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Charles Tiayon
November 14, 2011 9:44 PM
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Telos Press looks forward to publishing Democratic Contradictions of Multiculturalism by Jens-Martin Erikson and Frederik Stjernfelt, scheduled to appear in March 2012. This article originally appeared in German in Jungle World and in English translation at signandsight.com.
It is with an increasing feeling of queasiness that I have followed the incidents surrounding the Parisian weekly Charlie Hebdo and its special issue on the sharia, which was inspired by the political developments in Libya and Tunisia.
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
A federal investigator warned Maine officials about possible interpreter fraud schemes in a 2020 report that has not been disclosed until now. The findings come on the heels of fraud allegations against a major health care provider serving immigrants.
"...
In the last 10 years, providers filed more than 45,000 interpreter claims, totaling more than $41.4 million. Half of that money went to only a few providers. The BDN contacted the top 10 providers and asked if they had ever been contacted by federal law enforcement. Only two responded, with one of them saying they had not. (The BDN is not naming that provider because it has not been charged with a crime.)
The other, Gateway, said through a lawyer that it also had not been contacted in the last 10 years by federal law enforcement. The audit that prompted state officials to pause MaineCare payments to the company on Tuesday began in early 2023 and looked at claims submitted between 2021 and 2022, according to a notice of violation.
Prior to the announcement that the organization’s MaineCare payments had been suspended, the provider’s lawyer, Pawel Bincyzk, denied allegations of fraud or being aware of Pellerin’s report.
“Gateway stands by its previous statements on this issue and will continue to cooperate with the state as it has in the past,” Bincyzk said..."
https://www.bangordailynews.com/2025/12/24/mainefocus/mainefocus-government/maine-interpreter-fraud-warning-joam40zk0w/
#Metaglossia
#metaglossia_mundus
"The fourth "Yunshan Cup" International Remote Interpreting Contest concluded on December 20 at Guangdong University of Foreign Studies (GDUFS), bringing together interpreters from around the world to translate local stories from Guangdong for international audiences.
More than 4,500 interpreters from China and overseas signed up for this year's competition. After multiple rounds, 251 contestants reached the finals, competing in 16 languages including English, French, Spanish, Russian, Japanese, and Portuguese. The finals were livestreamed and watched by tens of thousands of viewers online.
The competition focused on translating local stories from Guangdong for international audiences. The source materials were based on actual locations and cases from different cities, covering topics such as cultural heritage, environmental protection, industry, technological innovation, and everyday local life.
Contestants introduce Guangdong
Liu Jianda, Vice President of GDUFS, said the competition's remote format allowed young interpreters from 16 language backgrounds to compete on the same platform, making it an effective way to present China's stories to the world.
Guest speeches at the finals also sparked discussions about the future of the profession as artificial intelligence reshapes the language industry. Xing Yutang, Vice President of the Academy of Translation and Interpretation of China International Communications Group, stated that while AI tools are advancing rapidly, high-end interpreters remain irreplaceable, with their value more pronounced and demand more urgent than ever.
This view was echoed by Professor Wallace Chen Ruiqing of the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, who argued that technology should support human interpreters, not replace them.
Sylvia Kadenyi Amisi, President of the International Association of Conference Interpreters, added that interpreters are not just language professionals but also cultural communicators, stressing that judgment, empathy, and cultural understanding remain essential to the profession, even as technology evolves.
Reporter | Chen Siyuan"
https://www.newsgd.com/m/node_99363c4f3b/bb0a60ff09.shtml
#Metaglossia
#metaglossia_mundus
"Translating Ecologies of Thought: The Digital Archive of Indigenous Language Persistence (DAILP)
22 January 2026 15:30 to 16:30
Online
Part of Computational Humanities Research Group Seminar Series
The Digital Archive of Indigenous Language Persistence (DAILP) provides a reading and writing ecology for Indigenous language practice and documentation. DAILP offers a reading and translation interface that gives indigenous peoples purpose, audience, intuitive means, and opportunity to to continue practicing their languages. The DAILP translation interface allows teams to translate language documents, audio files, and videos in archives and libraries. The translations entered into DAILP are then displayed in digital edited collections, which deepen language documentation and and encourage secondary scholarship. After a brief introduction to DAILP’s reading and writing ecologies, I will introduce DAILP’s GitHub site to share code, workflows, and technical documentation driving the reading and translation interfaces. DAILP supports the persistence and documentation of indigenous ecologies of thought.
This is an online event; the link will be communicated upon registration.
Speaker:
Ellen Cushman is Dean’s Professor of Civic Sustainability in the Department of English at Northeastern University and Co-Director of NULab for Digital Humanities and Computational Social Sciences. A citizen of the Cherokee Nation, she is project leader of the Digital Archive for Indigenous Language Persistence. Her research explores how people use language and literacy to create and endure change. DAILP has received generous support from the National Archives, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Henry K. Luce Foundation, and the Mellon Foundation.
barbara.mcgillivray@kcl.ac.uk"
https://www.kcl.ac.uk/events/translating-ecologies-of-thought-the-digital-archive-of-indigenous-language-persistence-dailp
#Metaglossia
#metaglossia_mundus
"(Xinhua) 09:19, December 24, 2025
JOHANNESBURG, Dec. 23 (Xinhua) -- The term "G20" was the most frequently used word in South Africa in 2025, the Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB) said on Tuesday.
PanSALB said it worked with media research company Focal Points to analyze frequency data and discovered that "G20" featured prominently in the "reputable print, broadcast and online media."
According to PanSALB, the selection process involved shortlisting candidates based on authentic language usage. "G20" emerged as the most dominant keyword largely due to South Africa's role as the G20 presidency in 2025 and its hosting of the G20 Leaders' Summit.
The terms "Government of National Unity" and "Tariffs" ranked second and third, respectively, reflecting key political developments, international engagements and socioeconomic debates that shaped the country during the year, the agency added.
PanSALB is an organization mandated to promote multilingualism, develop and preserve South Africa's 12 official languages, and protect language rights.
(Web editor: Wang Xiaoping, Liang Jun)"
http://en.people.cn/n3/2025/1224/c90000-20406104.html
#Metaglossia
#metaglossia_mundus
"Artificial intelligence-powered language translation startup Camb.ai has a new multiyear partnership with European Athletics, the governing body for sports on the continent.
The collaboration will see European Athletics use Camb.ai’s newly released publishing product, Camb.ai for Publishing, to translate its website into 12 different languages: English, Spanish, French, Italian, German, Dutch, Portuguese, Polish, Croatian, Czech, Hungarian and Serbian. Included in that work are event coverage, athlete profiles and other digital content, underpinned by AI technology that Camb.ai says can facilitate translations in more than 150 languages.
Camb.ai, one of SBJ’s 10 Most Innovative Sports Tech Companies in 2025, has worked with MLS, NASCAR, the YES Network, Comcast/NBCUniversal and the Australian Open."
By Rob Schaefer
12.23.2025
https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/2025/12/23/european-athletics-taps-cambai-for-language-translations-of-website/
#Metaglossia
#metaglossia_mundus
"Most tech companies treat language like a checkbox: translate the homepage, add a few help-center articles, and call it “global.”
But the next wave of growth is not coming from being “available” in more countries, it is coming from being understood, trusted, and chosen in more countries.
That is why multilingual strategy is becoming a core product and go-to-market function, not a last-minute localization task.
The problem we keep ignoring: customers don’t “mentally translate” for us
We still act like English is a universal interface, especially in SaaS and developer-first products. Yet CSA Research found that 76% of online shoppers prefer buying when product info is in their own language, and 40% will not buy from websites in other languages. If your funnel, onboarding, and support live in one language, you are not “global,” you are just easier to ignore.
The second problem: AI made translation faster, but not safer
AI translation removed the time barrier, so now everyone can ship multilingual content at speed. That sounds like a win until you realize most teams cannot confidently judge quality in languages they do not speak, especially when different AI tools produce slightly different answers. So we end up with a risky workflow: copy, paste, guess, and ship.
In 2025 and 2026, localization stops being “support” and becomes “strategy”
The localization world is already calling this out: the real advantage is integrating AI-driven localization into the broader ecosystem, so it scales with the business. When localization is wired into product, marketing, and customer success, it stops being a cost center and starts being a growth lever. If we do not build for this now, we will spend the next two years rebuilding it under pressure.
A multilingual strategy is not “translate everything”, it is “design how you scale”
It starts with picking the languages that match revenue, retention, and support demand, not just traffic. Then it defines what must be localized deeply (onboarding, pricing, trust pages, key support flows) and what can be translated lightly (long-tail docs). Finally, it sets quality rules so we get accurate translations that protect meaning, brand voice, and compliance, not just word swaps.
The real bottleneck is trust, at the sentence level
Most teams do not fail because they refuse to translate, they fail because they cannot trust what they are shipping. One bad sentence in a pricing page, security statement, or “how to cancel” flow can create churn, tickets, and legal exposure. This is why “which AI output do we believe” is now a business problem, not a linguist problem.
The solution: MachineTranslation.com’s SMART feature
MachineTranslation.com is a free AI Translator built around a simple idea: do not bet your business on one AI model’s opinion. SMART runs multiple AI engines and selects the sentence-level translation that most engines converge on, so you get one consolidated output instead of a pile of competing drafts. And because MachineTranslation.com is built by Tomedes, you can pair that AI consensus with a leading global provider known for high-quality, fast, and customized language translation services for businesses worldwide when you need expert human support.
Independent coverage of SMART describes it as consensus-based selection without an extra “rewrite layer,” which is exactly what teams need when clarity matters.
Why SMART changes the workflow, not just the output
The old workflow is messy: generate several translations, compare them manually, and hope you chose the right one. SMART flips that into a single click that surfaces where the engines agree, which is a practical proxy for reliability when you do not speak the target language. Slator also reports that internal evaluations cited in their coverage showed consensus-driven choices reduced visible AI errors and stylistic drift by roughly 18–22% versus relying on a single engine, which is the kind of improvement that compounds at scale.
Where this matters most for tech businesses: growth content
Multilingual SEO is exploding because AI can generate and translate at volume, but volume does not help if the translation bends intent or weakens a call-to-action. SMART is built for exactly that moment when you need speed and confidence at the same time, especially for landing pages, app store listings, and lifecycle emails. If we want professional translations without slowing the team down, consensus beats guessing every time.
Where this matters most: product and support
Your UI strings, onboarding tooltips, and help articles must be consistent, or users feel friction even if the translation is technically “correct.” SMART is designed to reduce hallucinations and outlier phrasing by favoring the majority over the weird one-off output, which helps keep terminology stable across releases. That means fewer support tickets caused by language confusion, and faster localization updates when you ship new features.
The part many teams forget: security and governance
Translation often includes contracts, customer data snippets, incident notes, and internal docs, so “free online translator” is a real risk. MachineTranslation.com documents Secure options, including a secure translation mode processed on private servers and a Secure Mode approach that restricts processing to SOC 2-compliant sources. That matters because multilingual strategy is also data strategy, and trust is hard to rebuild once you lose it.
A future-focused take: consensus is how we survive the model explosion
We are heading into a world with more models, more outputs, and more “almost right” translations that look fine at a glance. Consensus-based translation is a sane response to that future because it reduces dependence on any single system and gives teams a clearer baseline for review. Even MultiLingual’s recent coverage ties reliability to “more data points,” noting that SMART uses algorithmic voting to pick the best sentence-level translation.
What you can do this quarter, without boiling the ocean
Start by mapping your revenue funnel and support journey, then pick 2–3 languages where better understanding would most directly lift conversion or reduce tickets. Next, standardize your translation workflow so marketing, product, and support are not using different tools and creating inconsistent language. Then operationalize SMART as the default for first-pass production content, and reserve human review for the truly high-stakes pages where you want maximum assurance.
The bottom line
A multilingual strategy is not about sounding international, it is about building a business that can scale trust across borders. If your team is shipping faster than it can verify, you do not have a growth engine, you have a risk engine. MachineTranslation.com’s SMART feature is a practical way to turn multilingual growth into something you can actually run, measure, and trust.
Read More From Techbullion"
https://techbullion.com/the-fastest-way-to-lose-global-deals-treat-translation-as-an-afterthought/
#Metaglossia
#metaglossia_mundus
"La traduction littéraire est un art de la passion et de la précision, qui comporte son lot de défis à l’heure actuelle.
Publié à 8h17
Sarah-Louise Pelletier-Morin
Quand Arianne Des Rochers tombe sur This Little Art, l’essai de Kate Briggs, c’est le coup de foudre. « Ce livre-là m’a complètement happée… je me suis dit que j’aimerais vraiment le traduire et que ce serait le projet d’une vie », raconte-t-elle. Problème : Briggs est britannique. Au Canada, les principales subventions de traduction ne couvrent que les auteurs canadiens. Traduire Le petit art ne serait donc pas financé.
Après que la traductrice eut cogné à la porte de plusieurs maisons d’édition, Le Quartanier finit par accepter le projet. Un « projet de passion » qui devient ainsi en novembre dernier un livre disponible en français — au prix, entre autres, d’un travail quasi bénévole, rendu possible parce que Des Rochers vit surtout de l’enseignement et de la recherche.
Titulaire de la Chaire de recherche du Canada en traduction et colonialisme depuis juillet 2024, Arianne Des Rochers s’est spécialisée dans les littératures autochtones et queers. Pour traduire des œuvres autochtones, elle travaille en étroite collaboration avec les auteurs et des partenaires pour « combler le fossé » entre ses expériences et celles des textes qu’elle traduit. Pour elle, traduire n’est pas corriger une « copie conforme » de l’original, mais inventer une relation : « Lire une traduction, c’est lire un livre dans les yeux de quelqu’un d’autre. Le petit art, c’est ma façon à moi de raconter le livre de Kate Briggs à d’autres gens. »
Savoir en mouvement
Cette idée de la traduction comme savoir en mouvement traverse l’essai de Briggs. Plutôt que de prouver une expertise figée, « la traduction produit de nouveaux savoirs sur le monde ». Elle devient « un site où apprendre, par la lecture et l’écriture », un lieu d’expérimentation qui invite « de plus en plus de gens à traduire ». Loin de l’obsession de la « faute », Briggs insiste sur le caractère spéculatif de la traduction : on demande au lectorat d’accepter qu’un texte pensé dans une autre langue existe en français ou en anglais, de suspendre encore un peu plus son incrédulité. Il y a là, dit-elle, « quelque chose de spéculatif, voire de romanesque ».
À Gatineau, Madeleine Stratford parle, elle aussi, de la traduction comme d’un geste de lecture poussée à l’extrême. Poète, traductrice et professeure à l’Université du Québec en Outaouais, elle vient de la littérature allemande et espagnole, puis d’un mémoire où l’on exige qu’elle traduise son propre corpus. « J’aime dire qu’il faut déconstruire le texte original pour le reconstruire avec des matériaux différents. Mettons que j’ai une maison en bois, mais que je n’ai que de la brique pour la rebâtir : il faut que ça ait l’air d’être du bois », image-t-elle.
Comme beaucoup de traductrices littéraires, Stratford n’a pas de formation pratique formelle, mais une longue fréquentation de la poésie et du roman. Les meilleurs traducteurs, selon elle, sont « d’excellents lecteurs et lectrices », capables de disséquer un style, un rythme, un ton pour mieux les recréer ailleurs. Elle-même a signé des dizaines de traductions — poésie, fiction, essai, jeunesse — tout en apprenant « à écrire » en se glissant dans les voix des autres.
Son regard est sévère envers une culture qui s’intéresse aux traductions surtout pour y traquer des erreurs. « Quand on parle de traduction, on va chercher toutes les petites bêtes noires et dire : “regarde comment c’est mal fait” », déplore-t-elle. Or, une traduction est « le fruit d’un travail collectif et d’une négociation constante » avec l’éditeur, le réviseur, parfois l’auteur, et elle n’a pas pour but d’effacer la distance avec l’original : elle la met en scène, l’assume.
La forme la plus assidue de lecture
Dans L’envers de la tapisserie, un essai d’Alberto Manguel qui paraîtra sous peu en traduction française, le lecteur est invité à regarder ce qui se trame au dos du texte. « La traduction peut être (doit être) la forme la plus assidue de lecture », écrit-il, rappelant que le traducteur s’adresse avant tout au lecteur de la traduction. Le mythe d’Orphée lui sert de métaphore : Orphée, traducteur d’Eurydice, perd son amour lorsqu’il se retourne pour vérifier qu’elle le suit. « Le miracle de la traduction est un acte de résurrection » : il faut accepter de laisser l’original dans son royaume pour que la version traduite vive pleinement. L’art de traduire rappelle ainsi « qu’il n’existe jamais de lecture “exacte” » : Balzac lu par Freud n’est pas Balzac lu par Marx, et Balzac traduit n’est jamais exactement Balzac.
À Berlin, Jennifer Drummer incarne une autre facette de ce « petit art ». Germanophone tombée amoureuse du Québec lors d’un premier hiver glacial en 2008, elle y revient, étudie à l’Université de Montréal, puis fonde une entreprise de promotion de la littérature et de la musique québécoises dans l’espace germanophone. Sur ses blogues, dans ses événements et ses traductions, elle s’emploie à « ramener dans [sa] culture » des œuvres encore inédites en allemand.
Passée par le programme franco-allemand Georges-Arthur Goldschmidt, elle cotraduit des romans et des essais québécois et signe la version allemande de La bête à sa mère de David Goudreault, la poésie de Joséphine Bacon et un ouvrage de vulgarisation scientifique sur le cerveau et la musique. Comme ses collègues, elle ne vit pas de la traduction : elle cumule mandats de communication, animation, interprétation, résidences de création. En Allemagne, raconte-t-elle, l’association des traducteurs est très active. La campagne Name the translator pousse médias et maisons d’édition à faire apparaître les noms partout, y compris sur les pages couverture.
Défis actuels et futurs
Toutes trois, pourtant, se heurtent à des conditions matérielles fragiles. Stratford évoque ces albums jeunesse étrangers traduits pour « environ 500 dollars » — des semaines de travail pour des sommes faméliques. Elle note aussi qu’il y a aujourd’hui « beaucoup moins de contrats » qu’avant, en partie à cause des changements récents dans les programmes du Conseil des arts : disparition d’un taux plancher, enveloppes stagnantes, ce qui encourage certaines maisons à mieux payer quelques projets… au prix d’en traduire moins. Drummer, de son côté, peut accepter des projets « hors normes » parce qu’elle a d’autres sources de revenus.
La menace de l’intelligence artificielle plane sur cet équilibre déjà précaire. Pour Stratford, l’IA dite générative n’est qu’« une intelligence de corpus », purement mathématique, incapable de ressentir. Or, en traduction littéraire, « le ressenti est parfois plus important que l’intelligence » : il faut décoder un ton, un effet, oser s’éloigner du texte source pour être fidèle à son impact. « L’ordinateur va donner dans la probabilité ; nous, on peut créer du neuf », soutient-elle. Drummer partage cette méfiance, parlant carrément de « vol » quand des entreprises entraînent leurs modèles sur des corpus littéraires sans demander le consentement des auteurs et des traducteurs ni les rémunérer.
Malgré tout, le désir demeure au cœur du métier. Désir d’un texte, d’une voix, d’un monde étranger dans lequel on choisit de « baigner » pendant des mois, comme le dit Arianne Des Rochers. Désir d’apprendre en lisant et en écrivant, comme le formule Kate Briggs. Désir, enfin, de lecteurs, ceux pour qui on travaille dans l’ombre, en acceptant que l’original se perde un peu pour que la traduction existe. Peut-être est-ce là, justement, ce « petit art » dont parlent Briggs et Manguel : une pratique du détail, de l’attention, mais aussi une manière très concrète d’élargir nos bibliothèques et nos horizons. Encore faut-il que ces passeuses de langue puissent, elles aussi, être vues, lues et reconnues."
https://www.ledevoir.com/lire/944031/traduction-est-surtout-pas-petit-art
#Metaglossia
#metaglossia_mundus
"Des missionnaires chrétiens veulent traduire la Bible dans près de 7 000 langues avant 2033. Leur usage de l’intelligence artificielle soulève des questions théologiques et révèle les limites des modèles de langage actuels, observe “The Economist”.
À cette période de l’année, des centaines de millions de personnes se rendent à l’église. Même les brebis égarées du chemin du Seigneur retournent souvent au bercail à Noël. Elles viennent écouter l’histoire de Marie, Joseph et l’enfant Jésus installé dans une mangeoire, car il n’y avait plus de place pour eux à l’hôtel
Les missionnaires chrétiens sont persuadés que davantage d’âmes pourraient être sauvées par l’histoire du Christ. Disponible dans plus de 750 langues, la Bible est déjà le livre le plus traduit au monde, mais ils souhaiteraient qu’elle le soit dans chacune des près de 7 000 langues vivantes de la planète. Pour atteindre cet objectif, les croyants ont fait appel à un nouvel outil dans leur quête spirituelle : l’intelligence artificielle (IA).
La traduction est un chemin de croix. L’Ancien Testament compte environ 600 000 mots et on raconte que la traduction de chacun d’eux aurait nécessité le concours de 70 savants au IIIe siècle avant J.-C. Le Nouveau Testament, lui, est rédigé en mauvais grec, ce qui n’aide pas. La majeure partie reste ambiguë : personne ne sait par exemple ce que signifie epiousion dans la phrase “Donne-nous aujourd’hui notre pain epiousion”, mais les traducteurs ont opté pour “quotidien”..."
The Economist
Traduit de l’anglais
Publié le 24 décembre 2025
Lire la suite 👇🏿👇🏿👇🏿
https://www.courrierinternational.com/article/religion-traduire-la-bible-dans-l-ensemble-des-7-000-langues-un-miracle-nomme-ia_238506
#Metaglossia
#metaglossia_mundus
"Nombre de traducteurs redoutent un déferlement de l’intelligence artificielle de plus en plus utilisée par les éditeurs, qui ne la mentionnent pas toujours. Au risque de voir des milliers d’emplois disparaître, et que seule une poignée d’ouvrages littéraires ou de sciences humaines soient, à l’avenir, encore traduits par des humains.
Par Nicole Vulser (Arles [Bouches-du-Rhône}, envoyée spéciale) Publié hier à 05h45, modifié hier à 13h09
« Je n’aurais jamais cru que, de mon vivant, je verrais disparaître mon métier. C’est pourtant ce qu’il se passe », se désole la traductrice anglais-russe-français Karine Reignier-Guerre, âgée de 55 ans. Chargée de cours et tutrice en master de traduction littéraire à l’université Paris Cité et à l’université d’Avignon, elle propose aujourd’hui à ses étudiants une approche très concrète de l’intelligence artificielle (IA) générative. « Si c’est un cataclysme, il faut leur en parler et les préparer à l’affronter », dit-elle. Chaque année, depuis 2020, elle choisit donc un ouvrage de cosy mystery, un sous-genre de fiction policière sans violence, se déroulant souvent dans les confins de la campagne anglaise, à l’écriture à la fois simple et très codifiée, dialoguée et pauvre en métaphores. « Je propose deux feuillets aux étudiants de master 2 en fin de cursus. Ils traduisent le texte et j’anonymise leurs versions. J’utilise aussi un texte traduit par un logiciel comme DeepL », détaille-t-elle. A l’aveugle, les étudiants doivent ensuite distinguer la version humaine rédigée par leur voisin et celle réalisée par la machine. « Il y a trois ans encore, tous faisaient immédiatement la différence. Aujourd’hui, presque tous se trompent : les marqueurs qui trahissent l’IA sont devenus bien plus difficiles à déceler »..."
Lire la suite👇🏿👇🏿👇🏿 https://www.lemonde.fr/economie/article/2025/12/23/l-ia-grignote-inexorablement-le-travail-des-traducteurs-litteraires_6659180_3234.html #Metaglossia #metaglossia_mundus
"Adjunct Assistant Professor and Writing alum Miranda Mazariegos '25 has been awarded a 2025 Granum Foundation Translation Prize, awarded each year to support US-based translators as they complete a work of translation into English.
The award was given to Mazariegos for her translation of a collection of three short novellas by Arnoldo Gálvez Suárez titled Alguien bailará con nuestras momias. Mazariegos shared, "Winning the Granum Foundation Translation Prize last month was such an honor! Arnoldo Gálvez Suárez is a Guatemalan contemporary author and his work caught my attention because of its voice and imagery; his long-winded sentences capture details that portray the essence of Guatemala, where I am also from. So, translating gave me an opportunity to feel closer to my home, to imagine it and enjoy it from afar, as I pursued my MFA in New York."
Her time at Columbia greatly shaped the finished product that has now received accolades. "This project was a part of my literary translation thesis at Columbia, so I am especially thrilled to see how it was not only my work, but also the feedback of my peers and professors, that helped me get this award. Practically speaking, the prize is also huge, as I'm sure it will help me as I look for a publishing home for this wonderful little book."
Mazariegos is a writer, editor, and literary translator originally from Guatemala City. She began her career in radio, working in various roles for NPR shows such as Radio Ambulante, Book of the Day, Throughline, and Weekend All Things Considered. Her work, which covers Latin America's art, culture, and politics, has been published by Americas Quarterly, NPR, VICE News, and KPCC, among others. She translates both from and into Spanish, and her translations have been published or supported by World Literature Today, Asymptote Magazine, the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conferences, and the British Centre for Literary Translation (BCLT). She holds an MFA from Columbia University, where she now teaches Undergraduate Nonfiction. She is an editor at Americas Quarterly and lives in New York City."
https://arts.columbia.edu/news/adjunct-assistant-professor-miranda-mazariegos-25-wins-granum-foundation-translation-prize
#Metaglossia
#metaglossia_mundus
"The promise of technology as a saviour isn’t entirely wrong. But it will remain a myth until it serves us in the languages we live in, speak in, and dream in.
Khansa Maria Published December 22, 2025 Updated a day ago
Technology loves to promise miracles. For people like me, it is often marketed as a great equaliser; an assurance that with the right device, disability is not a barrier. Access is just a download away, we are told.
But growing up, I realised that this flashy narrative, wrapped in lofty guarantees, was merely a mirage — out of reach for me.
For a family like mine, buying tech was expensive. My mother worked tirelessly to purchase devices she hoped would level the field for my visually impaired brother and me. But even when she managed to get them, a more invisible barrier persisted: hardly any technology could speak our tongue.
A profound disconnect
While I could listen to English books through screen readers, reading or writing in Urdu — the language of home, of emotion, and of identity — remained a distant dream. I longed to read novels on my own, to write my own stories, to revise schoolwork without leaning on someone else’s eyes.
That dream became especially far out of reach during O-levels, when I was barred from sitting the Urdu exam simply because no accessible technology existed to support the process.
Urdu is compulsory for university admissions in Pakistan, and, like many visually impaired students, I found myself locked out of a gateway to higher education. Not because I lacked talent, but because the tools did not exist.
Today, decades later, much has improved, and for that I am grateful. But the truth is that progress has been slow, inconsistent, and unfairly distributed. My research with visually impaired communities across Pakistan reveals that the very barriers I encountered at that time continue to persist to date.
Many participants described a profound disconnect from technology, particularly those without English proficiency. We often assume that access to a smartphone equals access to the world. For some of us, that assumption remains painfully untrue.
Across Pakistan, Punjabi, Pashto, Sindhi, Balochi, Saraiki, and dozens of other languages are spoken every day. The country is home to at least 80 languages and nearly 27 million people with disabilities, many of whom depend on technology for education, employment, and basic communication.
When the tools they rely on cannot understand their language, the consequence is not mere inconvenience. It is exclusion: systemic, silent, and on a massive scale.
The myth of inclusive technology
What does that look like day to day? The accessibility audits carried out in the Accessibility, Language, and Tech for the People (ALT) project paint the picture clearly.
Starting with screen readers: on Windows, the commonly used E-Speak Urdu TTS engine performs so poorly that even the simplest tasks become laborious. Several participants said the voice was so robotic and unclear that reading long-form content became overwhelmingly difficult.
Starting with screen readers, on Windows, the commonly used E-Speak Urdu TTS engine performs so poorly that even the simplest tasks become laborious. Several participants noted that the voice was so robotic and unclear that reading long-form content became extremely difficult.
On Android, the picture is slightly better, and Google’s speech services provide clearer Urdu pronunciation. But typing remains an obstacle even then because the system does not read individual letters aloud, and therefore, users are unable to confirm what they have written. Yet another obstacle.
On iPhones, things get even more complicated. There is no built-in Urdu TTS at all.
This leaves visually impaired users with no option but to change system settings manually every time they want a message to be read in Urdu, or worse, have to rely on clumsy third-party tools. One participant put it starkly: writing even a single sentence in Urdu using the available synthesisers was “a terrible experience” and felt nothing like the smooth, accessible typing they were used to in English.
Beyond language itself, application accessibility is equally inconsistent. People often assume that because an app works perfectly for sighted users, it must work for everyone. But the audits show a very different reality.
Daraz, one of Pakistan’s most widely used shopping platforms, remains deeply problematic. Product images lack descriptions. Buttons are unlabelled. Tab navigation is inconsistent. Product details are sometimes impossible to access without help. Checkout processes fail to provide feedback, leaving users unsure whether an action has been completed. Several testers described having to rely on sighted assistance or apps like “Be My Eyes” just to finish an order.
Ride-hailing apps mirror these challenges. InDrive is relatively better, but nearly all such apps fail in one crucial area: live location tracking. For visually impaired passengers, this isn’t a bonus feature; it’s essential for safety and independent travel. Yango, for instance, makes even entering a location difficult because of inconsistent labelling. Bykea has similar navigation issues.
Food delivery apps, on the other hand, are a mixed bag. Foodpanda is usable for many tasks, but placing an order or chatting with a rider can become difficult due to unlabelled options or delayed keyboard feedback. Some testers could search for restaurants easily, only to find themselves blocked at the final step because the “place order” button wouldn’t register with their screen reader.
Banking apps, perhaps the most essential tools of modern life, show the widest range.
SadaPay is frequently praised for its smooth and intuitive accessibility. But Easypaisa and JazzCash — two financial lifelines for millions — can be nearly impossible to navigate. Users described crowded interfaces, unlabelled buttons and processes so convoluted that beginners “give up out of frustration and demotivation”.
Think about what that means: in 2025, millions of blind or visually impaired users still cannot send money, order food, track a ride, or buy groceries without assistance. We often talk about accessibility as if it’s a checklist — add alt text here, label a button there, job done.
But accessibility isn’t a feature. It’s a commitment. A philosophy. A willingness to build with the most marginalised users in mind, not as an afterthought but as a starting point. Right now, the digital world is being shaped around English-speaking, sighted, neurotypical users. Everyone else is left to catch up.
Redefining accessibility
For me, participating in the ALT project helped reclaim some of the marginalisation I grew up with. The project examines how language politics, disability and technology intersect in South Asia. Though these countries share deep histories and cultures, we found that barriers vary, and that solutions must be community-driven, co-created and grounded in the lived realities of disabled people.
Time and again, participants expressed a desire to separate themselves from colonial linguistic hierarchies. They don’t want to centre English; they want to centre their languages — to read the news in Pashto, to type in Punjabi, to browse a website in Sindhi, to write poetry, read novels and order food in Urdu without fighting their phone every step of the way.
And yet, big tech companies have been slow to respond. Apple still doesn’t offer Urdu TTS support. Android has made improvements, but it remains far from ideal. Community whispers about “something new coming soon” have circulated for years, only to fade away as researchers hit barriers, lose funding or abandon the project. The cycle repeats.
Pakistan deserves better. South Asia deserves better. Every language deserves digital visibility, not only the global ones. And most of all, every disabled person deserves the dignity of independent access.
Accessibility, in its current form, has too narrow a definition. It must widen linguistically, culturally and technologically. Because when technology fails people who need it most, it isn’t just a technical issue — it’s a question of justice, dignity and belonging.
The promise of technology as a saviour isn’t entirely wrong. But it will remain a myth until it serves us in the languages we live in, speak in, and dream in."
https://www.dawn.com/news/1960708
#Metaglossia
#metaglossia_mundus
"Geoffrey Chaucer is known as the "Father of English Literature" or the "Father of English Poetry" for his medieval classic "The Canterbury Tales," a work that encouraged writers of his time to write in Middle English rather than French.
Over six centuries later, Francis So (蘇其康) released in October the first complete Chinese translation of "The Canterbury Tales" by a Taiwanese translator.
In an interview with CNA in late November, So said Chaucer wrote during a period when French still dominated literary culture.
The publication of "The Canterbury Tales" helped popularize Middle English, while its poetic techniques shaped later writers, including Shakespeare, he said.
So hopes the new edition will inspire more young researchers to build and carry forward Taiwan's tradition of medieval Western literary studies.
Reliving the pilgrimage
So noted that "The Canterbury Tales," written in the late 14th century, depicts a pilgrimage of 30 Christians traveling from London to Canterbury to venerate St. Thomas Becket.
The pilgrims take turns telling stories along the way, forming the work's narrative frame.
Although Chaucer originally planned 120 tales -- two for each pilgrim on both the outward and return journeys -- only 24 survive, preserved mainly in two manuscripts.
So based his translation primarily on the more complete Ellesmere manuscript and consulted the Hengwrt manuscript, which scholars believe reflects the earlier state of Chaucer's text.
So said he adopted "fidelity" as his guiding principle, preserving original syntax, word order and imagery whenever possible.
"If the original uses a noun, I try to translate it as a noun. Sometimes reversing the sentence order makes the Chinese more fluent, but it weakens fidelity to the text," he said.
To help contemporary Taiwanese readers navigate the unfamiliar medieval world, So included extensive annotations, particularly on material culture and institutional structures -- a key feature distinguishing his version from the earlier translations.
So credits his sensitivity to historical and cultural nuance to the rigorous comparative-literature training he received in the United States, where he studied multiple languages and took courses in translation studies.
Born in 1948, So earned his bachelor's degree at National Taiwan University's Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures and later received a Ph.D. in comparative literature from the University of Washington in Seattle.
He is currently an emeritus professor at National Sun Yat-sen University, where he has taught since 1983.
So said translation involves far more than "looking up words in a dictionary."
To better reconstruct the medieval pilgrimage, he visited the British Museum in 2023 to consult historical materials and traveled portions of the route described in the text.
This fieldwork, he said, helped him handle place names and cultural references with greater accuracy.
Tradition and legacy
So said "The Canterbury Tales" continues to resonate today, noting that contemporary British writer Zadie Smith drew inspiration from "The Wife of Bath's Tale" for her play "The Wife of Willesden."
Elsewhere, J.K. Rowling has also acknowledged that "The Tale of the Three Brothers" in "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" is an allusion to "The Pardoner's Tale."
Reflecting on his academic career in Taiwan, So said there were no scholars specializing in medieval literature when he studied at NTU, and he resolved to help establish the discipline when he undertook graduate studies in the U.S.
"When we founded the Taiwan Association of Classical, Medieval and Renaissance Studies (TACMRS) in 2007, that meant the establishment of a tradition," he said.
The association's annual conference has since become a key event for domestic scholars and students in the field.
Nearly two decades after the founding of TACMRS, So said he is heartened to see more emerging scholars entering the field.
He hopes the new translation will lower the barrier of entry for readers and encourage more people to pursue medieval literary studies."
INTERVIEW/New translation of 'The Canterbury Tales' marks milestone in Taiwan medieval studies
12/22/2025 12:11 PM
By Chao Yen-hsiang, CNA staff reporter
https://focustaiwan.tw/culture/202512220006
#Metaglossia
#metaglossia_mundus
"MUSCAT: The Bait AlGhasham–DarArab International Translation Prize on Sunday announced the shortlists for its 2026 cycle across three categories — Translators, Authors and Omani Publications — following the completion of all judging stages and final reviews.
The 2026 shortlists reflect a cycle marked by wide participation and notable diversity, spanning multiple literary genres and a broad range of geographic backgrounds. This year also saw submissions from translators based outside the Arab world, underscoring the Prize’s expanding regional and international reach.
Shortlist – Translators Category in alphabetical order by English title
Angel of the South, translated by Peter Theroux — by Najem Wali
Cairo Marquette, translated by Katherine Van de Vate — by Tareq Imam
People and Lizards, translated by Osama Hammad and Marianne Dhenin — by Hassan Abdel Mawgoud
Things Are Not in Their Place, translated by Zia Ahmed — by Huda Hamad
Village of the Hundred, translated by Enas El Torky — by Rehab Luay
Shortlist – Authors category, alphabetical order by Arabic title
Abad Ghayr Mariyya — Short-story collection by Mustafa Mallah
Al Matador — Novel by Majdi Daibes
Jibal Al Judari — Novel by Abd Al Hadi Shaalan
Jarash Jarash — Novel by Wael Raddad
Kain Ghayr Sawi — Novel by Tahir Al Noor
Shortlist – Omani publications category, alphabetical order by Arabic title
Tahta Zill Al Zilal — Novel by Mohammed Qart Al Jazmi
Arous Al Gharqa — Novel by Amal Abdullah
Qawanin Al Faqd — Short-story collection by Mazen Habeeb
The shortlists were selected by independent judging panels operating under the supervision of the Prize’s Board of Trustees, chaired by Marilyn Booth, an internationally recognised translator and scholar of Arabic literature. Board members also include Mohammed al Yahyaei, a writer and cultural historian, and Sawad Hussain, an award-winning Arabic-to-English translator.
The Translators Category jury comprised of Dr Samaher al Dhamen, a specialist in comparative literature and cultural studies; Marcia Lynx Qualey, founder of ArabLit and a leading advocate of Arabic literature in translation; and Dr Luke Leafgren, an Arabic-English literary translator and two-time recipient of the Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize.
The Authors and Omani Publications categories were judged by Dr Amir Taj Al Sir, a widely translated novelist and physician; Bushra Khalfan, a prominent voice in contemporary Omani literature; and Yas al Saeedi, an Iraqi poet, novelist and playwright whose work has garnered multiple Arab and international awards.
According to official figures, the 2026 cycle received 346 submissions in the Authors Category, 34 in the Translators Category and 10 in the Omani Publications Category.
Launched three years ago through a partnership between the Bait AlGhasham Foundation for Press, Publishing and Advertising and DarArab for Publishing & Translation, the Prize is administered by DarArab and funded by the Bait AlGhasham Foundation. It aims to support Arabic literature and expand its global circulation through translation and international publishing.
The Prize carries a fund of £70,000 (approx), allocated across financial awards and professional support for translation, editing, publishing and international promotion. The winning works will be announced in conjunction with the Muscat International Book Fair 2026."
Bait AlGhasham–DarArab Translation Prize unveils 2026 shortlists https://share.google/sF1u9XSkllOvVs5kX
#Metaglossia
#metaglossia_mundus
"Massachusetts Mayor Can’t Understand English, Needs Translator In Court
Mayor Brian DePena immigrated to the United States in the 1980s.
Massachusetts Mayor Brian DePena made waves for requesting the assistance of a translator during a court appearance on Friday.
DePena requested that his personal assistant act as a translator during the proceedings, which the judge overseeing the hearing denied due to concerns that the staffer had not been independently verified. Because the judge and opposing counsel do not speak Spanish, it was determined that mistranslations could negatively affect the case, either intentionally or unintentionally, per The Post Millennial...
The incident occurred during a Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) Commission and quickly went viral. It’s been revealed that DePena hails from the Dominican Republic and immigrated to New York in the early 1980s before moving to Lawrence, Massachusetts, in 1989.
The hearing concerned former Lawrence Police Chief William Castro, who lost his policing credentials after a 2024 police chase and subsequent false report. Castro was accused of driving the wrong way down a city street during the chase. He later filed a report saying he was responding to an armed bank robbery. In reality, he had been going after someone who had allegedly cashed a bad check.
Documents uncovered by the NBC10 Boston Investigators revealed that DePena tried to curtail the investigation into the acting police chief, who is a political ally of the Lawrence mayor.
Social media users have been reacting strongly to the clip, saying it’s shocking that an elected official is not able to speak fluent English.
“How is this even real life?” one response said.
“This is absurd. We live in a parody world,” another person echoed.
“If you can’t speak English, you shouldn’t even be eligible for citizenship, much less public office,” a third commenter wrote. “How are you supposed to represent Americans if you can’t even understand our language?”
Per census data, Lawrence, Massachusetts, is over 82% Hispanic."
By Amanda Harding
Dec 22, 2025 DailyWire.com
Massachusetts Mayor Can’t Understand English, Needs Translator In Court https://share.google/6M7wEZvqLahawEta9
#Metaglossia
#metaglossia_mundus
"... The accurate use of all official languages in public communications is important in our multicultural society. Government agencies are encouraged to communicate in the relevant official languages to better serve and engage diverse communities.
The National Translation Committee (NTC) under the Ministry of Digital Development and Information has been working to address concerns like those raised by Mr Meyyappan through several initiatives.
To facilitate accurate translation of government communications materials, the NTC has identified a list of experienced translation providers that government agencies can engage to accurately translate, vet and proofread translations in all the official languages, including Tamil.
On the issue of gibberish Tamil text caused by software and printing errors, the NTC has also issued guidelines and conducted briefings for government agencies and their vendors on using correct encoding and compatible computer operating systems, as well as having a proper verification process, including careful checks, before the translated materials are printed.
More than 3,000 people have also signed up as citizen translators to help us flag translation errors in public spaces. This is one of the reasons why we started the Citizen Translators Project.
We receive an average of 15 reported errors each year, which allows us to immediately alert the relevant entity, whether government or otherwise, to rectify them.
Members of the public can also bring such errors to our attention through the NTC webpage.
We appreciate the care and pride that Singaporeans like Mr Meyyappan have for our official languages.
Together, we can work towards upholding standards for all our official languages in public spaces.
Mayna Teo
Director, Translation Department
Ministry of Digital Development and Information"
"Published Dec 22, 2025, 05:00 AM
We thank Mr Muthalagu Meyyappan for his letter “Clearer guidelines needed to ensure accuracy in languages used in public communications” (Dec 17).
https://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/forum/forum-guidelines-and-resources-for-translation-accuracy-in-official-languages-provided
#Metaglossia
#metaglossia_mundus
Discover how Time to Edit (TTE) redefines translation quality, offering a human-centric metric for AI efficiency and real-world translation improvement.
"...Traditional metrics like BLEU, once the gold standard for assessing translation quality, are increasingly seen as inadequate in capturing the true effort required to refine machine-generated translations to human standards. This is where “Time to Edit” (TTE) emerges as a game-changer. TTE is a human-centric metric that accurately measures the real-world effort needed to edit AI-generated translations, offering a clearer picture of translation performance and return on investment (ROI). For enterprise localization managers and CTOs, understanding and implementing TTE can lead to significant improvements in translation quality and efficiency. By focusing on the practical application of TTE, businesses can leverage Language AI, TranslationOS, and custom localization solutions to achieve measurable outcomes. This article delves into the limitations of traditional metrics and explores how TTE provides a more accurate and insightful approach to translation quality assessment, positioning it as the new standard in the industry..."
Time to Edit (TTE): The New Standard for Translation Quality - Translated
Find out more👇🏿👇🏿 https://translated.com/resources/time-to-edit-the-new-standard-for-translation-quality
#Metaglossia
#metaglossia_mundus
"Upcoming Translation Events (Virtual & In-Person): January 2026
Tuesday, January 13:
Simón López Trujillo and Robin Myers | Join the Transnational Literature Series at Brookline Booksmith for a virtual event with Simón López Trujillo, a Chilean author and translator, and Robin Myers, a Mexico City-based Spanish-to-English translator and poet, to discuss and honor the release of Pedro the Vast. The event is ticketed. Virtual. Hosted by Brookline Booksmith. More info here. Starts at 7:00 p.m. (ET)
Thursday, January 15:
White Moss Translated: From Mentorship to Publication | Join Irina Sadovina, translator of White Moss and alumna of NCW’s Emerging Translator Mentorships Programme (2021), as she discusses her journey in bringing Anna Nerkagi’s novel to English-language readers. She will be joined by her translator-mentor Oliver Ready and Rory Williamson, editor at Pushkin Press, who will share further insight into Sadovina’s translation process and how an initial pitch became a forthcoming publication. Virtual. Hosted by the National Centre for Writing. More info here. 2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. (ET)
..."
Columbia University School of the Arts
2960 Broadway · New York, NY 10027
Lenfest Center for the Arts
615 W 129th St · New York, NY 10027
Contact
soaadmissions@columbia.edu
https://arts.columbia.edu/content/upcoming-translation-events-virtual-person-january-2026
#Metaglossia
#metaglossia_mundus
"“Saudade”, “Sehnsucht” : les mots des autres pour dire la nostalgie
Dans le dernier numéro de l’année de “Courrier international”, nous nous intéressons à la vague de nostalgie qui semble avoir emportée la planète entière. Mais, d’une langue à l’autre, du turc au chinois, du polonais au portugais, la notion de nostalgie ne recouvre pas tout à fait les mêmes réalités suivant les langues. Voici un petit inventaire des mots dans différentes langues consacrés à ce passé qui nous manque et qui nous hante.
Publié le 21 décembre 2025 à 13h33
Les mots pour suggérer la nostalgie en plusieurs langues. Courrier international
Article à retrouver dans le numéro “Nostalgie chérie” de Courrier international, disponible dans les kiosques du 18 décembre 2025 au 7 janvier 2026, ou en ligne
Grèce — De nostos, “retour”, et algos, “douleur, chagrin”
Tout vient du grec. Le terme “nostalgie”, νοσταλγία, est formé des mots nostos, “retour”, et algos, “douleur, chagrin”. Il exprime le désir mélancolique de retourner chez soi. Si le mot a été inventé et conceptualisé par le médecin alsacien Johannes Hofer en 1688 dans le cadre de sa thèse, il reste profondément attaché et ancré dans la culture grecque. “La nostalgie n’est ni innocente ni irrationnelle. C’est une tentative de restaurer l’unité, dans un monde qui conditionne notre mémoire à fonctionner comme un flux continu”, décrit le poète Yiannis Antiochou, dans un texte publié par l’hebdomadaire To Vima.
Mais l’“obsession du passé est omniprésente et toujours paralysante. Plus encore, c’est une force fondamentalement conservatrice, une tendance à fixer notre regard sur un hier factice et construit, à mépriser le présent et à refuser, ou être incapable, d’imaginer l’avenir”, regrette la chercheuse Katerina Lambrinou.
Turquie — Un manque qu’on espère que l’avenir comblera
En turc, özlem traduit la notion de nostalgie mais de façon un peu un peu plus neutre..."
La suite👇🏿👇🏿
https://www.courrierinternational.com/article/linguistique-saudade-sehnsucht-les-mots-des-autres-pour-dire-la-nostalgie_238149
#Metaglossia
#metaglossia_mundus
"Ces mots français venus du Moyen-Orient et de Méditerranée
Des milliers de mots de la langue française proviennent de contrées lointaines de l’Hexagone. Parmi eux, des centaines ayant des liens directs ou indirects avec l’arabe mais également, à une moindre échelle, le persan.
Publié le : 21/12/2025 - 12:04
Modifié le : 22/12/2025 - 10:10
Le mot français bougie provient de la ville algérienne éponyme aujourd’hui appelée Béjaïa. REUTERS/KIM HONG-JI
Par :bAnne Bernas
Monsieur Jourdain ignorait qu’il faisait de la prose, mais Molière savait-il que de nombreux mots dont il usait provenaient de contrées moyen-orientales et méditerranéennes ?
L’arabe est la sixième langue la plus parlée au monde et est utilisée quotidiennement par plus de 400 millions de personnes, dont 200 millions de locuteurs natifs, selon les données des Nations unies. Une « Journée mondiale » lui est également consacrée chaque 18 décembre, date coïncidant avec le jour où, en 1973, l'Assemblée générale de l’ONU a adopté l'arabe comme sixième langue officielle de l'Organisation par la résolution 3190.
D’une infinie richesse, l’arabe, classique mais aussi dialectal, a transmis à de nombreuses langues indo-européennes une somme de mots considérable. « Il y a beaucoup plus de mots d’origine arabe dans la langue française que de mots d’origine gauloise ! » rappelait en 2022 l’académicien Erik Orsenna.
Plus de 800 références
Dans le dictionnaire français, pas moins de 400 mots sont d’origine arabe, 200 autres sont des mots dérivés et quelque 800 portent la marque de la langue arabe. Depuis le Moyen Âge, des mots arabes voyagent jusqu’en France, par la terre et la mer, en faisant parfois escale dans d’autres pays. À ce titre, le mot « amiral », rang le plus élevé dans la marine française, provient de « Amir al-bahr», le « chef de la mer ». La dissémination de mots d’origine arabe se poursuit lors des conquêtes coloniales du XIXᵉ siècle en Afrique du Nord et jusqu'à plus récemment avec le langage des jeunes de banlieues.
Pourtant, comme le rappelle Salah Guemriche, auteur du Dictionnaire des mots français d'origine arabe (Seuil, 2007), de nombreux mots français d’origine arabe n’ont pas toujours été « assumés » par Paris, à la différence des mots d’origine persane. « Aux XVIᵉ et XVIIᵉ siècles, l’origine ne dérangeait pas, elle était sans arrière-pensée idéologique, ce qui change au XIXᵉ, à l’heure de la colonisation. Comment voulez-vous dire d’un côté “on va apporter la civilisation” et de l’autre dire que la langue française contient déjà des mots arabes, des Arabes qu’on est allé coloniser. »
Les termes issus de l’arabe sont si nombreux qu’il est impossible d’en dresser une liste, mais parmi les plus connus, dans le domaine des sciences et des mathématiques, à côté des centaines de noms d’étoiles, notons les célèbres « zéro », « chiffre », « zénith », etc. Mais aussi « algèbre », provenant de l'arabe « al-jabr »,« restauration » ou « réunion ». Ce mot figure initialement dans le titre d'un ouvrage du IXᵉ siècle consacré à la résolution d'équations, écrit par le savant persan Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi, installé à Bagdad, et dont dérive le mot « algorithme ».
Plus terre à terre. Le sud de l’Hexagone est réputé pour sa culture des abricots (« al barbuk »), mais les Bretons, dont l’artichaut est l’un de leurs symboles de fierté, savent-ils que ces « épines de la terre » se disent en arabe « ardi chawk » ? Savent-ils que l’arsenal de Brest puise son origine de l’arabe « dar al-sina » ou « maison de fabrication ». Et que dire du caban breton, mais aussi des écharpes, chemises, jupes, gilets, parfois en coton, lui aussi issu de l’arabe « kutun ».
« Le français n'est pas français »
À l’heure des vacances de fin d’année, certains pourraient être tentés de partir faire un safari, dont le terme vient de l’arabe « safar » signifiant « voyage », pour découvrir les girafes (de l’arabe « zarafa ») et les gazelles (« ghazal ») au milieu des baobabs ( « abu hibab »). Un voyage sans grosses tempêtes pour les voyageurs de l’océan Indien puisque la saison des moussons est terminée. La mousson provient de l’arabe « mausim », « saison ». Il arrive dans le vocabulaire français à la fin du XVIᵉ siècle après être passé par le néerlandais, le portugais et l’espagnol sous différentes formes.
Pour fêter la fin de l’année, certains feront la nouba (de l’arabe algérien) et trinqueront avec un verre d’alcool, mot venant du mot « al-khol ». Il signifie à l’origine une fine poudre noire de sulfure de plomb et d’antimoine, un produit de beauté mais aussi un produit d’alchimistes. À la Renaissance, le chimiste allemand utilise le terme « alcohol vini » pour désigner « l’esprit de vin », le « produit d’une distillation de vin ». Quoi qu’il en soit, pour se remettre de toutes ces émotions, rien ne sera plus efficace qu’un petit « caoua ».
D’autres mots sont directement entrés dans le vocabulaire, par exemple bougie (de la ville algérienne éponyme aujourd’hui appelée Béjaïa), casbah (directement venu d’Alger), bled, barda, chouia, et plus près de nous kiffer, dawa ou encore seum. Et puis il y a des « mots arabes clandestins » tels que les nomme le lexicographe Roland Laffitte qui raconte l’exemple de l’épithète « romaine » accolé à une balance, la fameuse balance romaine. « Romaine » vient de l’arabe rumāna signifiant « grenade ». Car cette balance possède sur un bras un dispositif d’équilibre qui lui ressemblait.
La langue arabe, la plus parlée des langues sémitiques et la quatrième source d’emprunts de notre langue, après l’anglais, l’italien et l’allemand, a permis un dialogue des cultures le long des routes de la soie, de la côte de l'Inde à la Corne de l'Afrique. Les empires arabes successifs, après la fondation de l’islam, régnèrent sur un territoire qui s’étendait du Maroc à l’ouest jusqu’aux frontières de ce qui est aujourd’hui la Chine. La langue nous a rapporté d’Inde le mot sucre, issu du sanskrit et qui se dit en arabe « sukkar »...
« À travers les siècles, l’arabe a été au cœur des échanges entre les continents et entre les cultures », déclarait Audrey Azoulay, ex-directrice générale de l’Unesco. La langue, ajoutait-elle, a été « maniée par tant de grands poètes, penseurs, scientifiques et savants ».
Il n’y a pas de hasard (du mot arabe « az-ahar », « dé à jouer »), le génie de la langue française tient beaucoup à ces innombrables apports multiculturels. « Le français n'est pas français », s’amusait à dire le linguiste de renom et historien de la langue française Alain Rey. De quoi y perdre son latin.
« Les mots ont beaucoup voyagé »
À une moindre échelle, de nombreux mots issus du persan - tulipe, divan, nénuphar, babouches, bazar, etc.- ont enrichi le vocabulaire français depuis le Moyen Âge. Explications avec Agnès Lenepveu-Hotz, maître de conférences au département d'études persanes de l’université de Strasbourg.
RFI : Comment expliquer que le nombre de mots français issus du persan (0,7%), langue plus ancienne que l’arabe, soit très inférieur à celui des mots issus de l’arabe (5%) ?
Agnès Lenepveu-Hotz : On trouve moins de mots français issus du persan que de l’arabe pour des raisons historiques. Les royaumes arabes dans le sud de l'Espagne ont par exemple engendré des contacts et donc l'espagnol, comme le français du Sud- Ouest, a emprunté des termes à l'arabe.
Aussi, beaucoup de mots persans ne sont pas arrivés directement jusqu’à nous. Assez souvent, ces mots ont transité par l'arabe, le turc, parfois le hindi. Quand le mot a été emprunté de l'anglais au hindi, il est parfois repassé en français, et souvent le hindi l'avait emprunté au persan avant. Ainsi, les mots ont beaucoup voyagé, comme le mot « châle ». Ce mot a été emprunté par les Anglais au hindi, mais l’hindi l'avait emprunté au persan. Le mot « orange » est passé par l'arabe et même par l'espagnol, mais au départ, c'est un mot persan.
Pour certains mots, on peine vraiment à savoir si l’origine est d’abord persane ou arabe. Pour d'autres, c'est beaucoup plus clair, comme pour le mot « kiosque ». Ce mot est attesté dès le moyen perse, donc bien avant les emprunts que le persan a fait à l'arabe. Ce mot signifie « palais », « pavillon », « kiosque ». Le mot « bakchich », lui, a transité par le turc, mais c'est un verbe en persan qui veut dire « donner ». Le français l'a ensuite emprunté du turc, mais l'arabe et le turc l'avaient emprunté au persan."
https://www.rfi.fr/fr/moyen-orient/20251221-ces-mots-fran%C3%A7ais-venus-du-moyen-orient-et-de-m%C3%A9diterran%C3%A9e
#Metaglossia
#metaglossia_mundus
"A disabilities advocate and vice-president of the Barbados Horizon Deaf Charity (BHDC), Scott Williams is calling for greater access to education for the deaf, including more interpreters and the introduction of deaf-led sign language instruction in schools.
Williams, who became deaf as a child, said his early exposure to sign language came from hearing individuals who, while well intentioned, did not fully understand the lived experiences of deaf people. As a result, he is advocating for more deaf educators to teach sign language.
“With a hearing person, who is teaching a language that is not theirs, how do you know when they are teaching sign language correctly? It is better for a deaf person to teach the language because deaf people, we know our own sign language,” Williams told Barbados TODAY, while stressing the importance of accuracy and cultural understanding.
He further explained that while learning from hearing people has its place, deaf people should be leading the instruction of their own language.
“We learn English from hearing people and that’s fine, it’s your language, just like with a deaf person their language is ASL. So yes, we should have ASL taught in schools, but it would be beautiful to have deaf teachers or deaf teacher’s assistants, having a deaf person there that can make sure the language is being taught correctly.”
Williams said his advocacy extends beyond children in classrooms, noting that access to education for deaf people at all stages of life remains limited in Barbados.
“Learn sign language. That is not the first time we have said that. Just learn the basics.”
He said people who find it difficult to learn sign language can also use gestures to communicate with the deaf.
“Some deaf people can read lips pretty well; some deaf people can talk. Just try to find ways to communicate. Move your hands, use gestures, like you would with a drinking cup or a bag, or telling someone to come here. It’s easy. It doesn’t have to be complicated…”
Willams explained that education is just one of several challenges facing the deaf community.
“Some of the biggest challenges that we face are communication, education, access to interpreters, employment, and finances,” he said.
“At BHDC we recognize they are some of the challenges the deaf community faces, so we are working together trying to create solutions. We don’t have government support yet, but we’re still figuring it out.”
He also sought to dispel common misconceptions about deaf and disabled people, saying stigma often prevents meaningful inclusion.
“Hearing people tend to view us as charity cases, ‘oh you poor thing.’ They perceive us as if we can’t do things. We can’t have quality access. We don’t need to have that because we’re deaf. It’s not only deaf people that face this, but I would also say it’s people with disabilities. We are one big family,” he said.
Williams appealed for broader support to help disabled people achieve their goals, particularly in employment and funding opportunities.
He said the lack of employment opportunities remains a pressing concern for the deaf community.
“If a person with a disability is looking for a job, give them a job. If they need funding, let’s support that. Whatever a deaf person or a person with a disability needs. If they have a dream, it should be supported. We don’t want any more discrimination.”
“There are a lot of deaf people in Barbados who really need access to jobs and right now we don’t have that,” Williams said.
https://barbadostoday.bb/2025/12/20/deaf-advocate-calls-for-greater-access-to-education-and-interpreters/
#Metaglossia
#metaglossia_mundus
"Plein feu sur (i)elles : visibiliser le genre en traduction. Gender in the Spotlight: (In)Visibility in Translation (Sorbonne nouvelle)
Date de tombée (deadline) : 01 Mars 2026
À : Université Sorbonne Nouvelle, Paris, France
Publié le 19 Décembre 2025 par Marc Escola (Source : Amanda Murphy)
Appel à contributions
Plein feu sur (i)elles : visibiliser le genre en traduction
Gender in the Spotlight: (In)Visibility in Translation
L’épineuse notion de la visibilité et son pendant négatif, l’invisibilité, hantent depuis longtemps la traduction. Selon Kate Briggs, Helen Lowe-Porter — la traductrice de Thomas Mann vers l’anglais — décrivait sa mission traductive comme celle d’un « instrument inconnu, un outil utile pour le service qu’il fournit, occupé à déshabiller puis à rhabiller avec précaution le texte d’art littéraire afin qu’il convienne à un nouveau marché ; comme une femme de chambre » (Briggs 2018 : 36, notre traduction). Et de fait, c’est ce que déplorait déjà Lawrence Venuti en 1998, à l’encontre d’une traduction « vitre » (Kratz & Shapiro 1986), que la voix de l’auteur sacralisé serait censée traverser sans que l’on décèle qu’elle a changé de système linguistique, de culture-cible, ou même de geste écrivant. Venuti rappelle que c’est justement parce que la traduction est « stigmatisée en tant que forme d’écriture, découragée par les lois sur le droit d’auteur, minimisée au sein du monde universitaire, exploitée par les maisons d’édition et les entreprises, les États et les organisations religieuses » (Venuti 1998 : 1, notre traduction) que les traductaires doivent adopter des stratégies de visibilisation. Ces stratégies de résistance visent à contrer le projet hégémonique et homogénéisant mené par l’Occident, qui n’a fait, pendant les 25 dernières années et avec l’avènement de la traduction automatique, que devenir plus productiviste.
Dans une industrie de la traduction contemporaine où les femmes et minorités de genre représentent 78% des traductaires en activité (Gilbert : 2025), la question de la visibilité se pose à l’intersection de celle du genre. Depuis les années 1970, la traduction trouve sa place au sein des débats sur le genre, grâce notamment à des traductrices militantes féministes canadiennes telles que Barbara Godard et Lori Chamberlain. Ces dernières soulignent le caractère perçu comme secondaire et ancillaire de la traduction, supposément soumise à l’original. Dans son article phare de 1988, Chamberlain démontre notamment que les métaphores genrées, omniprésentes dans le discours portant sur la traduction (telles les “belles infidèles”), contribuent à inscrire la traduction dans un cadre patriarcal. La traduction, considérée comme féminine et dérivative, se devrait ainsi de servir un texte source masculin et autoritaire. Aujourd’hui encore, la figure de la traductrice — envisagée au sens large et incluant l’ensemble des minorités de genre — demeure discrète, et son éthique traductive est souvent régie par l’injonction à la transparence.
Dans un entretien, la poétesse québécoise Nicole Brossard évoque pourtant l’idée que l’écriture permet de « faire exister ce qui existe ». Elle engendre « du réel inédit, qui n’avait pas d’existence à l’intérieur de l’univers patriarcal ». Ainsi, « lancer sur la page quelques énoncés, prendre le risque d’affirmer quelque chose qui n’avait pas droit de cité, bousculait, à mon sens, la loi » (Karim Larose et Rosalie Lessard : 2012). La traduction peut être directement liée à cette idée, en tant que pratique qui, par définition, fait exister dans la langue d’arrivée quelque chose qui n’existait pas dans la langue de départ. Cependant, tout ne trouve pas le droit d’exister à tout moment dans toutes les langues : les écritures du matrimoine ont été et continuent d’être négligées par le canon littéraire. Comme la traductologie nous le montre, les langages de l’inclusivité se développent différemment selon les langues, tandis que certains textes d’autrices tardent à voir le jour, et que d’autres sont sujets à des suppressions ou altérations ne donnant pas toujours au public cible les moyens de pleinement percevoir les enjeux du texte source.
Le tournant représenté par le féminisme canadien des années 1970 donne lieu à une nouvelle conception de la traduction, sous-tendue par des travaux théoriques comme ceux de Luise von Flotow et de Sherry Simon, ainsi que des pratiques féministes de traductrices telles que Barbara Godard et Susanne de Lotbinière-Harwood. La traduction y est désormais envisagée comme geste symbolique et politique qui met en avant et exploite le pouvoir performatif du langage. Réciproquement, on peut dire que les discours féministes et queer sont traduction. Comme l’explique Godard, la traduction est un élan vers l'altérité ; elle est « mouvance et pluralité » (Lamy, 1979 dans Godard, 1989). « Je suis une traduction », écrira Lotbinière-Harwood (1989), qui dans son ouvrage Re-Belle et Infidèle/The Body Bilingual (1991) expose ses pratiques traductives hétérodoxes. Par exemple, écrire « amante » et le traduire par « lovher » (Barbara Godard, 1986), ou encore écrire « auteure » et le traduire par « auther » (de Lotbinière-Harwood 1995) sont des gestes créatifs s’inscrivant dans une démarche de développement d’un véritable lexique. Il s’agit de rendre visible et dicible l’expérience des femmes et de toute autre minorité de genre, là où les langues et leur historicité tendent à les invisibiliser.
Plus de 50 ans après le numéro “Femme et langage” de la revue littéraire d’avant-garde La barre du jour (1975), nous ne pouvons donc que saluer la tenue de colloques internationaux tels que « Les mots du genre » en partenariat avec le très pertinent Dictionnaire du genre en traduction, ou « L’émancipation par la traduction ? Trajectoires féminines en Europe centrale et orientale », ainsi que de publications telles que Gender and Translation: Understanding Agents in Transnational Reception (2018), le Routledge Handbook of Translation, Feminism and Gender (2020) ou encore la traduction française de l’ouvrage fondateur de Sherry Simon : Le Genre en traduction. Identité culturelle et politiques de transmission (2023). Citons enfin l’émergence du groupe de recherche Feminist Translation Network à l’université de Birmingham, ou la création de la revue Feminist Translation Studies en 2024.
Le colloque Plein feu sur (i)elles : visibiliser le genre en traduction aura lieu du 22 au 23 octobre 2026 à la Maison de la Recherche de la Sorbonne Nouvelle (4, rue des Irlandais 75005 Paris, Salle Athéna). Il s’inscrit dans une lignée de recherche féministe cherchant à remettre au centre de la scène les voix de praticiennes et de chercheuses. Cet évènement est organisé en collaboration avec le laboratoire PRISMES et le groupe de recherche TRACT (Université Sorbonne Nouvelle), le laboratoire IMAGER (Université Paris-Est Créteil) et l’université d’Oxford Brookes. Il s’inscrit dans le programme de recherche HERMES « Les écritures du matrimoine à l’ère du numérique : (re)découverte, découvrabilité et reconnaissance » de la Sorbonne Nouvelle et a le soutien de l’Institut du Genre.
Le colloque sera ouvert par nos deux premières conférencières, Luise von Flotow (University of Ottawa) et Charlotte Bosseaux (University of Edinburgh).
Axes de réflexion :
On pourra, dans le cadre des contributions, s’interroger sur de nombreux aspects de la visibilité des traductrices, et sur les processus de visibilisation et d’agentivité qui s’offrent à elles.
Inclusion et visibilité : Quelles stratégies pratiques, granulaires, professionnelles ou artistiques permettent la visibilisation des femmes et autres minorités de genre dans les travaux de traduction féministe ? Quelles sont les spécificités des traductions littéralement visibles, quoique pas toujours visibilisées, comme la traduction en langue des signes, la traduction audiovisuelle, ou les formes d’interprétation performées et incarnées ? En quoi les jeux sur les contraintes formelles (écriture inclusive, néologismes, subversion des normes typographiques, etc.) peuvent-ils constituer autant de gestes de résistance féministe et/ou queer ? Quelle influence peut avoir la traduction dans la résistance politique, à l’intersection des questions féministes, queer, postcoloniales et éco-critiques ? Comment pratiquer, penser, enseigner la traduction au prisme du genre, dans un rôle de passeuse interculturelle ? Quelle est la place aujourd’hui de pratiques interventionnistes telles que le « hijacking » (von Flotow 1991), par exemple dans le cas de femmes traduisant des hommes ? La correction elle-même peut-elle contribuer à invisibiliser le sexisme du texte source de façon contre-productive (Zoberman 2014) ?
La traductrice dans le monde professionnel : Comment les femmes et autres minorités de genre se voient-elles représentées dans les métiers de la traduction et le monde de l’édition aujourd’hui ? Dans quelle mesure sont-elles agentes de leur propre stratégie de visibilité lors de traductions commissionnées par un·e client·e ou un·e éditeur·rice? Quel rôle jouent les instances de légitimation (prix, jurys, collections, festivals...) dans la reconnaissance ou, au contraire, l’invisibilisation des traductrices et de leurs choix de traduction ? Quid de l’interprétation et de l’audiovisuel, où le travail de la traductrice est littéralement visible et audible ? Sans oublier l’impact que peut avoir la généralisation de la traduction automatique et de la post-édition, et plus récemment de l’intelligence artificielle avec son lot de biais genrés, sur les conditions de travail, la visibilité et la reconnaissance des traductrices.
Nouveaux enjeux de visibilisation des traductrices : Quels sont les nouveaux lieux, acteurs, formats et procédés de visibilisation de la traductrice aujourd’hui ? Quels rôles jouent la collaboration, les tiers-lieux, les nouveaux outils de cette visibilité et de ces échanges ? On pourra réfléchir, par exemple, à la multiplication des collectifs de traduction indépendants et engagés, tels que UnderCommons ou Cases Rebelles. On pourra aussi s’intéresser à la multiplication de mémoires de traduction sur la scène littéraire, tel A Ghost in the Throat de Doireann Ní Ghríofa, ou encore à l’utilisation des réseaux sociaux pour visibiliser le processus traductif, comme l’a fait Emily Wilson sur Twitter tout au long de sa traduction de l’Odyssée et de l’Iliade. On pourra également s’interroger sur le rôle des paratextes (préfaces, postfaces, notes de bas de page, quatrièmes de couverture, entretiens, etc.), et sur la façon dont les maisons d’édition, rééditions et nouveaux supports numériques (bibliothèques, corpus en ligne…) redéfinissent la place accordée à la traductrice dans ces espaces.
La traductrice-créatrice : Comment mettre en valeur le rôle actif de création qu’opère la traductrice ? En quoi cette dimension créatrice peut-elle contribuer à rendre la traductrice plus audible ? On pourra notamment s’interroger sur les pratiques d’auto-(re)traduction, ainsi que sur les formes de traduction performative et incarnée (lectures, performances scéniques, surtitrage en direct, etc.), où le corps et la voix de la traductrice deviennent partie intégrante du geste créateur. On pourra également explorer les apports de la recherche-création ou de la transcréation, ainsi que le rôle des outils de conservation (anciens et nouveaux) des archives de traductrices dans la préservation et mise en lumière de leurs processus créatifs.
Cartographies et réceptions de la traduction féministe : Comment les pratiques de traduction féministe et queer se déploient-elles dans des contextes non occidentaux et/ou dans des langues minorisées ? Quels récits critiques, médiatiques, universitaires ou militants se construisent autour de ces traductions ? On pourra par exemple explorer dans quelle mesure les circulations transnationales des traductions féminines et féministes (particulièrement sud–sud et sud–nord) redessinent les hiérarchies entre langues et aires culturelles. On pourra également s’interroger sur la façon dont les attentes et les goûts des différents publics contribuent à orienter, encourager ou au contraire freiner certaines pratiques traductives féministes ou interventionnistes dans différents contextes culturels.
Le colloque Plein feu sur (i)elles : visibiliser le genre en traduction accueillera des présentations et intervenant·e·s variées. Nous acceptons des propositions de communications de recherche (20 minutes environ), en anglais ou en français, mais aussi des propositions hétérodoxes comme, entre autres, des témoignages de praticien·ne·s en traduction, en édition ou au sein de collectifs transcréatifs ; des lectures performatives de traduction ; des propositions de table-rondes ; des ateliers sur les pratiques de féminisation ou de queerisation de la langue, sur la traduction et la diffusion numérique de matrimoines, etc.
Les propositions de 300 mots et les courtes bio-bibliographies correspondantes seront envoyées avant le 1er mars 2026 aux trois organisatrices, Pauline Jaccon, Enora Lessinger et Amanda Murphy, à l’adresse suivante colloquegenretraduction@gmail.com. Les propositions peuvent être rédigées en anglais ou en français.
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Call for Papers
Gender in the Spotlight: (In)Visibility in Translation
Plein feu sur (i)elles : visibiliser le genre en traduction
The complex question of visibility and its counterpart, invisibility, has troubled the study and practice of translation for a long time. According to Kate Briggs, Thomas Mann’s English translator Helen Lowe-Porter described her own task as that of an “an unknown instrument: a tool to be used, a service provider, engaged in undressing and carefully redressing the literary work of art for the purposes of a new market … Like a lady’s maid” (Briggs 2018: 36). This fantasy of invisibility, whereby the voice of the sanctified author would be expected to pass through a translational “glasspane” (Kratz & Shapiro 1986) into a new language without the reader becoming aware that the text has been transformed through linguistic, cultural and stylistic shifts, is a phenomenon that Venuti already rose against in 1998. Venuti reminds us that if translators must adopt strategies of visibility, it is precisely because translation is “stigmatized as a form of writing, discouraged by copyright law, depreciated by the academy, exploited by publishers and corporations, governments and religious organisations” (Venuti 1998: 1). These strategies of resistance aim to counter the homogenising and hegemonic project of the West, which has only grown more productivist in the past 25 years with the advent of machine translation.
In today’s translation industry, where women and other gender minorities account for 78% of practising translators (Gilbert 2025), the question of visibility directly intersects with that of gender. Since the 1970s, translation has found its place in gender debates, for example through the works of feminist activist translators such as Barbara Godard and Lori Chamberlain. These translators have highlighted the perceived secondary and ancillary status of translation, supposedly subordinate to the original. In her seminal 1988 article, Chamberlain demonstrates that gendered metaphors – such as the so-called “belles infidèles” – are pervasive in translation-related discourse, and contribute to anchoring translation within a patriarchal framework. Translation, construed as feminine and derivative, is then expected to serve a masculine, authoritative source text. The figure of the translator, The figure of the translator, and especially a translator belonging to a gender minority, remains discreet even today, and translational ethics is often governed by the pressure to be “transparent”.
In an interview, the Québecoise poet Nicole Brossard touches on the idea that writing allows one “to bring into existence what already exists”. Writing generates “a new kind of reality, one that had no existence within the patriarchal universe”. Thus, “casting a few sentences onto the page, taking the risk of asserting something that had no right to exist, was, in my view, a way of disturbing the law” (Karim Larose and Rosalie Lessard 2012, our translation). This statement largely applies to translation too, as a practice that literally brings into existence something that did not previously exist in the target language. However, not every text is granted the right to exist at any given time in every language: many works by women and gender minorities have been and are still neglected by the literary canon. As demonstrated by Translation Studies, languages of inclusivity develop differently across languages, while some texts written by women take longer to emerge, or undergo suppressions and alterations that fail to give the target audience the means to fully grasp the source text in all its complexity.
The shift brought about by Canadian feminism in the 1970s introduced a new conception of translation, underpinned by theoretical works such as that of Luise von Flotow and Sherry Simon, as well as feminist practices by translators like Barbara Godard and Susanne de Lotbinière-Harwood. Translation was then redefined as a symbolic and political gesture foregrounding and making use of the performative power of language. Conversely, feminist and queer discourses are arguably translations in and of themselves: in Godard’s words, translation is an impetus towards the other; it is both “movement and plurality”. “I am a translation,” wrote de Lotbinière-Harwood (1989) in Re-Belle et Infidèle/The Body Bilingual (1991), where she analyses her own dissident translational practices, such as writing “amante” and translating it as “lovher” or translating “auteure” as “auther”, a creative gesture that contributes to building a visibly gendered vocabulary. These practices aim to give a voice and visibility to the experiences of women and all other gender minorities, when languages and their histories tend to erase them.
More than 50 years after the special issue “Femme et langage” of the avant-garde journal La barre du jour (1975), we can only welcome the organisation of international conferences such as “Les mots du genre”, in partnership with the World Gender IRN, or “L’émancipation par la traduction? Trajectoires féminines en Europe centrale et orientale”, as well as publications such as Gender and Translation: Understanding Agents in Transnational Reception (2018), the Routledge Handbook of Translation, Feminism and Gender (2020), and the recent translation into French of Sherry Simon’s foundational Gender in Translation (2023). Equally encouraging are the creation of the Feminist Translation Network at the University of Birmingham and the Feminist Translation Studies journal in 2024.
The conference Gender in the Spotlight: (In)Visibility in Translation, to be held on 22–23 October 2026, is part of this lineage of feminist research aiming to (re)centre translation around the voices of women and queer practitioners and scholars, and more generally to give more visibility to gender minorities. This event is supported by PRISMES and TRACT at the Sorbonne Nouvelle University, IMAGER at Paris-Est Créteil University and Oxford Brookes University. It is part of the HERMES research programme “Les écritures du matrimoine à l’ère du numérique: (re)découverte, découvrabilité et reconnaissance” at the Sorbonne Nouvelle and has the support of the Institut du Genre.
The conference will feature two keynote presentations by Luise von Flotow (University of Ottawa) and Charlotte Bosseaux (University of Edinburgh).
Possible themes and topics:
Inclusion and visibility
Participants may wish to explore the many aspects of the visibility, visibilisation and empowerment of translators belonging to gender minorities. What practical, professional or artistic strategies enable the visibility of women and other gender minorities in feminist translation practices? What specificities emerge for translations that are literally visible, though not always visibilised, such as sign language translation, audiovisual translation, or any form of performed and corporeal interpretation? How can formal innovation (inclusive writing, neologisms, subversion of typographical norms, etc.) be a feminist and/or queer act of resistance? How can translation influence political resistance at the intersection of feminist, queer, postcolonial, and ecocritical concerns? How can translation be practised, conceptualised, and taught through a gendered lens? How much scope is there today for interventionist practices such as “hijacking” (von Flotow 1991) – for instance in the case of women translating men? Might interventionism itself contribute to the counter-productive invisibilisation of sexism in the source text (Zoberman 2014)?
Translation as a professional practice
How are women and gender minorities represented in translation and publishing industries today? To what extent do they act as agents of their own strategies of visibility when working on translations commissioned by clients or publishers? What role do official and awarding bodies such as juries or festivals play in either recognising or invisibilising translators and their translational choices? What about interpreting and audiovisual translation, where the translator’s work is literally visible and audible? Also crucial to consider is the impact of machine translation, post-editing, and more recently artificial intelligence with its well-documented gendered biases, on translators’ working conditions, visibility, and recognition.
New forms of visibilisation
What are the new sites, actors, formats and processes impacting translators’ visibility today? What, in particular, is the role of collaboration, marginal and collective spaces, and new digital tools in this work of visibilisation? Participants might want to examine the rise of independent translation collectives (such as UnderCommons or Cases Rebelles); the emergence of translation memoirs (among many others, Doireann Ní Ghríofa’s A Ghost in the Throat); or the use of social media to make one’s translational process more visible, as Emily Wilson did on Twitter during her translation of The Odyssey and The Iliad. Papers addressing the question of paratexts (prefaces, afterwords, notes, book-jackets…) are also welcome, as well as those exploring how publishers are redefining the translator’s place within these spaces, and how new digital platforms can develop the visibilisation of their work (online corpus, online libraries…).
Feminist translation as creation
Recognising the translator’s active agency and creativity is equally central to making the translator more visible and her voice more audible. Participants may want to explore self-(re)translation, performative and embodied forms of translation (readings, stage performances, live surtitling…), in which body and voice become integral to the creative gesture; the contributions of practice-based research and transcreation; or the role of archives and conservation tools in bringing to light creative processes often rendered invisible.
Reception and transnational mapping
How do feminist and queer translation practices unfold in non-Western contexts and/or in minority languages? What narratives emerge among critics, activists or in the media around these translations? Contributors may examine how transnational circulations – particularly south–south and south–north – reshape linguistic and cultural hierarchies, or how audience expectations and tastes shape or hinder feminist or interventionist translation practices across cultural contexts.
Guidelines for submission
The conference Gender in the Spotlight: (In)Visibility in Translation will take place on 22–23 October 2026 at the Maison de la Recherche of the Sorbonne Nouvelle (4, rue des Irlandais 75005 Paris, Salle Athéna) and aims to welcome a wide range of presentations and speakers. We accept 20-minute research papers (in English or French), as well as less traditional forms of contributions such as practitioner testimonies, performative readings, roundtables, workshops, etc.
Abstracts (300 words) and short bios should be sent before 1 March 2026 to colloquegenretraduction@gmail.com, in English or in French.
Comité d’organisatrices/Organizing Committee:
Pauline Jaccon (Maîtresse de conférences, IMAGER, LanguEnact, Université Paris-Est Créteil)
Enora Lessinger (Senior Lecturer, Oxford Brookes University, CIOL)
Amanda Murphy (Maîtresse de conférences, PRISMES, TRACT, Université Sorbonne Nouvelle)
Comité scientifique/Scientific Committee:
Charles Bonnot, Université Sorbonne Nouvelle
Olga Castro, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona & University of Warwick
Audrey Coussy, McGill University
Amélie Florenchie, Université Bordeaux-Montaigne
Anne-Isabelle François, Université Sorbonne Nouvelle
Hepzibah Israel, University of Edinburgh
Julie Loison-Charles, Université Sorbonne Nouvelle
Jean-Charles Meunier, Université Paris-Est Créteil
Lily Robert-Foley, Université de Montpellier
Sara Ramos Pinto, University of Leeds
Sara Salmi, ESIT Paris
María Laura Spoturno, Universidad Nacional de La Plata & Oxford Brookes University
Bibliographie indicative/Bibliography:
Álvarez Sánchez, P. (Ed.). (2022). Traducción literaria y género: estrategias y prácticas de visibilización, Editorial Comares, Universidad de Alcalá
Arrojo, Rosemary (1993). "A Tradução Passada a Limpo e a Visibilidade do Tradutor," Tradução, Desconstrução e Psicanálise. Rio de Janeiro, Ática, pp. 71-89
Arrojo, Rosemary (1994) “Fidelity and the gendered translation”. TTR, 7(2), 147–163
Bosseaux, Charlotte et Lee Ling (dir.) (2023) Surviving Translation, A Multilingual Documentary, University of Edinburgh. https://ethicaltranslation.llc.ed.ac.uk/full-online-versions/
Bosseaux, Charlotte (2025) ‘Surviving Translation: why we need feminist ethics in translation research and practice’, Feminist Translation Studies, 2(1), pp. 91–98. doi: 10.1080/29940443.2025.2561561.
Briggs, Kate (2018). This Little Art, Fitzcarraldo Editions: London.
Castro, Olga, & Ergun, Emek (Eds.) (2017). Feminist Translation Studies: Local and Transnational Perspectives, Routledge.
Castro, Olga, Ergun, Emek, von Flotow, Luise, & Spoturno, María Laura (2020). Towards transnational feminist translation studies. Mutatis Mutandis. Revista Latinoamericana de Traducción, 13(1), 2–10. https://doi.org/10.17533/udea.mut.v13n1a01.
Chamberlain, Lois (2018). “Gender and the Metaphorics of Translation”. In Rethinking Translation (pp. 57-74), Routledge.
DeLisle, Jean (2022). Portraits de traductrices, Ottawa, coll. « Regards sur la traduction », Les Presses de l'Université d'Ottawa.
Dictionnaire du genre de la traduction. (n.d.). World Gender [CNRS]. https://worldgender.cnrs.fr/.
von Flotow, Luise (1991). Feminist translation: Contexts, practices, and theories. TTR: Traduction, terminologie, rédaction, 4(2), 69-84. https://doi.org/10.7202/037094ar.
von Flotow, Luise, & Kamal, Hala (Eds.). (2021). The Routledge handbook of translation, feminism and gender, Routledge.
Gilbert, Marion (2025). Analyse de l’enquête sur les conditions de travail en traduction d’édition de l’ATLF, www.atlf.org.
Godard, Barbara (1989). “Theorizing feminist discourse/translation”, Tessera, 6, pp. 42-53.
Hildalgo, Marian Panchón (2026). “(In)visibilised women translators: recovery through the use of archives”, Parallèles, issue 38:1 (à paraître).
hooks, bell (1990). Yearning, South End Press.
hooks, bell (1994). Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom, Routledge.
Kratz, Dennis (1986). “An Interview with Norman Shapiro,” Translation Review 19: pp. 27–28.
Larose, Karim, & Lessard, Rosalie (2012). Entretien avec Nicole Brossard, Voix et Images, 37(3), pp. 13-29. https://doi.org/10.7202/1011281ar.
López Isis Herrero, Alvstad Cecilia, Akujärvi Johanna et Lindtner Synnøve Skarsbø (Eds) (2018), Gender and Translation: Understanding Agents in Transnational Reception, Montréal : Vita Traductiva.
Lotbinière-Harwood, Susanne de (1991). Re-belle et infidèle / The body bilingual: Translation as a rewriting in the feminine, Women’s Press.
Robert-Foley, Lily (2018). “Vers une traduction queere”, Revue Trans- [En ligne], https://journals.openedition.org/trans/1864.
Simon, Sherry (2023). Le Genre en traduction. Identité culturelle et politiques de transmission, trad. par Corinne Oster, Artois, Artois, Presses Université.
Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty (2008). Outside in the Teaching Machine, Routledge.
Venuti, Lawrence (1998). The Translator’s Invisibility: A History of Translation, 2nd Edition, Routledge : New York.
Waquil, Marina Leivas (2025). Traducción literaria y género: estrategias y prácticas de visibilización: édité par Patricia Álvarez Sánchez, Albolote, Spain, Editorial Comares, 2022, Feminist Translation Studies, 2(1), pp. 99–101.
Zoberman, Pierre (2014). "“Homme” peut-il vouloir dire “Femme”? Gender and Translation in Seventeenth-Century French Moral Literature." comparative literature studies 51.2: 231-252.
Responsable :
Pauline Jaccon, UPEC; Enora Lessinger, Oxford-Brookes; Amanda Murphy, Université Sorbonne Nouvelle
Url de référence :
https://gendertrad.sciencesconf.org/
Adresse :
Université Sorbonne Nouvelle, Paris, France"
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