthique clair pour faire évoluer l’usage de l’IA vers des formats multimédias plus engageants.
L’intelligence artificielle fait son chemin dans les rédactions tunisiennes, mais de façon encore prudente. Si la traduction et l’analyse des données sont désormais des outils familiers, le virage vers la création de contenus plus visuels, interactifs et personnalisés reste à initier. Une accélération maîtrisée de cette transition pourrait renforcer la compétitivité des médias tunisiens dans un paysage informationnel mondialisé.
EN BREF
75% des rédactions utilisent l’IA pour la traduction automatique.
L’analyse de données (58,3%) et la vérification des faits (50%) suivent.
Seuls 8,3% l’appliquent aux contenus réseaux sociaux.
Les médias internationaux, eux, exploitent l’IA pour podcasts, vidéos, personnalisation.
En Tunisie, le potentiel de l’IA reste freiné par le manque de formation et d’outils adaptés."
16 mai 2025 Par : Redaction
https://www.webmanagercenter.com/2025/05/16/546246/traduction-verification-data-comment-lia-sinstalle-dans-les-redactions-tunisiennes/
#metaglossia_mundus
Animé par Sonya Malaborza, co-directrice générale et directrice de l’édition aux éditions Prise de parole, ce panel comprenait Waubgeshig Rice, Rémi Labrecque et Charles Bender.
"Traduction littéraire autochtone : «Il faut avancer avec humilité»...
Il est important que s’établisse un rapport de confiance entre auteur ou autrice d’une part, et traducteur ou traductrice d’autre part, surtout si le premier ou la première est autochtone et l’autre ne l’est pas. C’est un peu la conclusion qui se dégage d’un panel intitulé «Traduire en territoire autochtone», tenu dans le cadre du Salon du Livre du Grand Sudbury, à la Place des Arts du 8 au 11 mai dernier.
Traduction littéraire autochtone : «Il faut avancer avec humilité»
Animé par Sonya Malaborza, co-directrice générale et directrice de l’édition aux éditions Prise de parole, ce panel comprenait Waubgeshig Rice, Rémi Labrecque et Charles Bender. Ce dernier était en présence virtuelle.
M. Rice est un auteur et journaliste de la Première Nation Wasauksing, dans le Nord de l’Ontario. Il est l’auteur de quatre livres, dont deux sont parus en français aux Éditions David, traduits par Marie-Jo Gonny : Le legs d’Eva (2017) et La Cérémonie de guérison clandestine (2019). Son roman Moon of the Crusted Snow, paru en 2018, est devenu un bestseller national et existe en deux versions françaises : Neige des lunes brisées, traduit par Yara El-Gadbhan et paru en 2022, ainsi que La lune de l’âpre-neige, traduit par Antoine Chainas et paru la même année. Une suite à ce roman, Moon of the Turning Leaves est également parue en 2022.
D’origine fransaskoise, Rémi Labrecque, détenteur d’un doctorat en recherche et création littéraire de l’Université de Sherbrooke, est un traducteur, chargé de cours à ses heures et auteur compositeur interprète au sein de son groupe Mia Verko. En 2019, Rémi a remporté le prix John-Glassco pour sa traduction du recueil My Shoes Are Killing Me de l’autrice montréalaise Robyn Sarah. Sa plus récente traduction, Mon cœur est une balle perdue, de l’autrice Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm, est parue en 2024.
Claude Bender est un acteur, animateur, traducteur et metteur en scène Wendat. Chez Prise de parole, il a co-traduit avec Jean-Marc Dalpé les récits Halfbreed de Maria Campbell et Éternel émerveillement de Tomson Highway. Au théâtre, on lui doit plusieurs traductions pour la scène dont alterIndiens de Drew Hayden Taylor, Là où le sang se mêle de Ken Loring et Qui se souviendra d’elle? De Daniel David Moses.
Pour Charles Bender, le traducteur qu’il est doit toujours chercher à avoir une bonne relation avec l’auteur ou l’autrice. «Vous devez créer cette base de confiance et ce n’est pas toujours facile à faire, parce l’auteur est déjà en train d’écrire son prochain livre, et si je veux traiter de celui que je traduis, ça va le déranger».
Pour Waubgeshig Rice, l’introduction à la littérature autochtone a eu lieu grâce à l’une de ses tantes qui lui a donné des livres d’auteurs indigènes dont on ne parle pas ou n’étudie pas dans le système scolaire. «C’est ce qui m’a amené à écrire de la fiction», a-t-il déclaré.
«La lecture de ces œuvres m’a ouvert les yeux à une nouvelle forme d’expression; ça a validé mes expériences en tant qu’indigène et ça m’a inspiré à vouloir écrire de ma propre façon. C’est là que mon rêve d’écrire de la fiction autochtone a débuté. J’écris pour quelqu’un qui aime lire. Mais je suis aussi en train de représenter mon peuple de façon authentique. C’est là ma première responsabilité.»
L’auteur discute avec son père, ses cousins et ses amis qui sont des gardiens des connaissances autochtones «afin de m’assurer que je représente bien qui nous sommes». La langue anishnabée, l’Anishnabemowin, prend de plus en plus de place dans ses textes les plus récents. «Ça a été un long voyage pour moi de devenir plus confiant dans l’utilisation de ma langue maternelle. Je pense que c’est ma responsabilité envers le lecteur qui ne connaît pas cette langue; le truc, c’est de trouver comment aider les gens à comprendre ce que signifie l’anishnabemowin».
En ce qui a trait à Rémi Labrecque, la lecture d’autrices de la Saskatchewan lui a fait connaître les Métis qui, dans l’histoire, étaient souvent donnés ou vendus. «Donc, ça a changé ma perception d’où je venais et ça m’a donné une forte impulsion de traduire leurs poèmes», a-t-il affirmé. Puis, il a fait la connaissance du livre de Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm My heart is a strait bullet. «Ça m’a donné le goût de le traduire, car je trouvais que ses poèmes étaient bien représentatifs de ce qu’on a appelé la crise d’Oka, qu’on n’a pas encore vraiment fini de digérer au Québec. J’ai trouvé très riche l’expérience de traduire ce recueil. J’ai beaucoup appris et c’est ce qu’on aime comme traducteur, soit d’apprendre de nouvelles choses». Cette traduction, a -t-il admis, s’est avérée un dialogue qu’il a pu établir avec l’autrice.
Quant à Charles Bender, c’est par le théâtre qu’il est devenu traducteur. C’est en jouant des pièces de théâtre qu’il développe le goût de les traduire. La rencontre de Maria Campbell, autrice de Halfbreed, a mené à sa traduction en compagnie de Jean-Marc Dalpé. «Moi, ça me rassurait énormément d’entrer dans une première traduction avec Jean-Marc, parce qu’il a beaucoup d’expérience; donc j’avais tout à apprendre de quelqu’un de son calibre, non seulement un auteur de théâtre, un poète, un auteur de roman reconnu et qui lui-même a été traduit à plusieurs reprises, donc il savait exactement ce qu’il faisait».
M. Bender croit qu’en tant que traducteur ou traductrice en territoire autochtone, il faut avancer avec humilité. «Il faut qu’on avance en sachant qu’on ne connaît pas tout, qu’il y a des choses qui nous sont cachées, qu’il se trouve des subtilités qui vont nous échapper». D’où l’importance d’établir un rapport de confiance avec l’auteur ou l’autrice."
https://levoyageur.ca/actualites/arts-et-culture/2025/05/15/traduction-litteraire-autochtone-il-faut-avancer-avec-humilite/
#metaglossia_mundus
Écoutez l’extrait de l’émission Il restera toujours la culture : L’art de la traduction, vu par Fanny Britt et Jean Marc Dalpé
"L’art de la traduction, vu par Fanny Britt et Jean Marc Dalpé
Jeudi 15 mai 2025
Jean Marc Dalpé a enseigné à Fanny Britt à l’École nationale de théâtre du Canada. Selon elle, c’était un professeur extraordinaire et très aimé de ses élèves… malgré son côté impitoyable! « Quand c’était plate, on le savait vite. “So what? Who cares? Je m’en sacre! C'est plate, je m’endors" », lance-t-elle en citant son ancien prof. C’est encore une voix qui résonne dans sa tête aujourd’hui. Tantôt utiles tantôt paralysantes, ces phrases-là ramènent essentiellement à l’idée d’avoir un texte qui capte l’attention, selon elle.
Et c’est bien ce que Jean Marc Dalpé voulait transmettre, et plus particulièrement dans le domaine de la traduction. Pour lui, la traduction est un art d’interprétation.
Dans ce Tinder littéraire, apprenez pourquoi ces deux dramaturges considèrent que le traducteur est un traître, c’est-à-dire qu’une œuvre sera nécessairement dénaturée après une traduction."
https://ici.radio-canada.ca/ohdio/premiere/emissions/il-restera-toujours-culture/segments/rattrapage/2071281/tinder-litteraire-entre-dramaturges-jean-marc-dalpe-et-fanny-britt
#metaglossia_mundus
"TYSONS, Va., May 15, 2025 -- The Academy of Interpretation (AOI) proudly announces the launch of its highly anticipated Training of Trainers (ToT) for the Professional Medical Interpreter (PMI) course. The first class debut was this past March, and this initiative aims to empower language professionals and organizations with the skills, tools, and strategies to deliver AOI's signature PMI course and elevate the standards of medical interpretation nationwide.
The PMI course is widely recognized for preparing interpreters to meet the rigorous demands of healthcare settings by developing essential skills in medical terminology, ethics, and real-time interpretation techniques. The new Training of Trainers program will prepare qualified educators with in-depth knowledge and teaching methods to guide future interpreters successfully.
The AOI offers flexible licensing packages for educational institutions, healthcare providers, and language service companies interested in incorporating PMI training into their professional development programs. The ToT is a hybrid program and includes asynchronous material and live sessions with trainers. Partners will gain exclusive access to:
Comprehensive training materials and instructional guides
Expert-led workshops and support sessions
Certification options for both trainers and their students
Sameh Abdelkader, Director of Education at the AOI, shared, "We are thrilled to launch this program and expand the reach of high-quality interpreter training through strong partnerships. By empowering other organizations to teach PMI, we aim to set a new standard for medical interpreting excellence and improve patient outcomes through better communication."
The ToT initiative helps organizations meet the growing demand for qualified medical interpreters and strengthens their role in shaping the next generation of language professionals.
Maria Teresa Buendia, Assistant Director of Education at AOI, added, "This program is designed to create a ripple effect of knowledge and expertise in the field of medical interpretation. We’ve just signed our first licensing agreement, and they already have a full class. We look forward to working with other organizations that share our passion for bridging language barriers in healthcare."
Contact AOI at support@academyofinterpretation.com or visit https://www.academyofinterpretation.com/trainingoftrainers/pmi
The Academy of Interpretation (AOI) is a leading organization in the language services industry, dedicated to professionalizing the field and maintaining high-quality standards. AOI offers education, training, and credentialing to interpreters, translators, and language professionals to ensure effective communication across linguistic and cultural divides."
https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2025/05/15/3082414/0/en/Academy-of-Interpretation-Launches-Professional-Medical-Interpreting-PMI-Training-of-Trainers-Program.html
#metaglossia_mundus
"The International Day of Living Together in Peace is observed annually on May 16 to promote peace, tolerance, inclusion, understanding, and solidarity among individuals and communities worldwide. In 2025, this day is more relevant than ever as the world continues to grapple with conflicts, social divisions, and environmental challenges that call for collective harmony and cooperation.
Origin and background
The United Nations General Assembly officially declared May 16 as the International Day of Living Together in Peace in 2017 through Resolution 72/130. The initiative was inspired by Algeria and adopted unanimously, reflecting a global consensus on the urgent need to cultivate peace through acceptance and coexistence. The day was first observed in 2018, and since then, it has served as a call to action for building a more inclusive and peaceful world.
Date and Its Global Relevance
Celebrated on May 16 each year, the day is not tied to a specific historical event but is symbolic of the ongoing global mission to bridge differences and foster unity. It encourages people of all cultures, faiths, and backgrounds to live together peacefully, respecting diversity and embracing dialogue over division.
Significance
The significance of this day lies in its core message: peace is not merely the absence of conflict, but the presence of understanding and mutual respect. In a world facing rising polarisation, hate speech, and displacement, living together in peace means actively rejecting discrimination, promoting empathy, and supporting reconciliation efforts at all levels—from personal relationships to international diplomacy.
The day urges nations and individuals to:
Promote social inclusion and human rights.
Resolve differences through dialogue.
Support education that fosters tolerance and respect.
Work toward sustainable peace and justice.
Observances and Activities
Various global events mark the occasion, including peace walks, intercultural dialogues, educational programs, and interfaith prayers. Schools and organisations host workshops that teach children and adults the value of empathy, cooperation, and peaceful conflict resolution."
https://www.freepressjournal.in/world/international-day-of-living-together-in-peace-2025-everything-to-know-about-origin-date-significance-and-more
#metaglossia_mundus
"Chance is a visual search engine powered by AI and large language models. Instead of relying on keywords, users can upload or capture an image and receive contextual insights, identifications, or explanations. This approach enables real-time discovery, particularly useful in sectors like education, travel, retail, and cultural institutions.
By combining computer vision with GPT-level reasoning, the platform offers detailed, text-based responses tailored to what the user sees. Businesses could leverage Chance to enhance customer engagement, support visual-based learning, or streamline internal workflows that depend on visual recognition. For example, a retailer might implement it to let users search products visually, while a museum could use it to deliver interactive exhibit information. As visual search becomes more integrated into everyday digital behavior, tools like Chance represent a shift toward more intuitive, image-first interfaces.
Image Credit: Chance
Trend Themes
1. Image-first Interfaces - The shift toward image-first interfaces highlights a move away from traditional keyword-based search, paving the way for more immersive and intuitive user experiences.
2. Real-time Discovery - Real-time discovery through AI-driven visual search engines is transforming how users can instantly obtain relevant contextual information from their environment.
3. AI-powered Contextual Insights - The integration of AI-powered contextual insights in visual search allows for a deeper understanding and interaction with the visual content encountered daily.
Industry Implications
1. Education Technology - Education technology industry stands to gain from AI visual search by enhancing learning experiences with interactive and contextually rich information.
2. Retail and E-commerce - The retail and e-commerce industry can use visual search engines to offer customers a seamless product discovery process based on images rather than text.
3. Cultural Institutions - Cultural institutions like museums can innovate visitor engagement by using visual search to provide detailed insights and stories behind exhibits."
https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/visual-search-engines
#metaglossia_mundus
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