Metaglossia: The Translation World

"The words we use to talk about nature are disappearing. Here’s why that matters.

We’ll need to do more than "touch grass" to revive them.

Kate Yoder
Senior Staff Writer
Sep 05, 2025

Once upon a time, the English language was full of stories with “blossoms,” “rivers,” and “moss.” But these words are disappearing from our vocabularies — and along with them, our connection to the natural world they describe.

A study published in the journal Earth earlier this summer found that the use of nature-related words declined more than 60 percent between 1800 and 2019. The study’s author, Miles Richardson, a psychology professor at the University of Derby in the United Kingdom, looked at 28 everyday terms related to nature, including “bud,” “meadow,” and “beak,” using a Google database that tracked the frequency of words in English-language books over time.

“These words reflect what people noticed, valued, and wrote about,” Richardson wrote in a blog post.

As part of the same study, Richardson developed a computer model to capture how people had lost touch with nature over time. The simulation played out across generations as cities grew and green space disappeared. When he compared the model’s projections to the nature-word data, he found that the two graphs matched extremely closely, with less than 5 percent error between them.

Nature is disappearing from our language and our lives
Since 1800, there’s been a sharp decline in nature-related words in English language books. It closely matches a simulation of nature–human interactions.
...
Experts have been raising the alarm over our growing disconnect to nature for decades, often by pointing to how our language has changed. In its 2007 edition, the Oxford Junior Dictionary, widely used in classrooms in the United Kingdom, removed dozens of entries related to the natural world, including “acorn,” “bluebell,” and “magpie,” to make room among its 10,000 entries for modern inventions like “blog,” “chatroom,” and “MP3 player.” The decision eventually drew sharp criticism from a group of authors led by Margaret Atwood. More than 200,000 people went on to sign a petition for the dictionary to reinstate the nature words that had gone missing.

But the editors didn’t budge, since a dictionary’s purpose is to describe language as people use it, not as we wish they did. Older dictionaries had lots of flower words because children lived in semirural environments, but that wasn’t the case anymore, the head of children’s dictionaries at Oxford University Press explained when the words first disappeared. But the anxiety over the loss of nature language points to a bigger question, once posed by the naturalist Robert Michael Pyle: “What happens to a species that loses touch with its habitat?”

Experts say that detachment from nature is at the root of many of the environmental problems the world faces today, from biodiversity loss to climate change. “We’ve put a lot of effort into treating the symptoms of environmental crisis, rather than looking at the root causes,” Richardson said. Just as you’re more likely to help a friend than a stranger, you’re more likely to care for nature if you have a relationship with it, he said.

This disconnection hurts people, too. Spending time in nature is good for your physical and mental health, creating opportunities for exercise as well as lowering stress levels, making our brains more creative, and even improving sleep. “There is overwhelming data that nature is good for us,” said Pelin Kesebir, a social psychologist who’s a fellow at the Center for Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. There’s also research showing that spending time in nature as a kid tends to translate into environmental concern later in life.

To understand how our relationship with the natural world has shifted, many researchers have turned to studying the media we produce. In 2017, Kesebir and her sister identified a steady drop in references to nature in song lyrics, fiction books, and movie storylines since the 1950s. Another study found a marked decline in references in books to 134 common species names such as “bee,” “goose,” and “honeysuckle” over the course of the 20th century. Across children’s picture books and Disney films, portrayals of natural settings have been on the decline.

“When nature disappears from culture, then all these opportunities to evoke appreciation for nature, respect for nature, interest in nature — those disappear,” Kesebir said.

It’s not just we’re talking about nature less; the feelings behind those words have also changed, according to Robert Poole, a professor of English at the University of Alabama. “I want to know not how many times we say it,” he said, “but when we do invoke it, are we saying it’s beautiful, distant, deadly, savage?”

Poole has studied how the way Americans write about trees and forests has changed over the past 200 years. Nowadays, “we’re just less likely to use majestic words — ‘lofty,’ ‘stately,’ ‘noble’” — to describe forests, he said. That could be due to people spending less time around trees, or perhaps forests just aren’t as healthy or grand as they used to be.

As our language around forests became less reverent, Poole noted that people began using more scientific and economic terms to describe trees. In other words, people began viewing forests as something from which to extract value, not inspiration.

Richardson’s research found that the decrease in the use of nature words became particularly pronounced after 1850, around the time that industrialization and urbanization grew rapidly. When people move closer to cities, where concrete has covered over forests and meadows, it becomes harder to access green spaces. The other side of the coin is industrialization, where nature gets stripped for parts: forests into timber, meadows into farms. The United Kingdom is one of the most nature-depleted countries in Europe. As the British Empire expanded, so did its industrial model. Research has shown that places such as Australia, the United States, and Hong Kong, all shaped by British colonization, have some of the lowest levels of connectedness to nature today.

Technology may also be a factor: Kesebir’s research tied dwindling references to nature to the spread of the TV and other entertainment on screens. Whereas previous generations may have spent their leisure time playing outside, we now spend much of our free time head-down and phones up, playing video games or scrolling TikTok.

The solution isn’t as easy as encouraging people to walk outside and “touch grass,” though that small step is still good for your mental health (no, really, researchers have studied it.) Even efforts to plant more trees and expand parks, while helpful, probably won’t be enough on their own. Richardson’s study found that the most important factor in predicting what happens next is the attitude that parents pass down to their children. As one generation loses its connection with nature, their children begin life with lower levels of connection, a self-perpetuating cycle.

Jackie Morris, a British illustrator and author, has seen that problem firsthand. Inspired by the controversy with the Oxford Junior Dictionary, she had the idea to write a children’s book highlighting the missing words. The Lost Words, illustrated by Morris and authored by the nature writer Robert Macfarlane, turned into a bestseller and “cultural phenomenon” after its release in 2017. With it, Morris hoped to re-enchant kids with the plants, birds, and critters that had fallen out of their vocabularies. When the book first came out, Morris recalls, TV crews went into schools and asked kids to identify the names of these living things by their pictures. “What I said was, ‘Well, you should have taken them ’round your own office, really, because the reason kids don’t know is because the parents don’t know,’” Morris said.

For Morris, addressing our disconnect with nature starts with what she calls “rewilding our imagination.” She remembers, as a child, recognizing birds for the first time, seeing the bright light in their eyes and desperately wanting wings herself.

“Watching birds was just such a joy to me when I was young,” she said. “And it shocks me that there are many people who just don’t see them.”

Grist is the only award-winning newsroom focused on exploring equitable solutions to climate change. It’s vital reporting made entirely possible by loyal readers like you. At Grist, we don’t believe in paywalls. Instead, we rely on our readers to pitch in what they can so that we can continue bringing you our solution-based climate news."
https://grist.org/language/nature-word-language-disappear-culture/
#Metaglossia
#metaglossia_mundus

"TOWARD AN INCLUSIVE APPROACH TO LINGUA-CULTURALLY DIVERSE STUDENTS’ LANGUAGE IN SYSTEMATIC FUNCTIONAL LINGUISTICS RESEARCH
Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) fundamentally embraces inclusivity, as it legitimizes different language varieties as contextualized, socially contingent categories along a horizontal continuum. It also conceptualizes grammar as a set of linguistic resources for meaning-making, rather than as rigid rules that dictate grammatical “correctness.” However, much SFL-based research on lingua-culturally diverse students’ language use has tended to rely on monolingual native speaker norms. This tendency often reinforces deficit discourses by portraying students as linguistically deficient or lacking, clashing with the increasingly recognized perspective of translanguaging, which affirms the legitimacy of students’ language practices on their own terms. This article critically examines how much of SFL-based research on students’ language use reflects a monolingual orientation and then explores how insights from translanguaging can inform more inclusive approaches to studying student language within SFL scholarship. The article argues that moving away from external monolingual standards in analyzing and assessing students’ language use, and shifting the analytical focus from formal “correctness” to meaning-making, can help re-center SFL’s original commitment to inclusivity. To illustrate how such analytical and methodological adjustments can be implemented in research, it reviews an SFL study on Chinese postgraduate students’ use of grammatical metaphor that adopts the approach of treating learner language in its own right. The article also discusses the benefits of this inclusive approach in light of recent trends in applied linguistics and its implications for future SFL research in particular, and language-related research more broadly."
August 2025
Quantum Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities
6(4):56-68
DOI: 10.55197/qjssh.v6i4.739
License: CC BY 4.0

SONG HU
M. H. Chau
Nurul huda Binti Hamzah

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/395127689_TOWARD_AN_INCLUSIVE_APPROACH_TO_LINGUA-CULTURALLY_DIVERSE_STUDENTS%27_LANGUAGE_IN_SYSTEMATIC_FUNCTIONAL_LINGUISTICS_RESEARCH

A federal judge ordered a shake-up of Google's search engine in an attempt to curb the corrosive power of an illegal monopoly while rebuffing the U.S. government's attempt to break up the company and impose other restraints.

#Metaglossia 

#metaglossia_mundus 

"Afrique : des IA en langues locales pour réduire la fracture numérique

 

INTELLIGENCE ARTIFICIELLE

Des initiatives sont en cours en Afrique du Sud, au Kenya et au Nigeria pour créer plus d’outils d’IA en langues africaines. Des chercheurs ont déjà enregistré plus de 9 000 heures de discours local afin d’élargir l’accès à cette technologie révolutionnaire sur le continent.

 

Alors que l’utilisation des modèles de langage basés sur l’intelligence artificielle (IA) explose, avec de nombreux sites web alimentés par l’IA intégrés dans la vie quotidienne, certains en Afrique craignent que leurs populations soient exclues des logiciels principalement occidentalisés.

 

Malgré la richesse linguistique de l’Afrique, où plus d’un quart des langues mondiales seraient présentes selon certaines estimations, cette diversité est encore peu représentée dans le développement de l’IA.

 

La principale raison ? un manque d’investissement et de données accessibles. La majorité des outils d’IA, comme ChatGPT, sont entraînés sur des textes en anglais ou dans d’autres langues européennes et chinoises, qui disposent d’immenses bases de données en ligne.

 

Or, de nombreuses langues africaines, principalement orales, ne disposent pas de suffisamment de textes écrits pour alimenter l’apprentissage automatique, ce qui limite leur intégration dans ces technologies. Résultat : des millions de personnes sont laissées de côté.

 

Une avancée majeure : un jeu de données unique

Les chercheurs ont récemment publié ce qui serait le plus grand ensemble de données linguistiques pour les langues africaines. « Nous pensons en nos langues, rêvons en elles et interprétons le monde à travers elles. Si la technologie ne reflète pas cette réalité, une partie de la population sera laissée pour compte », explique le professeur Vukosi Marivate de l’Université de Pretoria, qui a pris part au projet.

 

L’initiative « African Next Voices » a rassemblé linguistes et informaticiens pour créer des jeux de données adaptés à l’IA dans 18 langues africaines. Bien que cela ne couvre qu’une fraction des plus de 2 000 langues parlées sur le continent, les participants espèrent étendre cette base dans le futur.

 

En deux ans, ils ont enregistré 9 000 heures de discours dans des contextes quotidiens liés à l’agriculture, à la santé et à l’éducation, à Kenya, au Nigeria, et en Afrique du Sud. Parmi les langues enregistrées figurent le kikuyu et le dholuo au Kenya, le haoussa et le yoruba au Nigeria, ainsi que l’isiZulu et le tshivenda en Afrique du Sud.

 

« Il faut une base de départ. C’est ce que fait African Next Voices. Ensuite, d’autres pourront construire dessus et innover », précise le professeur Marivate. La collecte a été rendue possible grâce à une bourse de 2,2 millions de dollars de la Fondation Gates. Les données seront en accès libre pour permettre aux développeurs de créer des outils de traduction, de transcription ou d’interaction en langues africaines.

 

Des innovations concrètes

Plusieurs exemples illustrent déjà l’impact potentiel de ces technologies. À Rustenburg, en Afrique du Sud, la fermière Kelebogile Mosime utilise une application appelée AI-Farmer. Elle reconnaît plusieurs langues locales, comme le sotho, l’isiZulu et l’afrikaans, pour lui venir en aide dans ses tâches agricoles.

 

« En tant que cultivatrice débutante, je fais face à beaucoup de défis », explique-t-elle. « Grâce à cette application, je peux poser des questions en Setswana, ma langue maternelle, et obtenir des réponses utiles. C’est précieux pour moi, surtout en zone rurale où l’accès à la technologie est limité. »

 

Une autre startup sud-africaine, Lelapa AI, conçoit des outils en langues africaines destinés à des banques et des télécoms. Sa PDG, Pelonomi Moiloa, déplore que les options actuelles soient très restreintes. « L’anglais est la langue de l’opportunité. Pour beaucoup, ne pas le parler peut signifier manquer des services essentiels comme la santé, la banque ou l’aide gouvernementale. On veut changer cela », affirme-t-elle.

 

Selon le professeur Marivate, ces initiatives ne relèvent pas seulement d’un enjeu économique ou pratique, mais touchent aussi à la justice sociale. Sans un effort concerté en faveur des langues locales, certains craignent que des inégalités linguistiques ne s’accentuent, laissant derrière eux une partie importante de la population africaine face aux évolutions numériques."

https://fr.africanews.com/2025/09/05/afrique-des-ia-en-langues-locales-pour-reduire-la-fracture-numerique/

#Metaglossia 

#metaglossia_mundus 

"The Art of Proofreading in the Digital Era: Challenges and Technologies That Work

 

Proofreading is an indispensable element of crafting any paperwork. It helps to achieve clarity and consistency and make content error-free and engaging. The impact of digitalisation, which has seeped into all areas, has caused polishing texts to evolve, with new approaches being introduced. Among other things, these include the integration of AI instruments. And as much as some of us wouldn’t like the artificial intelligence to find a place in this niche, it may come in handy.

 

Nowadays, technological advancements and traditional methods blend to simplify the process of proofreading to achieve top-quality texts. However, certain challenges still remain.

 

How Proofreading Has Changed Over The Years

 

Proofreading stands behind every scientific article, social media post, or magazine column one can come across. The earliest mentions of text checking date back to the ancient civilisations of Egypt and Greece. In that time, people relied on rudimentary knowledge to transcribe texts properly.

 

The times have changed, and so has the role of proofreading in publishing texts. During the Industrial Revolution, the importance of delivering information consistently and accurately was reconsidered. A few decades ago, making content went digital, and people started using computer software for checking errors and typos.

 

And nowadays, digital proofreading is having a second birth due to the integration of online checkers based on AI. These revolutionise the industry, allowing us to review texts faster to keep up with the pace of the modern world.

 

AI Proofreading Tools That May Come In Handy

 

AI instruments are already integrated into almost any sphere of human life: education, medicine, customer support and even new UK online casinos. Writing and publishing were among the pioneers in utilising software based on artificial intelligence. Here are popular tools for automatic error detection and correction that may come in handy and facilitate a proofreader’s work:

 

Grammarly. It’s one of the basic instruments for checking grammar, spelling, and punctuation. No repetitive word or incorrect verb form will hide from it. Additionally, it helps to boost the text clarity and accuracy. This writing assistant points out confusing or overly long sentences and gives suggestions on how to change them into simpler alternatives. Another strong side of Grammarly is adjusting text to the style one needs: casual, formal, academic, etc.

QuillBot. Except for correcting the same text aspects as Grammarly does, QuillBot is known for its paraphrasing tool. While its grammar checker is a bit weaker, QB works better for improving text flow and reducing redundancy. If you want to make your text sound more neutral or shorten long writing while keeping the key ideas, this is the way to go. Many use the above-mentioned tool jointly for better results.

Hemingway Editor. This software was inspired by the style of the famous writer. Hemingway Editor is a valuable aid in enhancing the flow and directness of written texts. It does not offer efficient grammar checks and does not paraphrase sentences. Instead, the tool helps reach good readability and make content accessible for readers. It highlights sentences that are hard to read, like confusing structures of passive voice or unnecessary adverbs. Each text gets a score: from 1 to 9 (easy level), 10 to 15 (difficult one and needs improvement), or post-graduate (too complex text or sentence). The desktop app allows people to use the editor without Wi-Fi.

This area of the market is evolving with more companies releasing AI-based solutions to simplify editing. But proofreaders must remember that all these tools are here to complement human efforts, not to replace them.

 

Common Challenges in Digital Proofreading

 

Proofreading software could seem like a solution that revolutionises the process of polishing texts and even replaces the human eye. However, there are still some challenges which prevent facilitating tools from becoming a win-win way to edit writings:

 

Auxiliary instruments and programs cannot understand the context properly. Hence, the suggested corrections may be inappropriate.

Accurate facts and verified data may be corrected by the digital proofreaders (inability to do the quality fact-checking).

Prolonged text reading may cause eye strain that results in missing some significant errors and typos.

Excessive emphasis on language rules leads to marking the word combinations and sentences that are actually correct.

There’s no way to get quality feedback on suggested corrections from proofreading software.

Text-checking tools may make the text lose personalisation and the unique tone of voice maintained by the writer.

Well, the key pitfalls here relate to creativity and contextual understanding, which is yet difficult for digital software.

 

Traditional Techniques That Still Work

 

The abundance of tools makes people do less work themselves. However, a range of proven methods for text-checking is still powerful enough. Some of these are:

 

Read out loud to locate the style inconsistencies.

Read the text backwards to find spelling errors.

Print the text on paper to notice the mistakes and typos.

Check for one type of error in a proofreading session.

The human eye can still play an important role in publishing the written work. At the same time, overlooking endless opportunities provided by AI tools is the road to nowhere. People and technologies should go hand in hand if we want the content to adhere to the highest quality standards."

https://redditchstandard.co.uk/lifestyle/proofreading-in-the-digital-era-tools-and-challenges/

#Metaglossia 

#metaglossia_mundus 

"Interembodiment and Language: Deaf Language Practices as Resistance

 

•Language is both a vehicle for interembodiment and an interembodied process.

•Signing animates bodily entanglements with others differently than speaking.

•Semiotic repertoires are co-constructed and shared among and across individuals.

•Informal interpreting helps deaf immigrants navigate the immigration system.

Abstract

This article approaches language as both a vehicle for interembodiment and as a fundamentally interembodied process. Drawing from approximately 18 months of ethnographic fieldwork with deaf immigrants in the northeast United States, this article explores how interembodiment emerges through language forms and practices; and how deaf language practices entangle interlocutors, sometimes bodily, with others. As intelligibility can only be achieved relationally, this article likewise asserts language as a fundamentally interembodied process. Meaning in communicative encounters is made among and across interactions (not individually). Given the inherent interdependence of language, I detail how deaf immigrants co-construct meaning with family members and friends through practices of informal interpreting and how, through informal interpreting, deaf immigrants can better navigate an immigration system that is ill designed to address their complex communication access needs. In this way, interdependent and embodied deaf language practices become a form of resistance to policies and procedures that traditionally marginalize or exclude those whose bodyminds are considered non-normative."

Erin Mellett

Cite

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118544

Get rights and content

Highlights

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0277953625008755

#Metaglossia 

#metaglossia_mundus 

"WHEN it comes to African literature, translation has mostly meant translating work from European languages into African ones. Translation from African languages into English has been long overdue.

 

Now it appears that a shift in the movement of stories across languages is underway. Works first written and published in African languages are increasingly being translated into English for a wider readership.

 

As an academic specialising in African literature and publishing, I am optimistic about the launch of a new book series African Language Literatures in Translation by the University of Georgia Press edited by US-based academics Christopher Ouma and Alexander Fyfe.

 

The Mad is one of the inaugural titles in the series. It’s a translation of Zimbabwean author Ignatius Mabasa’s much loved novel Mapenzi/Yhe Mad. The Mad has been jointly released in the UK and Zimbabwe by Carnelian Heart Publishing and amaBooks in July 2025.

 

Mapenzi is written in Shona, but the ambitious series aims to translate a range of significant African works from other languages too, including Kiswahili and Sesotho.

 

This helps shift the terrain of African literature. It allows English readers to encounter African novels as they were first imagined, in the rhythms, idioms, and sensibilities of African languages. It helps counter the erasure of African languages in world literature.

 

When Mabasa’s debut novel Mapenzi appeared in 1999, it was recognised as a landmark text in Shona literature. Shona is a Bantu language widely spoken in Zimbabwe.

 

Mapenzi tells the story of a disillusioned young war veteran who becomes the uncensored witness to the false promises of independence in Zimbabwe. He witnesses the collapse of social values, and the madness of a society trapped between hope and despair.

 

The novel’s daring style and unruly humour drew comparisons with Dambudzo Marechera, Zimbabwe’s literary provocateur. And with the stylistic innovations of Charles Mungoshi, the great craftsman of both Shona and English prose.

 

Mapenzi quickly won accolades and was adopted as a school text for a generation that came of age at the turn of the millennium. Since then, Mabasa has become a central figure in the promotion of indigenous African writing.

 

His commitment and investment was shown when he became the first academic to write and submit a PhD in Shona at Rhodes University in South Africa. Mabasa is also a translator in his own right and most recently he helped translate Zimbabwean novelist Tsitsi Dangarembga’s Nervous Conditions into Shona.

 

His career has been a reminder that languages such as Shona are not minor, but vibrant mediums for complex thought and artistic innovation.

 

Now, more than two decades later, Mapenzi can be read in English for the first time.

 

The Mad

The Mad was translated by J Tsitsi Mutiti and most unfortunately there is no information about her in the book - not even a cursory internet search yields little to nothing.

 

In works like this, that cross language, culture and geography, the translator plays a crucial role, not just in the text’s language but in shaping its tone, context and accessibility. A translator’s note would have provided insight into the challenges and decisions involved in the process. Instead, the translator and the process of translation remain invisible.

 

This lack of acknowledgement overlooks the labour and interpretive skill required to bring such a work to life in another language. The hope is that future editions will correct this omission. Leaving it unaddressed risks diminishing the very cross-cultural understanding that translation seeks to foster.

 

Translating Mapenzi is no small task. Mabasa’s prose brims with poetry, satire and linguistic play. Its cadences are deeply rooted in Shona idiom. The novel’s innovative structure includes chapters titled after characters, abstract concepts, places and song lyrics, pushing the boundaries of form and style in Shona literature.

 

In her translation Mutiti meets this challenge with remarkable skill, sustaining Mabasa’s lyricism and rhythm without smoothing out its texture. The result is a translation that feels alive, attentive both to the sense and the spirit of the original.

 

That said, there are occasional lapses into flatly literal translation, particularly in the dialogue. These moments feel more like direct transpositions from the Shona than deliberate stylistic choices in English. As a result, the translation at times struggles to assert a voice of its own.

 

Translation as decolonisation

Nonetheless, the publication of The Mad highlights how translation in African literature is not just a tool for accessibility. It is also a critical, interpretive and archival practice that reshapes the canon, its circulations and readerships. The Mad contributes to African literature’s global visibility and intellectual vitality.

 

For decades, the global image of African literature has been shaped largely by writers who chose or were compelled to write in colonial languages.

 

Kenyan author and academic Ngugi wa Thiong’o, who recently passed away, has been one of the most famous advocates for writing in African languages. He insisted that the struggle for decolonisation could not be separated from the struggle over language. Yet, as he himself often admitted, African-language writing has remained marginal in the circuits of publishing and translation.

 

A series like this aims to help change that. Other forthcoming titles include Zanzibari writer Ali Hilal Ali’s Mmeza Fupa (translated as The Swallowers of Bones by Meg Arenbeg), Kenyan novelist and sociologist Katama Mkangi’s Walenisi (translated as They Are Us by Richard Prins), Lesotho writer and teacher Ntseliseng Masechele Khaketla’s Left Behind (translated by Makafane Tsepang Ntlamelle), and Halfani Sudy’s Kirusi Kipya (translated as New Virus by Jay Boss Rubin).

 

In this context, The Mad is more than an English version of a Shona classic. It is part of an invitation to rethink what African literature is and where it comes from. Mabasa’s novel, in Mutiti’s supple translation, demonstrates how much vitality lies in the vernacular imagination, and how translation can open doors without erasing the local textures of language.

 

With The Mad, a new and vital moment begins.

 

Tinashe Mushakavanhu is assistant professor at the Harvard University. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license."

 

Culture / 2 September 2025

Translation as decolonisation

As African novels are being translated to English in a bold new trend, TINASHE MUSHAKAVANHU puts into wider context the publication of Ignatius Mabasa’s The Mad (Mapenzi)

TINASHE MUSHAKAVANHU

 

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/translation-decolonisation

#Metaglossia

#metaglossia_mundus

"September 8th marks International Literacy Day, and Tekeyla Friday’s journey is a testament to the power of literacy to transform lives. As a resident of southwest Saskatchewan and a Métis artist, Tekeyla has proven that the quest for increased literacy, for oneself and for others, can take you far.

 

Tekeyla is a multi-talented individual – a puppeteer, children’s book author and publisher, and stop-motion and Claymation artist.

 

Her struggles with reading, including dyslexia, have shaped her career in the arts and literacy.

 

Currently working on a stop-motion project to be completed in time for International Literacy Day, Tekeyla reflects on how literacy became crucial to her life as a young girl.

 

Health issues and dyslexia presented challenges at various times in her life, but Tekeyla found that literacy offered a pathway to a better and changed life.

 

She credits her love of learning and literacy to a teacher from her youth, Roberta Coulter, who recognized her reading issues.

 

Her favourite childhood book, “Boney Legs” (a children’s fairy tale), sparked her interest in fantasy books, which she enjoys writing about today.

 

Tekeyla’s increased love of literacy led her to pursue post-secondary education, first in the Maple Creek region and then in Swift Current.

 

Her journey also took her to the Chinook Regional Library, where she volunteered and eventually worked.

 

There, she helped with the summer reading program, which aimed to keep “brains active over the summer” and make children “more ready” for school in the fall.

 

Tekeyla emphasizes the importance of literacy and reading for children as they grow up.

 

She believes that reading time is “quality bonding time” with parents or caregivers.

 

When asked about her favorite book among her own written works, Tekeyla replies that she can’t choose, as “each one has unique characteristics.”

 

While acknowledging the role of technology in literacy learning, Tekeyla stresses the importance of moderation.

 

She notes that technology has its place in society, but books remain her passion.

 

Unlike technology, books have no password to log in, no charging required, and can go anywhere with you.

 

As a reader, you can be transported anywhere, and that’s the magic of books."

Literacy can shape your world, no matter where you’re from

by MBC News | Sep 2, 2025

By Shaynee Modien

https://www.mbcradio.com/2025/09/literacy-can-shape-your-world-no-matter-where-youre-from

#Metaglossia 

#metaglossia_mundus 

"National Deaf Awareness Month: Meet Joy Harris, the Eagles' sign language interpreter
Sep 01, 2025 at 05:00 AM

Chris McPherson
Joy Harris
Before the start of the 2018 season, the Eagles hung the first Super Bowl Championship banner in franchise history.

They also introduced a sign language interpreter for the National Anthem at home games.

"The Eagles were looking to lead the way in creating a more inclusive experience for fans, and I knew right away I wanted to be a part of that," said Joy Harris, who has held the role since its inception. "It felt meaningful, not just as a professional role, but as a chance to help open the gameday experience to more people in a very impactful way.

"So now, I have the privilege of interpreting the National Anthem at every home game. It's beyond rewarding to play a small part in making the game more accessible for everyone. It is an honor to be part of the Eagles family."

Harris is a nationally certified sign language interpreter. She doesn't have anyone who is Deaf in her family. Instead, she felt called to become a sign language interpreter.

"As a little girl, I thought sign language was cool. Fast forward to college, when I was in my undergrad, I took my first sign language course at Temple and loved it," Harris said. "After graduation, I continued to learn sign language and enrolled in an interpreter program. I love my job. I can't imagine myself doing anything different.

"The most fulfilling part of my job is leveling the playing field so Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing people can participate 100 percent. We interpreters work to break down barriers, communication barriers. As you know, sign language interpreters are more commonly seen in media and at different events. Think about what you do as a hearing person every day – doctor appointments, business meetings, births, weddings. Deaf people want to participate in those fully, just like you do. Interpreters facilitate communication so that Deaf people can participate fully. We see the most private and intimate parts of Deaf people's lives, and that's not to be taken lightly."

No two days are the same for Harris as a sign language interpreter because of the innumerable environments and situations she works in. She certainly never envisioned herself on the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art for the Parade of Champions in February following the Super Bowl LIX victory over the Chiefs. As National Deaf Awareness Month kicks off, Harris wants to help quell the myths and misconceptions regarding the Deaf community.

"The list is endless," Harris said. "I wish the hearing world knew what a rich, linguistic culture and history the Deaf community has. That the hearing world didn't look at them as broken or impaired. Deaf people can do everything you and I can do except hear.""
https://www.philadelphiaeagles.com/news/national-deaf-awareness-month-eagles-sign-language-interpreter-joy-harris
#Metaglossia
#metaglossia_mundus

"The Jamaica Association for the Deaf (JAD) has taken issue with the quality of sign language interpretation provided during Tuesday's economy debate. 

 

Executive Director of the JAD, Kimberley Marriott-Blake, says members of the deaf community were not adequately served.

 

"There was definitely an issue and it became a lot more evident as persons who, as they were saying online, with no knowledge of sign language were seeing where the interpreter was just not able to keep up. Respectfully, you are in a situation where you're trying to condense a very heavy response in two minutes and ensuring that the community is not disadvantaged in getting that information. And it is quite a bit of information coming at an interpreter very quickly and you don't want to misrepresent what's being said in the same way that verbally you wouldn't want to misrepresent what is being said by any individual presenting themselves in a debate," he noted.

 

She pointed to the need for exposure to the language and terminologies to effectively communicate.

 

"A lot of the interpreting skill is something that's harnessed do over time. It's something that you don't necessarily get in certain spaces unless you have that experience in those spaces. And particularly when it comes on to certain jargon, development and political jargon, and the way that even in politics, certain things are said, but a hearing person knows that's in jest or it implies a particular thing. You have to ensure that that is expressed very clearly for the community. And that I think is where the challenge really was," suggested Mrs. Marriott-Blake."

https://radiojamaicanewsonline.com/local/jad-takes-issue-with-quality-of-sign-language-interpretation-in-economy-debate

#Metaglossia 

#metaglossia_mundus 

"Google Translate is making it easier to have a back-and-forth conversation and practice a new language...

The first tool, for live translations, lets you have a back-and-forth conversation with someone by surfacing audio and text translations as you speak, so you can easily follow along. Advanced Gemini models allow for support of more than 70 languages, including Arabic, French, Hindi, Korean and Spanish. Google says its voice and speech recognition models are trained to isolate sounds, so the live translation feature should also work in noisy environments like an airport or a cafe.

I gave the Arabic translation a spin, and it did a good job picking up on even unconventional Iraqi slang. Judging from my intermediate knowledge of Spanish, it also translated my rambling well. I also like that Translate offers both text and audio translations, so you can go with whichever medium you prefer or revisit what was said via the on-screen text. 

A second feature is designed to help you practice a new language. You can choose whether you currently have a basic, intermediate or advanced understanding of the language you're learning and then set a goal. For example, I noted that I wanted to practice Spanish so I could get around the city and have casual conversations (hearkening to my days at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona when I ambitiously dusted off my high school Spanish).

Translate will then surface recommended scenarios like asking for the nearest bus stop, greeting a neighbor or chatting about your hobbies. You can then choose either a listening or speaking exercise. In the listening sessions, you'll tap the words you hear, and in the speaking one, you can practice having a back-and-forth conversation. The language learning feature is currently available for English speakers practicing Spanish and French, and for Spanish, French and Portuguese speakers practicing English.

"These updates are made possible by advancements in AI and machine learning," Google Product Manager Matt Sheets said in a blog post. "As we continue to push the boundaries of language processing and understanding, we are able to serve a wider range of languages and improve the quality and speed of translations. And with our Gemini models in Translate, we've been able to take huge strides in translation quality, multimodal translation, and text-to-speech capabilities."

This comes as Google adds other language-specific features like Voice Translate on the Pixel 10 series. That feature can also translate what someone is saying in real time, but while chatting on the phone, and goes the extra mile of mimicking the sound of their voice, instead of superimposing a robotic one. Gemini Live can also have a back-and-forth conversation in a handful of languages. And last year, Google Translate added 110 new languages thanks to AI advancements.

How to access Google Translate's new tools
The live translate and language learning capabilities in Google Translate are rolling out now on iOS and Android. Live translations are currently limited to users in the US, India and Mexico..."
Abrar Al-Heeti
Aug. 28, 2025 2:25 p.m. PT

https://www.cnet.com/tech/mobile/googles-ai-live-translation-and-learning-tools-are-here-how-to-use-them/
#Metaglossia
#metaglossia_mundus

A new study shows that genetic evidence of historical contact between populations reveals consistent patterns of language change.

 

"They found that in instances of genetic contact, there was an increased probability of linguistic sharing in unrelated languages of 4-9%...

 

Genetics Reveal How Human Contact Shapes Language Evolution

 

FeaturedGeneticsNeuroscience·August 30, 2025

 

Summary: A new study shows that genetic evidence of historical contact between populations reveals consistent patterns of language change. By combining genetic data with linguistic databases, researchers found that unrelated languages became 4–9% more similar after human contact.

 

 

 

 

These exchanges occurred globally, across both ancient migrations and recent colonial encounters, highlighting that social dynamics often override linguistic constraints. The findings reveal that contact can drive both convergence and divergence, reshaping how we understand the evolution of languages.

 

 

 

 

Key Facts:

 

 

 

 

Genetics as a Tool: Over 125 instances of population contact were traced through genetic evidence.

 

Consistent Convergence: Languages tend to become 4–9% more similar after contact, regardless of location.

 

Unexpected Divergence: In some cases, groups emphasized differences, making languages less alike.

 

Source: University of Zurich

 

 

 

 

Throughout human history, there have been many instances where two populations came into contact – especially in the past few thousand years because of large-scale migrations as a consequence of conquests, colonialization, and, more recently, globalization.

 

 

 

 

During these encounters, not only did populations exchange genetic material, but also cultural elements.

 

 

 

 

When populations interact, they may borrow technologies, beliefs, practices, and also, crucially, aspects of language.

 

 

 

 

With this, sounds, words or grammatical patterns can be exchanged from one language to the other. For example, English borrowed “sausage” from French after the Norman conquests, while French later borrowed “sandwich” from English.

 

 

 

 

However, studying these linguistic exchanges can be challenging due to the limited historical records of human contacts, especially on a global scale. As a result, our understanding of how languages evolved over time through such interactions remains incomplete.

 

 

 

 

To address this gap, researchers are now turning to genetics, which keeps the record of ancestral contacts.

 

 

 

 

In this new study, a research group from the University of Zurich is using for the first time genetic evidence of historical mixing between populations to investigate the effects of contact on language, and to uncover the systemic patterns of language change.

 

 

 

 

Using genetics to solve linguistic questions

 

 

 

 

“By using genetic data as a proxy for past human contact, we were able to get around the problem of missing historical records and we could detect over 125 comparable instances of contact across the globe,” says Anna Graff, lead author of the study and linguist at the University of Zurich.

 

 

 

 

The multidisciplinary research team combined genetic data from over 4,700 individuals across 558 populations with two major linguistic databases that catalogue grammatical, phonological, and lexical features in thousands of languages.

 

 

 

 

They found that in instances of genetic contact, there was an increased probability of linguistic sharing in unrelated languages of 4-9%.

 

 

 

 

“This opens up new ways of understanding how languages evolve through human interaction,” the researcher adds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“What surprised us most is that no matter where in the world populations come into contact, their languages become more similar to remarkably consistent extents,” says Chiara Barbieri, senior author and population geneticist at the University of Cagliari.

 

 

 

 

“Genetic contact can involve populations from different continents, for example in recent colonial situations, or populations from the same continent, for example during ancient Neolithic migrations.

 

 

 

 

“Our results show that languages are similarly affected by contact, regardless of its geographic and social scale, showing consistent links between population history and language change.”

 

 

 

 

A closer look into language dynamics and society

 

 

 

 

However, while the rates are similar, the specific features behind them differ strongly. While some elements like word order or consonant sounds are easier to transfer – more so than other features of grammar or sound – the research team did not find consistent borrowability principles.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“This challenges long-standing assumptions about what makes a linguistic feature more or less borrowable,” explains Balthasar Bickel, senior author and Director of the NCCR Evolving Language.

 

 

 

 

“It suggests that the social dynamics of contact like power imbalances, prestige and group identity easily override any constraints previously thought to be at play when people learn a new language and start to borrow from it.”

 

 

 

 

In some cases, the team even found the opposite of borrowing: features becoming less similar after contact. This phenomenon occurs when groups emphasize linguistic differences to assert distinct identities.

 

 

 

 

“While contact usually makes languages converge, sometimes it makes them diversify,” says Graff. “Our results suggest that both convergence and divergence are part of the global story of language evolution.”

 

 

 

 

The findings shed new light on how we understand the history of the world’s languages – and what might lie ahead. Contact between populations has long been linked to language loss, but this study shows that it can also erode deeper layers of linguistic diversity.

 

 

 

 

In our increasingly globalized world and in the face of the climate crisis, land use expansions and demographic displacements may further intensify these processes, fragmenting the linguistic record of the human past.

 

 

 

 

About this genetics and language research news

 

Author: Melanie Nyfeler

 

Source: University of Zurich

 

Contact: Melanie Nyfeler – University of Zurich

 

Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News

 

 

 

 

Original Research: Closed access.

 

“Patterns of genetic admixture reveal similar rates of borrowing across diverse scenarios of language contact” by Anna Graff et al. Science Advances

 

 

 

 

Abstract

 

 

 

 

Patterns of genetic admixture reveal similar rates of borrowing across diverse scenarios of language contact

 

 

 

 

When speakers of different languages are in contact, they often borrow features like sounds, words, or syntactic patterns from one language to the other, but the lack of historical data has hampered estimation of this effect at a global scale.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We break out of this impasse by using genetic admixture as a proxy for population contact.

 

 

 

 

We find that language pairs whose speaker populations underwent genetic admixture or that are located in the same geo-historical area share more features than others, suggesting borrowing.

 

 

 

 

The effect varies strongly across features, partly following expectations from differences in lifelong learnability, partly responding to differences in social imbalances during contact.

 

 

 

 

Additionally, we find that for some features, admixture decreases sharing. This likely reflects signals of divergence (schismogenesis) under contact."

 

https://neurosciencenews.com/genetics-language-evolution-29644/

 

#Metaglossia 

 

#metaglossia_mundus 

Discover why embracing the Filipino language in education can unlock creativity, critical thinking, and national progress, empowering future generations to thrive.

 

"...As we navigate a complex future, it's time to ask a critical question: What if the key to unlocking our true national potential isn't about perfectly mastering a foreign tongue, but about fully embracing our own?

 

The obsession with English as the primary key to success is understandable, but it’s a dated mindset.

 

English is a powerful tool, a bridge that connects us to the world — no one disputes that. But a bridge is meant to be crossed; it’s not where you build your home. When we force a child to learn complex concepts like science, mathematics, and history through the filter of a foreign language, we’re adding an unnecessary barrier. We are asking them to perform two tasks at once: first, translate the language, and second, understand the concept. It’s an intellectual handicap we impose on ourselves.

 

Using our own language for instruction isn’t some sentimental, backward-looking idea; it’s the ultimate life hack for national development. It’s the express lane to genuine understanding and innovation. Look at the countries we admire. Did Japan build its technological empire by teaching its future engineers in English? No, it was forged in Japanese. Did South Korea launch its cultural and economic tidal wave by sidelining Korean in its schools?

 

Absolutely not. Germany's world-renowned engineering prowess was, and still is, taught and perfected in German. These nations understood a simple truth: real learning... happens most powerfully in the language of one's heart and home.

 

When a student learns about gravity or democracy in the language they use to tell jokes, to argue with their siblings, and to dream, the lesson sticks. It becomes part of them, not just a set of terms to be memorized for an exam. This creates a nation not of rote learners, but of true thinkers. It empowers a future scientist to not just pass a test, but to one day explain a new discovery in a way that every Filipino can understand and feel proud of. It allows a future leader to articulate a vision that resonates deep within the soul of the people, not one that just skims the surface.

 

Our language is the DNA of our identity. It carries our shared history, our unique humor, our collective spirit, and our deepest values. Making it the foundation of our education isn't about closing ourselves off from the world. It’s the exact opposite. It’s about building a stronger foundation from which we can confidently engage with it.

 

So, as we look to the future, let's rethink what a national "upgrade" truly means. It’s not just about faster internet or taller buildings. The most profound upgrade we can make is to restore the Filipino language to its rightful place at the center of our children’s education. True progress isn't just about speaking the world's language; it's about giving our own people the clearest possible voice to shape that world."

 

https://tribune.net.ph/2025/08/30/language-is-the-dna-of-our-identity

#Metaglossia

#metaglossia_mundus

"Reading the news and social media might lead you to think the only liturgical issue Catholics are concerned about is the Latin Mass. But there is another language problem in the Catholic liturgy that affects many more Catholics: The current liturgy in English is terrible.

 

Scores of social media accounts trumpet the wonders of the traditional Latin Mass, the order of service used prior to the Second Vatican Council in the early 1960s. Before Vatican II, the entire Mass was said in Latin, with the priest facing the altar, his back to the congregation.

 

After the council, the reformed Mass in the vernacular replaced the traditional Latin Mass, or TLM, but for pastoral reasons the local bishop was permitted to allow limited use of the TLM. The hope was that it would gradually fade away as Catholics got used to the new liturgy.

 

For the most part this happened. Only 3% of American Catholics attend a traditional Latin Mass once or more a month, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey. Eighty-seven percent of American Catholics have never attended a traditional Latin Mass in the past five years.

 

There is even less interest in the traditional Latin Mass outside the United States.

 

Related: Where is Pope Leo leading the church? Thomas Reese sees clues in speeches

But rather than fading away entirely, the Latin Mass has continued to attract a small cadre of followers, including among young adults. Some ultraconservative Catholics deny the legitimacy of the new Mass, while others simply find more devotion in the old way. Some of these TLM fans promote it as a more pious and devotional approach to the Mass.

 

Conservative Catholics cheered in 2007 when Pope Benedict XVI allowed any priest to say the traditional Latin Mass when and where he wanted, and many complained bitterly in 2021 when Pope Francis restored the authority of the local bishop to control whether a priest was allowed to celebrate it.

 

Francis felt that traditional Latin Mass supporters had become divisive in the church and wanted to quiet the dissenting spirit of the TLM. He forbade its use in parish churches, allowing it only in chapels. He also forbade the ordination of priests unwilling to celebrate the new Mass in the vernacular.

 

Conservatives hope that Pope Leo XIV will restore Benedict's policy allowing any priest to say the traditional Latin Mass.

 

But Benedict's edicts on the TLM pale in comparison to his effect on the Mass most American Catholics hear each week. As the church's doctrinal arbiter, then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger insisted on a word-for-word translation of the Latin, rather than one that conveyed the meaning of the text but was understandable when spoken aloud to contemporary Americans.

 

 

A file photo shows clergymen concelebrating the extraordinary form liturgy, commonly known as the Tridentine or traditional Latin Mass, at St. Joseph Shrine in Detroit. St. Joseph Shrine is one of four regional sites in the Archdiocese of Detroit that will continue to offer Masses according the extraordinary form starting July 1, 2025. (OSV News/Detroit Catholic/Valaurian Waller)

 

In 1963, English-speaking bishops' conferences set up the International Commission on English in the Liturgy to conform to Vatican II's order to render the Mass (and the other sacraments) in the vernacular. In 1973 the same body, known as ICEL, produced a translation of the new rite that everyone quickly acknowledged needed to be improved. A new translation was published in 1998 after years of work by scholars and translators.

 

Rather than a word-for-word translation, however, they produced one that could be proclaimed and understood by contemporary English-speaking Catholics. The 1998 ICEL sacramentary also included new prayers. For example, the opening prayer on each Sunday was written to go with that Sunday's Scripture readings.

 

The ICEL translation was well received by the English-speaking bishops around the world. However, Ratzinger, a native German speaker, vetoed the translation and insisted that a new word-for-word translation be used.

 

The Vatican was not interested in listening to reason. When the U.S. bishops asked to send a delegation to Rome to argue their case, the Vatican reluctantly agreed but told them not to bring Cincinnati Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk, who was chair of ICEL. Pilarczyk had a doctorate in classical languages and could run circles around the Vatican "experts."

 

While some non-English-speaking bishops, notably the Italians, successfully fought off Vatican-imposed translations, the American bishops caved. In 2002, the executive director of ICEL was replaced by someone who would produce a translation acceptable to Ratzinger. That translation, which we still use today, was implemented in Advent of 2011.

 

It is time to get a better English translation of the liturgy. We do not have to begin translating all over again. We can simply give the 1998 ICEL translation another try.

 

 

ADVERTISEMENT

 

The good news is, we now have a pope whose first language is English and who might appreciate the problems of the current translation. The head of the Dicastery for Divine Worship, Cardinal Arthur Roche, of the United Kingdom, is also a native English speaker, but since he was chair of ICEL when the current translation was developed, he may not be open to replacing it.

 

On the other hand, he was involved in writing Magnum Principium ("The Great Principle"), a letter issued in 2017 by Francis giving bishops' conferences more authority in determining liturgical translations and limiting the role of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Sacraments (then the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments). Francis issued this letter because he didn't want the Dicastery for Divine Worship micromanaging translations as in the past. The document, Francis said, "concedes to episcopal conferences the faculty of judging the worth and coherence of one or another term in translations from the original."

 

The presumption is that the bishops know what they are doing. Under Magnum Principium, the Vatican would have to allow the 1998 ICEL translation if a bishops' conference requested it.

 

But this will not happen unless priests and laity push for it. The American bishops are naturally conservative when it comes to liturgy. They fear upsetting people with change. Negative reaction from the laity could be avoided if we kept the current translation of the responses said by the congregation. It is the prayers said by the priest that most need to be updated.

 

Other English-speaking bishops' conferences should not wait for action from the U.S. bishops. These conferences should lead the way by asking the pope for approval to use the 1998 ICEL sacramentary in their countries.

 

Related: Can Pope Leo XIV be a compassionate pastor and a hard-nosed administrator?

In the United States, we need to create a grassroots movement calling for approval of the 1998 ICEL sacramentary. We need to make as much noise as the supporters of the traditional Latin Mass.

 

Every time a bishop visits your parish, ask him when the bishops are going to ask for approval of the 1998 ICEL translation. Every time the priests' council meets with the bishop, tell him you want to use the ICEL translation of the sacramentary.

 

When the priest prays out loud during the Eucharist, he is praying for the entire congregation, and he should pray in a way that is understandable by the people in the pews. The people of God deserve better than what they are hearing in church today. It is time for a better translation of the liturgy, and the ICEL sacramentary is ready if the hierarchy will implement it."

THOMAS REESE

August 29, 2025

https://www.ncronline.org/opinion/guest-voices/its-time-better-english-translation-liturgy

#Metaglossia 

#metaglossia_mundus 

"The China Accreditation Test for Translators and Interpreters (CATTI) is a state-level vocational qualification examination administered by CICG Academy of Translation and Interpretation. Listed in China's national vocational qualifications catalog, CATTI is a unified, nationwide certification for translators and interpreters which assesses candidates' translation and interpretation competence and skills. Since launching in 2003, CATTI has been offered in nine languages: English, Japanese, French, Russian, German, Spanish, Arabic, Korean and Portuguese. The exam has already registered 2.3 million applicants, with about 280,000 passing, making it the world's largest examination of its kind. As a national-level talent evaluation system, CATTI has, for more than 20 years, remained closely aligned with China's international communications needs. To meet the goal and the specific requirements of the state for evaluating translation professionals, CATTI has set clear professional standards for evaluating translators and interpreters, established a national benchmark for talent assessment, and brought together top talent and industry resources to support exchanges between China and other countries. To promote reciprocal international recognition of its results, CATTI held its first overseas Russian-language exams in Belarus and Russia in 2019. Exams for English and Portuguese were introduced in Macao, China in 2021, followed by English exams in Hong Kong, China in 2022. CATTI currently has five overseas testing sites: Moscow and St. Petersburg in Russia, Minsk in Belarus, and Hong Kong and Macao, China. CATTI exams were held in Hong Kong and Macao in June this year. The next exams are scheduled for late November this year in Russia and Belarus, covering Russian-language, with test centers in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Minsk. Registration opened Aug. 18, and overseas candidates may choose their nearest site to take the exam. The CATTI test material draws from real-world translation and interpretation scenarios across fields including international politics, economics, history, culture, science and technology. The broad-content based exam evaluates candidates' ability to deliver precise translation and interpretation while adapting to different cultural contexts. It aims to cultivate translation professionals with practical skills. CATTI is a professional accreditation. But it also serves as recognition of language proficiency and a driving force to promote cross-cultural communications. The exam provides a platform for global language professionals to demonstrate their skills and serves as a bridge for linguistic and cultural exchanges worldwide. Contact: Fang Fen Tel: 008610-68994548 E-mail: ffang@cicg.org.cn"

China Accreditation Test for Translators and Interpreters Becomes the World's Largest Translation Test

BEIJING, Aug. 25, 2025 /PRNewswire

https://www.taxtmi.com/news?id=53676

#Metaglossia 

#metaglossia_mundus 

The Israeli writer Etgar Keret has talked to NPR about the importance of stories in a time of war. Keret tells Scott Detrow why he recently wrote an op-ed in the New York Times about the need for a whole new language after the war.

 

"Israeli writer Etgar Keret talks about the need for a new language to discuss the war

 

The Israeli writer Etgar Keret has talked to NPR about the importance of stories in a time of war. Keret tells Scott Detrow why he recently wrote an op-ed in the New York Times about the need for a whole new language after the war.

 

SCOTT DETROW, HOST:

The beloved Israeli writer Etgar Keret says it is important to tell stories in times of war. Speaking to ALL THINGS CONSIDERED just weeks into the ongoing Gaza war back in 2023, he said art can be the hiding place for your emotions.

 

ETGAR KERET: Go read a story. Go read a poem. Go write a poem. Because if you try to interact with people and bring your complexity, you know, they're going to rip you to pieces.

 

DETROW: Nearly two years later, Keret is finding those interactions even harder than ever. He sees people in his country talking past each other, struggling to listen. He recently wrote about an experience he had at a silent vigil for Palestinian children killed during the war. It's something he and his wife have taken part in each week for a while now. Etgar Keret joins us to talk about it. Welcome to ALL THINGS CONSIDERED.

 

KERET: Hi.

DETROW: Tell me what happened.

 

KERET: I can tell you that every week when we go, it's the kind of a tradition that we stand with the photos of the dead Palestinian children. And people pass by, and we're silent. And it's amazing because you see a lot of different reactions. You know, it could be like, people looking at the picture while passing and crying, you know, while they're on the way to go somewhere, or people that stop and look at them. And there are other people that, you know, that can say, why are you holding this stuff? They're not real children. It's all AI. It becomes a little bit like a post in Facebook, which turns into some kind of a confession and always starts with hatred and ends with confusion and pain - like, saying, you know, you don't know what happened to me. I was in reserve duty. My nephew is in Gaza. I don't sleep at night. You know, [expletive] you, you know? But it's really like - it's not an argument. It seems like, you know, somebody really - I don't know - calling to his gods to save him.

 

DETROW: There's this broad-scale rather than confront a reality that we don't want to confront or that questions our point of view or anything like that, the answer is just default, well, that's not real; that's fake.

 

KERET: And the thing is that, you know, in Israel, the mainstream media and the TV, you know, hardly ever shows coverage from Gaza. So I think that, you know, that if you're an Israeli who kind of buys to the narrative and you watch your news, then, you know, you hear people talking about the 7 October from when you see the horrible thing being done to the kidnapped people, basically, you know, the death of those people in Gaza are not there. They're only there in the news if somebody complains about them.

 

DETROW: Well, let me ask you - there are so many conversations about what happens next when and if this war ever ends. And there are so many big-picture geopolitical questions. But there's also the question that you're raising of just how people can interact with each other better and talk to each other better and accept the same reality better. Do you have any sense what a first start is on a person-to-person basis on that front?

 

KERET: Well, I must say that, you know, the (inaudible) silent vigil, it taught me something that actually, you know - let's say, in this case, when I shut up for a minute, I hear something that I wouldn't have heard if I would argue back, you know? And I can say that, you know, that I think that for the past two years, I found myself in a situation where people were insulting me, and I was insulting them back. And I'm much better than them when it comes to insults, so I felt I was winning. But in the end, nothing happened, you know? Nothing happened. And I really feel that there was something at this vigil that I meet many people who don't have my opinion, but the fact that I look at them, and I disagree with them, and I want them to change their way, but I stopped kind of seeing them the ultimate evil - maybe it's the first step somewhere.

 

DETROW: I thought it was interesting that you compared all of this to the biblical story of the Tower of Babel, which of course is a story about human arrogance, among other things, and the effort to build a tower to heaven and the way that God stops that project flat by making everybody speak different languages.

 

KERET: Yeah. Well, I think that, you know, the Tower of Babel today is our Facebook or social media feeds because what happened is that - is then we all talk about stopping war in Ukraine and all those kind of thing. And it seems as if, you know, we're getting closer. We're getting up. We're getting up. We're getting up. But we're doing it while not looking at anyone around us, just like in the Tower of Babel. You so - you want to reach the sky, but if you don't see the person next to you, then, you know, it's going to end horribly.

 

DETROW: Etgar Keret is an Israeli writer. His latest book is called "Autocorrect." Thank you for talking to us again.

KERET: Thank you."

AUGUST 24, 20255:16 PM ET

 

By

Scott Detrow,

John Ketchum,

Henry Larson,

Daniel Ofman

https://www.npr.org/2025/08/24/nx-s1-5511441/israeli-writer-etgar-keret-talks-about-the-need-for-a-new-language-to-discuss-the-war

#Metaglossia

#metaglossia_mundus

"« Le Phonétographe » : premier roman d’une trilogie d’Ali Saad, autour de la langue

Ali Saad, fondateur du café poème Livraisemblable et des Poèmes bleus, à Douarnenez (Finistère), vient de publier, « Le Phonétographe ». Premier livre d’une trilogie autofictionnelle, il y raconte l’histoire d’Ilje, tiraillé entre deux langues et deux identités, tout comme lui. Il sera en dédicace ce samedi 30 août 2025, à la maison de la presse de Douarnenez, de 10 h à 12 h 30.

 

 

Président des Poèmes bleus et gérant du café-poème-librairie Livraisemblable à Douarnenez (Finistère), Ali Saad vient de publier son premier roman. | OUEST-FRANCE

Ouest-France Chloé GOUPIL.

Publié le 29/08/2025 à 16h48

Président de Poèmes bleus, la maison de la poésie, et gérant du café poème Livraisemblable à Douarnenez (Finistère), Ali Saad vient de publier son premier roman, « Le Phonétographe ». Il porte le nom d’une invention : une machine capable de « transformer chaque mot français, prononcé dans un micro, dans le phonème correspondant d’une autre langue, à l’écrit », explique l’auteur.

 

 

Son inventeur, c’est Ilje, un jeune garçon en quête d’identité par sa langue. Ne parvenant pas à comprendre le dialecte de sa mère, il imagine le phonétographe « pour créer son propre dictionnaire ». Ilje (mélange de « il » et de « je ») est tiraillé entre deux identités : « La langue c’est la maison de l’être, quand on est confronté à deux langues, on est confronté à deux maisons », détaille l’auteur, qui n’y est pas inconnu.

 

Comme en témoigne son sous-titre « journal de ma diglossie », « Le Phonétographe » est une autofiction. Ali Saad s’est inspiré de sa vie et de son tiraillement entre le berbère et le français, pour écrire son histoire. « La langue de mes parents a toujours été un grand mystère », confie-t-il.

 

Un choix impossible

Ali Saad est né et a grandi en France, où ses parents, kabyles, se sont installés. Jusqu’à ses douze ans, il ne connaîtra ses racines que par les récits et la langue de ses parents. À l’école, il apprend le français : « J’en tombe amoureux. La grammaire, l’orthographe, le vocabulaire… C’était mon butin », se remémore-t-il.

 

 

Comme de nombreux binationaux, son quotidien est fait d’une dualité. À cette histoire, s’ajoute la guerre d’Algérie (1954-1962) : « Comment avoir une éducation bilingue quand une langue fait la guerre à l’autre ? », questionne l’auteur.

 

Baisse des subventions à la culture : craignez-vous un appauvrissement de l'offre culturelle ?

Ainsi, à 74 ans, Ali Saad, ne se résout pas à décider entre l’une ou l’autre de ses cultures : « Le choix c’est quelque chose de terrible ».

 

Ailleurs sur le web

15 most beautiful women in the world

Topgentlemen.com

Ce livre est le premier d’une trilogie, publiée par les Vibrations éditions. Basée à Plonévez-Porzay, c’est « la plus proche maison d’édition de Douarnenez », commente l’auteur. « Le Phonétographe » sera suivi par « Le roman de Caco. Le quartier des enfants fragiles » en 2026, puis « Les chemins d’Ilje » en 2027.

 

Ali Saad réalise une séance de dédicaces samedi 30 août, de 10 h à 12 h 30, à la Maison de la presse de Douarnenez, au 35, rue Voltaire."

https://www.ouest-france.fr/bretagne/douarnenez-29100/le-phonetographe-premier-roman-dune-trilogie-dali-saad-autour-de-la-langue-1978df1e-8189-11f0-a070-ec6a7f83d549

#Metaglossia 

#metaglossia_mundus 

Nathalia Rio Preto made a big leap when she left her native Brazil to pursue her master’s degree at the Middlebury Institute, and yet another one when she transitioned from localization back to interpretation after the pandemic. She has no regrets.

 

"August 28, 2025 | by Nathalia Rio Preto TILM ‘21

 

Nathalia Rio Preto MATILM ’21

 

Middlebury Institute graduates discuss where they work today, how the Institute helped them get there, and what advice they’d give to current and future MIIS students.

 

 

 

 

My name is Nathalia Rio Preto and I graduated with a translation and localization management master’s degree from the Middlebury Institute in 2021, also completing the full coursework of the Spanish into English interpretation curriculum. My language combination is English/Spanish/Portuguese and I am currently a freelance interpreter and translator based in Washington, D.C.

 

 

 

 

Most recently, in addition to private clients, I’ve been working as a translator and interpreter for the Organization of American States (OAS), which has been an incredibly fulfilling experience. I have long aspired to interpret for international organizations, so having the opportunity to contribute to high-level discussions in this context has been both professionally and personally rewarding. One recent highlight in my career was interpreting for Brazilian Chief Justice Luís Roberto Barroso and for former U.S. president Bill Clinton. It was a really remarkable experience.

 

 

 

 

Nathalia Rio Preto interpreted for the We Are Guardians film crew at the Environmental Film Festival in the Nation’s Capital (DCEFF). The documentary examines deforestation in the Amazon rainforest.

 

I’m especially drawn to assignments related to human rights, Indigenous peoples, environmental protection, and international cooperation. Over time, I’ve been intentionally shifting my focus toward work that feels more meaningful to me—assignments where I can serve as a bridge for inclusion, advocacy, and giving voice to people and causes.

 

 

 

 

The support and connections I had through the Middlebury Institute were instrumental in opening important doors, most notably with the Organization of American States (OAS). 

 

— Nathalia Rio Preto MATLM ’21

 

Becoming a Certified Court Interpreter

 

Recently, I’ve started interpreting in court and immigration settings, which is new and quite challenging. The norms and guidelines differ from conference interpreting. For instance, you have to mimic sounds and hesitations. If they’re cursing, you’re cursing. If they’re using high register, you use high register. According to the code of ethics, you shouldn’t explain. That’s something I have struggled with because in my default way of operating, I want to make sure the person understands. These assignments have pushed me out of my comfort zone, and I’ve been dedicating a lot of time to studying legal terminology to prepare for the state certification exam. I just passed an immigration court exam, which was really demanding.

 

Nathalia Rio Preto interpreted for Brazilian Federal Deputy Dandara Tonantzin, left, and Fernanda Santiago, special advisor to Brazilian Minister of Finance Fernando Haddad, at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Conference.

 

Transitioning from Localization to Interpretation

 

After the pandemic, I created this resistance to things that drain my life too much. I had been working in localization project management and decided to shift to my first love—interpretation. I had an honest conversation with career advisor Winnie Heh and she encouraged me to stay in touch with alumni and to leverage the experience I already had under my belt. Taking the leap back to freelancing was scary, and my talk with her gave me confidence at that moment of transition.

 

 

 

 

When I moved from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., I reached out to my professional network—both fellow alumni from Middlebury and other colleagues—to let them know I was returning to freelance interpreting. Although I already had years of experience as an interpreter, entering a new market in a new city required some strategy. The support and connections I had through the Institute were instrumental in opening important doors, most notably with the Organization of American States (OAS). Having the experience and credibility certainly helped me gain traction, but the trust and recommendations of my network are what really got me in the room.

 

 

 

 

There are moments in interpretation when you truly feel the weight of the work. When you have a bad day interpreting, you feel like you will never know enough, and you’re never going to be good enough—no matter how much you know or how much experience you have. But the good days make it all worthwhile. 

 

 

 

 

I’ve definitely experienced impostor syndrome, but you learn how to suppress those invasive thoughts when you understand how impressive the type of work you do actually is. I had a women’s leadership class at MIIS where they said to stand in front of the mirror in a Superman pose and say, ‘I can do it.’ I actually do that when I feel like I can’t.” 

 

 

 

 

I love that interpretation is in a way an artisanal sort of work—it’s deeply human, and that’s what makes it powerful.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nathalia Rio Preto interpreting at Apple Park in Cupertino, California.

 

My Career Advice: Make Friends

 

My best advice for current students is this: enjoy the ride while it lasts—being on campus and part of the Institute community is a truly special experience. Don’t get siloed and don’t underestimate the value of colleagues from other programs; they often become your strongest professional network and a source of great opportunities.

 

 

 

 

A career in translation and interpretation relies a lot on word of mouth. Many of the best opportunities come through referrals—colleagues who know your work, your professionalism, and your ethics. That’s why building a strong and trusted network of colleagues is essential. The most important lesson I learned from my years in this profession is that sharing knowledge with your peers and referring one another for assignments creates a cycle of opportunity that benefits everyone in the field.

 

 

 

 

Like many colleagues, I am wary about the growing impact of AI on the language industry. The changes we’ve seen in just the past few years—even between when I graduated and now—have been really meaningful. AI is undeniably reshaping our profession, and I believe it’s crucial to acknowledge that reality while adapting strategically.

 

 

 

 

For those launching a career in translation, localization, or interpretation, my advice is this: find ways to stay relevant. Look for niches where human insight, cultural nuance, and judgment are indispensable. Fields like diplomacy, legal, and medical work, as well as work with rarer languages, still demand a level of care and accountability that machines can’t replicate.

 

 

 

 

I encourage newcomers not to resist technology but to engage critically with it. Understand what it can and cannot do. Learn how to use AI tools to your advantage while continuing to build the human competencies that remain irreplaceable."

 

https://www.middlebury.edu/institute/advancing-your-career/career-guide/how-i-got-hired-freelance-portuguese-spanish-english-court-and

 

#Metaglossia 

 

#metaglossia_mundus 

Revolutionizing intelligence through creativity

 

"The art of thinking differently

 

Revolutionizing intelligence through creativity

 

28 AUGUST 2025, ABHISHEK RAO

 

 

 

 

In the ever-increasing complexity of life, it has become imperative to think differently and adapt creatively. Creative intelligence, once shamefully seen as inferior to more esoteric intellectual knowledge, finds its very seat in growth, problem-solving, and emotional resilience. Art plays a crucial role in the development of such skills through its very structure of self-expression, exploration, and multidimensional thought. It presents an in-depth study of the transformational power of art education, incorporating research findings, quantitative data, and actual real-world examples for profound impact both on the individual and society at large.

 

 

 

 

What is creative intelligence?

 

Creative intelligence is the ability to produce new ideas, solve problems in an innovative way, and come at challenges from fresh perspectives. Psychologist Robert J. Sternberg (1985) described it as the ability to invent solutions, think divergently, and apply imaginative approaches to real-world situations. Unlike analytical intelligence, which focuses on logic and reasoning, or practical intelligence, which emphasizes adaptation to one's environment, creative intelligence thrives on originality and exploration.

 

 

 

 

The uniqueness of art education in fostering creative intelligence with the encouragement of uncertainty, engagement with materials, and finding inner thoughts as a visual form or performance kind of expression encourages not only flexible thinking but also emotional resilience, as there is learning associated with failure or iteration in one's creative ability.

 

 

 

 

Cognitive Impact of Art Education is worth mentioning. Enhancement of brain function can be achieved by engaging in artistic activities that stimulate the brain in different ways. Functional MRI scans have found that creating art activates both sides of the brain, thereby increasing connectivity between the logical left side and the intuitive right side of the brain (Ritter et al., 2014). The bilateral activation of the brain has been found to improve problem-solving skills, the ability to make decisions, and creative thinking.

 

 

 

 

Quantitative evidence supports the relationship between art education and academic performance. According to a study by Catterall et al. in 2012, students involved in arts programs score 20% higher on standardized tests of math and reading than their peers who did not engage in any arts programs. The report of the Arts Education Partnership (2015) points out that graduate students have a higher number from schools that emphasize their agenda of arts education more than those institutions that have less emphasis on arts in their curriculum. These, while comparing, graduate 12% more. Graziano et al. argue that music education develops spatial-temporal reasoning, which has great importance in the STEM fields (1999).

 

 

 

 

Emotional intelligence through art, widely known as EQ, is a broad term that defines self-awareness, empathy, and interpersonal skills and is significantly impacted by art education. Art is the safe space of students where emotions are processed, feelings articulated, and experiences reflected. Visual arts, drama, and music all help in showing complex emotions that cannot be defined by words alone. Goleman (1995) suggested that those people with high EQ are better able to deal better with interpersonal relationships and stress, which is the need for success in anything.

 

 

 

 

By exposing the students to other people's cultural stories and asking them to be in other people's shoes, art education helps to build empathy in the learner. Shared stories or understanding other people's experiences in shared art projects tend to promote a shared experience and therefore bonding among them.

 

 

 

 

Empathy and perspective-taking

 

According to the Future of Jobs Report by the World Economic Forum, 2020, creativity topped the list after analytical thinking and active learning in terms of most important skills at work. And as automation took over routine jobs, human creativity is the quality that cannot be replicated by any machine. The art of storytelling is crucial for marketing and branding, the most creative-intellect-dependent industry.

 

 

 

 

Healthcare, a process commonly referred to as design thinking, applies principles from arts education that healthcare is taking up in hopes of better treatment and medical care. Both Google and Apple prefer creative and insightful problem-solving capacities among their personnel, preferring workers who exhibit it to the technologists with "the most standard" expertise.

 

 

 

 

Despite the continually growing need for creativity, educational institutions have not been making strides in this area. The 2019 Adobe survey stated that while 78% of educators and policymakers believe that economic growth relies on creativity, only 32% believe that schools are doing enough to promote it. It is a pressing appeal for art education to be treated as a strategic human capital investment.

 

 

 

 

The effect of art education on society in terms of the development of inclusive communities is no less.

 

 

 

 

Art brings unity to people concerning the linguistic, cultural, and socio-economic aspects. Community-based arts programs are reported to improve participative civic engagement together with feelings of belonging, like murals, plays, and installations in public spaces. Also, the contemporary sector of art therapy is adopting innovative practices in order to alleviate mental health distress. Research evidence suggests that artistic engagement lowers cortisol levels, which are indicators of stress, as well as promoting general well-being (Kaimal et al., 2016). Schools implementing art curricula have fewer cases of anxiety and depression among the students.

 

 

 

 

Looking at global examples like Finland, a country of creative dynamism, as it integrates art early on into their education curriculum and views creativity as one of its key skills. The system was helpful in molding Finland as an innovation nation around the world, which has actually consistently ranked them atop the list of the Global Innovation Index by the OECD, 2020.

 

 

 

 

The STEAM movement also indicated that the role of arts is supplementary and completes the technical streams. The school bodies that adopted the STEAM-based curricula found increased engagements with students while enhancing test scores by 15 percent—a group that falls under science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

 

 

 

 

However, there are certain challenges faced in arts education. Cuts in funding are one of the most well-known problems. Art programs are always the first casualty of budget cuts, especially in poor districts. According to the 2021 Arts Education Monitoring Project, 40% of schools in low-income communities have no permanent art teachers. Such inequality perpetuates the educational gap and denies marginalized students the life-changing power of art education. Art is still, in most cultures, a luxury item and not a need. In most education systems, this aspect results in its devaluation. What is required for this is the advocacy and raising of awareness concerning the practical gains from art education.

 

 

 

 

For full unlocking of the potential in art education, changes have to occur on a systemic level. To start with policy reform, the funds should be passed on to the governments via arts programs focused on disadvantaged communities. Professional development programs should be set up to enable the teachers with creative practices across disciplines. Schools, cultural institutions, and businesses can offer opportunities and resources to students in terms of engaging with the arts.

 

 

 

 

Parents will be encouraged to appreciate and support arts education, which would make the environment better for creative expression.

 

 

 

 

In conclusion, art education is not just an activity after school hours, for it innovates, develops a person emotionally, and propels progress in society. It prepares people to face a fast-changing world because it stimulates the creative intelligence within. The outcomes of art education, from building the brain to developing emotional muscles, go well beyond the classrooms.

 

 

 

 

As we look forward into the future, education systems need to rethink learning in an innovative way parallel to academics. It is not a mere investment in the individual but an investment in collective potential for all of humanity.

 

 

 

 

References

 

Catterall, J. S., Dumais, S. A., & Hampden-Thompson, G. (2012). The arts and achievement in at-risk youth: Findings from four longitudinal studies. National Endowment for the Arts.

 

Goleman, D. (1995). Emotional intelligence: Why it can matter more than IQ. Bantam Books.

 

Kaimal, G., Ray, K., & Muniz, J. (2016). Reduction of cortisol levels and participants' responses following art making. Art Therapy, 33(2), 74-80.

 

Ritter, S. M., Damian, R. I., Simonton, D. K., van Baaren, R. B., Strick, M., & Derks, J. (2014). Creativity in art and science: Are there two cultures? Social Psychological and Personality Science, 5(1), 8-15.

 

World Economic Forum. (2020). The future of jobs report. Geneva: World Economic Forum."

 

https://www.meer.com/en/92562-the-art-of-thinking-differently

 

#Metaglossia 

 

#metaglossia_mundus 

Technology is getting faster and smarter. And it begs the question: where do humans have the edge?

 

"The human edge: Skills that will never be automated

August 27, 2025

 

Technology is getting faster and smarter. And it begs the question: where do humans have the edge?

 

This article digs into the human skills that can’t be replicated and why they matter more than ever.

 

Jaylene Cousins, CPHR

 

There’s no question that AI and automation are transforming how we work. From chatbots and generative AI to predictive tools, technology is helping organizations to speed up tasks, draft content, and make more informed decisions. Essentially, it’s helping businesses accomplish more with less.

 

So, where does that leave us? You know, the humans.

 

The truth is, no matter how quickly technology evolves, the most valuable traits found in any organization are human ones. Sure, AI may be efficient, but it can’t build trust, feel empathy, connect, or think creatively as people do.

 

Let’s explore what can give your organization an advantage in a world that’s becoming increasingly digital and learn how you can sharpen your skills to stay relevant.

 

What is the human edge?

It wasn’t that long ago that the most successful employees would stand out because of their ability to analyze data or optimize processes. Now, those same tasks can likely be handled more efficiently by technology.

 

But don’t worry. Humans still have a unique advantage: a new set of skills ideally suited for navigating the unpredictability of the real world.

 

The human edge is everything that AI and automation can’t do that people can. It’s the ability to perform skills like thinking critically, feeling and expressing empathy, and being creative and original.

 

Often, we call these soft skills. But in a modern workplace, these skills are critical and powerful. They help organizations build culture, nurture and grow relationships, and innovate. And these skills will likely continue to be valuable even as technology continues to advance.

 

Let’s dig into them.

 

Creativity

AI can spit out ideas based on past or trained data. It can remix existing content. But what it can’t do is think outside the box to come up with fresh ideas and concepts. It can generate content, ideas, or designs, but these often are generic or formulaic and seem to fall a bit flat. The originality, emotional context, and nuance that bring an idea to life must come from a person. Someone who can take what’s on a page and make it come alive.

 

Consider how you tailor strategies or presentations for a variety of audiences. AI can help outline the basic approach, but it takes your humanness to personalize it. Each organization, customer, or audience is unique, with their own culture, expectations, work style, or approach to receiving messages. That’s where human creativity adds tremendous value.

 

Creativity tends to flourish when you allow yourself to explore, be curious, and work through different versions and problems. And this can be lost if you rely too heavily on technology to think for you.

 

Human connection

One of the biggest challenges in today’s digital era is staying human. Between screen time, remote work, and being exposed to AI-generated everything, it’s easy to lose touch with the people side of work.

 

But traits and skills like empathy, relationship building, and emotional intelligence are key drivers of success.

 

Human connection is what brings people to a business. It builds trust between a leader and their team. It helps your colleagues and clients feel heard and valued. It provides that sense of camaraderie with teammates and those working around you. These are things that a machine can’t replicate.

 

And best of all, you can start using these skills today. Simply ask a colleague how they’re doing, practice active listening, or create a safe environment for your team to share ideas.

 

Critical thinking

Many of these AI-driven tools are great for tasks such as gathering information, making suggestions, or summarizing key points. However, a decision maker it is not. It can’t personalize content to your audience, understand what matters the most, or adjust for context.

 

That’s where your critical thinking skills come in.

 

Only a human can ask questions like: Does this help us serve our audience, customers, or citizens more effectively? Does this align with the message we’re trying to send? What else do I need to consider? What could be the unintended impacts?

 

This skill is poised to become even more critical to develop as AI progresses. You can’t take its outputs at face value. What sets you apart is your ability to pause, assess, and elevate your work beyond what technology can offer.

 

Adaptability and flexibility

Humans can operate in the grey areas, which is a good thing because work isn’t always black or white.

 

If there’s one thing you can be certain of, it’s that things are going to change. Priorities shift overnight. New tools are being developed every day. What happened last quarter may not be relevant tomorrow. Your ability to adapt to these shifts is what separates you from the machines.

 

Adaptability means learning how to pivot, switching up your approach, and understanding new information in real time. This kind of flexibility is something you can develop by asking questions, being reflective, and being willing to unlearn — and then relearn — different ideas and ways of doing things.

 

Create space for soft skill development

For these skills to strengthen, there needs to be a safe environment where they can develop. That means creating safe spaces that encourage your team to speak up, share ideas, ask questions, and co-create. A collaborative space, with whiteboards or digital brainstorming tools, can help people (and machines) build ideas alongside each other.

 

When your team feels supported and safe, they’re more likely to contribute ideas, be creative, and think critically. When these are shared in a collaborative space, they’re likely to grow their emotional intelligence and produce outputs that are thoughtful and innovative.

 

To support this, your organization needs to make sure the space and tools are available, and that your culture sends a clear message that all voices matter.

 

You are still at an advantage

Technology will keep growing. That’s a given. But that doesn’t mean you have to become a robot to keep up. In fact, the opposite is true.

 

Your ability to think creatively and critically, respond with empathy, and adapt to change is what will set you apart. These are the traits that build relationships, keep clients happy, and drive results. Automation tools are just that, another tool in your toolbox.

 

So, instead of trying to outwork automation and AI, double-down on what makes you who you are

 

Are you ready for what’s next?

Discover how your organization can strike its unique balance of technology and humanness. Learn more about the Future of Work today.

 

August 28, 2025

 

https://www.mnp.ca/en/insights/directory/the-human-edge-skills-that-will-never-be-automated

#Metaglossia

#metaglossia_mundus

"Cognition and Emotion, Volume 39, Issue 6 (2025)

Cognition and Emotion is an international peer-reviewed journal exploring emotion and cognitive processes in cognitive and clinical psychology, neuroscience and neuropsychology.

 

Cognition and Emotion is devoted to the study of emotion, especially to those aspects of emotion related to cognitive processes. The journal aims to bring together work on emotion undertaken by researchers in cognitive psychology, social psychology, clinical psychology, developmental psychology, psychophysiology, neuropsychology/neuroscience, and cognitive science.

 

The journal publishes research on a range of topics, including:

 

The role of cognitive processes in emotion elicitation, regulation, and expression;

The impact of emotion on attention, memory, learning, motivation, judgements, and decisions;

The interplay between cognition and emotion in psychopathology, social behaviour, and health-related behaviours;

Cultural, developmental, psychophysiological, and neuroscientific aspects of the relation between cognition and emotion;

The nature of particular emotions or emotionality in general.

Cognition and Emotion offers a variety of formats for paper submission, including full articles, brief articles, registered reports and theory papers.

 

Cognition and Emotion operates a single anonymized peer review policy. All submitted manuscripts are subject to an initial appraisal by the Editor, and, if found suitable for further consideration, to peer review by independent, anonymous referees.

 

Authors can choose to publish gold open access in this journal."

 

https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/pcem20/39/6

#Metaglossia 

#metaglossia_mundus 

"AI is transforming transcription, but it can’t replace accuracy, judgment, and skill. Certification keeps you ahead in a competitive field.

 

Mahesh Kumar

 

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been shaking up industries everywhere—from healthcare to customer service—and transcription is no exception. With apps that can turn speech into text in minutes, it’s easy to wonder: Are transcriptionists becoming obsolete? Or is certification the key to staying relevant in this new era?

 

AI Transcription: Fast but Flawed

There’s no denying AI tools have changed the game. Platforms like Otter.ai, Sonix, and Rev AI can churn out transcripts faster than any human. For straightforward recordings—like a classroom lecture or a podcast—they usually do a decent job.

 

But real-world audio isn’t always neat. Background chatter, multiple speakers talking over each other, heavy accents, or highly technical vocabulary often throw AI off track. The result? Transcripts that need significant corrections. This is where human expertise steps in.

 

Why Certification Still Matters

Being a certified transcriptionist means more than typing quickly—it’s about proving you can handle accuracy, complexity, and professionalism in situations where mistakes aren’t acceptable.

 

Here’s why certification is still valuable:

Accuracy in Critical Settings – In fields like law or medicine, mishearing a single word can have big consequences. Certification demonstrates your ability to get it right.

 

Understanding Context – Humans can recognize sarcasm, humor, tone, and shifts in conversation that AI just doesn’t interpret correctly.

 

Professional Formatting – Certified transcriptionists know how to prepare transcripts that meet industry-specific standards, whether that’s courtroom-ready documents or medical records.

 

The Human + AI Advantage

The best transcriptionists don’t see AI as a rival—they see it as a tool. AI can generate a rough draft, and then certified professionals step in to polish, fact-check, and format. This hybrid approach means faster delivery times without sacrificing accuracy.

 

In fact, Transcription certification ensures you’re equipped to use AI effectively while applying the human judgment that clients value most.

 

The Future of the Profession

Transcription isn’t disappearing—it’s evolving. As more industries digitize records, demand for transcripts is actually growing. What’s changing is client expectation: they want speed and accuracy.

 

Certified transcriptionists who leverage AI have an edge. They can offer quick turnaround times while guaranteeing quality, something AI alone can’t do. Industries like law, healthcare, and government will always need a trained professional’s oversight to meet compliance and reliability standards.

 

Why Certification Is a Smart Career Move

If you’re thinking about entering this field, certification is what sets you apart in a crowded marketplace. It gives you:

 

Professional credibility that builds trust with employers and clients.

Access to better opportunities in specialized areas like legal and medical transcription.

Flexibility to work freelance, remotely, or within organizations that require certified staff.

Confidence in handling complex audio and producing transcripts that meet strict standards.

Future-proof skills that blend AI efficiency with human expertise.

Take the Next Step

AI has changed the way transcription is done, but it hasn’t changed the need for skilled professionals. In fact, certification is what sets you apart in a world where anyone can run audio through an app. Employers, law firms, hospitals, and research institutions still want accuracy, accountability, and transcripts that meet professional standards—things AI alone cannot guarantee."

https://vocal.media/education/will-ai-replace-transcriptionists-or-is-certification-the-smarter-choice-28ipv0yo5

#Metaglossia 

#metaglossia_mundus 

"AssemblyAI enhances its speech-to-text services by introducing support for 99 languages, offering advanced features at a single price point. Explore the latest developments in AI-driven language recognition.

In a significant advancement for language recognition technology, AssemblyAI has announced the expansion of its speech-to-text services to support 99 languages. The company is offering these enhanced capabilities alongside advanced features at a unified price point, according to assemblyai.com.

Key Features and Updates
AssemblyAI's latest update introduces a universal model that not only accommodates a wide array of languages but also incorporates advanced contextual text formatting. This feature is particularly beneficial for languages like Spanish and German, enhancing the accuracy and usability of transcriptions. The company has also streamlined its pricing model, making these features more accessible to a broader audience.

Technological Integration and Implementation
In addition to the language expansion, AssemblyAI has integrated OpenAI's Whisper technology for offline speech recognition. This integration supports browser and Node.js implementations, allowing developers to utilize powerful transcription capabilities in various environments. The Whisper API also facilitates audio transcription using JavaScript, broadening the scope for developers to create innovative applications.

Industry Impact and Future Prospects
The expansion to 99 languages positions AssemblyAI as a formidable player in the AI-driven speech-to-text market. By offering comprehensive language support and advanced features at a competitive price, the company is poised to attract a diverse clientele ranging from individual developers to large enterprises.

Furthermore, the inclusion of free speech-to-text APIs and open-source engines underscores AssemblyAI's commitment to fostering innovation and accessibility in AI technology. This strategic move is likely to stimulate growth and adoption of AI-driven language solutions across various sectors.AI-powered search engine

As AssemblyAI continues to enhance its offerings, the company is set to play a pivotal role in the evolution of speech recognition technology, driving forward the capabilities and applications of AI in everyday communication and business operations.

Image source: Shutterstock"
AssemblyAI Expands Speech-to-Text Capabilities with 99 Languages
Iris Coleman Aug 26, 2025 05:08
https://blockchain.news/news/assemblyai-expands-speech-to-text-capabilities-with-99-languages
#Metaglossia
#metaglossia_mundus

A global study of 48 languages shows that human speech follows a steady rhythm, with intonation units occurring every 1.6 seconds.

 

"People everywhere talk with the same rhythm, regardless of the language

 

Human speech follows a steady timing pattern that shows up across cultures. A new paper reports that people naturally package talk into short phrases that arrive about once every 1.6 seconds, regardless of the language being spoken.

 

That unit of delivery is not a syllable or a word. It is a prosodic chunk called an intonation unit, and its regular tempo shows up in everyday conversation, in children and adults, and in communities from many language families.

 

Speech rhythm is universal

 

The study was led by Dr. Maya Inbar with Professors Eitan Grossman and Ayelet N. Landau at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and Professor Landau also holds an appointment at University College London (UCL). Their collaboration draws linguistics, psychology, and cognitive neuroscience into the same frame.

 

“These findings suggest that the way we pace our speech isn’t just a cultural artifact, it’s deeply rooted in human cognition and biology,” said Dr. Inbar.

 

“Understanding this temporal structure helps bridge neuroscience, linguistics, and psychology,” said Prof. Landau.

 

An intonation unit (IU) is a short prosodic phrase marked by coordinated changes in pitch, loudness, and timing. It is the slice of speech that carries a small, coherent bit of information before the next slice begins.

 

These units help listeners keep track of ideas and time their replies. Cross-cultural research shows that turn-taking in conversation relies on subtle temporal cues, not only on grammar or vocabulary.

 

Speech rhythm found across languages

The team assembled 668 recordings across 48 languages from 27 families, drawing most of the material from the DoReCo language documentation archive, which houses high quality recordings of many small and endangered languages. They focused on spontaneous speech rather than scripted or read text.

 

They used an automatic method to flag prosodic boundaries and then validated the results against expert annotations in English, Hebrew, Russian, and Totoli.

 

The validation showed moderate to high agreement with human transcribers, giving confidence that the boundary detector worked across unrelated languages.

 

To test whether IU onsets line up with a slow periodic pattern in the speech signal, the team used a bias-free phase synchronization metric known as pairwise phase consistency.

 

This measure detects consistent timing of events relative to slow oscillations without overestimating effects when sample sizes change.

 

The analysis revealed a prominent rhythm near 0.6 Hz. That corresponds to one new IU roughly every 1.6 seconds, and this alignment held across all languages in the sample.

 

How this links to the brain

The 1 to 2 second window is a meaningful timescale in cognition. Prior work shows that neural activity tracks hierarchical structures in connected speech, from syllables and words to phrases and sentences, with distinct rhythms at each level.

 

A foundational review argues that low-frequency brain rhythms help package incoming information at the right temporal grain for comprehension.

 

That packaging supports the parsing of speech into units that are neither too small nor too large for memory and attention.

 

New physiological evidence connects IUs directly to brain responses. When listeners hear spontaneous narrative speech, EEG shows a specific response at IU boundaries that is distinct from reactions to lower-level acoustic features.

 

There is also a broader literature suggesting that slow neural dynamics guide self-paced behavior. Models of voluntary action describe gradual, subsecond to multisecond build ups that precede self-initiated movement, situating the IU timescale within a general framework for timing in the brain.

 

Rhythm differs from syllable speed

The IU rhythm is different from the tempo of syllables. Syllable-level rhythms often cluster in the theta range, about 4 to 8 cycles per second, and listeners and speakers are tuned to that band for efficient perception and production.

 

The new work shows that local changes in syllable rate only weakly predict IU timing, and average syllable rates across languages do not explain cross-language variation in IU rate. That makes IUs a higher-level planning unit, not just a side effect of talking faster or slower.

 

Speech rhythm helps learning

Prosodic phrasing gives learners early cues for carving speech into manageable pieces. Infants exploit rhythmic and intonational structure to segment continuous speech and build phonological and lexical knowledge.

 

The same structure eases turn-taking in conversation. When speakers keep to a steady IU pace, it becomes simpler to anticipate a likely endpoint and start a reply with minimal gaps or overlaps.

 

Speech technology can benefit from this timing principle. Automatic speech recognition and spoken-language understanding systems often track the envelope, a summary of intensity over time, and cortical recordings show that the brain uses sharp envelope edges as landmarks aligned with syllable onsets.

 

Incorporating IU-scale timing into text-to-speech could make synthetic voices easier to follow, especially in noisy settings or long-form listening.

 

Systems that predict and respect an IU cadence may reduce listener fatigue and support better comprehension during hands-free use.

 

Future research directions

The corpus was broad but did not capture repeated recordings from the same individuals, so speaker-level variability remains an open question.

 

Future work that samples multiple sessions per person could reveal how stable a speaker’s IU timing is across contexts.

 

Another priority is connecting IU timing with physiology during natural conversation, not only during listening.

 

Combining boundary-sensitive analysis with brain and body measures, such as breathing and heart rhythms, could clarify how the timing of talk relates to the timing of action and memory across daily life.

 

The study is published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences."

Jordan Joseph

08-22-2025

https://www.earth.com/news/people-everywhere-talk-with-the-same-speech-rhythm-in-all-languages/

#Metaglossia

#metaglossia_mundus

In an interview with PEN America, writer and translator Deepa Bhasthi shares what translation means in a multilingual society like India.

 

"Language as Culture, History, and Stories: Deepa Bhasthi on the Heart of Translation

Translation

Writing as Craft

Amulya Hiremath

August 26, 2025

 

The hillside town of Madikeri, India, where Deepa Bhasthi was born and continues to reside, does not have a single bookstore, but her grandfather had left her a rich inheritance — his library. And her grandmother was a fantastic storyteller. Spending her days reading Russian classics at 10, it was long before Bhasthi realized they were actually works in translation. “Forget finding the translator’s name on the cover, you wouldn’t find it anywhere in the book, in most cases,” she said in conversation with PEN America.

 

Bhasthi, a writer and translator, won the 2025 International Booker Prize, along with writer Banu Mushtaq, for Heart Lamp, a collection of short stories originally written in Kannada, a southern Indian language. This was the first time the prestigious prize had been awarded to a short story collection and a first win for the language. The same work had won an English PEN’s PEN Translates award supported by PEN Presents, a program designed to give publishers better access to titles from underrepresented languages and regions.

 

Talking to PEN America’s communications consultant, Amulya Hiremath, Bhasthi shared what translation means in a multilingual society like India, the politics of language amidst growing mother tongue extremism, and who gets to translate what text.

 

What brought you to translation? Do you remember the first translated work that you read?

It has to be something from Russian, and it took me many years to even understand that all the Tolstoys and Pushkins I was reading were in translation.

 

What brought me into translation was entirely by accident. In 2012, [it was] Kodagina Gowramma’s birth centenary year. I knew her name but had never read her stories. I was absolutely ignorant about what translation entailed, and thought I wanted to translate her stories. It was 10 years when the book actually came out. In the process, I realized that my relationship with Kannada, which is my mother tongue, was changing. Those of us who study entirely in the English-medium education system, we end up turning to English more than we do our own languages. While translating I was thinking a lot more in Kannada, using words which I hadn’t used in a long time. I might have stumbled upon translation accidentally, but I stay because it brings me closer to my language than anything else could have.

 

Congratulations on the International Booker! Tell us about Heart Lamp and how it came about. What was challenging and what surprised you the most about the project?

Banu and I have a mutual friend. She asked him if he knew someone, and then he connected us, and she got in touch, asking if I was interested in translating. I read a few of her stories, and I thought these were stories I wanted to work with.

 

The entire practice of translation itself is a bit of a torture. Banu and I are from very different cultural and religious backgrounds. I’m not a practicing Hindu. But then caste in India is inescapable, and it colors everything that you do. I wanted to be extra, extra careful about not messing up the cultural nuances that are in her stories, especially given where we are as a country right now, where the minorities othered to such an extent that they are either caricatured or reduced to a non-existent, non-human, dehumanizing project. I spent a great deal of time familiarizing myself with Islamic culture, as much as I could as an outsider—I read a lot, I watched a lot of television series, I listened to a lot of music. This is what Daisy Rockwell, the American translator, calls invisible force fields that go around. So a language, yes, it’s a tool of communication, but it’s also culture, it’s also history, it’s also the stories of a community. There’s so much that goes into the making of a language. So these are the force fields that get into the translation as well, because it’s not about finding a substitute for each word in one language to the other.

 

What does it mean to translate in a society where everyone is multilingual?

It’s very interesting. One, because of the way socio-linguistics work. Secondly, the place that we are in as a country today, where everything can spark a conflict or a war. Language has always been a very touchy subject—it’s easily within reach for politicians and for activists and for the establishment, to use and abuse it as a weapon. It is a weapon. Language has been always used as a weapon. Right from the time of the British, when Macaulay brought in the English education practice, through now, when we have this imposition of Hindi. It is a very interesting field, but it’s not as innocent as one would like to think of it as. And because for us multilinguality is such a common occurrence at least in Karnataka—people understand five, six, languages, it’s not a big deal—it took me aback when I first realized that people find this strange. Which is why, in Heart Lamp, the idea that Banu uses several languages did not come across as a very unusual occurrence, because these are our everyday lived experiences to pick words and phrases from different languages and use them, sometimes in the same sentence. But I understand it makes for a very unusual reading experience, for a Western reader, which is also saying that they need to read more.

 

A language, yes, it’s a tool of communication, but it’s also culture, it’s also history, it’s also the stories of a community. There’s so much that goes into the making of a language. So these are the force fields that get into the translation as well, because it’s not about finding a substitute for each word in one language to the other.

Tell us a little bit about how many languages were involved in Heart Lamp, because in India, it’s not just about translating from language A to language B?

So there is Dakhni, which is a kind of Urdu, but it is a mix of Kannada, Persian, Telugu, and all kinds of different languages. It’s often seen as an uncultured version of Urdu, but that’s certainly not the case. It is a language in itself. So there is Dakhni, which is the language that Banu speaks at home. The Kannada that she uses is more from the plains, so there were words and phrases which I didn’t immediately understand. There is a difference in the way Kannada is spoken in the region where she lives and where I live. But again, it’s not really unusual, because every 50 or 100 kilometers, there is a huge difference in the language. Her set of languages were different from the set of languages that I would typically have access to. But the idea of living in these multiple linguistic cultures was not really unusual, so that part was not challenging.

 

You’ve talked about the universality of the female experience and how that appealed to you in translating this, what’s the universality of the experience in translation?

I suppose, the idea that English is, whether we like it or not, a global language now, and once you take something into the English language experience, there is a greater accessibility that people have to the work. That is an unavoidable truth, mainly because of the nature of how the English language itself has evolved. Although English, the way it is spoken in Karnataka is widely different from the English that is spoken in some country in Africa, yet we somehow invariably end up sharing the language in all its textures and all its accents. We can still read a text from Africa and they can read something from Karnataka because it is in English. So the language itself brings in the universality.

 

You also talk a lot about decolonizing the language, and one of the ways you do that is by rejecting the italicization of words from Kannada retained in the text. Tell us more about that.

This is something I’ve been thinking about a lot, I might call it the decolonization of English, but it’s also an argument of who is an outsider and who is an insider when it comes to migration, whether it is of people or of cultures or language, when does someone become native? It’s to reject English as this foreign object that is spoiling Indian culture. Language is such an easy weapon to pick up for political projects, because it is such an emotional subject for so many people. But English, whether we like it or not, is the language that we use to reach not just a global audience, but to allow a global audience to reach us as well. It is rather silly and defeats the purpose of a modernizing, developing world to say that we don’t need English. A lot of countries which were previously colonized, we have made language so much of our own. English has been bent and molded and twisted and turned to suit what we want to say. There are a lot of Indianisms. Like, for example, “you do one thing” is a very Indian way of saying.

 

That’s where the idea of translating with an accent also came from. Because you could feel terribly guilty about using English, which came to this country under such violent circumstances, but at the same time, languages have always had violence ingrained in them. Every time a language came, whether with invaders or with merchants, there’s always been an exchange between languages. Languages have always conversed with each other. That’s how we have so many words borrowed and lent to each other. To reject English just on the basis of the fact that it wasn’t born within Indian boundaries is a rather silly way to look at it. If we completely removed Persian and Arabic words from several languages, half of Hindi wouldn’t exist. English does have an intensely cannibalistic quality to it. But at the same time, languages are not weak entities. They will survive. That’s how culture has always worked throughout history. I can’t remember where I read this, but it said, language is way greater than any of us who want to preserve it.

 

It’s always been changing, borrowing and lending words from other languages. So language will survive. I think the best that we can do as individuals is to embody whatever language you supposedly want to preserve and conserve. Unless something is used, it doesn’t remain; it’s as simple as that.

There is a growing language extremism in South India. What does it mean to protect the language and why does this sentiment run so high?

Kannada has a written history of some 1500 years. And language constantly changes—we use a lot more English words these days in Kannada than our grandparents did, but that’s the nature of language. This idea of purity, which we Indians are obsessed with, is ridiculous, because there is nothing called a pure Kannada or a pure Tamil. It’s always been changing, borrowing and lending words from other languages. So language will survive. I think the best that we can do as individuals is to embody whatever language you supposedly want to preserve and conserve. Unless something is used, it doesn’t remain; it’s as simple as that.

 

I don’t think it is okay to completely reject the language and say you’ll stick to your mother tongue—we can be equally good in English and equally good in our mother tongues, or multiple languages. That is where this idea of decolonizing English also comes from, saying that with time, we accept this language as something that is born from and used in India. It doesn’t have to make sense to people in the UK or the US. I think the problem comes because we like to think of every language as just one. There are several Kannadas and not just one Kannada, which is the same for English as well.

 

In your essay “ante”, you ask, “Why translate at all? In fact, in the face of so many complexities, translating in India means dealing with the hierarchies of who gets to translate and what gets translated?” How did you arrive at answers for this in translating Heart Lamp?

I think it’s an ongoing negotiation that one needs to do with the language and the text in question. Everything is class and caste oriented in India. If I were to translate a Dalit text, I know I would get criticized for having a savior complex, or if I didn’t do it, then I would be criticized for working only with people from my community. For me, it is language that leads me, that sparks my first interest in possibly translating a work. The politics of the author and the politics of the book are certainly important. I don’t think I would ever translate something I’m vehemently against. But at the same time, if I feel like there is a possibility for me as a writer/translator, to do something with the language, to push the boundaries of both Kannada and English, then that’s something that I would take up.

 

Heart Lamp was supported by English PEN’s grant and prize before the big Booker. How important are grants, prizes, and recognition for literature in translation?

Certainly important because it brings the attention of publishers who would otherwise have probably no access to these stories as well the readership in the pre-publication stage. A grant or a prize is always very, very welcome. Writing itself is such a labor of love, and translation is even more so because there’s nothing by way of financial support for any of these things. A grant or prize buys you time, so they are superbly important. At the same time, I think it’s important to be aware of the very arbitrary nature of these grants and prizes. Just because something wins a major prize, it doesn’t mean that it is the absolute best in the world. There’s so many other things that go into it, for example, the jury—it is down to what they think and what their reading preferences are. It is important to be aware that not every work is about the prize it might potentially win.

 

What does the Booker mean for a language like Kannada, and what has surprised you the most about people’s response?

It has been wonderful, because it is one thing to be recognized internationally or by a readership that does not entirely know the history of the literary history of the language, but to come back home and have these people celebrate the win as if it’s a personal win for each and every one of them. I think that has been very overwhelming in a very wonderful way. I think that has its roots also in how Kannada often gets the short end of the stick compared even with just the southern part of the country—we are not as vocal about our language as the neighbors are, for example. Which is why I think there is this outpouring of love, because suddenly you have this language which is ignored, not just by its own speakers, but also on a national narrative. I don’t want to be very optimistic and say that there’ll be a lot more translations from Kannada because we know the extraordinary works we have in the language. But it has to come from a new generation of translators.

 

Translation and writing itself is a very isolating job, but then the writer is never in isolation entirely, we’re always reaching out into the world to read other things or to listen or immerse ourselves in other art works. And then you carry all the experiences of these various art forms, sit at the desk, and what happens is the weight of these forms also seep into the art that you make.

What would you say is a snapshot from India with regards to free speech, and have you experienced any censorship?

No, I haven’t experienced any. But I think the larger trend in the country has been going against the idea of cultural freedom and freedom of expression. It feels like the noose is kind of tightening around all our necks. It’s a very worrying trend. But I think cultural censorship has been around in one form or the other. When the censorship is at its worst, that’s when the dissent is also at its strongest. I think that the culture of dissent in India has been wonderful across centuries, and that is one of the things that I hold on to when I desperately need a sliver of hope—you read the news in the morning, and then you reach for whatever little bit of hope you can muster. And this culture of dissent that we’ve had is what I reach for.

 

In his interview with The Paris Review, Henry Miller said, “Most writing is done away from the typewriter, away from the desk.” Where does translation happen? What does your process look like?

It’s chaotic, I don’t really have a process. Miller was right, a lot of the work actually happens outside of the desk. What happens at the desk is very functional—you type out the words. I’m of the firm belief that everything that we learn, listen to, we or watch or experience in life, seeps into the creation that we shape. So in this case, a translation, or my own piece of writing comes from life, from having lived. And these things color the cultural productions that we make. Translation and writing itself is a very isolating job, but then the writer is never in isolation entirely, we’re always reaching out into the world to read other things or to listen or immerse ourselves in other art works. And then you carry all the experiences of these various art forms, sit at the desk, and what happens is the weight of these forms also seep into the art that you make. And this is where something like machine-led translation will never win, because a machine would just look at the language and then vomit out something in the other language. It doesn’t experience life. Which is why AI translations will not have the heart and the soul that humans bring into their art making. AI has its uses, certainly, no one is denying that. These are passing trends. Maybe I’m very old school and stupidly optimistic. I’m sure different iterations of these passing trends have always been around in history, but good art has always found ways to thrive, not just survive."

https://pen.org/deepa-bhasthi-on-the-heart-of-translation/

#Metaglossia

#metaglossia_mundus