Metaglossia: The Translation World

Do you know some African countries reverted to their native languages after colonialism? | Pulse Nigeria

Many African countries had indigenous languages before colonisation imposed the languages of the colonial powers, typically English, French, or Portuguese.

 

After gaining independence, some of these countries reverted to their native languages as part of reclaiming their identity.

Here are some of the African countries that changed their official language:

1. Tanzania

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Languages spoken in Tanzania [Diplomatist]

 

Tanzania’s colonial language was English since they were colonised by the British. However, after independence in 1961, Tanzania adopted Swahili as the national language, since they were more Swahili than English speakers.

There are a total of 126 languages spoken in Tanzania, but only two are institutional: English and Swahili.

ALSO READ: 5 African countries that successfully relocated their state capitals

2. Somalia

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Somalia’s official language was Italian and English. However, after independence in 1960, Somalia replaced Italian and English with Somali as the national language.

Somali was standardised and introduced as the language of education and governance. Currently in Somalia, the two most popular languages are Somali and Arabic.

3. Rwanda

Languages spoken in Rwanda [expertoire]

 

ALSO READ: 7 African countries that renamed themselves after colonialism

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Rwanda is quite a multilingual country. Their colonial language was French, but this was changed in 2008 when Rwanda shifted to English. On the other hand, Kinyarwanda is the national language, spoken by most Rwandans.

Rwandans speak three major languages which are also official languages: Kinyarwanda, French, and English.

4. Madagascar

Madagascar used to speak French since they were a French colony but after independence in 1960.

Malagasy became the national language, though French remains widely used in government, education, and law.

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ALSO READ: 7 African countries that renamed themselves after colonialism

5. Zimbabwe

The Colonial Language of Zimbabwe was English. After independence in 1980, Shona and Ndebele were recognised as official languages together with English. Zimbabwe now recognises 16 official languages, including indigenous ones.

An important part of culture is language; that’s why it’s commendable when countries leave their colonial past behind and embrace their own languages.

Temi IwalaiyeTemi Iwalaiye is a senior lifestyle reporter at Pulse Nigeria, specializing in fashion, beauty, research, travel, culture, and food.

•  Educate me

By Dan Ninham The Indigenous Interpreter Organization (IIO) was founded in 2024 with a mission to provide and create accessibility in Native spaces with exceptional interpreters.

By

 catwhipple

 October 4, 2024 

By Dan Ninham

The Indigenous Interpreter Organization (IIO) was founded in 2024 with a mission to provide and create accessibility in Native spaces with exceptional interpreters. The organization began as a “we-first” initiative although individual co-founders have their own story how they came together to form the empowering collective spirit and practice of their organization.

According to the IIO, they started in the Twin Cities with the hopes to grow and expand to other states and tribal areas. The IIO travel to events including powwows, ceremonies, theater performances, concerts, and more.

The co-founders included Cindi Martin, Red Lake Nation; Sarah Young Bear-Brown, Meskwaki Nation; Angela Blackdeer, Santee Dakota; and, Sequoia Hauck, Hupa and White Earth Nation.

The co-founders spoke collectively about their organization: “We as IIO recognize that the Indigenous Deaf and hard-of-hearing communities have had limited access to connect with their tribal languages, ceremonies, and traditions. IIO’s mission is to break down those barriers by providing high quality American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters to create accessible spaces for our relatives to have access to their ceremonial practices and have the ability to connect deeper with their communities and values.”

According to the co-founders the indigenous core values of respect, compassion, teamwork, and confidence guided the organization in their programming. These included:

• Respect: Treating others the way we want to be treated and valuing people’s individuality and perspectives;

• Compassion: Being concerned about others’ needs and temporarily suspending judgment to understand their perspectives;

• Teamwork: The act of working collaboratively with others to achieve a common goal. Teamwork means sharing knowledge, skills, work ethic, leadership, etc;

• Confidence: The strength to pursue our goals and represent who we are in an authentic way.

The co-founders worked together since the beginning of lIO this past year. Every month they met virtually with Native Deaf communities and Native interpreters from all over across Turtle Island. They also traveled to Colorado to attend a sweat lodge training for interpreters and deaf interpreters.

They traveled to Iowa Meskwaki Settlement in Iowa for their 108th annual powwow to provide interpretation for the first time, and this was documented on their live stream. Through IIO they have interpreted for Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community’s wacipi (powwow), the Minnesota State Fair, ceremonies, and theater performances.

The IIO are growing their network of Native interpreters and have been able provide Indigenous interpreters for the Menominee powwow in Wisconsin.

They continued to talk collectively about their mission: “The four of us know how much it means to the people we want to serve, and it is necessary so that people can access their culture and traditions. We wish to express chi-miigwech for the love and support of the Native community”

“Each of us brings a diverse knowledge of traditions, cultural ceremonies, and culturally appropriate signs. We also are decolonizing and indigenizing American Sign Language.”

Cyndi Martin talked about her sibling support and the growing influence of the co-founders of the IIO in her Facebook message on August 19, 2024: “As an Indigenous deaf woman, growing up, I was so grateful for my siblings interpreting for me at pow-wows, Native community events, and ceremonies. Without my siblings, I would have little knowledge of culture, tradition, and humor. Still, I missed a lot of information in many ways. For years, I left the community. I returned to my people and I had to start over again to relearn the culture, traditions, ceremony, etc. However, I am so grateful to the Creator that I met Sequoia. They have become my best friend. Sequoia and I have similar interests and work together in many ways. And now that I have met Sarah and Angela, they’re the best people to work with. Sarah is a famous social influencer, and Angela is a Dakota ASL interpreter and the CEO of LingoForce. They both want to help the community. The four of us know how much it means to the people we want to serve and it is necessary so that people can access their culture and traditions. We wish to express chi-miigwech for the love and support of the Native community. We each have a diverse knowledge of traditions, cultural ceremonies and culturally appropriate signs. We also are decolonizing and indigenizing ASL.”

One of the recent events the IIO attended was the Minnesota State Fair. Larry Yazzie Director of Native Pride Productions, Inc. performed at the state fair. The IIO interpreted his groups’ performances. Yazzie said, “It had been important to Native Pride Productions, Inc. to include a Native American ASL interpreter in our events. Our mission is to Inspire, Motivate and Educate through music and dance about our culture. We recognize the importance and need for inclusion and collaboration with the ASL community to ensure our message is being shared across all people.”

The Indigenous Interpreters Organization is growing its network. Education is the key. Sarah Young Bear-Brown’s Meskwaki name is tti-ka-mi-ge-a. She talked about the efforts to bring the ideals of the IIO forward. “To bring in the full communication access for the Indigenous Deaf community at the powwows, conferences, and workshops.”

“We would love to provide the workshops to educate about indigenous, cultural, ethnic, and heritage,” Young Bear-Brown added.

• 2 October 2024
• 4 min read
• LITERARY, PRESS

THIS IS A PRESS RELEASE

 

Cultural organisations with a Cultural Membership can place their press releases on our site without restrictions. Participate too? Take a Cultural Membership.

 

Outstanding, wonderful, wonderful - the juries of the two Filter Translation Prizes 2024 were short of words to sing the praises of all 10 nominated translations of the past year. All the nominees made translations so good that the juries became genuinely happy reading them. Still, a choice had to be made: one translated work for adults and one translated children's book stood out for the jury.

They are translations with a soul, the jury said; in both works, playfulness and creativity burst from the pages. In Maria Postema's translation, every word hits the mark. From the jury report: 'In the brilliant imagery used by the young protagonist, she unites her mother's passionate powers of observation with her father's orderly calm. Postema finds exactly that balance in the translation. Her refined choices evoke precisely the clear images that touch the reader so deeply. Julia and the shark reads as if it were written in Dutch.'

And with his translation of Beauty on earth once again demonstrates Rokus Hofstede's absolute mastery, says the jury: 'This translation expands the contemporary literary possibilities of Dutch, just as the book expanded the possibilities of the source language a century ago. Rokus Hofstede holds course from beginning to end in this swirling, undulating, constantly off-track text, like an intrepid captain. He manages to approach the text with the same playfulness and pleasure as the original author.'

About the Filter Translation Awards

The prize money for both prizes amounts to €10,000 and was made available by the GAU (Group of General Publishers) and the CPNB (Stichting Collectieve Propaganda van het Nederlandse Boek). Both organisations thus express the importance they attach to good translations and translators. The prizes are awarded in cooperation with the ILFU International Literature Festival Utrecht by Stichting Filter and are a reward for the translator's creativity in solving translation problems arising from the particular, special nature of the work to be translated.

Other nominees

In addition to the above winners, this year's nominees were:

• Lore Aertsen for Tess Watercress By Gregory Maguire (Publisher The Unicorn)
• Kiki Coumans for The age of destroying By Pauline Peyrade (Wings)
• Jan Fastenau for This other paradise by Paul Harding (Querido)
• Robbert-Jan Henkes for Bethany and the beast. The return of the beast By Jack Meggitt-Phillips (Querido Kind)
• Inge Piryns for The mouse that ate cats by Gianni Rodari (Borgerhoff & Llamberigts)
• Liesbeth van Nes for The unnamed café By Robert Seethaler (The Bezige Bij)
• Annelous Stiggelbout for The Nail by Zhang Yueran (Prometheus)
• Bette Westera for Ukkie and little Pukkie by Lu Fraser with illustrations by Kate Hindley (Querido Child)

The juries

The jury of the Filter Translation Prize 2024 consisted of Joost Baars, Jacqueline Bel, Yond Boeke, Anna Eble and Brigit Kooijman.

The jury of the Filter Translation Prize for Children's & Young People's Books 2024 consisted of Anne van Buul, Nathifa Elshot, Enne Koens, Daan Stoffelsen and Eva Wissenburg.

The winners were announced live on Tuesday 1 October 2024 in the Theatre Hall of the Library on the Neude in Utrecht, during the ILFU International Literature Festival Utrecht. The extensive jury report can be read at www.tijdschrift-filter.nl and on www.ilfu.com.

The winner of the Filter Translation Prize 2024: Rokus Hofstede, for his translation Beauty on earth by Charles Ferdinand Ramuz (Publisher van Oorschot) and
photo Maarten Mooijman The winner of the Filter Translation Prize for Children & Young People's Books 2024: Maria Postema, for her translation Julia and the shark By Kiran Millwood Hargrave (Publisher Ploegsma).
photo Maarten Mooijman

ILFU - International Literature Festival Utrecht

ILFU is the largest literature festival in the Netherlands as well as a daily online platform for literature. Recurring festival elements are the Book Talks with international and national authors, Exploring Stories: writers on urgent contemporary themes, Young Adult Literature Festival Utrecht (YALFU) and programmes for new talent such as the NK Poetry Slam. The Night of Poetry annually forms the festive conclusion of the festival.

Le laboratoire Langues, éducation, arts et communication de l’Institut des sciences des sociétés (INSS) tient un colloque international sur les orthographes des langues peu dotées à l’ère du numérique, du 2 au 4 octobre 2024 à Ouagadougou.

Dans un contexte marqué par la montée de la technologie dont l’Intelligence artificielle (IA), les langues nationales ne doivent pas être en reste. C’est la conviction des chercheurs, a rappelé le président du comité d’organisation de ce colloque international, Dr Issa Diallo. « Leurs orthographes doivent être revues sous tous les angles d’où le présent colloque qui se propose, à travers les contributions des chercheurs, des encadreurs pédagogiques et des communautés d’utilisateurs, de fournir un diagnostic clair des orthographes disponibles en éclairant les possibles liens entre l’orthographe et la dotation des langues peu dotées à l’ère numérique », a-t-il ajouté.

Selon la directrice de l’INSS, Dr Aoua Carole Bambara, ce colloque organisé est pour réfléchir sur les langues nationales qui sont présentement valorisées avec la décision des autorités d’en faire des langues nationales. « Notre partition en tant que chercheur, c’est d’accompagner les mesures nécessaires à notre niveau pour pouvoir documenter les langues, notamment celles qui sont peu dotées en orthographe et en lexique afin qu’à l’ère du numérique, nous puissions aussi les valoriser sur la toile et produire la documentation pour accompagner les enseignants et les apprenants », a-t-elle indiqué.

Garantir une orthographe standardisée, constitue un défi, à en croire la directrice de l’INSS, Dr Aoua Carole Bambara

« L’écriture orthographique d’une langue comporte une base philosophique »

C’est une trentaine de langues qui ont besoin d’être documentées pour que les locuteurs qui deviennent de moins en moins nombreux puissent avoir ces documentations et éduquer leurs enfants, même à domicile. « Si on ne le fait pas, nous allons perdre une certaine identité parce que les langues sont le véhicule de la culture. Qui parle de racine parle de solidité culturelle et sociale », a insisté Dr Aoua Carole Bambara.

« L’écriture de nos langues devient incontournable », a déclaré Dr Mamadou Lamine Sanogo

Pour le responsable du laboratoire Langues, éducation, arts et communication de l’INSS, Dr Mamadou Lamine Sanogo, la plus-value de cette rencontre scientifique est de créer un espace de concertation entre les chercheurs et les utilisateurs des langues nationales et éventuellement des politiques. « L’écriture orthographique d’une langue comporte une base philosophique qu’il faut respecter et des préalables. Elle peut évoluer en fonction du contexte technologique et historique. L’orthographe n’est pas stable, elle peut évoluer mais elle doit toujours s’effectuer dans un cadre de consensus et d’organisation », a-t-il affirmé.

Durant trois jours, les chercheurs des cinq pays (Burkina Faso, Cameroun, Côte d’Ivoire et République démocratique du Congo) vont se pencher sur le mécanisme pour garantir l’orthographe des langues nationales.

Cryspin Laoundiki
Lefaso.net

Publié le vendredi 4 octobre 2024 à 22h35min

 

PARTAGER :                           

Les rideaux sont tombés sur le colloque international sur les orthographes des langues peu dotées à l’ère du numérique organisé par le laboratoire Langues, éducation, arts et communication de l’Institut des sciences des sociétés (INSS), du 2 au 4 octobre 2024 à Ouagadougou.

Pendant trois jours, les participants ont réfléchi ensemble sur les perspectives pour équiper les langues peu dotées en orthographe à l’ère du numérique. Selon le président du comité scientifique du colloque, par ailleurs responsable du laboratoire Langues, éducation, arts et communication de l’Institut des sciences des sociétés (INSS), Dr Mamadou Lamine Sanogo, on retient essentiellement que la majeure partie des participants a reconnu la nécessité de renforcer les systèmes orthographiques des langues africaines. « Ensemble, nous avons compris qu’entre utilisateurs des langues nationales et les scientifiques, il doit avoir une complicité habituelle et non des confrontations », a-t-il indiqué.

Après ce rendez-vous scientifique, la mise en œuvre des recommandations constitue la prochaine étape. « Le véritable défi que nous avons actuellement, c’est comment faire en sorte que ces résultats soient pris en compte dans le cadre de la politique linguistique de nos pays. Autrement dit, il s’agit de voir comment nos Etats peuvent impacter réellement la politique envers les langues nationales », a confié Dr Mamadou Lamine Sanogo.

« C’est difficile lorsqu’on n’a pas un système d’écriture sur lequel on s’entend », a fait remarquer Dr Mamadou Lamine Sanogo

« Les échanges ont été intéressants et constructifs »

A en croire la directrice de l’INSS, Dr Aoua Carole Bambara, ce colloque a permis d’explorer les multiples opportunités qu’offre le numérique sur la valorisation et surtout la préservation des langues nationales en danger, qui sont peu dotées. « Je me réjouis de ces idées que vous avez émises, notamment travailler en tandem pour aller véritablement sur le front ensemble », a-t-elle formulé.

« Je ne doute pas de la bonne volonté de nos vaillants soldats de la recherche », s’est félicité Dr Aoua Carole Bambara

Venu de la Côte d’Ivoire, Dr Nguessan Edmond Appiah, docteur en sciences du langage à l’université Félix Houphouët Boigny d’Abidjan, n’a pas caché sa satisfaction pour sa participation. « J’ai pris avec plaisir part à ce colloque. Les échanges ont été intéressants et constructifs, surtout concernant le ton. Les tons doivent être marqués au niveau des langues, particulièrement dans les ouvrages pour l’enseignement bilingue, au niveau de la presse et du numérique », a-t-il confié.

« Il appartient aux politiques de suivre les chercheurs et praticiens pour que tout aille de l’avant », a affirmé Dr Nguessan Edmond Appiah

Pour ce participant, tous les participants ont reconnu que le ton est un élément essentiel et il ne faut pas l’occulter dans l’apprentissage des langues.

Il faut rappeler que ce colloque international a réuni des chercheurs de cinq pays (Burkina Faso, Cameroun, Côte d’Ivoire et République démocratique du Congo 5e pays….) sur le mécanisme pour garantir l’orthographe des langues nationales.

Lire aussi : Burkina : La problématique des orthographes des langues peu dotées à l’ère numérique au menu d’un colloque international

Cryspin Laoundiki
Lefaso.net

Fanon’s famous book was translated to isiZulu by South African writer and scholar Makhosazana Xaba.

Frantz Fanon was an influential psychiatrist, Algerian revolutionary and pan-African thinker who was born on the Caribbean island of Martinique. His work – and particularly his final book The Wretched of the Earth (1961) – is still widely referenced to understand the fight against colonialism and also the postcolonial era in Africa. This global classic has already been translated into numerous languages – and is now available in South Africa’s Zulu language as Izimpabanga Zomhlaba thanks to poet, short story writer, anthologist – and now translator – Makhosazana Xaba. We asked her about the book.

Why is it important that books like this be available in isiZulu?

Although newspapers in isiZulu have existed since the mid-1800s, only Ilanga lase Natal, founded in 1903, has survived. But the readership for isiZulu literature is massive.

IsiZulu is the majority language in South Africa; 23% of the population speaks it as their first language.

Yet English and Afrikaans are the majority languages for the country’s publishing industry because of the politics of settler-colonialism and the persistent legacy of the apartheid regime that ended formally with democracy in 1994.

 

What is the book about?

One scholar called The Wretched of the Earth “a handbook for liberation”. The genesis and focus of this book of five chapters is the Algerian revolution (1954-1962). Fanon uses examples and lessons from the African continent, the Caribbean and beyond to show the similarities in how colonialism works and how revolutions unfold in response.

 

Inkani Books

Fanon’s ideas on independence are pertinent to countries that have been under colonial rule, the African continent included. His writing straddles disciplines – politics, philosophy and psychiatry – as he shares his ideas and draws from his observations, experiences and the writings of others in Martinique, France, Algeria and Tunisia, countries he lived in.

The first chapter discusses the common-sensical armed struggle response to the violence of colonisation and how this necessity changes after independence when everything must be reconsidered.

Chapter two discusses the gap between the rural or peasant masses and traditional leaders and the people in towns, mostly political party cadres. It analyses the differences and calls for a “more flexible, more agile response” when addressing these differences.

The third chapter is an analysis of what happens after the revolution against domination and oppression ends and independence is gained. Fanon demonstrates how some of the formerly colonised people – party politicians, the national bourgeoisie, intellectuals, cultural practitioners, former activists, and more – take positions that are opposed to the revolutionary ones. They engage in actions that betray the revolution, like ultranationalism, corruption, patronage, chauvinism and more.

Read more: Quotes from Frantz Fanon's Wretched of the Earth that resonate 60 years later

The fourth chapter is on national culture. Fanon makes the argument that this needs to change after independence and focus on building everything anew.

In the final chapter he uses case studies of Algerian and French patients he attended to while working in a psychiatric hospital in Blida, Algeria. Fanon clarifies the connections between the impact of colonial struggle on mental health.

With passion Fanon concludes the book by calling for a humanity that is different from that of colonisers.

Why is it still so relevant?

Fanon remains relevant today for many reasons. For instance, in the third chapter, he analyses “the trials and tribulations” of national consciousness in a manner that resonates with South Africa. The poor showing of the African National Congress (ANC), the former liberation movement, in the country’s 2024 elections is proof that South Africans have had enough of the spectacular failures of the ANC-led government.

 

Frantz Fanon (front) in Tunis in 1959. Wikimedia Commons

Fanon challenges us to rethink all human relations. For me as a woman living in South Africa, known as the “rape capital of the world”, and as a Black person who still experiences racism, this call to rethink humanity feels urgent. The bill of rights asserts our dignity, freedom and equality, yet abusers, racists and rapists do the opposite; they dehumanise us.

It is easier today to point out what is wrong and challenge government, politicians and employers (and we should!) but how do we learn to challenge ourselves so that as perpetrators and victims we are on new journeys of rethinking human relations?

Fanon begins the book’s conclusion of four and a half pages with these words:

Now, comrades, now is the time to decide to change sides. We must shake off the great mantle of night which has enveloped us, and reach for the light. A new day which is dawning must find us determined, enlightened and resolute.

It takes self-reflection to arrive at determination, enlightenment and being resolute.

Who was Frantz Fanon to you?

Fanon was a writer like many others that I read and liked because they made a lot of sense. I was aware that he is revered within the activist circles where I moved. As I read the ever-growing scholarship on Fanon, I realised that his ideas had even more currency in the world than they did in my head.

Read more: Remembering Frantz Fanon – six great reads

One book on the translations of The Wretched of the Earth into other languages contextualises the biographies of each translation in a way that makes the relevance of Fanon’s ideas very clear. Unsurprisingly most of these translations were linked to the moments of political activism in the various countries.

Fanon has become somebody to me now that I have translated The Wretched of the Earth. I have been initiated into translation by Fanon’s book.

Torino's international book fair presents its fourth annual conference for translators at the Frankfurt Book Fair, featuring Italian books.

By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson

On Frankfurt Wednesday Morning

Dall’italiano al mondo means “From Italy to the World,” and this year’s iteration of the translation conference at Frankfurter Buchmesse (October 16 to 20) starts at 9 a.m. on the first day of the fair.

 

This year in its fourth iteration, the program, which targets translators, is to be an in-person event rather than digital, and the goal is “to support the translation of Italian litrature abroad and to promote networking between translators all over the world.”  That of course is perfectly aligned with the mission of Guest of Honor Italy.

The conference runs from 9 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. and is set in Hall 4.1. It’s organized by Salone Internazionale del Libro di Torino (May 15 to 19) in association with Buchmesse, of course, and the the Association of Italian Publishers (Associazione Italiana Editori, AIE) with Italia Ospite d’Onore 2024 and the ubiquitous ITA—meaning the Italian Trade Agency, not the airline formerly known as Alitalia.

And this program has the patronage of CEATL, the Conseil Européen des Associations de Traducteurs Littéraires, which, as our readers know, is now in the middle of its own three-day translation conference in Strasbourg.

This conference, the Italian one on Frankfurt Wednesday, is curated by Ilide Carmignani and designed for translators from Italian into all the languages of the world. it was inaugurated in 2021, to help present “a vast selection” of Italian books that stand ready to be translated.

With the help ITA, the Torino Salone has been able to use a fellowship to host 15 translators for the event. 

In a comment on the upcoming event, Carmignani is quoted, saying, “We couldn’t miss the extraordinary opportunity to hold the conference in person in such a special year.

“We’ll welcome the most illustrious translators from the Italian language arriving from Portugal, Spain, Catalonia, France, Poland, the United Kingdom, the United States, the Netherlands, Greece, Croatia, Albania, Romania, Egypt, Sweden and of course Germany.

“We’ll offer them a compelling showcase of books to discover and rediscover—interesting titles that could risk escaping the normal editorial mechanisms. After the symposium, we’ll have translators meet with our Italian publishers.”

A Quick Look at the Agenda

9 a.m.
Welcome and Opening remarks

• Annalena Benini, director of the Torino International Book Fair
• Juergen Boos president and CEO of Frankfurter Buchmesse
• Annette Kopetzki, curator/ VdÜ
• Francesca Novajra, president of CEATL

Followed by ‘The Scout Translator’s Proposal’ with Monica Malatesta, MalaTesta Literary Agency

9.30 a.m.
Children’s Books, Comics and Graphic Novels

• Emanuele Di Giorgi, coordinator of the AIE comics and graphic novels commission novels
• Beatrice Masini, writer and editor at Bompiani

10 a.m.
How To Make Italian Books Travel

• Michael Reynolds, Europa Editions
• Ana Rodado, Anagra.m.a
• Audrey Scarbel, Éditions Grasset et Fasquelle
• Linus Guggenberger, Verlag Klaus Wagenbach
• Moderated by Annalena Benini

10:45 a.m.
Poetry, Fiction and Essays

• Vincenzo Latronico, writer and translator
• Laura Pugno, Scientific Committee of the Strega Poetry Prize

11:30 a.m.
Closing Remarks

• Ilide Carmignani and Lorenza Honorati, Salone Internazionale del Libro di Torino

The conference is open to all translators from Italian and will be held in Italian.

More from Publishing Perspectives on Frankfurter Buchmesse is here, more on the Salone Internazionale del Libro di Torino is here, more on the Italian publishing market is here, more on Guest of Honor Italy at Frankfurt is here, more on translation rights is here, and more on translation and translators is here.

 

About the Author

Porter Anderson

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Porter Anderson has been named International Trade Press Journalist of the Year in London Book Fair's International Excellence Awards. He is Editor-in-Chief of Publishing Perspectives. He formerly was Associate Editor for The FutureBook at London's The Bookseller. Anderson was for more than a decade a senior producer and anchor with CNN.com, CNN International, and CNN USA. As an arts critic (Fellow, National Critics Institute), he was with The Village Voice, the Dallas Times Herald, and the Tampa Tribune, now the Tampa Bay Times. He co-founded The Hot Sheet, a newsletter for authors, which now is owned and operated by Jane Friedman.

By

 Dr. Assad Abbas

Translating literary classics like War and Peace into other languages often results in losing the author's unique style and cultural nuances. Addressing this longstanding challenge in literary translation is essential to preserving the essence of works while making them accessible globally. TransAgents introduces a pioneering approach to machine translation. Using advanced AI technologies, TransAgents maintains literature's stylistic and cultural nuances.

Brief History and Challenges of Machine Translation

Machine translation has evolved dramatically since its beginnings in the 1950s. Initially, machine translation was based on rule-based systems, which relied on linguistic rules and bilingual dictionaries to translate texts. These systems were somewhat effective but often produced grammatically correct translations, yet semantically inappropriate, lacking the natural flow of language.

The 1990s introduced statistical machine translation, a significant step forward that used statistical models to predict translations based on extensive bilingual text databases. Statistical machine translation improved fluidity but struggled with context-specific problems and idiomatic expressions.

A breakthrough occurred in the mid-2010s with the advent of neural machine translation. Using deep learning algorithms, neural machine translation considers whole sentences simultaneously. This approach enables fluent and contextually appropriate translations, capturing deeper meanings and nuances.

Even with these advancements, translating literary texts is still difficult. Literary works are full of cultural context and stylistic details, like metaphors and alliterations, which are often lost in translation. Capturing the emotional tone of the original text is also critical but difficult. It requires understanding beyond words into feelings and cultural subtleties. These challenges highlight the need for better solutions like TransAgents, which ensure that the essence and richness of literary works are preserved and conveyed to a global audience.

What are TransAgents?

TransAgents is an advanced machine translation system designed specifically for literary works. It utilizes an advanced multi-agent framework to preserve the cultural nuances, idiomatic expressions, and original style of texts. This framework is modelled after traditional translation agencies and includes several specialized AI agents, each assigned a distinct role in the translation process to handle complex demands effectively and ensure the preservation of the original voice and cultural richness.

Roles within the Multi-Agent Framework

Translator Agent

This agent is responsible for the initial text conversion, focusing on linguistic accuracy and fluency. It identifies idioms and consults a comprehensive database to find equivalents in the target language or adapts them through collaboration with the Localization Specialist Agent.

Localization Specialist Agent

This agent handles adapting the translation to the cultural context of the target audience. It uses deep learning models to analyze and translate metaphors, ensuring they maintain the original's emotional and artistic integrity. It also employs cultural databases and context-aware algorithms to ensure cultural references are relevant and contextually preserved.

Proofreader Agent

After the initial translation and localization, this agent reviews the text for consistency, grammatical accuracy, and stylistic integrity using advanced NLP techniques.

Quality control is a critical activity of the process. Human translators also review the work to provide nuanced understanding and ensure the translations are faithful to the original texts. TransAgents continuously improves its performance by adapting based on feedback and updating its databases to enhance its handling of complex literary devices.

By using these specialized roles and collaborative processes, TransAgents achieves high efficiency and scalability. It uses parallel processing to manage large volumes of text and cloud-based infrastructure to handle multiple projects simultaneously, significantly reducing the translation time without compromising quality. This automated workflow streamlines the translation process, making TransAgents ideal for publishers and organizations with high-volume translation needs.

Recent Innovations in Literary Machine Translation

Neural machine translation has significantly advanced the field of machine translation to produce fluent and contextually accurate translations. This is particularly essential for literary texts, where the narrative context may span several paragraphs and where idiomatic expressions are prevalent. Modern neural machine translation models, particularly those built on transformer architectures, excel in maintaining the stylistic elements and tone of the original works through advanced techniques like transfer learning. This approach allows the models to adapt to the specific linguistic and stylistic characteristics of literary genres.

At the same time, Large Language Models (LLMs) like GPT-4 have opened new possibilities for literary translation. These models are designed to understand and generate human-like text, making them particularly good at handling metaphorical language in scholarly works. LLMs trained on diverse datasets can effectively grasp and translate cultural references and idiomatic expressions to ensure that translations are culturally relevant and resonate with the target audience. Different LLMs can focus on specific aspects such as linguistic accuracy, cultural adaptation, and stylistic consistency of the translation process when used in a multi-agent framework. This enhances the overall quality by mimicking the collaborative nature of traditional translation processes.

To properly assess the quality of the translations, TransAgents moves beyond conventional metrics like BLEU scores to more holistic and refined evaluation methods. These include human evaluations by bilingual experts who can assess the translation’s reliability to the original work's style, tone, and cultural restraints. New contextual metrics are also being developed within TransAgents to evaluate coherence, fluency, and the preservation of literary devices, offering a more comprehensive assessment of translation quality. Additionally, reader response metrics, which gauge the target language readers’ engagement and emotional response to the translated text, are increasingly used to measure the success of literary translations.

TransAgents Case Study

TransAgents has demonstrated its effectiveness in translating both classical and modern literary works in different languages.

TransAgents was applied to translate 20 Chinese novels into English, each containing 20 chapters. This project demonstrates the system's capacity to handle complex literary translations through a multi-agent workflow that simulated various roles within a translation company. These roles included a CEO, a personnel manager, senior and junior editors, a translator, a localization specialist, and a proofreader. Each agent was assigned specific roles, enhancing the workflow's effectiveness and efficiency.

The process began with the CEO selecting a senior editor based on language skills and worker profiles. This senior editor then set guidelines for the translation project, including tone, style, and the target audience, informed by a chosen chapter from the book. The junior editor generated a summary of each chapter and a glossary of essential terms, which the senior editor refined.

The novel was translated chapter by chapter. The translator produced an initial translation, which the junior editor reviewed for accuracy and adherence to the guidelines. The senior editor evaluated and revised this work, and the localization specialist adapted the translation to fit the cultural context of the English-speaking audience. The proofreader checked for language errors, after which the junior and senior editors critiqued and revised the work.

In a blind test, the quality of TransAgents' translations was compared to that of human translators and another AI system. The results favoured TransAgents, particularly for its depth, sophisticated wording, and personal flair, effectively conveying the original text's mood and meaning. Human judges, especially those evaluating fantasy romance novels, strongly preferred TransAgents' output, highlighting its ability to capture literary works' essence.

Challenges, Limitations, and Ethical Considerations

TransAgents faces several technical challenges and ethical considerations in literary translation. Maintaining coherence across entire chapters or books is difficult, as the system performs well at understanding context within sentences and paragraphs but needs help with long-range contextual understanding. Additionally, ambiguous phrases in literary texts require enhanced disambiguation algorithms to capture the intended meaning accurately. High-quality translations demand extensive computational resources and large datasets. This requires efforts to optimize efficiency and reduce dependency on vast computational power.

AI-driven translations sometimes make different cultures seem too similar, losing unique cultural elements. TransAgents uses cultural adaptation techniques to prevent this but needs constant monitoring. Another issue is bias in the training data, which can affect translations. It is important to use diverse and representative datasets to reduce this bias. Additionally, translating copyrighted works raises concerns about respecting the rights of authors and publishers, so proper permissions are essential.

The Bottom Line

TransAgents represents a transformative advancement in literary translation. It employs a multi-agent framework to address the challenges of conveying the authentic essence of texts across languages. As technology progresses, it holds the potential to revolutionize how literary works are shared and understood worldwide.

With its commitment to enhancing linguistic accuracy and cultural fidelity, TransAgents may lead to a new standard in translation, ensuring that diverse audiences can appreciate literary pieces in their full richness. This initiative expands access to global literature and deepens intercultural dialogue and understanding.

The Chosen making history being translated into 600 languages

Written by Sylvia St. Cyr Thursday, Oct 03 2024, 7:14 AM

The Chosen TV series is making history as it aims to be translated into 600 languages.

The Bible took front and centre during this year's International Translation Day.

"The most translated efforts going on are around the Bible," said Stan Jantz, President and CEO of Come and See, in an interview. "And you have no doubt heard of Every Tribe Every Nation, which is a collection of Bible translation agencies, and their goal is to translate the Bible into every language on earth, and there are about 6,000 of them, by the year 2033, and so that many people will have at least a New Testament and probably about 95 percent will have the whole Bible in their heart language."

To date, The Chosen TV series depicting the life of Jesus and His disciples has been translated into 50 different languages. Come and See hopes to translate all the seasons into many more. 

 

"We're taking a media project, a multi-season TV series about the life of Jesus and his chosen followers and translating that into 600 languages, which has never been done for a TV show of any kind. It's an extraordinary feat but we're excited about being in that process."

They have already heard and felt the impact the translation of the TV series has had on people. 

"We got a letter from a woman in India who watched The Chosen first in English, and of course most Indians speak English but it's not their first language. And then she watched it in Hindi, and it just changed the meaning of the show for her. It gave her such more connection to the characters," said Jantz. "She just said 'thank you for translating into Hindi because it was so much more meaningful for me to see it and experience it in my heart language."  

 

Out in the African country of Madagascar, the translation has had a personal impact on the government. 

"The President of Madagascar is a Christian and he had seen The Chosen in English I think and he said, 'What I would like to do if you could translate it into Malagasy,' which is the language of Madagascar, it's one of the poorest nations on earth, 25 million people. He said, 'If you could do that we will show it in public places and make it available everywhere.'"

So that is exactly what they did. Come and See made it possible for The Chosen to be available in Malagasy and it's been shown in many places that house hurting people in need of hope. 

"They showed it in a prison. They showed it in an orphanage. They took it onto trucks into villages. They showed it on their public television. A year later we are still hearing results of people who have been impacted by this. They did a whole country-wide celebration. There were billboards all over just celebrating this idea. It's The Chosen but really it's Jesus."

Traduction et analyse traductologique d'un fragmentdu roman Texaco par Patrick Chamoiseau (CROSBI ID 419884)

Ocjenski rad | diplomski rad (sveučilišni)

 

Slakoper, Dora Traduction et analyse traductologique d'un fragmentdu roman Texaco par Patrick Chamoiseau / Le Calve Ivičević, Evaine (mentor). Zagreb, Filozofski fakultet u Zagrebu, 2015

Podaci o odgovornosti

Autori

Slakoper, Dora

Mentori

Le Calve Ivičević, Evaine

• Osnovni podaci na izvornom jeziku
• Osnovni podaci na ostalim jezicima

Jezik

francuski

Naslov

Traduction et analyse traductologique d'un fragmentdu roman Texaco par Patrick Chamoiseau

Sažetak

Ce mémoire comprend la traduction d'un fragment du roman Texaco de Patrick Chamoiseau et le commentaire sur cette traduction, accompagnée d'une courte analyse de l'ouvrage ainsi que de la poétique de l'auteur, et suivie d'un aperçu historique abrégé des courants traductologiques ainsi de d'un commentaire traductologique de la traduction, fondé sur la réflexion de J.-R. Ladmiral.

Ključne riječi

traduction, traductologie, Ladmiral, realia, créole, Chamoiseau

Northern plans to roll out on-board announcements from sign language interpreters on all trains.

Ewan Gawne

BBC News, Manchester

Northern

 

Northern will use on-board screens to provide passengers with information in sign language

A rail company operating across the north of England will introduce sign language announcements on all of its services.

Northern has trialled technology which means interpreters appear on trains' on-board screens, for example to let passengers know about the next stop.

The system, piloted on trains between Manchester, Leeds and York last year, will be introduced across the fleet next year.

Northern's chief operating officer Matt Rice said the technology was part of plans to make rail travel "more accessible" and give people the "confidence to travel by train".

Northern

 

On-screen sign language interpreters are used to announce upcoming stops

The trial used British Sign Language (BSL) to share on-board information with passengers with hearing impairments.

Interpreters were filmed signing each station and an AI program then also used the clips to provide updates about cancellations and delays.

According to recent census data, more than 22,000 people across England and Wales use BSL as their main language.

"These sign language announcements have been well-received by our customers during the recent trial," Mr Rice said.

"We can now press ahead with rolling them out on all of our services."

Listen to the best of BBC Radio Manchester on Sounds and follow BBC Manchester on Facebook, X, and Instagram. You can also send story ideas to northwest.newsonline@bbc.co.ukand via Whatsapp to 0808 100 2230.

Asian businesses face the greatest risks – don’t wait for a breach, take action to ensure your AI is tamper-proof.

By Rodrigo Brito on Oct 1, 2024 6:26PM

There is an escalating demand for advanced security solutions today, marked by the robust growth of the security software market in Asia/Pacific, excluding Japan and China, which according to IDC rose 21.1 percent in 2023 and reached US$6.3 billion (S$8.5 billion).

Additionally, a recent IDC FutureScape report predicts that by the end of 2024, a quarter of Top 2000 Asia companies will leverage Generative AI (Gen AI) within their Security Operation Centers (SOCs). The rapid digital transformation sweeping across Asia has made the region a center for innovation and growth.

Asia is today at the epicentre of a burgeoning cyber security crisis, fueled by rapid digitalisation and the increasing interconnectedness of systems.

Within cyber security, AI and large language models (LLMs) have emerged as powerful tools that not only mimic human writing and tackle complex questions but also engage in meaningful conversations that enhance security operations. By integrating them, we bolster analysts’ skills in detecting and responding to cyber threats, improving efficiency in managing cybersecurity incidents.

On the flip side, the same advancements that make LLMs so promising is also making them vulnerable to a new and insidious threat: data poisoning.

As communication service providers (CSPs) and enterprises in Asia plan to incorporate LLMs into their operations, protecting these AI models from malicious data injection is critical. This means making sure AI systems are tamper-proof, preventing any attempts to jailbreak or manipulate them with contaminated data.

Understanding data poisoning

Data poisoning is a malicious technique where attackers introduce corrupted or biased data into the training process of an LLM. This can lead to a model that generates harmful, misleading, or discriminatory outputs. For example, a poisoned AI model can be weaponised in harmful ways, from delivering misleading advice to exposing sensitive customer information or even creating malicious code.

There are many ways LLMs can be hacked. Two primary methods attackers use to poison LLMs are:

• During the Training Phase: During this critical phase, attackers can exploit gaps in the training process if security measures are not robust. Attackers could jailbreak the LLM, leading to the creation of harmful content. Foundational models such as OpenAI GPT and Anthropic Claude undergo extensive red teaming and testing to mitigate these issues before launch.
• During the Model’s Inference Time: Approaches such as RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) are powerful and legitimate ways to enhance the AI model's knowledge without re-training it. However, once an LLM is deployed, attackers can manipulate inputs or the model's environment to produce incorrect or harmful outputs.

A compromised LLM is a ticking time bomb for Asian businesses

Safe deployment of large language models in CSPs and enterprises is critical as the consequences of data poisoning can be severe for Asian businesses. A compromised LLM could lead to financial losses, reputational damage, and even national security breaches. It is imperative that organisations in Asia prioritise the protection of their LLMs.

While specific, publicly documented cases of data poisoning targeting LLMs in Asia may be limited due to the secretive nature of cyberattacks, it is essential to recognise the potential for such incidents.

-Rodrigo Brito, Global Head of Cybersecurity Portfolio, Nokia

Attackers can exploit LLMs to carry out phishing attacks, such as poisoning an AI-powered chatbot to deceive users into sharing sensitive information.

How can we prevent data poisoning in LLMs?

Communication service providers (CSPs) are at the heart of Asia's digital transformation, offering essential infrastructure and services to businesses and consumers alike. As such, they are prime targets for cyberattacks, including data poisoning. Protecting LLMs within CSP environments is crucial to maintaining the integrity and reliability of cloud services.

Frederic Giron, VP and senior research director at Forrester said, “Asia Pacific is bracing itself for a year of exploration and potential growth, with Gen AI at the center of it all…The promise and potential of Gen AI, combined with a new wave of technological innovations, will inspire more APAC tech and business leaders to follow in the footsteps of early trailblazers and fuse the power of AI with their transformation efforts to drive business outcomes.”

This emphasises some positive steps that are being taken. LLMs, which are a subset of GenAI, and a recent Omdia report cites that 64 percent of telecom businesses in APAC have incorporated, or are in the process of incorporating Gen AI into their cyber security portfolios.

This proves crucial for CSPs in Asia to implement security measures to leverage the full capabilities of implementing LLM-powered offerings in their cyber security operations. But how do we address this?

It requires a multi-faceted approach. Researchers and developers need to implement strong data validation techniques to detect and filter out poisoned data during training. Key strategies for preventing data poisoning include:

• Rely on curated, human-verified data for accuracy
• Strengthen LLM security with anomaly detection using fresh validation sets
• Perform thorough negative testing to uncover vulnerabilities in flawed data
• Leverage precise language models in benchmark tests to reduce risks and prevent negative impacts

Secure your LLMs or risk disaster

Don’t wait for a breach – start by sanitising your training data to prevent leaks, enforcing strong user authentication, and filtering outputs for airtight content safety. CSPs in Asia can strengthen their defenses by securing data storage, maintaining continuous monitoring with thorough risk assessments, and strictly adhering to ethical and compliance standards.

AI-specific defenses like adversarial training can help reinforce LLMs against emerging cyber threats. Combined, these practices ensure LLMs operate securely, protecting both the technology and its users from potential risks.

It is clear that leaders in Asia are increasingly aware of both the immense opportunities and the significant challenges heralded by the rapid adoption of LLMs. For example, LLMs can respond to intricate questions, engage in meaningful conversations with security analysts, and dramatically improve incident forensics and resolution times in security operations centers.

However, to move forward, leaders must understand the threat of data poisoning and implement security measures to protect their organisations, ensuring the responsible development and deployment of these powerful technologies.

Rodrigo Brito is Nokia’s Global Head of Cybersecurity Portfolio

Three years after a request made by the Commissioner of Official Languages, the Supreme Court is still refusing to translate its decisions handed down before 1970. Its reasons are not valid.

The Supreme Court of Canada has published all of its decisions in both official languages since 1970, immediately after the Official Languages Act was enacted.

But what about the decisions the highest court handed down prior to 1970? Should these decisions, which were mostly written in English, be translated so that they are available in both official languages?

Until very recently, the OLA was not interpreted as requiring the Supreme Court to translate its old decisions. However, in 2021, in response to a complaint filed by lawyer Marie-Andrée Denis-Boileau, the Commissioner of Official Languages, Raymond Théberge, held that the Court was in breach of the OLA by publishing unilingual decisions on its website, on the grounds that they constitute communications with the public by a federal institution.

The Commissioner recommended that the Court translate its pre-1970 decisions within 18 months. On Sept. 17, he reiterated this recommendation in response to another complaint, filed by Droits collectifs Québec. Regrettably, the Court has not implemented the Commissioner’s repeated recommendations.

 

The Commissioner of Official Languages, Raymond Théberge, has asked the Supreme Court of Canada to translate the decisions it handed down before 1970. The Canadian Press/Adrian Wyld

The Supreme Court and the Commissioner clearly disagree about the requirements of the OLA. In addition to this interpretative divergence, the Chief Justice of Canada, Richard Wagner, offered three reasons for the Court’s inaction on this matter at his annual press conference on June 3, 2024:

1. The old decisions are of purely historical interest.
2. Any translations would be unofficial.
3. The Court lacks the necessary resources.

As constitutionalists and experts in language rights, we do not find these reasons particularly convincing.

Legal significance of old decisions

The Chief Justice argued that the legal value of old Supreme Court decisions is “minute.” He referred to these decisions as being merely part of our “legal cultural heritage.” Given the rapid evolution of the law, especially since the adoption of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, he said that “no one today [would] refer to a precedent from 1892 to support their case.”

These statements are astonishing. In a common law system such as ours, judicial decisions are legally authoritative unless explicitly overturned. In accordance with the rule of precedent (stare decisis), courts must apply the rules of law established in previous decisions when similar situations arise. The rule of precedent lends stability to the law, allowing individuals to plan their activities so that they stay within the applicable rules.

As such, unless they have been explicitly set aside, decisions of the highest court from before 1970 still have precedential value. They are part of Canada’s normative landscape. Lower courts are required to apply the rules of law established by the Supreme Court, including those handed down prior to 1970. Similarly, the Supreme Court must follow its own precedents, unless it determines there is a “compelling reason” to depart from them.

In fact, many Supreme Court decisions of that era are still taught in Canadian law schools. Moreover, lawyers still refer to pre-1970 precedents in their daily practice to support their legal pleadings. The Supreme Court itself regularly cites its old decisions.

One need only think of R. v. Comeau, in which the highest court relied on a decision it had rendered on interprovincial trade in 1921. Another example is St. Lawrence Cement Inc. v. Barrette, in which the Court cited an 1896 decision on neighbourhood disturbances. Other classic decisions, such as Roncarelli v. Duplessis, in which the Court found that the Premier of Québec had abused his power, remain particularly important. These decisions are among the threads that make up the fabric of Canadian law.

Unofficial status of translated decisions

The Chief Justice also pointed out that translations of Supreme Court decisions from before 1970 would not have official status, because the authors of these decisions are deceased and therefore could not verify or approve them.

It is true that the translations could not be approved by the authors of the original decisions. This does not mean, however, that they would be useless. From an access to justice perspective, in an officially bilingual country, citizens, law students, lawyers, and judges should have access to all the decisions of the Supreme Court in both English and French.

It is also important to note that official French versions of several Canadian constitutional documents, including the Constitution Act, 1867, remain unavailable. Yet, recognizing the importance of accessibility, the federal government has provided unofficial French translations of these documents. These translations ensure francophones can read these crucial legal texts while waiting for them to be formally adopted under section 55 of the Constitution Act, 1982, thereby enhancing access to justice.

The Supreme Court of Canada, photographed on Aug. 10, 2022, in Ottawa. The Canadian Press/Adrian Wyld

Lack of resources

Finally, the Chief Justice asserted that translating the Supreme Court’s old decisions would require the services of some 100 translators and cost between $10 million and $20 million. He said the Court does not have those resources or the staff to ensure the quality of the translations produced.

Translating the thousands of unilingual decisions the Supreme Court handed down before 1970 is certainly an ambitious and costly project. It would surely take more than the 18 months recommended by the Commissioner. It is a long-term project that would likely take several years.

However, simply because translating the unilingual decisions may take some time is not a valid reason for refusing to undertake the project. If Manitoba managed to translate and re-enact nearly 100 years of English-only legislation following the Court’s decision in Reference Re Manitoba Language Rights, the Supreme Court should logically be capable of meeting this type of challenge as well.

The Supreme Court should seize the opportunity and recognize that, because of its status and importance, all of its decisions must be available in both official languages. Publishing all the Court’s decisions in both official languages is clearly consistent with the spirit of the OLA, the principle of substantive equality of English and French, and the constitutional provisions that protect the rights of official language minorities.

In carrying out this project, the Supreme Court should give priority to translating the old decisions most regularly cited by Canadian courts (i.e., those that are most relevant). While the translation project could not be accomplished solely using artificial intelligence tools, these tools could be expected to play a growing role in it as time goes on, facilitating the work of the translators involved.

Federal government’s role

As the Supreme Court itself recognized in R. v. Beaulac, “administrative inconvenience” and “financial costs” are not valid reasons for refusing to implement language rights.

Ultimately, it is the federal government’s responsibility to provide the Supreme Court with the financial means to carry out this important project. Under Part VII of the OLA, the federal government is required to take “positive measures” to “support the creation and dissemination of information in French that contributes to the advancement of scientific knowledge in any discipline” and to “support sectors that are essential to enhancing the vitality of English and French linguistic minority communities,” including the “justice” sector.

In many respects, the Supreme Court is exemplary in terms of institutional bilingualism, and in this instance, no one doubts its good faith. But these old, unilingual decisions are a stain on its record that sooner or later it needs to remove.

The 7th International Translation Day highlights technology and indigenous languages.

2024.10.01

 

The UN marked the seventh International Translation Day Monday with a nod to translators and interpreters  for keeping dialogue going and information flowing, and a call for greater focus on translation of indigenous languages.

The work of language professionals “plays an important role in bringing nations together, facilitating dialogue, understanding and cooperation, contributing to development and strengthening world peace and security,” the UN said.

The UN in 2017 established International Translation Day, choosing Sept. 30 to commemorate St. Jerome, a priest from Italy famed for translating the Bible into Latin from Greek. He died on the day in 420.

The 2024 theme, "Unveiling the Many Faces of Humanity," focuses on power relations and technologies in translation practices involving indigenous languages.

The six countries and three territories covered by Radio Free Asia range from monolingual North Korea to China, with 300 languages, Myanmar with 111, and Vietnam with 110. Tiny Laos has 86 languages.

Following are favorite sayings of RFA countries and communities.

Laos

ຢູ່ລາວ, ຄົນລາວປາກບໍ່ໄດ້ໄອບໍ່ດັງ

"In Laos, people can't speak nor cough" – meaning people can't speak, not even cough against anything, in particular the government.

Burmese

တံငါနားနီး တံငါ၊ မုဆိုးနားနီး မုဆိုး

"Near a fisherman one is a fisherman; near a hunter a hunter."

Vietnamese

Được voi đòi tiên (You have an elephant then you ask for fairy) is the Vietnamese equivalent of  “You can't have your cake and eat it, too.”

Korean

“쥐구멍에도 볕 들 날 있다” (There is sunshine even in a mouse hole.)
If you endure and overcome hardships, you will encounter good opportunities.

Mandarin

"拆东墙，补西墙" (To tear down the east wall to mend the west wall.)  The equivalent of “to rob Peter to pay Paul.”

Cantonese

持盈保泰 (Maintain prosperity and preserve stability.) Commonly used in Hong Kong in the face of economic uncertainty.

Tibetan

གསེར་ས་འོག་ཏུ་ཡོད་ཀྱང༌། འོད་ནམ་མཁར་ཁྱབ།  (Gold, even if buried underground, reaches the sky with its glare.)

You can never hide a good thing, deed, or person; its impact is always felt or seen.

Khmer

បានពីក្អែក យកទៅចែកតាវ៉ៅ (Getting from the crow to share with the cuckoo.)  This popular saying reflects the spirit of sharing in Cambodian society.

Uyghur

ھەقىقەت ئېگىلىدۇ ، ئەمما سۇنمايدۇ

Truth bends but doesn't break.

Cette semaine dans Les Matins du Samedi, nous nous intéresserons aux bienfaits des microbes, à une anthropologie des fantômes et des zombis, et à la nouvelle traduction du célèbre conte Alice aux Pays des Merveilles par Marie Darrieussecq.

Cette semaine dans Les Matins du Samedi, nous nous intéresserons aux bienfaits des microbes, à une anthropologie des fantômes et des zombis, et à la nouvelle traduction du célèbre conte Alice aux Pays des Merveilles par Marie Darrieussecq.

Avec

• Marie-Monique Robin Journaliste d'investigation, réalisatrice et écrivain
• Grégory Delaplace Anthropologue, maître de conférence à l'université Paris-Ouest
• Philippe Charlier Médecin, archéologue et anthropologue
• Marie Darrieussecq Écrivaine

Nicolas Herbeaux reçoit l'écrivaine et traductrice Marie Darrieussecq pour sa traduction inédite du classique de Lewis Carroll : "Alice au pays des merveilles".

October 03, 2024 04:05 PM Eastern Daylight Time

MONTRÉAL--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Alors que nous célébrons ces 25 dernières années riches en apprentissage et en croissance, nous sommes profondément reconnaissants envers nos clients.

« J’espère que LAT demeurera une entreprise où tant les employés que les clients se sentent valorisés »

Post this

Tout au long de notre parcours, nous avons dû faire preuve d’adaptation et de résilience. Nous avons réussi à surmonter les fluctuations d’un marché en constant changement et l’expansion rapide du monde numérique tout en gardant le cap sur nos valeurs fondamentales : la qualité et le service à la clientèle.

LAT a fait ses débuts en 1999 en Colombie-Britannique, sous le nom de L.A. Traduction. Notre mission originale consistait à aider nos clients à répondre aux exigences linguistiques du Québec. En 2001, nous avons ouvert un bureau à Québec et avons offert nos services en commandite pour soutenir la candidature de Vancouver aux Jeux Olympiques de 2010.

Reconnaissant le rôle croissant du marketing numérique et des médias sociaux dans la mise en relation des clients avec des publics multilingues, nous avons pris le nom de LAT Multilingue en 2013.

LAT Multilingue fournit maintenant des services professionnels de traduction, de localisation et d’adaptation de contenu marketing à des clients partout au Canada et aux États-Unis.

Notre 25e anniversaire représente plus qu’un simple jalon : il nous permet de célébrer les personnes qui ont fait de LAT ce qu’elle est aujourd’hui.

Nous sommes heureux d’avoir récemment obtenu la certification B Corp, qui témoigne de notre engagement à rendre service à nos communautés et à favoriser l’inclusion, la diversité et la durabilité environnementale dans toutes nos activités.

Nous nous tournons vers l’avenir et la suite des choses semble prometteuse!

« J’espère que LAT demeurera une entreprise où tant les employés que les clients se sentent valorisés », déclare Lise Alain, fondatrice et présidente.

« Dans un monde en constante évolution et où les actions tardent parfois à suivre les mots, LAT a toujours été à l’avant-garde dans ses valeurs et ses politiques », affirme Julie Wong-Gravend, vice-présidente de LAT. « J’ai bien hâte de voir ce que les 25 prochaines années nous réservent. »

Merci à tous ceux et celles qui ont fait partie de ce remarquable parcours.

À propos de LAT Multilingue

Fondée en 1999, LAT Multilingue fournit des services de traduction, d’adaptation culturelle et de marketing. Entreprise certifiée B Corp, LAT s’est engagée à mettre en pratique et à promouvoir les valeurs d’inclusivité et de durabilité.

Contacts

Personne-ressource
Média:
Deepa Jatania
Coordonnatrice, LAT Multilingue
866-936-3833, poste 105

#TraducteursEnCouverture - Dans la foulée de la journée mondiale de la traduction (30 septembre), nous invitons une fois de plus les éditeurs et leurs auteurs à mentionner les noms des traducteurs et traductrices sur la couverture des livres traduits. Les noms des traducteurs ont figuré en bonne place sur les livres pendant des siècles, preuve que c’est chose possible. Pourquoi sont-ils oubliés maintenant ?

Où sont les noms des traducteurs et traductrices sur les couvertures des livres ?

#TraducteursEnCouverture - Dans la foulée de la journée mondiale de la traduction (30 septembre), nous invitons une fois de plus les éditeurs et leurs auteurs à mentionner les noms des traducteurs et traductrices sur la couverture des livres traduits. Les noms des traducteurs ont figuré en bonne place sur les livres pendant des siècles, preuve que c’est chose possible. Pourquoi sont-ils oubliés maintenant ?

Publié le :

03/10/2024 à 10:42

Marie Lebert

3

Commentaires

22

Partages

Traductrice de profession, j’aimerais trouver les mots nécessaires pour convaincre les éditeurs et leurs auteurs d’indiquer nos noms sur la couverture des livres que nous traduisons… mais ce n’est pas gagné.

Certains éditeurs jugent même inutile de mentionner nos noms sur la page de titre des mêmes livres (une expérience vécue) alors que ces éditeurs et leurs auteurs n’auraient pas acquis tous ces nouveaux lecteurs — et ce nouveau marché — sans notre patient labeur mené jour après jour.

S’il est important de convaincre les éditeurs, l’appui des auteurs est essentiel. Certains auteurs exigent maintenant la mention du nom du traducteur sur la couverture de leurs livres traduits. Et certains traducteurs demandent la mention expresse de leurs noms sur la couverture des livres qu’ils traduisent. Tout ceci en bonne et due forme dans leurs contrats respectifs.

À LIRE - Les noms des traducteurs sur la couverture : des auteurs s'engagent

Une épidémie générale

Après avoir débuté dans le monde du livre, cet anonymat imposé vaut aussi pour les articles, les actualités, les pages web, les films, les vidéos, les logiciels, les applications mobiles et les jeux, dont les traductions nous ont demandé des heures, des semaines voire des mois de travail.

Systématique à quelques exceptions près, l’invisibilité s’ajoute à un emploi précaire et des tarifs en chute libre. Difficile donc de garder un moral d’acier malgré notre foi inébranlable dans l’utilité de la profession, définie comme un pont indispensable entre les langues et les cultures.

 

Je serais curieuse de voir ce que donnerait la disparition temporaire de tous les biens culturels (et autres) oubliant de mentionner leurs traducteurs et le manque-à-gagner financier qui s’en suivrait.

Et l’intelligence artificielle (IA), me direz-vous ? On oublie que les bases de données IA sont alimentées, testées et améliorées par des centaines de traducteurs (souvent immigrants) exploités par les multinationales de la Silicon Valley (et d’ailleurs) puis remerciés sans façon du jour au lendemain. Sans surprise, leurs noms ne figurent nulle part.

Des collègues me disent que l’intelligence artificielle va balayer notre profession. C’est en effet déjà le cas. Mais il n’est jamais trop tard pour rendre justice à une profession qui n’a pas encore dit son dernier mot.

 

Utilisons donc le hashtag #TraducteursEnCouverture aussi souvent que possible. Il n’est pas utile d’être traducteur pour cela. Tout le monde lit des livres et des articles traduits, consulte des actualités et des pages web traduites, regarde des vidéos sous-titrées, utilise des applications mobiles traduites et s’éclate (au sens figuré) sur des jeux vidéo traduits.

Et les auteurs de par le monde peuvent bien entendu soutenir notre cause en signant cette lettre ouverte (en anglais).

Traductions externes : les fonctionnaires francophones paient le prix Pourquoi faire confiance à Francopresse.

Marianne Dépelteau

Journaliste - Francopresse

Des coupes budgétaires dans les services de traduction du gouvernement ont parfois mené à une perte d’expertise et des délais plus longs. Il est alors parfois demandé aux fonctionnaires francophones d’effectuer le travail, sans être davantage rémunérés.

Photo : Olly – Pexels

FRANCOPRESSE – Pour réduire ses dépenses, le gouvernement modifie depuis près de 30 ans son système de traduction à l’interne, notamment en ayant recours au secteur privé. Mais ce sont finalement les fonctionnaires francophones qui, appelés à compenser les conséquences de cette économie, en font les frais.

 

Traductions externes : les fonctionnaires francophones paient le prix

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Au sein des ministères et organismes fédéraux, environ 90 % des documents sont traduits de l’anglais vers le français, indique Services publics et Approvisionnement Canada (SPAC) dans une réponse écrite à Francopresse.

Si une traduction est mal faite ou omise, ce sont la langue de Molière et ses locuteurs qui en subissent les conséquences.

«Être bilingue m’a ajouté un certain fardeau de travail, que j’étais très heureux d’assumer, d’ailleurs», confie David Lachance*, fonctionnaire depuis 2002. Celui-ci raconte que les francophones et ceux qui, comme lui, ont un niveau de français élevé se retrouvent parfois à traduire ou à réviser des documents.

Ce film, il l’a vu cent fois. Ce qu’il n’a jamais vu, c’est une personne francophone ou bilingue recevoir une compensation financière ou être reconnu pour le travail supplémentaire effectué.

À lire aussi : Incapables de travailler dans leur langue, des fonctionnaires quittent

Traductions insatisfaisantes

Si les fonctionnaires qui parlent français se retrouvent à faire de la traduction et de la révision c’est parce que, selon lui, depuis 1995, les ministères fédéraux ne sont plus obligés d’avoir recours au Bureau de la traduction (BT) et peuvent se tourner vers le secteur privé pour effectuer leurs demandes.

Ça a vastement réduit la qualité de la langue et de la traduction des documents. Je n’ai jamais vu une traduction externe aussi bonne que celle faite à l’interne. [Les traducteurs à l’interne] connaissaient mieux la matière.

— David Lachance

Il explique que des fonctionnaires francophones sont alors appelés à corriger les traductions insatisfaisantes ou à les faire eux-mêmes lorsque les délais à l’externe sont trop longs.

La SPAC mentionne toutefois que les fonctionnaires qui ne sont pas traducteurs, terminologues ou interprètes ne devraient pas être appelés à faire de la traduction.

À lire aussi : Langues officielles : la Cour suprême à nouveau priée de traduire ses anciennes décisions

Nathan Prier se méfie des logiciels de traduction. Censés améliorer l’efficacité, ceux-ci peuvent affecter la qualité du français et obliger un plus grand travail de révision, estime-t-il.

Photo : Courtoisie

Une menace à la qualité

«On entend toujours des exemples [comme ça]», confirme le président de l’Association canadienne des employés professionnels (ACEP), Nathan Prier, en entrevue.

Il a lui-même été sollicité pour traduire des documents légaux lorsqu’il était économiste au sein de la fonction publique.

En ce qui concerne la qualité, Nathan Prier partage le même constat que David Lachance : les pigistes externes n’arrivent généralement pas à la cheville des traducteurs du BT.

«Il faudrait revenir au modèle de prestation de services obligatoires du BT d’avant 1995, afin que [le BT] redevienne l’unique autorité contractante pour les services de traduction et d’interprétation et qu’il soit de nouveau entièrement responsable du contrôle, de la qualité et de l’uniformité», dit Nathan Prier.

«Si on est sérieux de vouloir défendre la qualité de traduction et la qualité des deux langues officielles, et non seulement l’anglais, […], on a vraiment besoin de protéger ces jobs.»

Les fonctionnaires comme David Lachance ne sont pas les seuls à subir les conséquences de cette situation. Les traducteurs du BT encaissent aussi.

Une question d’argent

«La qualité inégale des pigistes fait en sorte qu’il revient à nos membres de réparer les gaffes de l’externe. Cela finit par couter cher au Bureau et force nos membres à sauver la face de l’institution en effectuant des révisions pour lesquelles ils ne sont souvent pas rémunérés à leur juste valeur», avait exprimé l’ACEP devant le Comité permanent des langues officielles en 2016.

Un «bingo du fonctionnaire francophone» a été commenté plus de 150 fois sur le site Web Reddit. La tâche de traduction y figure.

Photo : Capture d’écran

L’Association avait aussi affirmé qu’aucun traducteur n’avait été embauché entre 2011 et 2016, entrainant une perte du tiers des postes au BT.

Dans son rapport, le Comité observe que lorsque les ministères ont recours au secteur privé, c’est souvent pour une question de prix.

En 2021, le professeur émérite en traduction de l’Université d’Ottawa, Jean Delisle, avait écrit dans un mémoire que «depuis une dizaine d’années, il y a une volonté très nette de réduire le plus possible les dépenses liées à la traduction. On évoque même une réduction de l’effectif du Bureau de l’ordre de 60 %».

Dans son courriel à Francopresse, SPAC assure que le nombre de traducteurs internes et la proportion de sous-traitance à des traducteurs externes sont restés plutôt stables au cours des huit dernières années.

Mais, comme le fait remarquer Nathan Prier, la taille de la fonction publique a «beaucoup» augmenté. Il reste à déterminer si les effectifs du BT parviendront à suivre la croissance des demandes.

SPAC estime que le Bureau de la traduction répond lui-même à environ 75 % de la demande de services de traduction au sein de l’administration publique centrale. Près de la moitié de ces traductions sont refilées à des sous-traitants (graphique ci-dessous).

À lire aussi : Budget 2024 : Ottawa garde une petite place pour la francophonie

La loi à la rescousse?

«Si tout le monde était bilingue comme moi au sein de la fonction publique, je pense que le fardeau sur les francophones serait minime, veut croire David Lachance. Il faudrait qu’on accentue la capacité de tous les fonctionnaires à bien comprendre les deux langues.»

«Il semble qu’il y ait une culture au sein de la fonction publique où on privilégie une langue par rapport à l’autre et que très souvent le français est vu comme une langue de traduction», estime Raymond Théberge.

Photo : Courtoisie

Questionné par Francopresse sur les tâches supplémentaires parfois demandées aux francophones, le commissaire aux langues officielles, Raymond Théberge, affirme trouver la situation «préoccupante».

«C’est une situation qui perdure depuis un bon nombre d’années […]. Je me souviens quand j’étais jeune fonctionnaire dans un autre milieu, on [m’en parlait]. Ce qui est important, c’est de créer la capacité bilingue au sein des institutions fédérales.»

À lire aussi : La fonction publique réticente au bilinguisme, selon le rapport du commissaire

Selon le commissaire, créer cette capacité passe par le respect de l’article 91 de la Loi sur les langues officielles, qui renvoie aux exigences linguistiques requises pour les postes. Ainsi, les fonctionnaires francophones seraient moins appelés à faire du travail supplémentaire.

«Si on fait un bon travail au niveau de l’évaluation des exigences linguistiques, on va créer au sein de l’unité, au sein du ministère, peu importe, la capacité bilingue nécessaire», affirme-t-il.

Cet article de la Loi a fait l’objet d’une étude du commissaire en 2020. Il effectuera un suivi des résultats dans les prochaines semaines.

*Le nom a été modifié pour des raisons de sécurité et de confidentialité.

DeepL a annoncé l’ouverture d’un hub new-yorkais dédié à la R&D et au développement de produits. L’entreprise de traduction dopée à l’IA souhaite fournir de nouveaux outils de traduction et de rédaction basés sur l’IA aux entreprises américaines.

DeepL avance ses pions aux États-Unis avec un hub technologique

 Victor MIGET

 3 octobre 2024

 

DeepL a annoncé l’ouverture d’un hub new-yorkais dédié à la R&D et au développement de produits. L’entreprise de traduction dopée à l’IA souhaite fournir de nouveaux outils de traduction et de rédaction basés sur l’IA aux entreprises américaines.

Le hub technologique annoncé par DeepL doit permettre de répondre à la demande croissante des entreprises américaines pour des technologies de traduction et de rédaction. L’entreprise d’IA déclare vouloir renforcer sa présence en Amérique du Nord et se rapprocher de son réseau de clients, qui comprend « la moitié des entreprises du Fortune 500 », selon un communiqué.

« Ce pôle technologique nous permettra de nous concentrer sur le développement et la conception de produits, afin de fournir des solutions d'IA linguistique de pointe qui aideront nos clients à se développer à l'international », a déclaré Jarek Kutylowski, directeur et fondateur de DeepL, dans un communiqué.

Une équipe de cadres renforcée

La startup d’IA a également annoncé qu’elle souhaite doubler la taille de ses bureaux au cours des douze prochains mois et est en recherche active d’ingénieurs et de spécialistes produits.

Parallèlement, l’entreprise d’IA a annoncé l’arrivée de Sebastian Enderlein (Uber, Salesforce et Personio) en tant que directeur technique, et de Steve Rotter (Adobe, Motorola, FourKites) comme directeur marketing. Leur mission sera de développer des projets de croissance stratégique à l’échelle internationale. Actuellement, l’entreprise revendique une base de 100 000 clients à travers le monde.

À l’occasion de la Journée internationale du traducteur, la Maison russe des sciences et de la culture à Paris publie les résultats du concours international de traduction « Le temps ne fait pas le poids face à l’amitié ».

Plus de 300 participants de 29 sujets de la Fédération de Russie, de Kaliningrad à Blagovechtchensk, et de 6 pays ont présenté au jury des traductions de documents historiques uniques, des témoignages de pilotes soviétiques et français.

Le jury international de Russie et de France a hautement apprécié les compétences linguistiques des participants en russe et en français et a désigné les gagnants.

Les membres du jury de la Maison russe des sciences et de la culture à Paris ont choisi les lauréats de la nomination « Traduction de prose du français vers le russe » parmi les étudiants russes.

Les gagnants sont :

 Zhouk Sofya (Kaluga) ;
 Zoroastrova Polina (Kaliningrad)/Vyrva Valeria (Blagoveshchensk) ;
 Karpovitch Alexandra (Kaliningrad).

Le 20 septembre, une cérémonie solennelle a eu lieu au Centre régional de la jeunesse (Kalouga) pour récompenser les participants russes.

La Maison russe à Paris félicite les gagnants et les lauréats du concours et récompensera les participants français le 4 octobre dans le cadre du Forum des écoles russes.

• par un de nos membres
• 2 octobre 2024
• 4 min lire
• LITTÉRAIRE, PRESSE

CECI EST UN COMMUNIQUÉ DE PRESSE

 

Les organisations culturelles titulaires d'une adhésion culturelle peuvent placer leurs communiqués de presse sur notre site sans restriction. Participer aussi ? Prends une adhésion culturelle.

 

Remarquable, merveilleux, merveilleux - les jurys des deux prix de traduction Filter 2024 n'avaient pas de mots assez forts pour chanter les louanges des dix traductions nominées au cours de l'année écoulée. Tous les nominés ont fait des traductions si bonnes que les jurys ont été véritablement heureux de les lire. Néanmoins, il a fallu faire un choix : un ouvrage traduit pour adultes et un livre traduit pour enfants se sont distingués pour le jury.

Ce sont des traductions qui ont une âme, selon le jury ; dans les deux ouvrages, l'espièglerie et la créativité jaillissent des pages. Dans la traduction de Maria Postema, chaque mot fait mouche. Dans le rapport du jury, on peut lire : "Dans les images brillantes utilisées par la jeune protagoniste, elle allie le sens de l'observation passionné de sa mère au calme ordonné de son père. Postema trouve exactement cet équilibre dans la traduction. Ses choix raffinés évoquent précisément les images claires qui touchent si profondément le lecteur. Julia et le requin se lit comme s'il était écrit en néerlandais".

Et avec sa traduction de La beauté sur terre démontre une fois de plus la maîtrise absolue de Rokus Hofstede, déclare le jury : "Cette traduction élargit les possibilités littéraires contemporaines du néerlandais, tout comme le livre a élargi les possibilités de la langue d'origine il y a un siècle. Rokus Hofstede tient le cap du début à la fin de ce texte tourbillonnant, ondulant et constamment décalé, tel un capitaine intrépide. Il parvient à aborder le texte avec la même espièglerie et le même plaisir que l'auteur original.

À propos du prix Filter Translation

Le montant des deux prix s'élève à 10 000 euros et a été offert par le GAU (Groupement des éditeurs généraux) et le CPNB (Stichting Collectieve Propaganda van het Nederlandse Boek). Ces deux organisations expriment ainsi l'importance qu'elles attachent aux bonnes traductions et aux bons traducteurs. Les prix sont décernés en collaboration avec le Festival international de littérature ILFU d'Utrecht par Stichting Filter et récompensent la créativité du traducteur dans la résolution des problèmes de traduction découlant de la nature particulière et spéciale de l'œuvre à traduire.

Autres nominés

Outre les lauréats susmentionnés, les nominés de cette année sont les suivants :

• Lore Aertsen pour Tess Watercress Par Gregory Maguire (éditeur La Licorne)
• Kiki Coumans pour L'âge de la destruction Par Pauline Peyrade (Ailes)
• Jan Fastenau pour Cet autre paradis par Paul Harding (Querido)
• Robbert-Jan Henkes pour Béthanie et la bête. Le retour de la bête Par Jack Meggitt-Phillips (Querido Kind)
• Inge Piryns pour La souris qui mangeait des chats par Gianni Rodari (Borgerhoff & Llamberigts)
• Liesbeth van Nes pour Le café sans nom Par Robert Seethaler (The Bezige Bij)
• Annelous Stiggelbout pour Le clou par Zhang Yueran (Prométhée)
• Bette Westera pour Ukkie et le petit Pukkie de Lu Fraser avec des illustrations de Kate Hindley (Querido Child)

Les jurys

Le jury du Prix de la traduction Filter 2024 était composé de Joost Baars, Jacqueline Bel, Yond Boeke, Anna Eble et Brigit Kooijman.

Le jury du Prix de la traduction Filter pour les livres d'enfants et de jeunesse 2024 était composé d'Anne van Buul, Nathifa Elshot, Enne Koens, Daan Stoffelsen et Eva Wissenburg.

Les lauréats ont été annoncés en direct le mardi 1er octobre 2024 dans la salle de théâtre de la Bibliothèque sur la Neude à Utrecht, lors du Festival international de littérature ILFU d'Utrecht. Le rapport détaillé du jury peut être consulté à l'adresse suivante www.tijdschrift-filter.nl et sur www.ilfu.com.

Le lauréat du Prix de la traduction des filtres 2024 : Rokus Hofstedepour sa traduction La beauté sur terre par Charles Ferdinand Ramuz (éditeur van Oorschot) et
photo Maarten Mooijman Le lauréat du Prix de la traduction Filter pour les livres d'enfants et de jeunesse 2024 : Maria Postema, pour sa traduction Julia et le requin Par Kiran Millwood Hargrave (éditeur Ploegsma).
photo Maarten Mooijman

ILFU - Festival international de littérature d'Utrecht

ILFU est le plus grand festival de littérature des Pays-Bas ainsi qu'une plateforme quotidienne en ligne pour la littérature. Les éléments récurrents du festival sont les Book Talks avec des auteurs internationaux et nationaux, Exploring Stories : writers on urgent contemporary themes, Young Adult Literature Festival Utrecht (YALFU) et des programmes pour les nouveaux talents tels que le NK Poetry Slam. La Nuit de la Poésie constitue chaque année la conclusion festive du festival.

L’ampleur de son œuvre a permis de promouvoir la littérature et le théâtre scandinaves en France. 

Créé en 2017 et doté de 15 000 €, le Grand Prix Société des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) pour l’œuvre de traduction distingue le travail d’un traducteur ou d’une traductrice émérite. Cette année, le jury composé d’auteurs et de traducteurs membres de la Société a choisi de le remettre au Norvégien Terje Sinding.

En traduisant de nombreux auteurs danois, norvégiens et suédois (dont August Strindberg, Henrik Ibsen, auquel il a consacré une thèse, Jon Fosse ou encore Arne Lygre), celui-ci a fortement contribué à faire connaître en France, son pays de résidence depuis 1969, la littérature et le théâtre scandinaves. Ses traductions théâtrales ont été portées à la scène par des créateurs français et européens (Robert Cantarella, Patrice Chéreau, Alain Françon, Jacques Lassalle, Claude Régy, Hans-Peter Cloos…).

Terje Sinding a, par ailleurs, occupé les fonctions de secrétaire de rédaction à la Comédie-Française durant dix ans (de 1983 à 1993), fut chargé de cours au Département des Arts du spectacle de l’Université de Paris-Nanterre et a collaboré à plusieurs revues et publications : Les Cahiers de la Comédie-Française, La Revue du Théâtre national de Strasbourg, Théâtre en Europe, Mémoires d’Europe-Anthologie critique des auteurs dramatiques européens, parue aux Éditions théâtrales en 2007, entre autres.

Le parler souletin est désormais accessible via son ordinateur ou son smartphone grâce à la mise en ligne d’un dictionnaire français-souletin sur le site de l’Académie de la langue basque 

 

Depuis quelques semaines, le dictionnaire français-souletin du père Junes Casenave-Harigile (Hiztegia I) est en ligne. Il suffit de taper un mot dans une case pour avoir immédiatement sa traduction en souletin. Le parler souletin est désormais accessible via son ordinateur ou son smartphone. C’est l’œuvre d’Euskaltzaindia, l’Académie de la langue basque

Le monde a célébré la journée internationale de la traduction le 30 septembre autour du thème « traduire, tout un art à protéger ». Ce thème nous invite à protéger la traduction en tant qu’art, à défendre le droit d’auteur et le droit voisin et à préserver le moyen de subsistance des traducteurs afin de pérenniser leur profession. - Quelle est la situation des traducteurs en RDC ? - Comment sont-ils organisés ? - Quel est le rôle des spécialistes des langues dans le rapprochement des nations et la promotion de la paix, de la compréhension et du développement.

Jody Nkashama s’entretient sur ce sujet avec Yulu Kabamba, membre de l’Association des traducteurs et interprètes professionnels du Congo (ATPCO).

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