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By Literary Hub - March 6, 2023 - Lit Hub is excited to feature a new series from Poets.org: “enjambments,” a monthly interview series with new and established poets. This month, they spoke to José Olivarez, the author of Promises of Gold (Henry Holt & Company)and Citizen Illegal (Haymarket Books, 2018), winner of the 2018 Chicago Review of Books Poetry Prize. Olivarez is the recipient of fellowships from Poets House, the Bronx Council on the Arts, the Poetry Foundation, CantoMundo, and other organizations. He is the cohost of the podcast The Poetry Gods and lives in New York City. * Poets.org: Transformation happens throughout this book. Many of the poems and sections share titles, such as “Glory” and “Mexican Heaven.” The speaker and/or the characters become a pigeon, a plant, Lamborghinis, and bologna. What’s the relationship between symbolism and miracles? Transformation and translation? José Olivarez: I don’t know, to be honest. I grew up in Calumet City, Illinois. I sort of hate that my images are pigeons and bologna and sometimes reduced to cute or sentimental because pigeons and bologna are ordinary, everyday ephemera. I was poor. My uncle worked at a lunch meat spot, so we always had cuts of bologna or turkey or whatever. The miracle is that we ate. The miracle is that we were always broke but we always ate. The miracle is that we survived. The symbolism isn’t symbolism. I’m not conjuring anything. You call it transformation, but I think about it as revision. When I was a college undergrad, Professor Glenda Carpio taught us about Suzan-Lori Parks’s use of “rep and rev”—that is, repetition and revision. I’m not so much trying to transform the world, as much as I am trying to revise particular circumstances and moments, thereby opening up new possibilities—possibilities for alternative relationships, for healing, for care, for revival, for laughter, etc. The book is translated into Spanish by my friend David Ruano. And yet! The individual poems refuse to translate. I like this refusal to translate alongside the tactics of misdirection employed by the speaker of the poems. Does translation offer us opportunities to transform our relationships with one another? Maybe—but be careful. When I was a kid, I had to translate all the conversations between my teachers and my parents, and it wasn’t my fault if some of the teachers’ comments about me got lost in translation. Poets.org: The poem “Maybach Music” engages with hip-hop both thematically and formally; in particular, it samples a line from a verse by Houston rapper Paul Wall. Outside of hip-hop and electronic music, this technique has been denoted variously with terms such as “collage,” “bricolage,” “pastiche,” “interpolation,” and even the phrase “with a line from. . .” How do you think the notion of the sample relates to or differs from its relatives in the literary arts, and how does it inform this poem? JO: I love the use of the sample in hip-hop. I love tracing the contemporary songs I love back through the stems used to create them. The sample brings texture and rhythm to new works and adds layers to the music they pull from. When I hear The Isley Brothers’ “Footsteps In The Dark,” I also hear Ice Cube’s “It Was A Good Day.” I don’t know if a sample is different from its literary cousins, but I can tell you how it informs this poem. The title is also a sample of sorts. “Maybach Music” is a series of songs by Rick Ross. The songs flaunt their spectacular wealth. My version of “Maybach Music” plays on the wealth Ross and his peers brag about by boasting about buying fancy toilet paper. The sample of Paul Wall comes from trying to turn the poem towards the light. It comes after the humor of the poem is punched open like a balloon shot out of the air. I can feel myself striving to bend a poem upwards—for myself and the audience—so we don’t end with our hearts in our shoelaces. I imagine the sample cut in with Paul Wall’s voice. I imagine the delight in recognizing the voice and verse. And then the poem turns back towards the darkness. Sometimes, there’s no way to rescue the truth of a poem. Poets.org: A “promise” is defined as assurance. However, in the author’s note, you state that it is “an attempt.” Could you talk more about the structure your collection provides in the liminal space of assurance and attempt, thereby offering the waves of grief, humor, love, and healing found in this collection? JO: The movement of the collection mirrors the movement of some of the poems. There are moments of joy and humor that are undercut by intense moments of pain and grief. Sometimes the poems manage to rise again towards joy or revelation or wonder and sometimes they don’t. I was nervous about constructing this collection because I had an overarching idea. I visit high schools and universities all the time, so I get to spend a lot of time with young adults. I remember asking them about love and being met with silence. It made me want to write more about love. It felt like a gap that I might be able to meaningfully contribute to. I was a little saddened then, when textures of grief and fear punctuated my poems. Maybe I could revise away from those troubling emotions. Yet the poems and the collection felt realest to me when it acknowledged how much darkness there is in our attempts to love and do right by each other. Poets.org: Promises of Gold features a number of sonnets and sonnet-adjacent poems. Like fellow Chicago poet Carl Sandburg, who has one “Broken Sonnet” to his name, your experiments with the sonnet sometimes veer into a disruption of that very form. How does Promises of Gold react to and engage with the sonnet, both as a form and as an institution? JO: I love sonnets for a number of reasons. One, I’ve always written in form. I started writing by writing for poetry slam, and poetry slam has a strict form. Not just any poem will do well in the context of the slam. Within that structure, I learned how to subvert and surprise my audiences with my own particular flourishes. Secondly, I love sonnets because for so long they felt like a form that was forbidden from me. Indeed, I recoiled from sonnets. Why the hell would I want to write in a tradition that felt like it sneered or otherwise dismissed me as a viable writer, participant, or reader? That was my gut reaction when I was an angry twenty-something writer trying to find my way through my craft questions. Why the hell would I want to write in a tradition that felt like it sneered or otherwise dismissed me as a viable writer, participant, or reader? I found my way back to the sonnet because of Terrance Hayes, Wanda Coleman, and Diane Seuss. Their sonnets felt wild and imaginative to me. When I began writing sonnets, they felt like a good fit. Because I started writing in the slam, I am always writing towards revelation—the moment of astonishment wherein I might win the audience and judges. The sonnet has that moment built in in the volta. I like messing with the form because, somewhere inside me, there’s still a twenty-something writer flipping off the canon. Poets.org: What are you currently reading? JO: I am currently reading Darius Simpson’s Never Catch Me and Ama Codjoe’s Bluest Nude. ________________________________ “enjambments”, a monthly interview series produced by the Academy of American Poets, will highlight an emerging or established poet who has recently published a poetry collection. Each interview, along with poems from the poet’s new book, and a reading by the poet, will be published on Poets.org and shared in the Academy’s weekly newsletter.
Researchers across Africa, Asia and the Middle East are building their own language models designed for local tongues, cultural nuance and digital independence
"In a high-stakes artificial intelligence race between the United States and China, an equally transformative movement is taking shape elsewhere. From Cape Town to Bangalore, from Cairo to Riyadh, researchers, engineers and public institutions are building homegrown AI systems, models that speak not just in local languages, but with regional insight and cultural depth.
The dominant narrative in AI, particularly since the early 2020s, has focused on a handful of US-based companies like OpenAI with GPT, Google with Gemini, Meta’s LLaMa, Anthropic’s Claude. They vie to build ever larger and more capable models. Earlier in 2025, China’s DeepSeek, a Hangzhou-based startup, added a new twist by releasing large language models (LLMs) that rival their American counterparts, with a smaller computational demand. But increasingly, researchers across the Global South are challenging the notion that technological leadership in AI is the exclusive domain of these two superpowers.
Instead, scientists and institutions in countries like India, South Africa, Egypt and Saudi Arabia are rethinking the very premise of generative AI. Their focus is not on scaling up, but on scaling right, building models that work for local users, in their languages, and within their social and economic realities.
“How do we make sure that the entire planet benefits from AI?” asks Benjamin Rosman, a professor at the University of the Witwatersrand and a lead developer of InkubaLM, a generative model trained on five African languages. “I want more and more voices to be in the conversation”.
Beyond English, beyond Silicon Valley
Large language models work by training on massive troves of online text. While the latest versions of GPT, Gemini or LLaMa boast multilingual capabilities, the overwhelming presence of English-language material and Western cultural contexts in these datasets skews their outputs. For speakers of Hindi, Arabic, Swahili, Xhosa and countless other languages, that means AI systems may not only stumble over grammar and syntax, they can also miss the point entirely.
“In Indian languages, large models trained on English data just don’t perform well,” says Janki Nawale, a linguist at AI4Bharat, a lab at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras. “There are cultural nuances, dialectal variations, and even non-standard scripts that make translation and understanding difficult.” Nawale’s team builds supervised datasets and evaluation benchmarks for what specialists call “low resource” languages, those that lack robust digital corpora for machine learning.
It’s not just a question of grammar or vocabulary. “The meaning often lies in the implication,” says Vukosi Marivate, a professor of computer science at the University of Pretoria, in South Africa. “In isiXhosa, the words are one thing but what’s being implied is what really matters.” Marivate co-leads Masakhane NLP, a pan-African collective of AI researchers that recently developed AFROBENCH, a rigorous benchmark for evaluating how well large language models perform on 64 African languages across 15 tasks. The results, published in a preprint in March, revealed major gaps in performance between English and nearly all African languages, especially with open-source models.
Similar concerns arise in the Arabic-speaking world. “If English dominates the training process, the answers will be filtered through a Western lens rather than an Arab one,” says Mekki Habib, a robotics professor at the American University in Cairo. A 2024 preprint from the Tunisian AI firm Clusterlab finds that many multilingual models fail to capture Arabic’s syntactic complexity or cultural frames of reference, particularly in dialect-rich contexts.
Governments step in
For many countries in the Global South, the stakes are geopolitical as well as linguistic. Dependence on Western or Chinese AI infrastructure could mean diminished sovereignty over information, technology, and even national narratives. In response, governments are pouring resources into creating their own models.
Saudi Arabia’s national AI authority, SDAIA, has built ‘ALLaM,’ an Arabic-first model based on Meta’s LLaMa-2, enriched with more than 540 billion Arabic tokens. The United Arab Emirates has backed several initiatives, including ‘Jais,’ an open-source Arabic-English model built by MBZUAI in collaboration with US chipmaker Cerebras Systems and the Abu Dhabi firm Inception. Another UAE-backed project, Noor, focuses on educational and Islamic applications.
In Qatar, researchers at Hamad Bin Khalifa University, and the Qatar Computing Research Institute, have developed the Fanar platform and its LLMs Fanar Star and Fanar Prime. Trained on a trillion tokens of Arabic, English, and code, Fanar’s tokenization approach is specifically engineered to reflect Arabic’s rich morphology and syntax.
India has emerged as a major hub for AI localization. In 2024, the government launched BharatGen, a public-private initiative funded with 235 crore (€26 million) initiative aimed at building foundation models attuned to India’s vast linguistic and cultural diversity. The project is led by the Indian Institute of Technology in Bombay and also involves its sister organizations in Hyderabad, Mandi, Kanpur, Indore, and Madras. The programme’s first product, e-vikrAI, can generate product descriptions and pricing suggestions from images in various Indic languages. Startups like Ola-backed Krutrim and CoRover’s BharatGPT have jumped in, while Google’s Indian lab unveiled MuRIL, a language model trained exclusively on Indian languages. The Indian governments’ AI Mission has received more than180 proposals from local researchers and startups to build national-scale AI infrastructure and large language models, and the Bengaluru-based company, AI Sarvam, has been selected to build India’s first ‘sovereign’ LLM, expected to be fluent in various Indian languages.
In Africa, much of the energy comes from the ground up. Masakhane NLP and Deep Learning Indaba, a pan-African academic movement, have created a decentralized research culture across the continent. One notable offshoot, Johannesburg-based Lelapa AI, launched InkubaLM in September 2024. It’s a ‘small language model’ (SLM) focused on five African languages with broad reach: Swahili, Hausa, Yoruba, isiZulu and isiXhosa.
“With only 0.4 billion parameters, it performs comparably to much larger models,” says Rosman. The model’s compact size and efficiency are designed to meet Africa’s infrastructure constraints while serving real-world applications. Another African model is UlizaLlama, a 7-billion parameter model developed by the Kenyan foundation Jacaranda Health, to support new and expectant mothers with AI-driven support in Swahili, Hausa, Yoruba, Xhosa, and Zulu.
India’s research scene is similarly vibrant. The AI4Bharat laboratory at IIT Madras has just released IndicTrans2, that supports translation across all 22 scheduled Indian languages. Sarvam AI, another startup, released its first LLM last year to support 10 major Indian languages. And KissanAI, co-founded by Pratik Desai, develops generative AI tools to deliver agricultural advice to farmers in their native languages.
The data dilemma
Yet building LLMs for underrepresented languages poses enormous challenges. Chief among them is data scarcity. “Even Hindi datasets are tiny compared to English,” says Tapas Kumar Mishra, a professor at the National Institute of Technology, Rourkela in eastern India. “So, training models from scratch is unlikely to match English-based models in performance.”
Rosman agrees. “The big-data paradigm doesn’t work for African languages. We simply don’t have the volume.” His team is pioneering alternative approaches like the Esethu Framework, a protocol for ethically collecting speech datasets from native speakers and redistributing revenue back to further development of AI tools for under-resourced languages. The project’s pilot used read speech from isiXhosa speakers, complete with metadata, to build voice-based applications.
In Arab nations, similar work is underway. Clusterlab’s 101 Billion Arabic Words Dataset is the largest of its kind, meticulously extracted and cleaned from the web to support Arabic-first model training.
The cost of staying local
But for all the innovation, practical obstacles remain. “The return on investment is low,” says KissanAI’s Desai. “The market for regional language models is big, but those with purchasing power still work in English.” And while Western tech companies attract the best minds globally, including many Indian and African scientists, researchers at home often face limited funding, patchy computing infrastructure, and unclear legal frameworks around data and privacy.
“There’s still a lack of sustainable funding, a shortage of specialists, and insufficient integration with educational or public systems,” warns Habib, the Cairo-based professor. “All of this has to change.”
A different vision for AI
Despite the hurdles, what’s emerging is a distinct vision for AI in the Global South – one that favours practical impact over prestige, and community ownership over corporate secrecy.
“There’s more emphasis here on solving real problems for real people,” says Nawale of AI4Bharat. Rather than chasing benchmark scores, researchers are aiming for relevance: tools for farmers, students, and small business owners.
And openness matters. “Some companies claim to be open-source, but they only release the model weights, not the data,” Marivate says. “With InkubaLM, we release both. We want others to build on what we’ve done, to do it better.”
In a global contest often measured in teraflops and tokens, these efforts may seem modest. But for the billions who speak the world’s less-resourced languages, they represent a future in which AI doesn’t just speak to them, but with them."
Sibusiso Biyela, Amr Rageh and Shakoor Rather
20 May 2025
https://www.natureasia.com/en/nmiddleeast/article/10.1038/nmiddleeast.2025.65
#metaglossia_mundus
Datos Lexicográficos y Diccionarios Digitales: Aproximaciones Teóricas y Prácticas para el español, en la UR.
"Datos Lexicográficos y Diccionarios Digitales: aproximaciones teóricas y prácticas para el español
27 Jun 2025
Online
Inscripción necesaria
Presentación
La relevancia de los datos en el mundo actual es incuestionable. Varios organismos internacionales han señalado que la inversión en “centros de datos” ha superado los 300 mil millones de dólares en el año 2024 y prevén que dicha inversión irá en aumento en los próximos años porque este tipo de infraestructuras son necesarias para el desarrollo de la Inteligencia Artificial (IA), la computación en la nube (cloud computing), el desarrollo del 5G y el Internet de las cosas, y la consolidación del
streaming y los servicios digitales. En este marco se sitúa el curso, que analizará la relación entre los datos lexicográficos y el diccionario digital.
Un diccionario digital es una aplicación informática que sirve de herramienta de consulta. Está compuesta por tres componentes principales: la base de datos lexicográfica, la interfaz gráfica del usuario o GUI (Graphical User Interface) y el sistema (o sistemas) de acceso a los datos o búsqueda de los mismos. La interrelación de estos tres sistemas se manifiesta de forma clara en una serie de ideas, que, con especial referencia al español, serán objeto de estudio y debate durante el curso.
Primero, el diseño, construcción y actualización de una herramienta de consulta están íntimamente relacionados con el concepto de dato lexicográfico, que es tanto una unidad de representación “fungible” (es decir, que puede aislarse, venderse, modificarse, por sí misma) como “cognitivamente independiente” (es decir, diseñada para evitar el estrés cognitivo que se produce cuando se usan abreviaturas, definiciones recursivas y otras estructuras lexicográficas que obligan al usuario a llevar a cabo más de un proceso para comprenderlo y poder usarlo con garantías).
Segundo, el dato lexicográfico es objeto de trabajo de la lexicografía, que es una disciplina independiente con una gran vocación interdisciplinar. Como tal, colabora con otras disciplinas en la búsqueda de soluciones específicas a problemas concretos, como son las diferencias entre sense y reference y su descripción específica, las diversas posibilidades que existen de acceder y presentar los datos lexicográficos, o el diseño de la página web del diccionario.
Tercero, la tecnología es un elemento central en el diseño, construcción y actualización de cualquier diccionario digital; por ejemplo, la llegada de tecnologías “disruptivas” (o desestabilizadoras) como la Inteligencia Artificial generativa está modificando sustancialmente tanto el trabajo lexicográfico como la propia investigación en lexicografía.
Cuarto, las tres ideas que acabamos de mencionar influyen claramente en los aspectos concretos que debemos abordar a la hora de diseñar, construir y tener siempre actualizado un diccionario concreto como puede ser el Diccionario Digital del Español (DIDES).
https://www.unirioja.es/actividades/datos-lexicograficos-y-diccionarios-digitales-aproximaciones-teoricas-y-practicas-para-el-espanol/
#metaglossia_mundus
Le procès de l’influenceur Imadtintin soulève des questions sur la traduction et la provocation au terrorisme. Découvrez les enjeux d’une affaire complexe.
"Procès Imadtintin : La Traduction au Cœur du Débat
Steven Soarez
24/05/2025
Un influenceur algérien jugé pour provocation au terrorisme : le procès d’Imadtintin met la traduction sous les projecteurs. Quels enjeux pour la justice ?
Dans une salle d’audience baignée par la lumière froide de Grenoble, un homme de 31 ans, connu sous le pseudonyme d’Imadtintin, se tient à la barre. Ce vendredi 23 mai 2025, Imad Ould Brahim, influenceur algérien suivi par des milliers de personnes sur TikTok, fait face à une accusation lourde : provocation directe à un acte de terrorisme. Mais au-delà des vidéos incriminées, c’est une question bien plus subtile qui émerge au fil des débats : celle de la traduction. Comment des mots prononcés en arabe, sous-titrés en français, peuvent-ils faire basculer un destin dans une salle de tribunal ?
Un Procès aux Enjeux Multiples
L’affaire débute par une dénonciation. Un activiste politique, exilé en France et opposé au régime algérien, repère des vidéos sur le compte TikTok d’Imadtintin. Ces publications, selon lui, incitent à la violence contre les opposants du pouvoir en place à Alger. Il les reposte, accompagnées de sous-titres en français, et alerte les autorités. Ce signalement conduit à l’arrestation d’Imad Ould Brahim début janvier. Mais dès l’ouverture du procès, un problème central se pose : les traductions des vidéos sont-elles fiables ?
Le tribunal correctionnel de Grenoble doit trancher. Les accusations reposent sur des extraits vidéo où l’influenceur semble appeler à des actes violents. Pourtant, la défense soutient que les sous-titres, réalisés par un tiers, pourraient avoir déformé le sens originel des propos. Ce n’est pas seulement une question de mots, mais de contexte, de culture et d’intention.
La Traduction : Un Pont ou un Mur ?
Traduire, c’est transporter une idée d’une langue à une autre, mais c’est aussi, parfois, trahir. Dans le cas d’Imadtintin, les sous-titres français des vidéos en arabe ont joué un rôle clé. Ont-ils exagéré, voire altéré, les propos de l’influenceur ? Les experts linguistiques convoqués au tribunal soulignent la difficulté de traduire des expressions idiomatiques ou des références culturelles spécifiques. Une phrase anodine dans un contexte peut devenir incendiaire dans un autre.
« Une traduction n’est jamais neutre. Elle porte toujours une part d’interprétation, surtout dans des affaires sensibles comme celle-ci », explique un traducteur assermenté au tribunal.
Pour mieux comprendre, imaginons une expression populaire algérienne. Prononcée avec ironie ou dans un cadre humoristique, elle pourrait être mal interprétée si traduite littéralement. La défense d’Imadtintin argue que les vidéos, souvent tournées dans un style théâtral propre aux réseaux sociaux, relevaient davantage de la provocation verbale que d’un véritable appel à la violence.
Contexte clé : Les vidéos incriminées ont été publiées sur TikTok, une plateforme où l’exagération et l’humour sont monnaie courante. Mais dans un tribunal, ces nuances s’effacent souvent au profit d’une lecture littérale.
Réseaux Sociaux : Une Arme à Double Tranchant
Les réseaux sociaux, comme TikTok, amplifient les voix, mais ils amplifient aussi les malentendus. Imadtintin, avec ses milliers d’abonnés, s’est bâti une notoriété en publiant des contenus parfois polémiques, souvent dans un registre émotionnel. Mais ce qui peut passer pour une performance sur une plateforme peut devenir une preuve accablante dans un cadre judiciaire.
Le cas d’Imadtintin illustre un phénomène plus large : la responsabilité des influenceurs dans un monde hyperconnecté. Une vidéo de quelques secondes peut être vue, partagée, et reinterpretée par des millions de personnes. Dans ce procès, les juges doivent non seulement évaluer les propos tenus, mais aussi leur portée réelle. Les abonnés d’Imadtintin ont-ils perçu ses vidéos comme un appel à l’action ou comme une simple provocation ?
Portée des vidéos : Des milliers de vues, mais une audience principalement jeune, habituée aux codes de TikTok.
Contexte politique : Les tensions entre la France et l’Algérie influencent la perception des propos.
Rôle des sous-titres : Une traduction non officielle peut transformer un message.
Un Contexte Politique Chargé
L’affaire Imadtintin ne peut être dissociée du contexte diplomatique tendu entre la France et l’Algérie. Les relations entre les deux pays, marquées par des décennies de crises et de gestes d’apaisement, influencent ce procès. Les accusations portées contre l’influenceur s’inscrivent dans un climat où chaque mot peut être perçu comme un acte politique. Les opposants au régime algérien, comme l’activiste à l’origine de la dénonciation, sont souvent sous pression, ce qui ajoute une couche de complexité à l’affaire.
Certains observateurs estiment que ce procès reflète une volonté de contrôler les discours en ligne, notamment ceux émanant de la diaspora algérienne. Mais pour d’autres, il s’agit avant tout de protéger l’ordre public face à des discours potentiellement dangereux.
« Les réseaux sociaux sont un miroir déformant. Ils amplifient les passions, mais aussi les malentendus », note un sociologue spécialisé dans les médias numériques.
La Justice Face à un Dilemme
Le tribunal de Grenoble se trouve dans une position délicate. D’un côté, il doit juger des faits graves : la provocation au terrorisme est une accusation lourde, passible de plusieurs années de prison. De l’autre, il doit prendre en compte les nuances linguistiques et culturelles. Les charges pourraient-elles être requalifiées en un délit moins sévère, comme l’apologie du terrorisme ou une simple infraction liée à la liberté d’expression ?
La défense d’Imadtintin insiste sur l’absence d’intention criminelle. Selon elle, les vidéos s’inscrivent dans un style provocateur, mais sans volonté réelle de nuire. Les procureurs, eux, mettent en avant le risque que de tels propos, même mal interprétés, puissent inspirer des actes violents.
Accusation Arguments de l’accusation Arguments de la défense
Provocation au terrorisme Vidéos incitant à la violence contre des opposants. Mauvaise traduction, absence d’intention criminelle.
Contexte des vidéos Publiées sur une plateforme influente, risque d’impact. Style théâtral propre à TikTok, non destiné à nuire.
Les Enjeux de la Liberté d’Expression
Ce procès soulève une question fondamentale : où se situe la frontière entre la liberté d’expression et l’incitation à la violence ? Dans un monde où les réseaux sociaux donnent une voix à tous, les paroles des influenceurs sont scrutées. Mais juger un contenu numérique, souvent produit dans l’instantanéité, avec les outils rigides de la justice traditionnelle est un défi. Les mots d’Imadtintin, qu’ils soient maladroits ou mal interprétés, ont-ils vraiment le pouvoir de déclencher des actes violents ?
Les experts en droit s’accordent à dire que ce type de procès marque une nouvelle ère. Les influenceurs, autrefois perçus comme des amuseurs, sont désormais considérés comme des acteurs politiques potentiels. Leur parole peut peser lourd, surtout dans des contextes sensibles comme celui des relations franco-algériennes.
Point clé : La justice doit évoluer pour intégrer les spécificités des réseaux sociaux, où le ton et l’intention sont souvent difficiles à cerner.
Un Débat qui Dépasse les Frontières
L’affaire Imadtintin n’est pas un cas isolé. Elle s’inscrit dans une série de tensions entre la France et l’Algérie, où la diaspora joue un rôle clé. Les influenceurs, qu’ils soient en France ou ailleurs, deviennent des porte-voix pour des communautés souvent marginalisées. Mais avec cette visibilité vient une responsabilité. Les mots, amplifiés par les algorithmes, peuvent traverser les frontières et alimenter des conflits.
En Algérie, le régime surveille de près les discours des exilés. En France, les autorités doivent jongler entre la protection de la liberté d’expression et la prévention des discours de haine. Le procès d’Imadtintin illustre ce délicat équilibre.
« Les influenceurs sont les nouveaux pamphlétaires. Leur parole peut libérer, mais aussi diviser », observe un analyste des médias.
Vers un Verdict Incertain
Alors que le procès touche à sa fin, les regards se tournent vers le verdict. Les juges pourraient requalifier les faits pour éviter une condamnation trop lourde, mais le message envoyé sera scruté. Une condamnation sévère pourrait être perçue comme une atteinte à la liberté d’expression, tandis qu’une décision clémente pourrait être interprétée comme une faiblesse face à des discours potentiellement dangereux.
Ce qui est certain, c’est que l’affaire Imadtintin marque un tournant. Elle rappelle que les mots, surtout sur les réseaux sociaux, ne sont jamais anodins. Et que la traduction, loin d’être un simple exercice linguistique, peut devenir une arme dans un tribunal.
Verdict attendu : Une possible requalification des faits en délit moins grave.
Impact diplomatique : Une décision qui pourrait influencer les relations franco-algériennes.
Rôle des influenceurs : Une responsabilité croissante dans un monde connecté.
Ce procès, au-delà de l’histoire d’un homme, interroge notre rapport aux mots, à la technologie et à la justice. Dans une société où chaque publication peut devenir une preuve, comment préserver la liberté tout en protégeant l’ordre public ? L’histoire d’Imadtintin, entre TikTok et tribunal, n’a pas fini de faire parler."
https://viralmag.fr/proces-imadtintin-la-traduction-au-coeur-du-debat/
#metaglossia_mundus
"Can a digital platform save a language from fading away?
by Mafumane Tlhapi
A recent study by Phenyo Mokgothu, a master's graduate and communication practitioner with the North-West University (NWU), has shown that digital community newspapers can indeed preserve language and culture, even in the shifting landscape of online media.
"Every issue is published in an indigenous language, it’s not just about news; it’s about preserving local indigenous language," says Mokgothu, who led a study examining the role of digital community newspapers in safeguarding indigenous languages and cultural heritage in South Africa.
Mokgothu’s research, titled “The role of digital community newspapers in indigenous languages and culture preservation: The case of Seipone Madireng”, found that digital community newspapers do more than report local stories; they serve as cultural anchors for their readers. "We wanted to understand how users see the role of this platform. They told us it reflects their daily experiences and traditions in a way that national outlets do not," Mokgothu says.
The study also revealed that community newspapers promote cultural preservation through active community engagement, bilingual advertising and educational initiatives. "Publishing advertisements in both English and the indigenous language bridges cultural gaps and ensures inclusivity," Mokgothu adds. The research highlighted that this approach not only strengthens community bonds but also promotes pride in linguistic heritage...
However, Mokgothu’s findings also pointed to significant challenges faced by community newspapers, including limited financial support, weak digital infrastructure and minimal visibility in mainstream media. Accessibility issues and the imbalance between cultural preservation and technological adaptation were also noted. Despite these barriers, Mokgothu remains optimistic. "There is a clear link between digital access and cultural survival. Community media must be part of future language strategies," he says.
To overcome these obstacles, the study recommends investing in digital literacy programmes to equip indigenous communities with the necessary digital skills, enhancing community engagement through regular feedback, and collaborating with government bodies, cultural organisations and educational institutions for financial sustainability. According to Mokgothu, such collaborations could provide critical funding and resources to support digital community newspapers...
The findings suggest that sustaining indigenous languages in the digital age demands more than community effort; it requires broader investment and strategic support.
*Phenyo Mokgothu...holds a Bachelor of Science degree, a Bachelor of Arts degree in Corporate Communication. An Honours degree in Media and Journalism, a master’s degree in communication and currently pursuing a PhD in Communication."
https://news.nwu.ac.za/can-digital-platform-save-language-fading-away
#metaglossia_mundus
"NCAC: National Language Policy Development Takes Shape with Focus on Minority Languages
As part of its mandate as the National Focal Point for National Languages, the National Centre for Arts and Culture (NCAC) on Tuesday, 20th May 2025, convened a daylong stakeholder workshop focused on the role, contributions, and expectations of minority languages within the emerging National Language Policy.
The workshop, held at the NCAC’s RDD Annex along Kairaba Avenue, was supported by the African Union’s Academy of Languages (ACALAN) and brought together a diverse group of academic and cultural stakeholders.
Key issues discussed included the expectations from a National Language Policy, the potential contributions of minority languages to enrich such a policy, and the challenges and threats facing these languages, challenges the policy aims to address. The forum provided a platform to strategize on the valorization, preservation, and promotion of The Gambia’s national languages.
In his opening remarks, NCAC Director General Hassoum Ceesay commended the participants for their strong response to the centre’s invitation, describing it as a clear sign of their commitment to shaping a National Language Policy Document by mid-2025.
DG Ceesay highlighted that the development of the National Language Policy is funded by ACALAN, a specialized agency of the African Union responsible for the implementation of the Language Plan of Action for Africa (LPAA).
He emphasized that the policy should be inclusive and empowering, reflecting the linguistic diversity of The Gambia.
“Our national languages are rich and hold significant potential for national development. Unfortunately, they remain underutilized. This policy will explore ways to empower, promote, and preserve them,” he stated.
Since the program’s inception in The Gambia in 2023, the NCAC has conducted several activities to raise awareness and advance the drafting of the policy. These include training sessions, sensitization workshops, and creative initiatives such as commissioning a kora maestro to compose a song celebrating national languages.
Speaking at the forum, Mr. Nana Grey-Johnson of the University of The Gambia described the workshop as timely and significant, noting that the eventual National Language Policy will be a major milestone in the country’s cultural and linguistic development.
“This initiative deserves commendation,” he added, thanking the NCAC for taking on the responsibility of coordinating the project on behalf of ACALAN."
By: Yunus S. Saliu
thevoice
14 hours ago
https://www.voicegambia.com/2025/05/23/ncac-national-language-policy-development-takes-shape-with-focus-on-minority-languages/?amp=1
#metaglossia_mundus
"Déclaration : Pour une politique linguistique inclusive, gage de la cohésion nationale et de la diversité culturelle en Mauritanie
La Coordination des Associations culturelles de langues a exprimé dans une déclaration rendue publique ce vendredi 23 mai 2025, sa vive préoccupation face au débat qui agite depuis quelque temps l’opinion nationale, à propos du statut des langues en Mauritanie.
Composée de l’Association pour la Renaissance du Pulaar en Mauritanie (ARPRIM), de l’Association Mauritanienne pour la Promotion de la Langue et de la Culture Sooninke (AMPLCS), et de l’Association pour la Promotion de la Langue Wolof (APROLAWO), la coordination a appelé entre autres dans sa déclation dont ci-après l'intégralité, à l’officialisation effective du pulaar, du sooninke et du wolof, par une loi claire définissant leurs rôles, leurs domaines d’usage et les mécanismes concrets de mise en œuvre.
"La Coordination des Associations culturelles de langues — composée de l’Association pour la Renaissance du Pulaar en Mauritanie (ARPRIM), de l’Association Mauritanienne pour la Promotion de la Langue et de la Culture Sooninke (AMPLCS), et de l’Association pour la Promotion de la Langue Wolof (APROLAWO) — exprime sa vive préoccupation face au débat qui agite depuis quelque temps l’opinion nationale, à propos du statut des langues en Mauritanie.
En effet, certaines prises de position et revendications risquent plutôt de porter atteinte aux droits culturels et linguistiques d’une partie importante de Mauritaniens. Elles pourraient ainsi fragiliser davantage la cohésion sociale d’un pays historiquement riche de sa diversité linguistique et culturelle.
En plus, ces positions exclusivistes vont à l’encontre de l’esprit de la Constitution mauritanienne et des engagements internationaux pris par notre pays, notamment :
la Convention de l’UNESCO de 2005 sur la protection et la promotion de la diversité des expressions culturelles, qui invite les États à favoriser le multilinguisme et à garantir l’accès à la langue des communautés dans les domaines de l’éducation, des médias et de l’administration.
le Pacte international relatif aux droits civils et politiques (article 27), qui reconnaît aux communautés linguistiques le droit d’« utiliser leur propre langue ».
la Charte africaine des droits de l’homme et des peuples (article 17), qui garantit à chaque peuple le droit à sa culture, à sa langue et à leur promotion.
Face à ce débat, qui pourrait engendrer des interprétations et confusions regrettables, nous, Coordination des Associations culturelles de langues, appelons à une politique linguistique inclusive, fondée sur la reconnaissance égale de toutes les langues nationales, dans un esprit de justice, de respect mutuel et de dignité partagée. Concrètement, cela implique :
l’officialisation effective du pulaar, du sooninke et du wolof, par une loi claire définissant leurs rôles, leurs domaines d’usage et les mécanismes concrets de mise en œuvre.
la généralisation rapide de l’enseignement dans les langues nationales à l’école fondamentale, comme recommandé lors des évaluations du BREDA/UNESCO en 1984, et par le ministère de l’Éducation nationale en 1988. Il s’agit là d’un levier essentiel pour une éducation de qualité, inclusive et équitable.
la promotion d’un multilinguisme équilibré, valorisant également les langues étrangères — notamment le français et l’anglais — comme outils de travail, d’apprentissage et d’ouverture sur le monde.
Nous sommes convaincus que la Mauritanie ne pourra bâtir une unité nationale durable qu’en respectant la dignité linguistique de toutes ses composantes. Officialiser l’ensemble des langues nationales, c’est affirmer en effet l’égale citoyenneté de tous les Mauritaniens.
La Coordination des Associations culturelles appelle donc à la mise en place d’une politique linguistique équitable, inclusive et progressiste, gage d’un avenir commun, de cohésion sociale et de paix durable.
Nouakchott, le 20 mai 2025
La Coordination"
https://alwiam.info/fr/ar/14709
#metaglossia_mundus
"¿Cómo funciona la traducción literaria?
¿Es el traductor siempre un traidor?
Traidores o fieles, los traductores interpretan, consciente o inconscientemente, su visión del texto original. La ‘Odisea’ de Emily Wilson y el ‘Orlando’ de Jorge Luis Borges así lo representan.
22 MAYO
2025
Gudrun Palomino
Los traductores literarios, además de ser transmisores de un mensaje escrito en un idioma a otro distinto, son creadores. Esta creación surge de la interpretación que da un traductor al texto, que acaba presentándose como un texto nuevo en la lengua meta. ¿Hasta qué punto un traductor cambia una novela, un poema o una obra de teatro más allá de la cuestión idiomática? ¿Su interpretación puede cambiar el sentido y el significado del texto tal y como lo escribió el autor original?
Los traductores en España están considerados como autores por la actual Ley de Propiedad Intelectual. Es decir, son autores de una obra derivada del texto origen. Sin embargo, el rol del traductor como intérprete del texto ha dado lugar a muchas reflexiones, que a su vez han derivado en polémicas públicas.
La expresión traduttore, traditore (traductor, traidor) refleja el debate que se ha mantenido durante siglos. ¿El traductor es un traidor de la obra origen? ¿Es, o debe ser, fiel al texto? La idea del traduttore, traditore se remonta al principio de intraducibilidad, a la idea de que ningún texto se puede traducir del todo, sin poder hacer una equivalencia real entre un idioma A y un idioma B. También hace referencia a la fidelidad al texto origen, a que el autor es el único propietario del texto y el traductor es un mero reproductor de las palabras y el mensaje que transmite. ¿Existe acaso un punto medio?
La dicotomía intraducibilidad-fidelidad ha dado lugar a que el debate se abra a lectores de traducciones literarias. Umberto Eco expresó en el ensayo Decir casi lo mismo: la traducción como experiencia que «la traducción no debe ser más bonita que el original», sino que debe haber un límite en la libertad creativa. ¿Qué ocurre cuando la interpretación de un texto por parte de un traductor genera cierta polémica?
Jorge Luis Borges y su ‘Orlando’
Jorge Luis Borges tradujo a autores como Edgar Allan Poe, Franz Kafka, Walt Whitman, Herman Melville, Virginia Woolf, Oscar Wilde y William Faulker. En el texto de no ficción «Siete noches», Borges presentó su visión sobre la traducción: «(…) comprendí que las traducciones no pueden ser un sucedáneo del texto original. La traducción puede ser, en todo caso, un medio y un estímulo para acercar al lector al original; sobre todo, en el caso del español».
La polémica de la traducción de Jorge Luis Borges de Orlando de Virginia Woolf resurge cuando se veta en España en 2023 una obra de teatro sobre la novela. Tras este veto, se develaron ciertas cuestiones éticas de su traducción. Según la traductora e investigadora Itziar Hernández Rodilla, que ha traducido gran parte de la obra narrativa y ensayística de Woolf (como Un cuarto propio, Las olas u Orlando. Una biografía), una traducción de Borges tal vez no pasaría una prueba editorial porque están marcadas por gestos de extrema visibilidad. Para Borges, «el original es infiel a la traducción», pero en su versión, para «mejorar el estilo», eliminaba la sintaxis fragmentada y la indeterminación del sujeto intencionales de la autora, además de prescindir del humor de Virginia Woolf.
Emily Wilson: la traducción contemporánea de la ‘Odisea’
Emily Wilson es filóloga clásica, pero destaca por ser traductora de la Odisea y la Ilíada de Homero al inglés. Su traducción de la Odisea coincide con el número de versos del original griego y está escrita en pentámetros yámbicos, con un lenguaje claro y accesible que se leyera en voz alta. Fue la primera mujer en traducir el poema épico al inglés: la primera vez que se publicó en este idioma fue en 1615.
En su Odisea, Wilson optó por traducir el término griego douloi no como «sirvientes», sino como «esclavos», para resaltar las relaciones de poder que presentaba Homero. También fue consciente de las elecciones de términos de otros traductores, que utilizaban un lenguaje misógino cuya connotación no estaba presente en la Odisea original. Se trata de un ejercicio de retraducción consciente, aunque varios críticos como Janey Tracey declararon que su traducción se contextualiza en el ambiente político actual.
El ejercicio de traducción de Wilson recuerda a la traducción y edición de José María Micó al español de la Comedia de Dante que publicó Acantilado. Micó lo explica en su «Nota sobre el texto y la traducción»: «El texto de los clásicos goza el privilegio de la perennidad pero que cada época requiere sus traducciones (…). La lengua de la traducción debe ser equivalente en lo posible a la lengua del autor, pero no a una lengua de época, para que el lector pueda sentir como contemporáneo a un gran poeta que vivió hace siete siglos».
La libertad creativa en el proceso de publicación
Emily Wilson y Borges representan dos formas distintas de abordar la cuestión de la libertad creativa en la traducción literaria. Wilson es transparente acerca de sus elecciones interpretativas, las justifica dentro del contexto de una nueva sensibilidad crítica de los lectores. Borges, en cambio, plasma en sus traducciones conscientemente su estilo como escritor.
En la actualidad, si comparamos las polémicas con la experiencia traductológica del mercado editorial en España, son anecdóticas: detrás del proceso de edición de un libro (independientemente del género literario) hay una cadena de profesionales, en la que cada uno forma parte de un engranaje complejo para que el libro quede lo más profesional posible, sin creaciones literarias extremas y manteniendo el mensaje del texto original. Si hay aspectos creativos en los que la decisión traductológica tiene un peso importante, se comentan y se deciden. Es decir, el traductor promedio no tiene la libertad que tuvo Borges para reescribir prácticamente Orlando de Virginia Woolf, aunque sí podría tenerla si justificara (y la editorial aceptase esas justificaciones) sus decisiones como lo hizo Emily Wilson."
https://ethic.es/traductor-traidor
#metaglossia_mundus
Manga translators face linguistic puzzles, cultural minefields and online backlash — all for the love of a perfectly written speech bubble.
"Translating manga might seem like a dream job — until the フレーミング (furēmingu, “flaming” or online abuse) starts.
Professional translators for such manga titles as “One Piece” and “My Hero Academia” have faced major harassment for their decisions. These highly publicized online feuds can get pretty fierce, especially when identity politics get involved. In one such highly publicized case involving the manga “I Think I Turned My Childhood Friend Into a Girl,” a cross-dressing character in the Japanese original was rendered as a trans woman in English. In this world, nuance is everything and peace is rare.
And that’s before you even get to the truly hard part: the Japanese language itself. From grammatical ambiguity to context-dependent particles that defy logic and Western equivalents, translating manga isn’t just a job — it’s a balancing act between fidelity, clarity and, sometimes, not getting yelled at online..."
BY ERIC MARGOLIS
May 23, 2025
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2025/05/23/language/manga-translation-japanese/
#metaglossia_mundus
"VOX POPULI: Translators are an indispensable asset to the literary world
Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a daily column that runs on Page 1 of The Asahi Shimbun.
May 23, 2025 at 13:11 JST
...
In the past, Japanese authors available in translation were primarily limited to Yukio Mishima (1925-1970), Yasunari Kawabata (1899-1972) and Junichiro Tanizaki (1886-1965). Today, however, novels by Haruki Murakami, Banana Yoshimoto and a wider array of contemporary Japanese writers are available in multiple languages.
In recent years, translations of Japanese-language books spanning a much broader range of genres and authors have become increasingly accessible.
As my search for translations of Japanese books extends beyond foreign bookstores, I also turn to international book reviews and explore literary award nominees.
Recently, the shortlist for Britain’s prestigious International Booker Prize was announced, and Hiromi Kawakami's novel “Under the Eye of the Big Bird” was among the six books selected.
This award, which is part of the globally renowned Booker Prize, is presented annually to the best work of fiction from around the world that has been translated into English and published in Britain or Ireland. It is awarded to both the author and the translator.
The 2025 International Booker Prize was awarded to “Heart Lamp,” a short story collection by Indian author Banu Mushtaq, translated from Kannada. This marks the first time a work originally written in Kannada, a language spoken by an estimated 65 million people in southern India, has won the award.
In the world of translation, works translated from English into other languages far outnumber translations from other languages into English. However, if the latter category grows and expands, we may begin to see more works originally written in languages other than English gaining recognition.
The Japanese author I have encountered most frequently on foreign bookshelves is Haruki Murakami, whose works have been translated into more than 50 languages.
With the help of talented translators, I hope Japanese literature will continue to be translated into even more languages, further extending its global reach.
—The Asahi Shimbun, May 23..."
https://www.asahi.com/sp/ajw/articles/15786596
#metaglossia_mundus
"Le Goethe-Institut Tunis est heureux d’annoncer le lancement d’un projet de résidence de traduction exceptionnel, porté par l’auteur et traducteur Dhia Bousselmi.
Pendant une période de dix mois, Dhia Bousselmi se consacrera à la traduction du célèbre roman “Le Loup des steppes” de Hermann Hesse vers le dialecte tunisien.
Ce projet s’inscrit dans une volonté de rendre accessible au public tunisien un chef-d'œuvre de la littérature mondiale dans une langue vivante, quotidienne et qui émane de l’imaginaire collectif tunisien.
La résidence permettra un travail de fond sur la langue et les choix de traduction.
Des moments choisis du processus créatif et de la recherche autour de la traduction seront éventuellement partagés. Ce sera également l’occasion de réfléchir ensemble à la place des dialectes dans la traduction littéraire et dans la valorisation du patrimoine linguistique.
Ce projet est une invitation à redécouvrir Le Loup des steppes sous un jour nouveau, et à faire dialoguer littérature allemande et culture tunisienne avec audace et sensibilité.
À l’issue de cette période de recherche et de concrétisation de la traduction, le Goethe-Institut organisera un événement de lancement du livre à la fin de l’année 2025. Restez connectés !"
https://www.goethe.de/ins/tn/fr/m/kul/sup/sbl.html
#metaglossia_mundus
The LMU is one of the most prestigious and traditional universities in Europe. It combines outstanding research with a challenging range of courses.
"Cross-Cultural Philology Cluster of Excellence: moving beyond the Eurocentric perspective in philology
22 May 2025
The new Cluster of Excellence studies philological traditions over 5,000 years to foster intercultural understanding.
The Cross-Cultural Philology cluster takes a cross-cultural approach to the study of philological practices and cultural dynamics over a 5,000-year period. The focus is on the wealth of philological traditions in the Near East and Middle East, in East Asia, on the Indian subcontinent, in North, East, and West Africa, and in Europe. By adopting a comparative cultural approach, the researchers in the cluster hope to gain insights that go far beyond the findings of previous research.
Professor Beate Kellner, Chair of Medieval German Literature at LMU Munich and spokesperson for the Cross-Cultural Philology Cluster of Excellence, explains the cluster’s focus and its objectives.
We will be taking a comparative look at philological practices around the world over a period of 5,000 years.
BEATE KELLNER, CHAIR OF MEDIEVAL GERMAN LITERATURE AT LMU MUNICH
Safeguarding the global cultural heritage
Prof. Dr. Beate Kellner
Spokesperson for the Cross-Cultural Philology Cluster of Excellence | © Hans Herbig
What objectives are you pursuing with the cluster?
Beate Kellner: We will be taking a comparative look at philological practices around the world over a period of 5,000 years. Our aim is to develop a comprehensive history of scholarship and to move beyond the Eurocentric perspective that has largely characterised research to date. The cluster is going to be studying a significant part of the global cultural heritage and safeguarding it. The work will help to overcome the pressing social challenge of improving understanding and communication between cultures.
How do you view the social significance of the humanities disciplines involved in the cluster?
We live in an age dominated by fast, loud, and simple messages. As a contrast to this, we have philological research, which deciphers complex texts in order to preserve and explain them for humanity in the long term. This task is more topical and more necessary than ever. In the midst of today’s flood of information and the declining attention span of each individual in society, philology forms a necessary counterbalance through its approach guided by critical reading and analysis. Our cluster draws on a worldwide archive of texts, cultural achievements, and techniques spanning thousands of years. The cluster’s joint research aims to explore these cultural traditions anew from a comparative perspective.
It’s not just researchers who should have basic philological skills and powers of critical thinking, but every person in our society. In the interests of achieving this, we want to give the humanities at LMU a refresh and position them for the future in the best way we can.
We are able to build on the extraordinary diversity of philological disciplines at LMU to make the cluster an internationally unique center.
BEATE KELLNER, CHAIR OF MEDIEVAL GERMAN LITERATURE AT LMU MUNICH
Seven LMU faculties are involved
What does the cluster build on and who is involved?
The cluster brings together 25 Principal Investigators and numerous Key Researchers, many of whom are international leaders in their respective research areas and have already collaborated on interdisciplinary projects. I would particularly like to highlight International Doctorate Program Philology. This pilot project has shown how fruitful our research approach is and how enthusiastically it is being taken up by early-career researchers. This experience is partly what motivated us to apply to become a Cluster of Excellence.
Researchers from seven LMU faculties are involved in the Cross-Cultural Philology Cluster, as well as one colleague from the University of Würzburg. We are able to build on the extraordinary diversity of philological disciplines at LMU to make the cluster an internationally unique center. The range of subjects extends from Assyriology and Egyptology to Greek Philology and Sinology, to name just four disciplines.
The cluster’s research covers a period of 5,000 years and focuses on numerous cultures. How is the work structured?
The cluster is divided into five research areas and three transversal perspectives that address overarching issues and objectives. We have also developed a network of different forms of collaboration that spans the entire cluster. We are going to establish a number of working formats such as annual working groups, regular meetings and panels with international participants. There will be summer schools and master classes for early-career researchers, for example.
We will examine how philological practices were embedded in different cultures, religions, ethnicities, and legal and political systems.
BEATE KELLNER, CHAIR OF MEDIEVAL GERMAN LITERATURE AT LMU MUNICH
Diversity is at the heart of the research project
© Stefan Pörtner
Can you give us an example of the type of questions you will be answering?
Part of what scholars in the Writing Systems research area are studying is how writing systems developed and spread in different cultures, how they were linked to different forms of knowledge, and why they sometimes disappeared again.
How do you deal with the diverse range of research questions in the cluster?
Diversity is at the heart of our research project. We will examine how philological practices were embedded in different cultures, religions, ethnicities, and legal and political systems. These thematic aspects of diversity will also be reflected in the cluster’s structure.
Are you also planning some formats for science communication?
We will establish a range of digital publication formats and outreach measures to communicate our research findings not only to the scientific community but also to the broader public. Among these will be public lectures series, Massive Open Online Courses, philological training courses for teachers, a science blog, and podcasts. And of course, we will also be present on social media.
Methods from the digital humanities
News
Major achievement for LMU: seven Clusters of Excellence approved
Read more
What role do digital technologies play for the research happening in the cluster?
We will be integrating methods and approaches from the digital humanities into our research. This will make it possible to make texts and the data associated with them available long term, for example, and to compare them with each other and investigate them using machine learning approaches. We are able to build on a very good infrastructure at LMU, which includes the Leibniz Supercomputing Center, the Humanities IT Group, and the services of the University Library.
We will take the philological and digital skills applied in the cluster and pass them on to the next generation of researchers, as well as to teachers, students, and schoolchildren, and disseminate them throughout society.
The five research areas of the Cross-Cultural Philology Cluster of Excellence:
Researchers from various disciplines work together in all of the research areas within the cluster. They study philological practices and cultural dynamics over a period of around 5,000 years and explore the richness of philological traditions from a comparative cultural perspective.
„Writing Systems“:
How are writing systems related to the development and transmission of knowledge, to political and socio-cultural factors, to trade networks and administrative practices? And how do they influence the formation of communal identities and the rise and fall of empires? These are the questions that scholars in the Writing Systems research area are addressing.
„Practices in the Layout, Preservation, and Archiving of Texts“:
In the context of philological work, texts are also considered in terms of their materiality and mediality. They exist, for example, as cuneiform tablets from Mesopotamia, as Egyptian papyri, as inscriptions on stone, as handwritten codices, or as prints. Scholars working in this research area will therefore also examine the layout of the surviving texts as well as the connection between texts and paratexts and between texts, illustrations and diagrams.
„Practices of Editing”:
Scholars in the Practices of Editing research area will examine the history of editorial practices in an intercultural comparison and at the same time develop new methods in this field. In doing so, they will make use of the new possibilities opened up by the technologies within the digital humanities.
„Texts and Commentaries, Canon Formation, and Censorship”:
At the heart of the Texts and Commentaries, Canon Formation, and Censorship research area are the processes of canon formation and their entanglement with the selection, correction, translation, dissemination, and censorship of texts. The scholars also plan to take a comparative look at the relationship between texts and commentaries across different cultures.
„Migration and Translation of Texts“:
The migration of texts interests scholars in the Migration and Translation of Texts research area in a number of ways: they study how texts were moved across place, time, and media. They examine practices of textual adaptation, translation, retextualisation, summarisation, and abridgement, as well as the possible changes that these can bring about."
https://www.lmu.de/en/newsroom/news-overview/news/cross-cultural-philology-cluster-of-excellence-moving-beyond-the-eurocentric-perspective-in-philology.html
#metaglossia_mundus
"On the 20th of May, the winner of the International Booker Prize will be announced, crowning the best piece of fiction translated into English in the last year. Introduced officially in 2016, with the first winner being Han Kang with the brilliant novel The Vegetarian, the ever growing influence of the International Booker Prize mirrors a current trend within UK reading habits which show ever increasing interest in translated fiction, where 1.9 million copies of translated fiction were sold in 2022, a 22% increase from 2022. However, this 1.9 million still only makes up 1.5% of all fiction sold, and the proportion of translated fiction published in the UK still remains very low. With this in mind, it is still very important to encourage people to keep on reading translated fiction, for two key reasons. Firstly, a lot of translated fiction is just so good. Secondly, and I do truly believe this, reading translated fiction makes you a more well-rounded person. I’ll explain, I promise.
Some of the best books I’ve ever read have been translated from other languages, and if we’re thinking about it logically, is this really a surprise? In the world, only around 7% of people are native English speakers. Roughly 20% of books are originally published in English. There are so many writers out there, writing in their native languages, which would probably blow most English writing out of the water. Take, for example, Gabriel García Márquez, one of the most famous writers from South America. When I first read his masterpiece One Hundred Years of Solitude, I was awestruck. Never had I read a more creative book, nor had I read such descriptive writing anywhere else. This clearly shows the importance in reading translated fiction; you will undeniably find some of your favourite books. To assume that the best books are ones written originally in English is completely false, and arguably, rather obtuse.
Now onto my second point, that reading translated fiction makes you a more well-rounded person. To illustrate this point, let me refer to one of my most recent reads, a book called Katalin Street, by Magda Szabo. Originally published in Hungarian in 1969, it was not until 2017 that this novel was translated into English. Depicting trauma, loss and grief during and following WW2, reading this book offered me a completely new perspective; that of WW2 from the perspective of a Hungarian family, written by someone where this had been a lived experience. Without reading this book, would I have had any knowledge on the experience of Jewish people in Hungary during the war, or the way in which families were ousted from their homes, and crammed into miniscule Soviet apartments? It’s not to say that I now understand the experience of Hungarians during the war, it’s that I now have an awareness. Reading this book allowed me to recognise part of the war which I had never even considered, never even heard of. Only through translated fiction would this have been possible.
With these points in mind, and the upcoming International Booker Prize approaching, I’d strongly encourage readers to have a look at the shortlist for the award. I guarantee that you’ll find books which are both extremely enjoyable, and also incredibly interesting, giving you a greater knowledge and appreciation for other parts of the world. "
https://www.yorkvision.co.uk/scene/books/why-everyone-should-be-reading-translated-fiction/22/05/2025
#metaglossia_mundus
Google's family of "open" AI models, Gemma, is growing.
"The latest Google Gemma AI model, can run on phones. On the horizon is SignGemma, an open model to translate sign language into spoken-language text
During Google I/O 2025 on Tuesday, Google took the wraps off Gemma 3n, a model designed to run “smoothly” on phones, laptops, and tablets. Available in preview starting Tuesday, Gemma 3n can handle audio, text, images, and videos, according to Google.
Models efficient enough to run offline and without the need for computing in the cloud have gained steam in the AI community in recent years. Not only are they cheaper to use than large models, but they preserve privacy by eliminating the need to transfer data to a remote data center.
During a keynote at I/O, Gemma Product Manager Gus Martins said that Gemma 3n can run on devices with less than 2GB of RAM. “Gemma 3n shares the same architecture as Gemini Nano, and is engineered for incredible performance,” he added.
In addition to Gemma 3n, Google is releasing MedGemma through its Health AI Developer Foundations program. According to the company, MedGemma is its most capable open model for analyzing health-related text and images.
“MedGemma [is] our […] collection of open models for multimodal [health] text and image understanding,” Martins said. “MedGemma works great across a range of image and text applications, so that developers […] can adapt the models for their own health apps.”
Also on the horizon is SignGemma, an open model to translate sign language into spoken-language text. Google says that SignGemma will enable developers to create new apps and integrations for deaf and hard-of-hearing users.
“SignGemma is a new family of models trained to translate sign language to spoken-language text, but it’s best at American Sign Language and English,” Martins said. “It’s the most capable sign language understanding model ever, and we can’t wait for you — developers and deaf and hard-of-hearing communities — to take this foundation and build with it.”
Worth noting is that Gemma has been criticized for its custom, non-standard licensing terms, which some developers say have made using the models commercially a risky proposition. That hasn’t dissuaded developers from downloading Gemma models tens of millions of times collectively, however."
Kyle Wiggers
2:40 PM PDT · May 20, 2025
https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/20/the-newest-google-gemma-ai-model-can-run-on-phones/
#metaglossia_mundus
The Second Circuit on Thursday tossed a case claiming the New York State court system illegally underpays court interpreters.
"NY Court System Defeats Interpreter Pay Discrimination Case
Plaintiffs lack concrete statistics about court personnel
Interpreters aren’t similarly situated to court reporters
The Second Circuit on Thursday tossed a case claiming the New York State court system illegally underpays court interpreters.
State court interpreters who brought the lawsuit failed to provide concrete statistics about the race, ethnicity, and national origin of other courtroom personnel to show the New York Unified Court System’s pay practices violate the equal protection clause, the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit said in its summary order.
The court interpreters’ argument that they’re underpaid when compared to state court reporters—who the lawsuit claims are majority white—is a “vague and conclusory allegation that’s insufficient to state ..."
Beth Wang
May 22, 2025, 6:49 PM GMT+1
https://news.bloomberglaw.com/ip-law/ny-court-system-defeats-interpreter-pay-discrimination-case
#metaglossia_mundus
"County officials approved a couple of agreements as a means of looking for ways of cost cutting now that changes on the state level will significantly roll back funding at the health’s department disposal.
The Bartholomew County Commissioners on Monday approved two agreements related to translation services and waste disposal at the county health department.
An agreement with Heartland Interpretation & Translation Services LLC outlines that translation will be provided to patients needing it at $1.30 per minute as opposed to the $1.59 to $1.65 per minute rate they are provided with the county’s current vendor, Stratus.
The second agreement approved for the health department regarding disposal of waste is with Indianapolis-based Medical Waste Solutions, replacing two separate vendors and resulting in what county officials said would be a cost savings.
Director of Nursing Amanda Organist told commissioners that the new agreements are part of an effort “to reduce some costs that we have due to some funding adjustments that the health department will be having.”
Organist was referring to slashes lawmakers made to the Health First Indiana Initiative last session. Passed in 2023 and aimed at improving the state’s health outcomes, Health First Indiana gave participating counties funding for things such as immunizations, chronic disease prevention, and maternal and child health.
A priority of Health First Indiana at its inception was to bring health departments in smaller counties up to speed with larger ones in providing basic services. The program was also in response to Indiana’s generally poor public health spending rating when compared to states across the country, state health officials said previously. In addition to matching funds, each county opting into the program must comply with extensive reporting and metrics requirements.
The Indiana General Assembly appropriated $225 million for the program when it was passed, with $75 million going out in 2024 and $150 million in 2025. The latest approved budget cuts that down to $40 million per year.
Bartholomew County received $1.8 million in Health First Indiana funding this year, and Organist told commissioners that will be down to $429,865 in 2026.
“It’s substantial,” Organist said, explaining that she’s looking for ways to save where they can. With the new translation vendor, the county would have saved about $400 last month, according to Organist.
Before the initiative, the county health department received $84,058 in state funding in 2023 through the Local Health Maintenance Fund/Trust, according to state records.
Translation services are used with patients daily, speaking a variety of languages from Spanish to Haitian Creole to American Sign Language, county officials said.
Commissioner Larry Kleinhenz, R-District 1, said he was going to “be a stick in the mud here,” recounting how when he lived two years in Japan he didn’t receive free translation when he visited a doctor.
“I guess my question is: is it fair for taxpayers to pay for a translator for someone that’s coming into our health department for services?” the commissioner asked, wondering: “Why don’t you put the onus on them to bring someone with them that can either understand the language or—”
Organist said the patient might understand the language, but have trouble with specific terminology being used. She also said that some of what is translated during appointments may not necessarily be appropriate for a child brought along with a parent to their appointment, for example.
“We just need to make sure that everyone has informed consent,” Organist said.
Commissioner Tony London, R-District 3, asked Organist what is done for translation at private doctor’s offices. The director of nursing noted that Columbus Regional Health, for example, uses the vendor the county is poised to transition away from.
Kleinhenz asked if there is an option to charge the customer for translation services, to which Organist said she didn’t know, but would look into it because he asked. London wondered if there would be an option to bill the services to the patient’s insurance."
By Brad Davis -May 22, 2025
https://www.therepublic.com/2025/05/22/county-proposes-cutting-back-on-translation-services-as-part-of-state-cuts/
#metaglossia_mundus
"Langues, savoirs et conceptualisations : une diversité insoupçonnée
Jimena Terraza
Résumé
Cet article se veut une réflexion sur l’apport des langues minoritaires et minorisées à la diversité culturelle mondiale, aux connaissances portées par celles-ci et à la façon dont elles contribuent à mieux comprendre les capacités de l’esprit humain. Il y est question de l’épineuse notion de relativité linguistique et du jeu entre l’influence de la langue sur la pensée et le reflet des catégories conceptuelles des groupes humains dans la langue qu’ils parlent. Les patrons de lexicalisation, les mots et les grammaires culturellement spécifiques cités dans ce texte contribuent à illustrer la diversité linguistique à laquelle nous accédons par le biais des langues. La sauvegarde de cette diversité est évidemment implicite dans mes propos, mais j’insiste fortement sur l’importance du rôle des usagères et usagers des langues dans ce processus.
Mots-clés : diversité linguistique, relativité linguistique, conceptualisation, savoirs, langues autochtones
Abstract
This article aims to reflect on the contribution of minority and minorized languages to global cultural diversity, the knowledge they hold and how they contribute to a better understanding of the capacities of the human mind. It deals with the thorny notion of linguistic relativity and the interplay between the influence of language on thought and the reflection of the conceptual categories of human groups in the language they speak. The patterns of lexicalization and the culturally specific words and grammars cited in this text help to illustrate the linguistic diversity we access through languages. Safeguarding this diversity is obviously implicit in my remarks, but I strongly stress the importance of the role of language users in this process.
Keywords: linguistic diversity, linguistic relativity, conceptualization, knowledge, indigenous languages"
Diffusion numérique : 9 mai 2025
Un article de la revue Minorités linguistiques et société / Linguistic Minorities and Society
Numéro 24, 2025
Décennie internationale des langues autochtones 2022-2032 : réflexion sur les moyens à mettre en oeuvre afin de préserver, de revitaliser et de promouvoir les langues autochtones
https://www.erudit.org/fr/revues/minling/2025-n24-minling010026/1117935ar/
#metaglossia_mundus
"Ces ex-policiers ont détourné 100.000 euros d’argent public avec de fausses missions de traduction
Un ex-OPJ et sa compagne, ancienne gardienne de la paix, ont été reconnus coupables à Paris ce mercredi d’avoir escroqué l’Etat en créant de fausses missions d’interprétariat payées par les finances publiques
Paris : Ces ex-policiers ont détourné 100.000 euros d’argent public avec de fausses missions de traduction
© V. WARTNER / 20 MINUTES
PROCES - Un ex-OPJ et sa compagne, ancienne gardienne de la paix, ont été reconnus coupables à Paris ce mercredi d’avoir escroqué l’Etat en créant de fausses missions d’interprétariat payées par les finances publiques
Un couple d’anciens policiers a été condamné ce mercredi par le tribunal judiciaire de Paris qui les a reconnus coupables d’escroqueries commises pendant plusieurs années au détriment de l’Etat. L’ex-gardienne de la paix et l’ancien officier de police judiciaire avaient en effet inventé de toutes pièces des missions d’interprétariat rémunérées, raconte Le Parisien. Le montant du préjudice a été évalué à 100.000 euros.
Près de 300 fausses tâches rémunérées
Les mis en cause ont tous les deux été condamnés à un an de prison avec sursis et à une amende de 10.000 euros. Ils ont par ailleurs interdiction à vie de travailler dans la fonction publique. Le couple dispose de dix jours après le verdict pour interjeter appel. La supercherie a été découverte en 2022 après une erreur, lorsqu’une fausse mission d’interprétariat avait été envoyée à une véritable professionnelle. L’homme avait inventé au total 171 tâches de traduction et sa compagne, par ailleurs réellement traductrice en plus de son emploi dans les forces de l’ordre, 210.
A l’audience qui a eu lieu le 27 mars, le mis en cause avait reconnu les faits et expliqué souffrir d’une addiction au sexe et à l’argent. Des addictions qui l’auraient poussé à mettre en place l’escroquerie et créer un compte sur la plateforme du ministère. « Je n’avais plus de moralité », avait-il confié. L’ancienne gardienne de la paix avait en revanche rejeté l’ensemble des accusations, estimant même devoir être considérée comme une lanceuse d’alerte. Elle avait en effet affirmé que d’autres policiers se livraient à la même escroquerie, entraînant l’ouverture d’une enquête."
Article de 20 Minutes avec agence • 13h
https://www.msn.com/fr-fr/actualite/france/paris-ces-ex-policiers-ont-d%C3%A9tourn%C3%A9-100-000-euros-d-argent-public-avec-de-fausses-missions-de-traduction/ar-AA1FhVIF
#metaglossia_mundus
"What is Edit? Edit is a new command-line text editor in Windows. Edit is open source, so you can build the code or install the latest version from GitHub!
This CLI text editor will be available to preview in the Windows Insider Program in the coming months. After that, it will ship as part of Windows 11!
How to use Edit
Open Edit by running edit in the command line or running edit <your-file-name>. With this, you will be able to edit files directly in the command line without context switching.
What are Edit’s features?
Edit is still in an early stage, but it has several features out of the box. Here are some highlights!
Lightweight
Edit is a small, lightweight text editor. It is less than 250kB, which allows it to keep a small footprint in the Windows 11 image.
Mouse Mode Support
As a modeless editor with a Text User Interface (TUI), all the menu options in Edit have keybindings (which you can see next to the menu options).
Open Multiple Files
You can open multiple files in Edit and switch between them with Ctrl+P (or by clicking the file list on the lower-right).
Find & Replace
You can find and replace text with Ctrl+R or select Edit > Replace in the TUI menu. There is also Match Case and Regular Expression support as well.
Word Wrap
Edit supports word wrapping. To use Word Wrap, you can use Alt+Z or select View > Word Wrap on the TUI menu..."
May 19th, 2025
Edit is now open source
Christopher Nguyen
https://devblogs.microsoft.com/commandline/edit-is-now-open-source/
#metaglossia_mundus
Vous souhaitez devenir traducteur ? Découvrez la licence LEA, une porte d’entrée vers ce métier qui mélange langues et cultures.
"Devenir traducteur : un métier entre langues et cultures
10 avril 2025
Devenir traducteur, c’est jouer un rôle clé dans un monde où la communication interculturelle et internationale sont essentielles. La licence Langues étrangères appliquées (LEA) est la porte d’entrée vers ce métier, en offrant les bases indispensables pour évoluer dans ce domaine.
Les missions du traducteur
Le traducteur transpose des textes d’une langue vers une autre en veillant à préserver le sens, le ton et les nuances culturelles. Il peut se spécialiser dans différents domaines (littérature, technique, juridique, médical, audiovisuel…) et utilise parfois des outils de traduction assistée. Son objectif est de garantir une communication fluide et cohérente, en adaptant le message au public cible tout en préservant l’intention originale de l’auteur.
Les compétences requises pour devenir traducteur
En plus d’une excellente maîtrise des langues, un traducteur doit posséder des qualités essentielles :
Ouverture d’esprit
Créativité
Rigueur
On ne le dit pas assez, mais il faut aussi des compétences de travail en équipe. Le traducteur est sollicité à la fois par les clients et les producteurs des textes. Il est entre les deux et doit faire un arbitrage pour satisfaire leurs attentes.
Dominic Glynn, Directeur du département LEA
La licence LEA : une formation pour devenir traducteur
La licence Langues étrangères appliquées (LEA) est une formation qui permet aux étudiantes et étudiants d’acquérir une vision appliquée des langues dans différents secteurs tels que l’économie, le droit ou encore la logistique. À l’Université Paris-Saclay, la formation se distingue par une approche orientée sur les métiers de l’audiovisuel et du numérique à l’aide de la traduction assistée par ordinateur (TAO), avec des outils tels que Trados ou Aegisub.
Le diplôme est centré autour de l’étude de deux langues étrangères : l’anglais et l’espagnol. Au-delà de la maîtrise des deux langues, la formation vise aussi à approfondir la compréhension des cultures qui leur sont associées.
Environ 80% des cours sont dispensés en anglais et en espagnol, mais certains cours transversaux sont enseignés en français.
Dominic Glynn
Une ouverture à l’international
L’aspect international est au cœur de la formation. En troisième année, les étudiantes et étudiants doivent, en plus d’étudier deux langues, effectuer un stage dans lequel ils réalisent au moins 50% des missions dans l’une de leurs langues d’études (traduction, accueil du public, création de contenus…). Cette expérience professionnelle peut se dérouler en France ou à l’étranger. Près d’un tiers des étudiants part grâce aux nombreuses accords de l’université avec des institutions en Espagne, en Irlande, en Pologne ou autre et aux aides financières mises en place.
Nous avons des accords en Espagne pour que les étudiantes et étudiants travaillent pour des gouvernements locaux ou régionaux, notamment à Valence.
Dominic Glynn
Entrer dans la vie active ou poursuivre ses études
Après l’obtention du diplôme, il est possible d’entrer directement sur le marché du travail, notamment grâce au stage, ou de poursuivre en master.
Pour celles et ceux qui décident de poursuivre dans la vie active, la licence LEA offre la possibilité d’accéder à divers secteurs au-delà de la traduction comme le tourisme ou la création de contenus.
Pour les étudiantes et étudiants qui souhaitent se spécialiser en traduction audiovisuelle, l’Université Paris-Saclay propose le master Narration, traduction et nouveaux médias.
Enfin, pour les diplômés qui voudraient élargir leurs compétences en master, à la suite d’une licence LEA, il est possible d’accéder à des secteurs tels que l’enseignement, l’économie, la logistique, la gestion…"
https://www.destination-etudes-superieures.universite-paris-saclay.fr/metiers/devenir-traducteur-entre-langues-et-cultures/
#metaglossia_mundus
"The Dublin City University Centre for Translation and Textual Studies hosted more than 100 research, practitioners and students from over 15 countries as part of the conference.
The topics up for discussion included ranged from machine translation, localisation, and accessibility to translation ethics, literary and audiovisual translation, and the role of translators in times of crisis.
The two day conference featured high-level contributions, including opening addresses from Professor Derek Hand, Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, and Professor Michael Cronin of Trinity College Dublin. A key highlight was the Translating Europe Workshop, supported by the European Commission, which offered vital insights into the future of translation policy in Europe. Organized by the Centre for Translation and Textual Studies, the event provided a crucial platform for advancing research and fostering global dialogue in the field of translation and interpreting.
The theme of the conference, which included a European Commission 'Translating Europe', was 'Challenges in Translation and Interpreting'. In an increasingly globalized and interconnected world, the fields of translation and translation studies face unprecedented challenges. This conference examined the complexities and evolving demands of translation in contemporary society, where technological advancements, cultural diversity, ethical considerations, and global crises converge.
The conference also featured a dynamic format including 10 minute 'Rapid Fire' presentations designed to set the ground for discussions, 1 hour Hot Topics roundtable discussions, and Hot off the Press presentations of recently published papers."
22/05/2025
Research news - TSNI conference 2025
https://www.dcu.ie/humanities-and-social-sciences/news/2025/may/dcu-research-centres-hosts-translation-studies-network
#metaglossia_mundus
Un diccionario recoge cinco mil acepciones futboleras y destaca su contribución al español
22 May, 2025 11:49 a.m. EST
Valencia, 22 may (EFE).-
Un diccionario ha recogido más de cinco mil acepciones que el fútbol ha aportado al castellano, una obra que según su autor, el filólogo José del Olmo, muestra la contribución que ha tenido este deporte a la lengua española.
“El fútbol, gracias a sus crónicas y transmisiones, ha contribuido notablemente a enriquecer la lengua española”, señaló el filólogo e historiador de este deporte.
'El léxico de la lengua española relacionado con el fútbol', tiene su origen, según explicó Del Olmo, en su propia curiosidad por el lenguaje del fútbol y la comprobación de que algunas acepciones muy arraigadas en su relato escrito, radiofónico o televisivo o no son contempladas por la Real Academia Española o aparecen, en su criterio, “con poca precisión”.
“Existen algunas lagunas. Por ejemplo, en el diccionario de la Academia se incluyen ‘colchonero’ o ‘culé’, pero no ‘perico’ o ‘león’, al hablar del Atlético de Madrid, el Barcelona, el Espanyol o el Athletic Club, respectivamente, y todas esas palabras están completamente integradas en nuestro idioma”, recordó.
Del Olmo destaca en su obra la polisemia, con voces como 'corte', 'entrada', 'hachazo' o 'local' y las expresiones que van del fútbol a la sociedad y de la sociedad al fútbol, como 'quedarse en fuera de juego' o 'sacar tarjeta roja al maltratador'.
Hay palabras, como 'balón', 'fútbol' o 'partido' que tienen un especial protagonismo en este trabajo, editado por el Centro Español de Historia y Estadística del Fútbol (CIHEFE).
El término 'balón' cuenta con 86 entradas en el diccionario entre acepciones, composiciones sintagmáticas y locuciones y de 'fútbol', más allá de la denominación de este deporte, que se impuso hace muchas décadas a la de 'balompié', incluye entre otras 'fútbol base', 'horizontal', 'moderno' o 'total'.
Los 'partidos', por su parte, pueden 'partidillos' y 'partidazos', pero también 'benéficos', 'aplazados', 'amistosos', 'de sanción', 'épicos', 'de trámite', 'oficiales' o 'tensos', sin olvidar todos los tipos de goles que se pueden disfrutar en un estadio, como 'fantasmas', 'en propia meta', 'de penalti' o 'de la tranquilidad'.
La identificación de equipos con colores también se analiza en la obra, en la que se especifican que hay equipos blanquiverdes, pero también verdiblancos o rojillos como el Osasuna, mientras que en el capítulo de adjetivos aparecen muchos provenientes del habla de otros deportes o de otras actividades.
Es el caso de 'clásico', 'bronco', 'fatídico', 'imparable' o 'individualista', junto a aquellos que describen a los seguidores de un club como es el caso de 'españolista o 'sportinguista, además de aumentativos como 'partidazo' o 'jugadorazo'.
Del Olmo no considera que el del fútbol sea especialmente un lenguaje para iniciados en este deporte. “A nivel muy básico, todo el mundo entiende los significados. Otro asunto es que se entre en cuestiones más técnicas o sofisticadas, a las que tienen acceso sobre todo los especialistas o los profesionales”, consideró.
Respecto a los tópicos utilizados por los profesionales del fútbol, que admitió que a veces dan la impresión de “una cierta pobreza en el lenguaje”, aseguró que se debe en gran parte a la intención manifiesta de decir pocas cosas, “no salirse del guion”, y tratar de que las manifestaciones no sean polémicas o se les vuelvan en contra.
El libro está prologado por Víctor Martínez Patón, presidente de CIHEFE, quien destacó el “extraordinario y encomiable acopio documental” que hay detrás de este trabajo y en la introducción el autor repasa las cuestiones gramaticales y lexicográficas que marcan la selección de las voces, los criterios de búsqueda y los recursos semánticos que se encuentran a continuación. EFE
https://www.infobae.com/espana/agencias/2025/05/22/un-diccionario-recoge-cinco-mil-acepciones-futboleras-y-destaca-su-contribucion-al-espanol/
#metaglossia_mundus
Linguistic Federalism Needs Many ‘Official’ Languages, Not Just Hindi
"...Many states do not speak Hindi. Many North Indian speakers do not ever try to learn Telugu or Malayalam. So far, the government has failed to fund, develop, and teach a single Indian language as an alternative to English. Even the constitutional courts are forced to understand English while each state has a greatly enriched language. This is unfortunate.The late N.T. Ramarao was the champion of Telugu Vaibhavam and Andhra self-respect. Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu, while supporting the three-language formula, said Telugu should be prioritised, but Hindi and English are also useful for communication.Until this point, Naidu was understandable but he then said that Hindi was a national language:
“Language is not something to hate. Our mother tongue is Telugu. National (Jaatiya bhasha) language is Hindi. The international language is English We should learn as many languages as possible for our livelihood, but we should never forget our mother tongue. “If we learn a national language like Hindi, even if we go to Delhi, it will be easy to speak fluently,” he said, adding that unnecessary politics should not overshadow the practical benefits of language learning. “Everyone must understand, instead of this unnecessary politics, we must think about how we can learn as many languages as needed for communication.
’’His deputy chief minister Pawan Kalyan also said that Hindi should be the national language of the entire country, and defended the importance of all Indian languages, questioning why Tamil films were dubbed into Hindi if Tamil Nadu was against the language. He also stated that the mindset of hating any language needed to change.Kalyan questioned Prakash Raj, who was the villain in many of their films, and tried to clarify the distinction between opposing Hindi imposition and disliking the language itself.
“Saying ‘do not impose your Hindi on us’ is not the same as hating another language. It is about protecting our mother tongue and our cultural identity with pride,”
The issue is not the politics of opposing Hindi or DMK leaders. Both the chief minister and deputy chief minister of Andhra Pradesh must have confused the national language with the official language. This difference was discussed among eminent personalities who were associated with building the constitution of India in the Constituent Assembly.After the commencement of the Constitution on Republic Day in 1950, the largest set of provisions is contained in Part XVII, which is devoted in its entirety to ‘Official Language’. Part XVII has four chapters and nine Articles that address the ‘Language of the Union’ (Articles 343 and 344); ‘Regional Languages’ (Articles 345 to 347), which in fact relates to the official languages of the states; and the language of the Supreme Court and the high courts and legislative enactments (Article 348). Articles 120 and 210, respectively, address the language of legislative proceedings in the chapters on Parliament (Part V, Chapter II) and State legislatures (Part V, Chapter III). One should also emphasise that the fundamental rights guaranteed in Part III include cultural and educational rights in Articles 29 and 39. They extend to linguistic minorities. In most minority language schools, it will have a serious impact on the mother tongue. For instance, thousands of Telugu students’ language are taught in Delhi, because this was one of the several ‘official’ languages which was to be distinguished from the National Language. The Constituent Assembly thoroughly discussed the status of language for India and settled on the fact that there would be multiple ‘official languages. The Eighth Schedule selectively enumerates a growing list of Indian languages and thereby affords them ‘official’ status. Separation of TelanganaIt is most significant that Andhra leaders should understand that Article 3 confers on Parliament the power to change state boundaries and create new states, like the formation of state Telangana in 2014. Having so many official language statuses has provided great insights into the constitutional and political development of the cultural and social sectors of India.
In the Oxford Handbook of the Indian Constitution, author Sujit Choudhry said:
“For example, the drive to adopt Hindi as the official language of the Union government and to resist linguistic reorganisation were part of an integrated strategy to build a common national citizenship that would sustain the unity of the world’s largest democracy in the face of staggering diversity and in the aftermath of Partition, and were designed to pursue a number of specific goals under this overarching framework: creating a common platform for the establishment of a mass, democratic, national politics; dissolving social and economic hierarchy through promoting literacy in a common tongue that would permit social and economic mobility; and providing a basis for direct communication between Indians and public administration in an indigenous language.
“Non-Hindi speakers, who feared that privileging Hindi and denying official status to regional languages would distribute economic and political power towards Hindi speakers and away from them, resisted this integrative strategy. They invoked precisely the same objectives to argue for the retention of English at the Centre, and the creation of linguistic States with regional languages having official status.
”He further emphasised:
“The specific provisions of Part XVII deploy a multiplicity of other devices to broker constitutional compromise, including delays (eg, Article 343), deferrals (eg, Article 344), defaults that can be displaced through ordinary legislation (eg, Article 345), and low thresholds to constitutional change (eg, Article 3). Although the principal institutional sites for the constitutional politics of official language were the Constituent Assembly, Parliament, and State legislatures, the courts have increasingly played an important role in cases on minority language education arising under Article 30. In the course of working out the relationship between the power of States to set the language of educational instruction and minority language educational rights, the courts have articulated their understanding of the consequences of linguistic reorganization on an original, pan-Indian conception of citizenship that treats all of India as home to all of its linguistic communities which emerged from the Independence movement, and a newer conception of citizenship that may have replaced it.
”Political leaders play a very significant role in protecting national diversity among different languages and cultures.
Andhra leaders heading the state, especially after the separation of Andhra Pradesh from Telangana, should be concerned about these cultural diversities as even voting is based on political party-related power-centred considerations.The members of the Constituent Assembly spent hours and days on this single issue of the divisive considerations of an official language of the Union government. But central politics are different from the Union’s needs. It synchronises with national necessities and uniting the country’s diversity. It pains to listen to speeches in public meetings which reveal no understanding of national needs and language diversities. While explaining in his analysis of ‘official languages’, Choudhry said:
“At Independence, the official language of the British colonial administration was English, which was spoken by less than 1 percent of the population. Most Indians spoke one of approximately a dozen regional languages. Hindi was India’s most widely spoken language, commanded by approximately 40 percent of the population. Very few speakers of the other languages spoke Hindi; indeed, the principal languages of South India are radically different from Hindi and from entirely different linguistic families. In the assembly, the main questions were whether to replace English, in whole or part, with an indigenous language as the Union government’s official language, and which indigenous language(s) should receive official status in central institutions.
”Article 343 of the constitution has designated Hindi as ‘the official language of the Union’, but at the same time one should read the multidimensional compromise between Hindi and other ‘official languages’. It is not asking to support or hate Hindi or other official languages, only that they exist together. This diversity suffers when we describe it as a ‘national’ language.Though English is not spoken or understood everywhere, it has to be retained as the language of the government and the Supreme Court of India including state high courts. Otherwise, how do we run an administration? We, the people, know that many of the country’s problems are because we are suffering from an ignorance of language.The governments simply left these serious issues to find a national alternative to English, as if we are still being ruled by Britishers.It is once again necessary to quote Choudhry:
On why English is the primary language
“For example, consider Parliament. Article 348(1)(b)(I) provides that English is the language of primary and secondary legislation, until legislation to the contrary is enacted. This continued the status quo of English indefinitely, and shifted the burden of legislative inertia onto those who would adopt Hindi as the language of legislation—the reverse of Article 343(1).
On why the official language is Hindi
“Although the Official Languages Act 1967 mandates that there be an official Hindi translation of a central statute, the Supreme Court has held that Article 348(1)(b) makes the English version authoritative and that it prevails over the Hindi version in the event of conflict. [Nityanand Sharma v State of Bihar (1996) 3 SCC 576; Prabhat Kumar Sharma v Union Public Service Commission (2006) 10 SCC 587.]
On why notifications are issued under central law
“The importance of Article 348(1)(b) is underlined by the fact that its reach extends to notifications issued under central legislation. [Jaswant Sugar Mills Ltd v Presiding Officer, Industrial Tribunal AIR 1962 All 240.]
On why Article 120 allows to debate in the mother tongue
“The Indian Constitution also differentiates between the language of parliamentary deliberations and the language of legislation. Article 120 permits the use of Hindi or English in parliamentary debates, and permits the Speaker of either chamber to permit a member to use his or her mother tongue (with the right to use English expiring in fifteen years unless extended through legislation, as in the case of Article 343). The possibility of multilingual parliamentary debates, however, is treated separately from the language of the legal outputs of those proceedings, which presumptively remains English.
On why English is the language of the Supreme Court
“The courts are also governed by rules that depart from Article 343. Article 348(1)(a) establishes English as the language for Supreme Court and High Court proceedings and judgments. While Article 348(2) authorizes State legislatures to legislate the use of Hindi or regional languages in High Court proceedings, that power does not extend to the constitutional requirement that judgments be in English (which would require a constitutional amendment to alter). Moreover, for the Supreme Court, the Constitution does not create a legislative mechanism to alter the language of its proceedings, which could only be achieved through constitutional amendment. Indeed, the Court has declined to permit parties to present arguments before in languages other than English, on the basis of Article 348(1)(a), even though it arguably has the inherent authority to do so. [Madhu Limaye v Ved Murti (1970) 3 SCC 738.
] Against the backdrop of the provisions, the rejection of an Article 14 challenge to holding the Delhi University Law entrance exam in English should be understood as rooted in the special constitutional status of English in the legal system. (Shailendra Mani Tripathi v University of Delhi 2014 SCC OnLine Del 3328 (Delhi High Court).
On why English is the ‘official’ language though not ‘national
“Article 346 impliedly maintains English as an official language for center-state communications, by preserving the linguistic status quo in this arena as well.”
Except for a few well-educated advocates and judges, the ordinary clients are confused as to what is happening. This is a major failure of all the governments including this ruling party.Courts suffer as well.
How can those who don’t know English understand the conversation between advocates and judges? Does this gap not kill justice? Does the Andhra Pradesh chief minister or his deputy know how many advocates and judges are suffering along with the common person? Should we find an alternative or fan the language of divisive politics and deepen the north-south separation? Not just Chandrababu Naidu or Pawan Kalyan, but all central political players should be concerned with this national need.
M. Sridhar Acharyulu
Dr. Madabhushi Sridhar Acharyulu, is professor, Mahindra University, Hyderabad
https://m.thewire.in/article/politics/linguistic-federalism-needs-many-official-languages-not-just-hindi
#metaglossia_mundus
AI integration into Google marks the death of traditional search, and the birth of the chatbot era.
"The end of Google Search as we know it
AI integration into Google marks the death of traditional search, and the birth of the chatbot era.
Omer Kabir
15:25, 22.05.25
It happened the other day, at the opening event of Google’s annual developer conference. CEO Sundar Pichai took the stage and made an announcement that, while subtle, signaled a seismic shift: the business model underpinning Google’s operations is dead, or at least, that’s what he implied. Because there’s no other way to interpret Google’s main announcement at the event: the integration of artificial intelligence, what it’s calling “AI Mode”, directly into its search engine.
AI Mode is a full integration of Google’s Gemini chatbot into its flagship product. On the search results page, alongside the tabs for images, videos, news, and more, a new “AI Mode” tab will be added. Clicking it opens a conversational interface with Gemini, allowing users to conduct AI-driven searches, receive synthesized summaries, ask follow-up questions, and more. Initially launching in the U.S., this feature is expected to expand globally soon. And its implications are clear: traditional search, the multibillion-dollar engine powered by sponsored links, is on its way out. Long live the chatbot.
Google’s implicit admission that traditional search is fading marks the beginning of a new era on the internet, an era of AI-first search, where the race is on to become to AI what Google was to search. For Google, this means navigating a delicate transition: not only staying relevant to users but also preserving a business model that generated $50.7 billion from “Search and Others” just last quarter.
By integrating Gemini into Search, Google acknowledges that its 27-year-old engine is no longer the go-to tool for many users. Since OpenAI released ChatGPT in late 2022, more and more people have realized that chatbots, not search engines, offer the best answers: fast, concise, contextual.
E., a secretary in her 50s, now turns to Perplexity, an AI search engine. In the background, it identifies authoritative sources, synthesizes their information, and produces detailed responses, sometimes with visuals. E. can even ask follow-ups. She’s far from alone.
“Most people are lazy and hate making decisions. Chat engines fit them like a glove,” said Michael Lugassy, a software engineer at Forter who writes about AI. “You ask a question in natural language and get an answer in natural language, customized, intelligent. I use it for coding, research, product comparisons, and more. I only go to Google for very specific or breaking things.”
Lugassy has deep roots in the search world. Two decades ago, he won an online SEO contest by placing a previously unseen Hebrew phrase, “Latur Motor”, at the top of Google’s search results.
Back then, SEO was the hottest trend in tech. High Google rankings meant big business. But that industry is now in flux. “Real-time search is less important today. Most human knowledge is already in AI models,” Lugassy said. “If I were starting now, I wouldn’t build a search engine. The ad model is changing.”
Chatbots aren’t winning just because they’re good, but because Google search has gotten worse. “Google search is in trouble. It’s become a bad product,” said Revital Salomon, founder and CEO of The Shark Lady, a digital agency. “Users are frustrated. I’m starting to see more visits to my sites from chatbots.”
Still, Salomon doesn’t expect a rapid collapse: “Google will remain dominant in product search and image search. Older users aren’t as comfortable with AI yet.” But she agrees: “Google is clearly in decline. According to Statcounter, its global search share recently dropped below 90% for the first time in years. That’s not because Bing is suddenly hot. It’s because users finally have an alternative.”
For years, Salomon said, Google’s results were subpar. “It rewrites your queries, ignores keywords, and assumes what you meant. That’s intolerable. AI chatbots let you control what’s searched, refine the answers, and dig deeper.”
Still, chatbot search isn’t perfect. “On mainstream topics it’s fine, but for niche queries, it struggles to distinguish credible sources from junk,” she said. “And hallucinations are still a problem.”
The transition to AI-based search introduces major challenges, especially for Google. Search and related ads accounted for more than half its revenue last quarter. Most of that comes from sponsored links, where each click earns Google a few cents, amounts that quickly compound into billions.
But in chatbot-based search, results are presented as summaries. “You get a link to the source, but most people don’t click,” Lugassy said. “If the bot gives you a full answer, there’s no reason to leave. That changes the business model entirely.”
Still, Lugassy isn’t worried for Google. “They’ll adapt. Text and search-based ads may fade, but they’ll shift to video, podcasts, or business tools like enterprise LLMs. Gmail search, corporate data, there’s room to monetize that.”
The real puzzle, he said, is monetizing AI search itself. “Subscriptions like ChatGPT Plus cost $20/month, but that’s not sustainable, it costs more to generate the answers. Eventually, chatbots will include ads.”
These might come as embedded links, highlighted sources that paid for visibility, or even in-chat sponsored paragraphs. “It’s easy to embed personalized ads in chat,” said Lugassy. Affiliate links are another option: search for a product, and the chatbot displays reviews, prices, and a purchase link, earning commission on each sale. Some versions may allow direct purchases from the chat window itself.
Content sites face perhaps the hardest blow. Their ad-driven models rely on users clicking through to their pages. But if AI summarization removes the need to visit the site, traffic, and revenue, plummets.
This calls for new models: subscriptions, licensing data access to AI firms, or both. Some already are. OpenAI has deals with Reddit, News Corp, Condé Nast, and The Atlantic; Perplexity with Le Monde and the LA Times; Google with Reddit and the AP. More niche or expert sites may also be courted as LLMs seek high-quality content across more domains.
Even SEO isn’t dead - yet. “Chatbots still rely on traditional indexes,” Lugassy said. “They perform multiple searches quickly, and high rankings still matter. But OpenAI and others are building their own indexes. Sites will soon need to optimize for AI bots, not just Google.”
Salomon agrees: “You need to write for natural conversation. Long-tail keywords, pros and cons, objectivity, these are what AI models favor. And cite good sources. Original research and balanced analysis may help convince the bot to quote you.”
But, she cautioned, it’s still all speculation. What will AI search look like at scale? Will it be dominated by a few giants, or open and competitive? How will monetization work? And which players will thrive, or vanish into a footnote in a chatbot’s history summary?
Even Gemini and ChatGPT don’t have the answers to that."
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/4mb9xfbmp
#metaglossia_mundus
"‘Universities have to become agents of social transformation’
Eve Ruwoko 22 May 2025
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“Universities must move beyond their conventional roles as knowledge providers to become agents of societal transformation. This involves engaging in transdisciplinary research, forming community partnerships, and aligning their missions with global and regional development goals such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and [the African Union’s] Agenda 2063.
“ ‘The university we want’ is one that co-creates knowledge with society, addresses pressing challenges in collaboration with communities, and plays a proactive role in shaping equitable and sustainable futures,” Professor Birgit Schreiber told about 30 institutional leaders, including vice-chancellors, deputy vice-chancellors, academic managers and higher education policy-makers from the Southern African Development Community, in Lusaka, Zambia.
“Universities are now collaborative spaces, and they are now responsive to and engage more with communities. They want to make their research societally impactful and, therefore, the university renews itself, and becomes a partner in knowledge creation,” said Schreiber, who is the Southern African Regional Universities Association (SARUA) strategic lead on leadership and professional development.
She was speaking at a SARUA pre-conference workshop themed, ‘Leading Higher Education in Africa: Navigating with Impact’, in Lusaka.
Schreiber highlighted that, in an era marked with “wicked problems”, higher education institutions across Africa needed to reimagine their roles, reconfigure their systems, and embrace transformative leadership as a critical driver of change, impact and continued relevance.
She noted that university leaders must take up the responsibility to address existing challenges such as ethical decision-making, resource constraints, globalisation, social justice, and shifting societal needs by cultivating a forward-thinking approach and leveraging collective strategies to meet institutional and continental goals.
Transformative leadership
Leadership development, which has been identified as a key factor in achieving transformative change globally, has also been instrumental in enabling African universities to achieve their institutional purpose that contributes towards their national and regional socio-economic and developmental goals.
“To lead effectively in uncertain times, universities must build their capacity for collective democratic and equitable action and strategic foresight. This involves dismantling hierarchical approaches to addressing problems, exploring future scenarios, assessing risks and opportunities, and designing flexible strategies that can adapt to shifting conditions. Foresight empowers leaders to transition from reactive problem-solving to proactive visioning,” Schreiber noted.
“At the heart of transformation lie outdated institutional cultures. Leaders must nurture cultures that support equity, trust, learning and collaboration. Change is not simply imposed; it is cultivated through relationships, shared experiences, and collective reflection.
“In culturally diverse settings, intercultural communication and adaptability become essential leadership competencies. Understanding the nuances of high-context and low-context communication is critical to building cohesive teams and inclusive environments,” she explained.
Transformation within and beyond universities
She emphasised that traditional leadership models centred on control, hierarchy and stability were ill-equipped to address today’s challenges. However, leadership models rooted in equality, integrity, collaboration, and the courage to drive deep, systemic change towards social justice were now crucial.
Effective change management included risk-taking, community engagement, and anticipation of setbacks, underpinned by effective communication and value alignment.
Transformative change within universities would not be achieved through isolated interventions, but through systemic change which requires a re-evaluation of power structures, a dismantling of hierarchical governance models, and promoting relevant and engaged pedagogical approaches.
Mobilising internal and external stakeholders, cascading values into the system, identifying and elevating champions, upskilling staff, mitigating resistance, anticipating setbacks and managing risks were essential aspects of navigating with impact to achieve transformation within and beyond universities.
Schreiber pointed out that many African universities were applying good leadership practices to strengthen their institutions. There were examples in Zambia and Zimbabwe where leadership practices helped to achieve institutional goals, despite challenging conditions such as power cuts, minimal salaries and limited government funding.
Professor Paul Gundani, vice-chancellor of the Zimbabwe Open University (ZOU), who was part of the workshop, told University World News that it was essential “that we move away from power hierarchies towards a democratisation of knowledge, where universities become the driver of creating a better life for all”.
In response to Schreiber’s call that universities should be drivers of societal change, Gundani said: “Africa needs to redesign the concept of a university with a new approach that is not borrowed from the North and universities must allow students to develop a whole new view of life – and create community wealth instead of just wanting to be employed.”
Aligning the institution with social needs and adopting an engaged pedagogical approach, students and faculty members at ZOU have created short courses using the most pressing issues within surrounding communities, such as drug and substance abuse, financial literacy and learning in the digital age.
“These courses cut across different disciplines and are being created to help communities understand their own lives and this is done in partnership with our universities,” he said.
In addition to highlighting the inclusion of students in the designing of coursework, Gundani stressed that this initiative also confirmed the importance of lifelong learning and of democratisation of technologies.
To achieve this through teaching and learning, ease of access was being created through online applications such as YouTube and WhatsApp."
https://www.universityworldnews.com/post-mobile.php?story=20250522061748296
#metaglossia_mundus
Immigrants from Mexico and Central America are taking their ancient languages to new territories.
"The Mayan languages spreading across the US
3 hours ago
Juan Pablo Pérez-Burgos
Immigrants from Mexico and Central America are taking their ancient languages to new territories.
Three days had passed since Aroldo's father died. Aroldo was still mourning, and he couldn't even bring himself to tend the cornfields his father had left him in their community in San Juan Atitán, Guatemala. At dinner, as he stared into the flames of the wood stove, feeling the weight of loss on his chest, he told himself it was time to breathe fresher air. Turning to his mother, who was quietly eating beside him, he said in Mam, the Mayan language spoken in their town: "Nan, waji chix tuj Kytanum Meẍ," – "Mum, I want to go to the white men's nation," meaning, the United States.
In Mam, his mother told him she would set things up, but first, he had to wait until the mourning period was over. A year later, with cousins in California willing to host him, Aroldo set out (the BBC has chosen not to name him in full to protect his identity). It took him more than four months to descend the slopes of the Sierra Madre, cross the deserts of Mexico and Arizona and reach the San Francisco Bay Area.
"[My father's] death put life in front of me and made me realise it was time to face it by myself," says Aroldo, in Spanish, which he also speaks. Behind him, a photo of his father, wearing a traditional hat and hand-knitted magenta shirt under a black capixay of San Juan Atitán, guards him on a chilly December night in the Bay Area.
One of the few things Aroldo took with him was his language, Mam, whose roots reach far back into the Mayan civilisations that ruled over Central America thousands of years ago. Today, Mam and other Mayan languages are expanding their reach, as indigenous people from Mexico, Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala are spreading them in the US through immigration. In fact, in recent years, Mayan languages, originally spoken across the Yucatán Peninsula, have grown so common in the US that two of them, K'iche' (or Quiche) and Mam, now rank among the top languages used in US immigration courts.
The rise of these indigenous languages in Latin American immigrant communities in the US is only beginning to be fully understood, experts say – and has important implications for the communities and their needs.
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Market vendors in Guatemala, where Mayan languages are still spoken (Credit: Getty Images)
The San Francisco metropolitan area is one of the top destinations for Latin American immigrants. One in four of the Bay Area's more than seven million residents are Latinos, most with roots in Mexico and Central America, according to calculations based on US Census Bureau data.* The US government counts them all as Hispanic upon entering the country, a term denoting people from Spanish-speaking countries, even though for some of these migrants – like Aroldo – Spanish is not their mother tongue, but what they use to talk to those outside of their home villages. Others don't even speak Spanish at all, and only speak their indigenous language, according to several Mayan immigrants and experts interviewed for this article.
"Many Mam speakers come to the US and have a different set of needs, experiences and histories than monolingual Spanish speakers and those not from indigenous cultures," says Tessa Scott, a linguist specialising in the Mam language at the University of California, Berkeley. "If you call everyone from Guatemala 'Hispanic', you might assume everyone in that group speaks Spanish fluently, and they don't."
In California, a new law passed in 2024 requires state agencies to collect more detailed data on Latin American immigrants' preferred languages, including indigenous languages such as K'iche' and Mam, in order to better understand and meet their needs.
Mayan words have long made their way into different languages, through loanwords tied to Mayan inventions
Besides needing different interpreters, Mayans and other indigenous immigrants face unique challenges that mestizo or white Latin Americans don't, and that often go unnoticed when all are covered under the blanket term "Hispanic", Scott says.
"Indigenous Guatemalans, many from Mayan cultures like Mam, frequently face intense discrimination and violence by people in a different social category, and this is what often drives them to come to the US, where they may seek asylum," she says. Labelling all Latin Americans as Hispanic can hide these complex social, cultural and ethnic hierarchies, and prevent asylum seekers from receiving specialist services such as legal help and trauma support, she adds.
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Many ancient Mayan ceremonies and customs are still upheld today, along with Mayan languages (Credit: Getty Images)
The growth of Mayan communities in the US has also given their ancient languages new platforms, adding to a long and rich history. Though the ruins and carved hieroglyphs of ancient Mayan cities may seem like relics of a long-lost civilisation, many Mayan communities survived the Spanish conquest of the 16th Century and preserved their culture and languages. In places like the Bay Area, you can now find Mayan languages on the radio, in local news outlets or even in classrooms.
"We are as involved with the world as any other society," says Genner Llanes-Ortiz, a Maya scholar at Bishop's University in Canada. "We continue to speak our languages and use them not just to write our history, but to write new ways to deal with what affects us."
Mayan words have also long made their way into different languages, through loanwords tied to Mayan inventions.
Cigars and chocolate
When the Spanish landed on the coasts of the Yucatán Peninsula in the 16th Century, they found around a dozen Mayan city-states tied to a shared past but also facing deep divisions. Some Mayan rulers saw the arrival of the Spanish as an opportunity to settle old tensions and allied with the Europeans to crush their rival cities. Learning the languages spoken in the area was crucial for the Spanish wishing to maintain these new alliances. And, once the Peninsula was conquered, they used the local languages to evangelise, administrate and create a new society.
In his travels throughout the Americas, Fray Bartolomé de las Casas, the Spanish missionary, described a widespread local custom: "sipping" and "sucking" burning herbs. In Mayan culture, tobacco was smoked and drunk in rituals. The act of smoking those "dried herbs stuffed into a certain leaf", as de las Casas put it, was named siyar in ancient Mayan, which later evolved into the Spanish cigarro and, much later, into the English word cigar, to describe a roll of tobacco leaves.
Another Mayan word that slipped into other languages is cacao, the beans that make up chocolate and that de las Casas himself introduced to Europe in 1544.
Today, more than 30 Mayan languages exist and are spoken by at least six million people worldwide. Although some, like Chicomuseltec and Choltí, have disappeared or are close to extinction, others, like K'iche', Yucatec and Q'eqchi, have around a million speakers each.
They all come from the same language, Proto-Mayan, spoken before about 2000 BCE. They are so different from one another, however, that speakers of Mam, which has around half a million speakers, can't understand K'iche', and Yucatecans can't understand Mam. Of Yucatec, Aroldo says, "it's like German to me" – a language he doesn't speak at all.
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Ruins of Mayan temples, like this one in Mexico, are reminders of the culture's ancient heritage (Credit: Getty Images)
For nearly 2,000 years, Mayan languages had their own writing system, known as Classic Maya. Composed of hieroglyphs, it was only used by those at the top of the social pyramid. "If we want to make a historical equivalency, we can compare Classic Maya to Latin," says Llanes-Ortiz. "It was a prestige language. It was spoken by the elites, while the rest of the population spoke their own language that, little by little, mixed with Latin."
The Spanish missionaries deemed hieroglyphs pagan, and systematically purged them. The sons and daughters of the Mayan elites were forced to abandon hieroglyphic writing and learn to use the Latin alphabet, and most of the books written by that time, known as codices, were destroyed. But the oral languages were tolerated, and under a new robe – the Latin alphabet – have survived until the present day.
"The use of Mayan languages was so common and widespread during colonial times that community acts, balance sheets, wills, political declarations, memorials were all written in them, but everything was in Latin characters that remain in the archives of the city of Seville," says Llanes-Ortiz. "Even after Mexico's independence from Spain, Mayan languages continued to be used as lingua franca throughout the Yucatán Peninsula."
Western scholars began to study the Mayan hieroglyphs, long suppressed by the Spanish, in the 19th Century. While American and Russian linguists made significant progress in deciphering them throughout the 20th Century, Llanes-Ortiz says that huge breakthroughs were reached in the 2000s when Mayan scholars and speakers were included in the conversation. It was then that researchers understood that hieroglyphs represented not just complex concepts, but also syllables forming words.
The involvement of native speakers has advanced the study of Mayan languages, while inspiring a new generation of Mayans to reclaim hieroglyphic writing. Groups like Ch'okwoj or Chíikulal Úuchben Ts'íib are hosting workshops, and making t-shirts and mugs using ancient Mayan glyphs to resuscitate them and transmit them to future generations.
Mayan languages move north
Aroldo was five when he watched his first cousins leave San Juan Atitán for the US. He wouldn't see them again for years, but he listened to their voices on the cassette tapes they sent every now and then telling stories of a foreign land.
The first Mayans known to reach the US, Llanes-Ortiz says, came as part of the Bracero Program, which brought Mexican workers to replace Americans who left to fight in World War Two. But the largest waves came decades later, in the late 1990s and 2000s, when Latin American migration began to peak.
Guatemalans living in the US went from 410,000 in 2000 to 1.8 million in 2021, all coming from a country of only 17 million. Among these migrants are many Mayans who have settled in states like Florida and California.
"The first migrants went to the US, tested the waters and saw how you could earn real money. Then they told their Mam friends, who followed, and soon, they began pulling others," says Silvia Lucrecia Carrillo Godínez, a Mam teacher living in San Juan Atitán, speaking in Spanish.
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Mayan art is treasured by museums around the world – and Mayan languages are spreading, thanks to their speakers (Credit: Getty Images)
Migration has transformed San Juan from a corn- and bean-growing economy to one reliant on remittances, much like the rest of Guatemala. Today, nearly one in five Sanjuaneros moves to Mexico or the United States for better-paying jobs. "Migration is what sustains our village," says Carrillo Godínez. "The advice of the Mam people in the US to those here is learn to add, subtract, a little Spanish and go to the United States. It's the only way to progress."
For decades, Mayan immigrants in San Francisco settled in the Mission District. But, as housing costs soared in the 2000s and 2010s, many moved to the East Bay, particularly the cities of Oakland and Richmond. "There is a direct line to Oakland," says Scott, the linguist. "When I go to San Juan Atitán, and people ask me where I'm from, I don't say the US or California; but I say Oakland, and they know exactly where I'm from."
Aroldo has found a local community tied together by Mam and Mayan traditions. They celebrate traditional events and festivals, and help each other through neighbourhood committees. Occasionally, he receives a WhatsApp message in Mam: At jun xjal yab' – someone is sick; or At jun xjal ma kyim – someone has passed.
Like many migrants, Aroldo sees his time in California as temporary – it’s a place to work until he can return to San Juan Atitán to build a home for his family. Although he still mourns his father and misses his family back home and the fog-shrouded mountains of his childhood, he finds solace in Mam.
"There are so many paisanos (countrymen) here that I rarely feel nostalgic. Language makes it harder to miss your land," he says. That's why he always reminds his nephew, who attends an English-speaking school in the East Bay, to speak Mam at home. "First comes Mam, then Spanish, then English," he tells him.
* The calculation for the Bay Area was made based on data from the US Census Bureau on the Hispanic population in the nine counties of the Bay Area and their country of origin."
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20250515-the-mayan-languages-spreading-across-the-us
#metaglossia_mundus
Kate Maunders, Global Head of Marketing Communications at Primark, on why the retailer has embraced accessibility.
" May 22nd 2025
Inclusive thinking leads to innovation
Kate Maunders, Global Head of Marketing Communications at Primark, on why the retailer has embraced accessibility.
Building brands and building a legacy is not easy at a time when it feels like the to-do list for the modern marketer is longer than ever. Primark’s new accessibility range of adaptive products is the result of inclusive thinking that has led to innovation that challenges an entire sector to do better.
At Creative Equals RISE conference Kate Maunders, Global Head of Marketing Communications at Primark spoke with Sophie Devonshire, CEO at The Marketing Society, about the new range and the importance of designing to bring audiences in.
Primark’s new adaptive collection is made up of fashionable clothing designed with accessibility in mind. The range includes clothing, nightwear and underwear that is both liberating and stylish, with features such as accessible openings, stoma access and large pockets for devices.
Pointing to the shocking fact that ‘there are more clothes designed for dogs than disabled people’, Maunders shared that Primark’s journey to create adaptive products was born from a genuine desire to drive inclusion. She explained: “At Primark we want to be a retailer for everybody and that means everybody.”
There are more products designed for dogs than disabled people.
Kate Maunders, Global Head of Marketing Communications at Primark
It was important to the team that the products were trend-led. Not only did they need to serve a purpose, but they also had to be fashionable.
“Be it a dress with a discreet zip for stoma bag, or places for tube access, bras with front fastenings,” says Maunders. The retailer is the first to bring stylish, accessible products to the mainstream market at an affordable price point.
Primark’s journey began with underwear. Maunders shares that this is because Primark already has a huge range and authority in the space. She advises other brands to start with what they are already good at.
“Underwear is the first thing you put on in the morning. It is the most intimate item you own, and if you can’t put that on yourself. We wanted to give people their dignity back,” she says.
To create the range Primark worked alongside Victoria Jenkins, Founder and CEO at Unhidden, an award-winning, adaptive and universally designed fashion brand as well as disability activist Shani Dhanda.
“You don’t know what you don’t know,” says Maunders and by bringing in insight and expertise, Primark was able to create a product range that resonated with the audiences it sought to serve.
The experts were also helpful in educating the team at Primark and bringing everyone into the journey.
“We don’t always know the right language, and we can feel uncomfortable asking the questions. Shandi created a really safe space for us,” says Maunders.
Education about the product came first, and then accessible marketing followed. For all communications, the team made sure that alt text and descriptions were available. They also set out to ensure that their spaces were accessible too.
“There’s no point bringing to life clothes for the disabled community without having an accessible space,” Maunders adds, continuing: “We worked to create a blueprint so that any influencer event we hold in any of our 17 markets can be as accessible as possible.”
Now, Maunders urges the rest of the industry to get on board. “It's not often you say you want more people in the industry to do exactly what you are doing. Disabled people should have the option to shop anywhere. So actually, we want some competition,” she says.
She continues: “Not everything is about being the only. Let’s lead positive change within the whole of the industry. Start little fires, because that's how big fires start."
https://www.creativebrief.com/bite/voices/inclusive-thinking-leads-to-innovation
#metaglossia_mundus
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"Lit Hub is excited to feature a new series from Poets.org: “enjambments,” a monthly interview series with new and established poets. This month, they spoke to José Olivarez, the author of Promises of Gold (Henry Holt & Company)and Citizen Illegal (Haymarket Books, 2018), winner of the 2018 Chicago Review of Books Poetry Prize. Olivarez is the recipient of fellowships from Poets House, the Bronx Council on the Arts, the Poetry Foundation, CantoMundo, and other organizations. He is the cohost of the podcast The Poetry Gods and lives in New York City.
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Poets.org: Transformation happens throughout this book. Many of the poems and sections share titles, such as “Glory” and “Mexican Heaven.” The speaker and/or the characters become a pigeon, a plant, Lamborghinis, and bologna. What’s the relationship between symbolism and miracles? Transformation and translation?
José Olivarez: I don’t know, to be honest. I grew up in Calumet City, Illinois. I sort of hate that my images are pigeons and bologna and sometimes reduced to cute or sentimental because pigeons and bologna are ordinary, everyday ephemera. I was poor. My uncle worked at a lunch meat spot, so we always had cuts of bologna or turkey or whatever. The miracle is that we ate. The miracle is that we were always broke but we always ate. The miracle is that we survived. The symbolism isn’t symbolism. I’m not conjuring anything.
You call it transformation, but I think about it as revision. When I was a college undergrad, Professor Glenda Carpio taught us about Suzan-Lori Parks’s use of “rep and rev”—that is, repetition and revision. I’m not so much trying to transform the world, as much as I am trying to revise particular circumstances and moments, thereby opening up new possibilities—possibilities for alternative relationships, for healing, for care, for revival, for laughter, etc. The book is translated into Spanish by my friend David Ruano. And yet!
The individual poems refuse to translate. I like this refusal to translate alongside the tactics of misdirection employed by the speaker of the poems. Does translation offer us opportunities to transform our relationships with one another? Maybe—but be careful. When I was a kid, I had to translate all the conversations between my teachers and my parents, and it wasn’t my fault if some of the teachers’ comments about me got lost in translation...."
#metaglossia mundus: more @ https://lithub.com/jose-olivarez-on-translation-and-transformation-in-poetry/