Metaglossia: The Translation World

Margarita Savchenkova•University of Salamanca, Research Group TRADICTranslating Indigenous knowledges: Toward a sensuous translation,Mª Carmen África Vidal Claramonte, London and New York: Routledge, 2024, 222 pp., €43.99 (paperback) ISBN 9781032866987, €35.19 (ebook) ISBN 9781003528630.The field of Translation Studies is currently witnessing a growing interdisciplinary and epistemological openness. This shift is encouraging many researchers to reflect more deeply on how the core concept of our discipline can be applied beyond the interlinguistic—and even beyond the linguistic—realm. Such is the case with África Vidal Claramonte’s book, Translating Indigenous Knowledges: Toward a Sensuous Translation, which explores the notion of ‘sensuous translation’as a framework for engaging with indigenous worldviews. Through this work, Vidal Claramontechallenges traditional Western epistemologiesand examines how translation can illuminate new ways of knowing, particularly withinindigenous contexts. The resultis arigorously argued, interdisciplinarymonographthat will undoubtedly be of interest not only to translation scholars but also to researchersin anthropology and sensory studies.1In the introduction, Vidal Claramonte outlines the overall trajectory of her monograph, which unfolds across four chapters. The author situates her studywithin a broad range of theoretical frameworks that have been instrumental in shaping the aforementioned EPISTRAN project, such as Piotr Blumczynski’s(2023) and Douglas Robinson’s (2017)‘translationality’, Michael Cronin’s (2017) ‘eco-translation’, and Kobus Marais’s (2019) ‘(bio)semiotic translation’.Her focus, she explains, is on indigenous knowledges, cosmovisions, and worldviews, as well as on forms of translation that extend beyond the strictly linguistic. In doing so, she seeks to move past reductionist dichotomies such as the body/mind divide, emphasizing instead the central role of the body, objects, experiences, senses, and emotions, elements that become the principal agents in the translations she examines.Translation, in Vidal Claramonte’s approach, is never static or definitive; it is rhizomatic in the sense of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari (1980[1987]), and recalls the medieval notion of translatioas movement. She conceives translation as a weaving of“knots, threads, colors, and bodies in movement” (p. 3), as ‘shamanic translation’, •margsav@usal.es1Notably, the reviewed book appears on the website https://www.sensorystudies.org/books-of-note/, which features works of interest in the field.

Savchenkova, M. -Translating sensuouslyTranslation Matters, 7(2), 2025, pp. 192-195, DOI: https://doi.org/10.21747/21844585/tm7_2r3193‘translation as equivocation’,and ‘total translation’. These modes are explored in depth across the book’s chapters, each illuminated through carefully selected case studies.The openingchapter, titled ‘A knowledge of many knowledges’, immerses readersin the world of shamanic translations, practices that are creative, fluid, and perpetually in motion. Long marginalizedby what has beentermed ‘epistemicide’(Bennett,2007, 2023, 2024; Santos,2014, 2016; Price,2023), these translations are particularly compelling because they allow us to apprehend the world—or rather, worlds—beyond binary oppositions, the so-called ‘one-world world’(Law,2015), and Eurocentric globalization.Within this context, Gloria Anzaldúa’s(2002)notion of conocimiento—“a theory of knowledge from intuition” (p. 27)—becomes especially significant. Translation, in her view, operatesthrough the body, emotions, and senses, directly challenging rational, scientific Western conceptions of knowledge. Vidal Claramonte underscores how, for Anzaldúa, connecting with nature positions translation as an experiential, embodied practice. Building on this perspective, she turns to Carlos Castaneda’s (1968[1985]) The Teachings of Don Juanand to the shamanic narratives of Davi Kopenawa(Kopenawa and Albert, 2013), guiding readers into the world of shamans and their epistemic translations of the universe, in which “feeling is the most complete way of accessing knowledge” (p. 38).Through these examples, Vidal Claramonte highlights the centrality of the senses and affirmsthe relevance of the sensory turn and sensory studies (see Howes,2022) for contemporary translation theory.The second chapter, ‘Expanding translation’, opens with the idea that the sensuous knowledges introduced in the first chaptercannot be translated through traditional Western methods. Translation, the author argues,must go beyond words, beyond the search for equivalenceand mere reproduction; it shouldbe conceived as difference, as equivocation, and as a form of communication that can extend between human and non-human beings. Suchapproaches are essential for conveying knowledges grounded in sensory experience.As the authorexplains, in the context ofindigenous knowledges, a range of anthropological theories can further enrich our transdisciplinary understanding of translation. Among these areAnne Taylor’s (2015) concept of ‘shamanic translation’between humans and nature; Eduardo Viveiros de Castro’s (2004) idea of ‘translation as equivocation’, which challenges univocality and equivalence; Boaventura de Sousa Santos’s (2014, 2016) notion of ‘intercultural translation’, framedas a “way of avoiding the epistemicide of non-Western knowledge” (p. 88); and Jerome Rothenberg’s (1962[1981]) ‘total translation’, which involves performing ethnopoetrybeyond language, engaging all the senses.Building on the theoretical discussions and examples presented in the previous chapters, the third chapter, titled ‘Translating through the senses: Cecilia Vicuña’, turns its focus exclusively onto the Chilean artist Cecilia Vicuña. Through her works, deeply influenced by indigenous practices, Vicuña demonstrates the central role of the senses and the body in translation processes. Her artworks themselves function as translations, 

Savchenkova, M.-Translating sensuouslyTranslation Matters, 7(2), 2025, pp. 192-195, DOI: https://doi.org/10.21747/21844585/tm7_2r3194transforming ideas and stories from one materiality into another. Among these, quipus—threads or cords—stand out as tangible translations of narratives, allowing viewers to engage directly with indigenous knowledges and Andean cosmovisions. Vidal Claramonte carefully shows how Vicuña’sart embodiestactile modes of translating‘reality’, fostering connectionswith the ancestral and the natural, and enabling communication beyond language.In the final chapter, ‘Toward a sensuous translation’, the authoronce again underscores the extensive work of translating indigenous knowledges highlighted throughout the book, emphasizing that knowledge is acquired through the senses, the body, and in connection with the natural world. Withinthis perspective, translation emerges as a “sensuous journey between worlds inhabited by humans, non-humans, and extrahumans” (p. 168). To capture this dimension, Vidal Claramontecoins the concept of ‘sensuous translation’: a mode of translation enacted through the senses, through the sensory expressions of experience, always dynamic and operating on multiple levels. This form of translation, inherently creative and unique to each person, offers a means of engaging with knowledge beyond the universalizingandcolonial frameworks that seek to dominate and homogenize.Overall, as in Vidal Claramonte’s other recent monographs—Translation and Contemporary Art: Transdisciplinary Encounters(2022) and Translation and Objects: Rewriting Migrancy and Displacement through the Materiality of Art(2025)—this book offers a wealth of material for reflection. In line with the expanding interdisciplinary scope of Translation Studies, it invites a deeper appreciation of translation’s relevance across diverse academic fields, thereby enhancingour understanding of the concept itself. In Translating Indigenous Knowledges, Vidal Claramonte opens a profoundly emotional worldby presenting the work of various indigenous sensuous translators, united by a common aim: to free translation from binary thinking and to reveal the beauty and richness of translating not merely difference, but through difference, translating with the senses.REFERENCESAnzaldúa, G. (2002) ‘Now let us shift ... the path of conocimiento ... inner work, public acts’in Anzaldúa, G.and Keatin, A.(eds.) This bridge we call home: Radical visions for social transformation. New York: Routledge, pp. 540–578.Bennett, K. (2007) ‘Epistemicide!: The tale of a predatory discourse’, The Translator, 13(2), pp. 151–169. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/13556509.2007.10799236.Bennett, K. (2023) ‘Translating knowledge in the multilingual paradigm: beyond epistemicide’, Social Science Information, 62(4), pp. 514–532. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/05390184231222807.Bennett, K. (2024) ‘Epistemic translation: towards an ecology of knowledges’, Perspectives[in press], pp. 1–16. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/0907676X.2023.2294123.Blumczynski, P. (2023) Experiencing translationality: material and metaphorical journeys. New York: Routledge.Castaneda, C. (1968[1981]) The teachings of don Juan. New York: Simon & Schuster.

 

https://ojs.letras.up.pt/index.php/tm/article/view/15736/13756

#Metaglossia 

#metaglossia_mundus

Imagining ourselves in the shoes of the other affords necessary perspective for effective verbal, written, or physical communication exchange.

 

"E. Paul Zehr Ph.D.

 

Updated January 10, 2026

 

 Reviewed by Monica Vilhauer Ph.D.

 

 

 

 

Key points

 

Communication spans everything from words to physical actions.

 

Effective communication requires understanding the perspective and intention of those we interact with.

 

Translation of words, concepts, and actions requires functional interpretation, not literal representation.

 

Putting ourselves in the shoes of the other affords necessary perspective for effective communication.

 

Led Zeppelin warned us about the perils of misunderstood communications in relationships. Failing to translate what we are trying to say or do so that someone else gets it is the root of so many problems. But translation is a fantastic find when it goes right. Here are some things I've learned about translating meaning from a lifetime of speaking numerous languages, practicing a wide array of martial arts, and communicating science.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Meaning or intention?

 

"Das ist nicht mein Bier" is an expression I learned while taking German 101 in 1988 as an undergraduate. We were taught it was a Bavarian colloquialism meaning "that's not my problem." Literally, the words say, "That is not my beer." This trivial expression was something I have kept in mind ever since. It was a game-changer for how I thought about communication and translation. It's about meaning and context and understanding culture, not just about words. Keeping this in mind has served me very well when trying to communicate and navigate cultures, especially during interactions with Japanese colleagues and martial artists. It's always about what the intention is, not just what was said, asked, or stated.

 

 

 

 

Translating intention

 

I have studied a variety of martial arts in my lifetime, dabbling in about 9 traditions and diving more deeply into 6 martial arts from Japan, Okinawa, and China. I am fascinated by how similar concepts are expressed in different martial arts. It's about movement, not words, but it really is an issue of translation and communication. It's just that instead of translating a question like "what train are you trying to catch" it becomes one of "how are you going to defend against this punch coming at your face"? It is all about functional representation and how this is maintained in different forms across cultures and traditions.

 

 

 

 

Also the language used to describe physical actions needs nuance. Martial arts (Kung Fu) spread from China to strongly influence Okinawan (Toudi) and Japanese (Karate) traditions. But key core concepts seem to have been dropped along the way. For instance, total body power is a critical variable in the mastery of martial arts. In Japanese Karate, and subsequently most North American and European representations, there is a fixation on "the hips," which at first glance seems to hark back to recommendations from Chinese martial arts. Yet as I tried to reconcile teachings in Okinawan and Japanese Karate with my more recent experiences with Chinese Bagua Zhang, Xing Yi Chuan and Wing Chun Kuen, I discovered a disconnect. We blithely say "hips" which is actually meant to be "waist". And in many Chinese writings and teachings, "waist" means from just below the ribs to just above the knees. This hugely alters teaching and training and renders them much more functional. It comes down to shifting from asking "what was said" to the more useful "what was meant".

 

 

 

 

It's a matter of perspective

 

 

 

 

An interpretation of simultaneous attack and defense in Wing Chun Kung Fu.Source: Courtesy of Mike Goldsworthy

 

Over the years I have done a pretty extensive amount of science communication in blog posts, podcasts, interviews, and books. Science communication at its core is about taking concepts many find difficult to understand and rephrasing them in such a way that they are engaging and accessible. I think the key to that is making sure people are interested in a bridging metaphor, which is why so much of my writing has focused on using superheroes as vehicles for transfer and science translation. But a key thing I had to learn when I wrote a young adult book was to avoid the trap of just simplifing language instead of trying to understand a very different perspective. When I give talks about science communication, I illustrate this point by literally walking into the audience seating area, turning around and sitting there. This is the perspective you have to adopt if you want to be on the other side effectively sharing knowledge.

 

 

 

 

If we really want to be understood, we have to authentically appreciate and engage with the perspective of those we are trying to reach. This is why simple language translation like that found in "Google Translate" and the like fail so often. They provide literal translations that miss the subtlety of context and functional meaning.

 

 

 

 

The main take away here is that if we truly want people to understand us, we must try to understand them and communicate in a way that they respect, appreciate, and understand. If we do that, our meaning truly won't get lost in translation and we will gain a deeper understanding of ourselves and those we are hoping to reach."

 

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/black-belt-brain/202510/dont-get-lost-in-translation

 

#Metaglossia 

 

#metaglossia_mundus 

"The Israel Translators Association is pleased to invite its members and the wider community of translators to participate in its annual conference. This year, the conference will be held under the theme The Future of the Translation Profession in the Age of Artificial Intelligence...

 

The 2026 ITA hybrid translation conference will focus on one of the most urgent needs of today’s language professionals: practical, applicable knowledge for working effectively - and responsibly - with artificial intelligence in real-world translation environments.

 

While public discussion about AI often remains theoretical or speculative, the conference places its emphasis squarely on practice. The program will introduce participants to concrete methods, case studies, and professional tools designed to support quality, security, and strategic decision-making in everyday translation work.

 

Conference sessions will explore a range of hands-on topics, including prompt engineering for translation and editing tasks, smarter and more structured approaches to post-editing, quality-control methodologies, workflow optimization, secure information handling, and professional risk assessment when using automated systems.

 

Alongside the technical dimension, the program will address the business and professional aspects of working in an AI-supported environment. Participants will be exposed to new perspectives on freelance business management, marketing and positioning strategies, translator training and skill development, and models of human–AI collaboration that enhance - rather than replace - professional expertise.

 

Speakers will present real case studies drawn from ongoing translation and localization projects, providing participants with tangible examples of how AI tools can be integrated into professional workflows in a thoughtful and controlled manner. The goal is not to encourage blind adoption of technology, but to support informed, critical decision-making.

 

A key theme of the conference is the idea that technology becomes valuable only when paired with professional judgment. Through discussions and practical demonstrations, the event will highlight situations where automation can streamline work — as well as those where human expertise remains essential for accuracy, context, and ethical responsibility.

 

For translators and interpreters seeking to enhance their capabilities, improve efficiency, and strengthen their professional toolkit, the conference offers a rare opportunity to acquire tools and insights that can be implemented immediately.

 

By the end of the day, participants are expected to leave with a clearer strategic framework for working with AI — transforming technology into a meaningful asset rather than an external force of disruption.

 

Media Contact

Company Name: Israel Translators Association

Contact Person: Uri Bruck

Email: Send Email

Country: Israel

Website: https://ita.org.il/en/ita-2026-conference-the-future-of-the-translation-profession-in-the-age-of-artificial-intelligence-speakers-and-talks/

https://markets.financialcontent.com/stocks/article/abnewswire-2026-1-11-ai-and-the-future-of-the-translation-profession-translation-conference-to-deliver-practical-ai-workflows-case-studies-and-real-world-professional-tools

#Metaglossia 

#metaglossia_mundus 

 

A newly-developed cipher could finally shine light on how the strange text of the Voynich manuscript was devised.

 

"The Voynich manuscript—a mysterious medieval book that has defied translation for centuries—may have been created using a special code developed with the help of cards and dice, a new study suggests.

 

Named for Wilfrid Voynich, the Polish book dealer who purchased it in 1912, the manuscript's bizarre text is now thought to have been made using a cipher involving randomized elements.

 

Dating back to the 15th century, the manuscript contains about 38,000 words written in its unknown language, as well as unusual images including depictions of unknown plants, astrological symbols and even naked women bathing, in what some believe to be a representation of biological themes. The work is now housed in the collections at Yale University.

 

In the study, published in the journal Cryptologia, science journalist Michael Greshko suggests that a cipher which he calls "Naibbe," inspired by a 14th-century Italian card game, could shine a light on how the manuscript's text was made.

 

The Naibbe cipher uses a combination of dice rolls and playing cards to turn normal language into symbols that resemble those featured in the manuscript’s glyphs.

 

While the cipher doesn’t decode the Voynichese text, it provides a possible method to understand how it may have been created.

 

Naibbe works by rolling a die to break up the word into smaller parts. Then it draws a card to determine which of six different tables is used to encrypt the letters into Voynichese. 

 

Over the years many theories have been made about the Voynich manuscript's meaning, with some believing it to be a medieval hoax.

 

Recent efforts to decode the manuscript have included using advanced machine learning techniques and other computerized artificial intelligence, which have failed to crack the code.

 

Greshko's Naibbe cipher is one of the closest attempts yet. Speaking to Live Science, he said that the Naibbe cipher is almost certainly not the way that the manuscript was constructed, but it provides a fully documented way to reliably go between Latin and "something that behaves kind of like the Voynich manuscript."

 

René Zandbergen, a renowned Voynich expert who was not directly involved in Greshko's study, cautioned that we should not assume it is the exact method used to make it, adding that he’s still unsure about whether the text has an actual meaning or it is indeed a hoax.

 

Do you have a tip on a science story that Newsweek should be covering? Do you have a question about Voynich manuscript? Let us know via science@newsweek.com.

 

Reference

Greshko, M. A. (2025). The Naibbe cipher: A substitution cipher that encrypts Latin and Italian as Voynich Manuscript-like ciphertext. Cryptologia. https://doi.org/10.1080/01611194.2025.2566408";

January 07, 2026

Maria Azzurra Volpe

 

https://www.newsweek.com/voynich-manuscript-15th-century-book-cards-dice-cipher-naibbe-11316017

#Metaglossia

#metaglossia_mundus

"‘This week, there were two stories featuring artificial intelligence (AI) and the work of translators that illustrate how the technology is changing the publishing ecosystem, perhaps both negatively and positively.
As Talita Facchini noted in her year-end piece, “Amid rapid technological change, 2025 also brought renewed attention to one of publishing’s most essential — and often under-supported — communities: translators.”

“Debates around AI, language dominance, and geopolitical polarization raised fundamental questions about whose stories travel, who enables that movement, and under what conditions. Translation increasingly emerged not as a technical step, but as a form of cultural stewardship, trust-building, and long-term international exchange.”

The first is a story which many media outlets* covered earlier this week prompted by a letter sent by the ATLF (French Association of Literary Translators) and the Collective “In Flesh and Bone: For Human Translation” noting that Harlequin/HarperCollins France has hired Fluent Planet, a communications company which specializes in translation, that will be using machine translation software for their books. According to the letter, the “stated objective is to increase profitability by reducing working time.”

“These practices are a betrayal of book workers, but also a betrayal of readers. They completely devalue the translation industry, showing contempt for both translators and readers,” the letter notes.

“They set in motion a downward spiral of publishing quality, driven by a harmful ‘good enough’ mentality that robs book workers of their expertise and creativity, and deprives readers of access to vibrant and humane literature.”

The letter goes on to note that this decision comes with immediate implementation, so translators, many of whom have had decades-long contracts for this work, are suddenly left without an income or ability to claim unemployment benefits. This decision could cause great impact not only on the quality of the books being published, but also on an entire community of publishing professionals who rely on this work.

Alternately, the other story this week that may draw some raised eyebrows is the use of AI translation to battle another challenge in the industry—piracy. This piece on Nikkai Asia, highlights the growing problem of piracy in manga and what Japan’s Agency for Cultural Affairs is doing to prevent it.

Authorized Books of Japan (ABJ), a publishers’ association that works to protect copyright and fight piracy, released a report noting that they identified 900 piracy sites featuring Japanese publications which received 2.8 billion visits from 123 countries and regions in June 2025 alone. These pirated copies of popular manga titles are costing publishers $55 billion a year.

What prompts this piracy does not appear to be purely because fans do not want to pay for the work, it is that manga translation has not kept up with demand from this eager and engaged audience.

To combat this problem, the Agency for Cultural Affairs has created a program that will use AI to help with the translation – not only will they teach specialized translation techniques and how to leverage AI for translation, they are supporting the creation of AI tools for translating manga. They are working with universities, vocational schools and industry groups to develop this program.

Mantra, a startup at the University of Tokyo which is supported by publishers Shueisha and Shogakukan, offers a tool that can translate entire works, including characters’ speech style and story setting. According to the story, “Mantra supports 18 languages and can cut translation times in half compared with conventional methods. It is already translating 200,000 pages per month.”

Both with the Fluent Planet and Mantra, human intervention is required to check the accuracy, tone, and fluency of the AI translation.

These two situations are not unique. More publishing companies are turning to AI not only for translation but also audio production, writing, and more creative work. As the industry continues testing ways to implement this technology, many roles that currently exist in the industry will grow, change, and, perhaps, decline. What both of these stories highlight is that there must be consideration of the reader. Quality should not be sacrificed and, as Facchini notes, the industry must consider the role of translators in “cultural stewardship, trust-building, and long-term international exchange.”

*For more coverage of the Harlequin/HarperCollins France story, visit Bookbrunch, The Bookseller, Jane Friedman, LitHub, Livres Hebdo, Publishers Lunch, and Publishers Weekly.

By Erin L. Cox, Publisher | @erinlcox
https://publishingperspectives.com/2026/01/the-future-of-translation-ai-and-the-greater-good/
#Metaglossia
#metaglossia_mundus

"The Ukrainian Book Institute announced the launch of Translate Ukraine 2026, a program to support the translation of Ukrainian literature into other languages. The program seeks to promote Ukrainian books internationally, enhance Ukraine’s presence in the global cultural sphere, and support publishers planning to translate, publish, and distribute works by Ukrainian authors.

For participation in the competitive selection, UBI will consider projects involving translations of contemporary Ukrainian literature or works in the public domain:

written in Ukrainian;
published by a Ukrainian publisher/publishers as of the application date;
to be completed and published by the end of 2026;
to be published with the print run of at least 300 copies.

Applications for projects implemented under previous programs will not be considered if:

translations of Ukrainian literary works have already been translated and published in a particular foreign language in the relevant country;
translations created (or to be created) via a pivot language.

The applications for the competitive selection shall not be accepted from publishers:

having violated their contractual obligations to the Institute in the previous year;
whose ultimate beneficial owners are citizens of the aggressor state, whose founders and/or ultimate beneficial owners have been subject to sanctions according to the Law of Ukraine “On Sanctions.”

Priority of the Translate Ukraine 2026 program are:

classical literature;
literature by military authors;
literature on the topic of Russia’s war against Ukraine;
literature on the topic of Ukrainian history and culture.

The Expert Council assesses projects based on the criteria defined in the Regulations on the Expert Council for the selection of projects for translation of Ukrainian literature into other languages:
1.Literary quality of the project

Significance of the work based on the artistic quality of the text, idea, theme, and public resonance;

Literary awards received in Ukraine and abroad;

Translations of the work into other languages.

2.Competence of the publisher

Catalog on the Publisher’s website;

Ability to promote the translation;

Ability to carry out the distribution of the translation.

3.Competence of the translator

Proficiency of the translator in the language into which the work shall be translated;

Experience in translation, including from other languages;

Number of published translations from Ukrainian;

Translator’s awards and prizes.

As part of its support for the project, the UBI reimburses the publishers’ expenses for:

Acquisition of rights to translate a work of Ukrainian literature into another language and/or payment of royalties for their use;
Creation of an intellectual property object that is the translation of a work of Ukrainian literature into another language;
Publication of a work of Ukrainian literature in other languages, including editorial processing, preparation of the original layout, and creation of an electronic edition.

The maximum amount of expenses to be reimbursed by the Institute to the publisher after project implementation is EUR 8,000 or the equivalent in the national currency of Ukraine — UAH.

The Institute shall accept applications from January 6 to February 9, 2026.

Overdue applications submitted after the date, as stipulated in the announcement, shall not be considered.

Copy editing: Terra Friedman King
https://chytomo.com/en/translate-ukraine-2026-ubi-opened-program-applications/
#Metaglossia
#metaglossia_mundus

"Latest additions mean more than 100 languages are on offer on artificial intelligence platform’s translation service

 

Artificial intelligence platform DeepL has added Luxembourgish to its translation service, the company announced on Wednesday.

 

New languages available include the likes of Icelandic, Irish and Afrikaans, bringing the total number to over 100 languages and meaning all of the EU’s 24 official languages are supported on the platform.

 

The inclusion of Luxembourgish will provide users with “high-accuracy AI translation specifically tailored to the unique needs of the Grand Duchy”, the company said in a press release.

 

“With support for over 100 languages, we are helping Benelux businesses tap into worldwide markets with confidence. Whether it’s a local startup in Luxembourg or a large Dutch exporter, our goal is to provide the high-quality tools necessary to communicate accurately across any border,” said Ed Crook, DeepL’s vice-president for strategy and operations.

 

Other services, such as Google Translate, Lingavex or Copilot, also offer Luxembourgish translation."

Reporter and deputy editor

07/01/2026

https://www.luxtimes.lu/luxembourg/luxembourgish-now-available-on-deepl-translation-tool/122091396.html

#Metaglossia. 

#metaglossia_mundus 

"RWS awarded US patent for AI-powered Translation Decision Assistant

Innovation strengthens RWS’s leadership in intelligent translation workflows

RWS (RWS.L), a global AI solutions company, has been granted a US patent for its Translation Decision Assistant – an advanced AI engine that transforms how organizations manage global content and translation at scale, enabling faster decisions and greater control across international teams.

 

 

The patent describes methods to handle large volumes of multilingual content by automatically analyzing each project and recommending the smartest mix of linguists, machine translation engines, large language models, resources and workflows. It weighs content analysis, risk, value, complexity, deadlines and security – delivering a clear, data-backed path to the right outcome.

 

“Our latest patent reflects our long-term investment in optimized machine outcomes and intentional human-in-the-loop AI. Clients want speed and scale, but they also need trust and control. Our Translation Decision Assistant brings these important elements together, giving teams a smarter, more intuitive way to manage global content.”

Matthew Hardy, SVP of Linguistic AI at RWS

 

Powered by AI historical performance data and rich context, Translation Decision Assistant predicts outcomes, clusters content and instantly routes translation tasks to the best linguistic resources – human and machine. It automatically flags sensitive information and enforces strict security controls, ensuring only authorized translators can access the right assets – making multilingual workflows more secure.

 

By formalizing how content value, insights, historical performance and security models are combined into an automated decision layer, the patent establishes a foundation for agent-based systems that can plan, decide and act without continuous human supervision. At the same time, it supports human review and feedback, which are continuously fed back into the learning loop to improve future outcomes.

 

The invention will underpin the next generation of content transformation and orchestration technology, enabling organizations to achieve defined quality standards at scale while focusing human expertise – and cost – where it delivers the greatest impact.

 

Learn more about RWS's language technology."

Maidenhead, UK 12/17/2025 9:00:00 AM

RWS awarded US patent for AI-powered Translation Decision Assistant https://share.google/0svez96T9EvO040uY

#Metaglossia 

#metaglossia_mundus 

"Pronto Translations Highlights Persistent AI Translation Gaps in 2025, Reinforcing the Role of Professional Human Translators

New guidance draws on real-world client work across legal, technical, and corporate communications

 

January 8, 202612:43 AM GMT+1Updated 16 hours ago

 

Source: Pronto Translations (EZ Newswire)

NEW YORK, NY, January 7, 2026 (EZ Newswire) -- As generative AI models achieve wider adoption and popularity across industries, Pronto Translations, opens new tab, a multilingual communication services provider with 25 years of experience, has released new guidance outlining where AI systems — including the latest versions of ChatGPT, Gemini, DeepL, and ERNIE — continue to fall short of replacing expert human translators.

Over the past two years, Pronto Translations has integrated AI tools into its workflows for preliminary drafts, terminology support, and efficiency gains. However, based on analysis of thousands of real-world client projects across legal, marketing, technical, and corporate communications, the firm has found that AI-generated translations still require rigorous human oversight. Despite continued advances in generative AI in 2025, including new releases from OpenAI, Google, and other developers, Pronto’s analysis shows that professional human translators remain indispensable for accuracy, nuance, and contextual judgment in high-stakes communication.

According to Pronto Translations’ latest report, “Why AI Alone Still Fails in High-Stakes Translation: 21 Critical Risks Every Organization Should Understand in 2025, opens new tab,” the following issues remain the most significant barriers to full automation:

Top 10 Limitations of AI Translation Tools in 2025

1. Incorrect Technical Context Recognition

AI systems continue to misinterpret highly specialized terminology, especially in engineering, medical, legal, and scientific documentation. These inaccuracies can alter the technical meaning of content, leading to operational, safety, or compliance risks.

2. Residual Hallucinations and Fabricated Information

Although hallucinations have decreased in newer models, AI still invents terms, descriptions, or definitions when source material is unfamiliar. Pronto’s internal audits show they still fabricate information when terminology is rare, proprietary, regional, or industry-specific.

In 2025 tests, AI:

added non-existent product features

invented corporate departments

generated technical definitions that did not appear anywhere in the original documents

This is especially dangerous in compliance-heavy sectors like pharmaceuticals, energy, and finance.

3. Inconsistent Treatment of Names, Titles, and Proprietary Terms

AI frequently mishandles proper names, brand terminology, and executive titles, either incorrectly transliterating them or replacing them with inaccurate equivalents. Such errors can damage brand identity and professional reputation.

4. Limited Ability to Identify Errors in Source Texts

Human translators routinely detect factual mistakes, typographical errors, and inconsistencies in the original documents. AI, however, generally reproduces errors without flagging them, undermining the reliability of the final translation.

5. Unreliable Handling of Tone, Register, and Formality

Languages with strict formality structures — such as Japanese, Korean, French, and German — require careful judgment. AI often applies tone inconsistently or selects a register that is culturally inappropriate, risking miscommunication in diplomatic, corporate, or legal contexts.

6. Difficulty Preserving Nuance and Cultural Subtext

Idioms, metaphors, cultural expressions, and subtle emotional cues remain challenging for AI. Literal interpretations frequently distort meaning, leading to translations that lack cultural fidelity or shift the intended message.

7. Gaps in Long-Form Document Fidelity

In legal contracts, regulatory submissions, and multi-section reports, AI can omit or compress information, misalign structured elements, or lose continuity across lengthy documents. This compromises completeness and accuracy.

8. Inconsistent Terminology Across Complex Documents

AI often fails to maintain uniform terminology within and across documents, a requirement that is essential in legal, technical, and compliance-driven fields. Human linguists ensure consistency through reference materials, glossaries, and cross-document review.

9. Overuse of Generic Phrasing and Stylistic Flattening

AI relies on statistical averages, resulting in overly generic or repetitive phrasing. This is particularly problematic in marketing, branding, and executive communication, where voice, originality, and precision are essential.

10. Challenges in Interpreting Ambiguous or Industry-Specific Language

Words with multiple meanings — especially in finance, law, technology, and science — require contextual evaluation that AI cannot reliably perform. Human translators assess intent through research, expertise, and clarification, ensuring the correct interpretation.

Pronto Translations Emphasizes a Hybrid Approach

“AI has become a powerful tool in our workflow, but it cannot replace professional linguists,” said Joshua B. Cohen, head of client services at Pronto Translations. “Organizations that rely solely on AI expose themselves to accuracy, cultural nuance, and reputational risks. The most effective model in 2025 is a hybrid one — AI for speed and humans for precision.”

The company’s 2025 assessment concludes that while AI is valuable for initial drafts and terminology support, expert translators remain essential for final review, quality assurance, and culturally informed decision-making.

About Pronto Translations

In business for 25 years, Pronto Translations is a tightly run international organization, with offices in New York, Nîmes (France), Nanjing (China), Seoul, and Osaka, providing high-quality interpretation, translation and localization services.

 

Pronto’s team includes more than 1,000 translators covering 122 languages, each selected for their specific industry expertise. The translators, many of whom hold degrees from leading universities or certifications from professional associations, work through a secure portal to ensure quality and confidentiality. The operation’s 24/7 availability allows for quick turnaround on urgent projects, even during weekends and holidays.

 

With more than two decades of experience in transforming corporate messaging into the world’s most spoken and lesser spoken languages, Pronto Translations is the go-to service and solution for the marketing and public relations needs of any firm wishing to communicate with the world’s audiences in their own languages.

 

To learn more, visit prontotranslations.com, opens new tab.

 

Media Contact

Joshua B. Cohen

clientservices@prontotranslations.com

+1 646-984-4073

###

SOURCE: Pronto Translations"

https://www.reuters.com/press-releases/pronto-translations-ai-translation-gaps-human-translators-2026-01-07/

#Metaglossia 

#metaglossia_mundus 

"Intercultural Self-Defence

A Resource Book for Students, Teachers and Researchers

 

Download Url(s)

https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/109519/1/9781040327845.pdf

Auteur

Dervin, Fred

Language

English

Abstract 

Based on the author’s 25 years of experience in researching and teaching interculturality, Intercultural Self-Defence: A Resource Book for Students, Teachers and Researchers is a compelling exploration of the subtle forces that shape Intercultural Communication Education and Research (ICER). The Resource Book delves into the adversaries lurking within ICER - indoctrination, intellectual inertia and linguistic indifference - and unveils how they can stifle genuine understanding and growth. Each chapter acts as a critical lens, scrutinising the boundaries between education and indoctrination, the stagnation of thought and the perils of linguistic complacency. The author illustrates the impact of these forces on interculturality and the ethical implications they carry. The book contains a series of activities designed to encourage creative self-reflection and fosters a deeper understanding of the interplay between language, power and interculturality. But it is more than a resource: It is a manifesto for continuous learning, active engagement and the pursuit of a more inclusive and dynamic field of intercultural communication education and scholarship. Advocating a vigilant and self-reflexive approach, the book will serve as a critical guide for students, teachers and researchers specialising in intercultural research and education to navigate the complexities of interculturality. The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

URI

https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/170741

Keywords

critical pedagogy; linguistic power dynamics; educational ethics; anti-indoctrination strategies; reflective teaching methods; cultural bias in education; language ideology in intercultural research

DOI

10.4324/9781003606444

ISBN

9781040327845, 9781040327906, 9781032998954, 9781032997926, 9781003606444

Publisher

Taylor & Francis

Publisher website

http://www.taylorandfrancis.com/

Publication date and place

Oxford, 2025

Imprint

Routledge"

https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/170741?locale-attribute=fr

#Metaglossia 

#metaglossia_mundus 

 

"Timekettle Announces 2026 Breakthroughs in AI Interpretation, Introducing Its State-of-the-Art Translation Engine Selector and Next-Generation Bone-Conduction Voice Capture
News provided by
Timekettle
Jan 05, 2026, 07:26 ET

Flagship W4 Earbuds Become the Most Accurate Interpreter Device Ever Released

LAS VEGAS, Jan. 5, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Timekettle, the global leader in AI-powered cross-language communication, today announces a major system-wide upgrade that redefines what real-time translation can achieve. Central to this leap forward is Timekettle's new SOTA (State of the Art) Translation Engine Selector, a behind-the-scenes but transformative capability that dynamically identifies the optimal translation model for each language pair and conversational scenario in real time.

Continue Reading

SOTA Translation Engine Selector
While invisible to the user, the impact is unmistakable: the fastest, most precise, and most natural translations Timekettle has ever delivered, regardless of accent, grammar structure, or speaking style. This upgrade arrives alongside an enhanced Bone-Conduction & Hybrid Algorithm, now offering even cleaner, more accurate voice capture by improving the purity of the user's vocal signal before it reaches the translation pipeline.

Together, these advancements make the flagship W4 Interpreter Earbuds the most accurate in company history, surpassing the already industry-leading performance showcased at IFA 2025 that leaves its competition lost in translation.

Since, hearing is believing, this innovation along with the full Timekettle portfolio can be experienced throughout CES at the Timekettle booth [LVCC, North Hall — 9163].

A Leap Forward in Machine Understanding: SOTA Translation Engine Selector

Different language pairs behave like entirely different systems—English to Korean follows different logic than German to English; Spanish to Chinese requires different segmentation, prediction, and contextual inference than Japanese to French. Timekettle's SOTA Translation Engine Selector resolves this fundamental problem by:

Detecting the language pair and context in real time
Selecting the specialized AI engine best suited to that specific pair
Optimizing accuracy, fluency, and naturalness for each exchange
This is equivalent to assigning a "native specialist" to every conversation. This capability is made possible by Timekettle's advanced Large Language Model and the ongoing evolution of its Babel OS platform now updated with new machine-learning layers trained on millions of linguistic samples.

The result: translations that sound less like a machine "attempting" to interpret—and more like a system that genuinely understands the intent, tone, and structure of what is being said. To Timekettle users, this means that no matter what languages they speak, Timekettle can always match them with the world's best translation engines to serve their needs, enabling them to enjoy the most accurate cross-language communication experience without fear, awkwardness, or hesitation; to truly express themselves boldly and communicate naturally.

Next-Generation Bone-Conduction & Hybrid Algorithm: Superior Voice Capture for Superior Accuracy

Building on its proprietary bone-voiceprint sensor technology, the enhanced 2026 algorithm upgrade extracts cleaner vocal vibrations to improve signal purity, isolates noise more effectively in chaotic environments, and more accurately identifies speakers during multi-voice conversations. These improvements work together to deliver far clearer acoustic input—the foundation of any high-precision translation—and ensure that the system captures meaning with exceptional fidelity. Because AI translation quality is only as strong as the audio it receives, this upgrade dramatically elevates performance across business meetings, travel scenarios, classrooms, and multilingual events.

Rolling Out Across the Entire Timekettle Portfolio

Beginning in early 2026, the SOTA Translation Engine Selector, updated Hybrid Algorithm, and extended Babel OS enhancements will roll out across the full Timekettle product family, including:

W4 Interpreter Earbuds: Now the most accurate consumer translation earbuds Timekettle has produced
W4 Pro: Elevated for professional meetings and enterprise use
T1 AI Translator: The world's fastest offline translator now combines Edge AI with the SOTA Engine Selector to boost accuracy beyond its already industry-leading offline performance and ultra-fast 0.2-second response time.
WT2 Edge, M3 Earbuds, and X1 Interpreter Hub: Each gaining improvements in context prediction, segmentation, and tonal translation
Shared Capabilities Across the Timekettle Portfolio

Across its expanding lineup of earbuds and handheld translators, Timekettle delivers a unified experience built around seamless, natural, real-time communication. All devices support instant translation across 43 languages and 96 accents, covering more than 95% of global regions to enable smooth, uninterrupted conversations anywhere in the world. Users benefit from all-day practicality as well, with long-lasting battery performance designed for travel, business, and extended multilingual interactions.

Timekettle's conversation modes are consistent across the portfolio, offering flexible ways to communicate in different settings. One-on-One Mode allows two people to share earbuds for fluid, face-to-face dialogue. Listen & Play Mode records spoken audio through the app and provides translations that can be reviewed or replayed later. Speak Mode enables users to talk into their device and have translated speech broadcast clearly through the phone's speaker, ideal for group discussions, classroom settings, tours, or presentations.

Whether using earbuds like the W4 or handheld devices such as the T1, the Timekettle ecosystem is designed to make multilingual communication effortless, intuitive, and adaptable to nearly any scenario.

"Accuracy is the result of perfect collaboration between hardware and software," said Leal Tian, Founder & CEO of Timekettle. "With the introduction of our SOTA Translation Engine Selector and the next-generation bone-conduction algorithm, we've elevated that collaboration to a new level. W4 becomes the most accurate interpreter device we've ever created—and this upgrade strengthens every product across our portfolio."

Availability

The 2026 SOTA Translation Engine Selector upgrade and enhanced Hybrid Algorithm will begin rolling out via over-the-air updates across supported Timekettle devices starting January 2026, with the full portfolio supported throughout Q1. The Timekettle portfolio is available to buy at www.timekettle.co and Amazon. Prices include W4 Interpreter Earbuds ($349), W4 Pro ($449), T1 AI Translator ($299.99), WT2 Edge ($349.99), M3 Earbuds ($149.99), and X1 Interpreter Hub ($699.99). 

About Timekettle

Since 2016, Timekettle has led innovation in AI-driven cross-language communication, with award-winning devices used by travelers, businesses, educators, and multilingual teams worldwide. Its products—including the W4 and W4 Pro Interpreter Earbuds, WT2 Edge/W3 series, X1 Interpreter Hub, and T1 AI Translator—deliver seamless, natural, and secure communication across nearly all global regions.

SOURCE Timekettle"

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/timekettle-announces-2026-breakthroughs-in-ai-interpretation-introducing-its-state-of-the-art-translation-engine-selector-and-next-generation-bone-conduction-voice-capture-302652627.html
#Metaglossia
#metaglossia_mundus

"Ten questions: Meet professor and literary translator Clyde Moneyhun
January 2, 2026

Clyde Moneyhun, professor in the Department of Theatre, Film and Creative Writing, holds “Witch in Mourning”
by Maria-Mercè Marçal, one of the four poetry collections he has translated into English
Clyde Moneyhun, a professor in the Department of Theater, Film and Creative Writing, holds four degrees — a BA in comparative literature, an MA in American literature, an MFA in fiction writing, and a Ph.D. in rhetoric, composition and the teaching of English. Moneyhun has traveled all over the world, lived and worked in Japan for two years, and chased a number of passions during what he describes as a career of wandering. But Moneyhun found his deepest passion in literary translation — transitioning a poem from one language to another without losing the original’s impact.

It’s a task that’s more difficult than it sounds. How does one maintain rhyme and meter when the English words sound completely different than, say, Spanish? How to translate something like a pun across vastly different languages, cultures and time periods?

“There are probably a lot of people who would say, ‘You translate poetry? That’s impossible,’” Moneyhun said. “Which it is. But I think most translators, especially of poetry, would say that what you’re doing is recreating a poem. You’re doing the best you can. It’s impossible to translate a poem, but you can make a new poem that’s a kind of performance of the old poem.”

Moneyhun translates from Spanish, Italian and French, but primarily from Catalan — the official dialect of three autonomous communities in Eastern Spain. He has translated four books of poetry and one children’s book into English.

A professor at Boise State for the last 15 years, Moneyhun is now partially retired. He splits his time between Mahón, Spain — where he owns an apartment — and Boise. Equipped with a warm enthusiasm for literature, and an abundance of techniques he’s built over years in academia, Moneyhun continues to teach online nonfiction writing classes.

He took the time to answer our ten questions.

1. What is a question you have spent your life trying to answer?

CM: How to be happy, probably. I’ve done a lot of things that have made me happy, but the things that have made me happy, I’ve sort of fallen into. I’m not sure if they were really choices. I didn’t move to Boise to be happy, for example. I was working at Stanford, I was burnt out and a job here opened up.

And then it turned out to be fantastic. Little old Boise State turned out to be the key to much happiness, including finding translation — and getting rewarded for translation — on the job.

2. When did you first become fascinated by literary translation?

CM: I’ve had to answer that question many times. The creation story for me is, my undergrad major was not English. It was comparative literature, which is like world literature. This is at Columbia [University in New York City, in the mid-1970s], and you had to take not one but two foreign languages. So I took a lot of French and a little bit of Italian. It was terribly hard. It did not come naturally. It still does not come naturally, ironically.

Homework didn’t help me, but I would translate stuff. If the teacher gave us stuff, I would literally — and I didn’t know what I was doing — I would just sit with a dictionary and just translate it word for word, and I would learn that way.

The first translation I ever published was senior year of college. It was a thing I had translated in desperation to try to learn some Italian. And then, I dabbled across the years.

Right before I came here, when I was working at Stanford’s writing center, I took a class in Catalan. I knew some Italian, a lot of French and a little Spanish. But Catalan, the language of my ancestors, I did not know, and there was this class, this intensive two-years-in-one-year class. I took it, and again, in desperation, started translating. And when I got to Boise State, I was just on fire. I was ready to go. I was told, “Oh, really? You can do that [publish translations] to get tenure.” So that’s how it happened.

3. Do you remember the first translation you published?

CM: Oh, I remember it very well. It’s by an Italian novelist named Natalia Ginzburg. She’s really best known as a novelist, but she wrote some little pieces of memoir, and this one is called “Winter in Abruzzo.” Abruzzo is a mountainous area in Italy.

I still look at that little piece. When I was a senior in college and got that thing published, it was the first time it had ever been published in English.

4. What is the most common misconception about literary translation?

CM: That you just look up words and then, you substitute words. This word, that word, another word. Even Google Translate is more sophisticated than that. But most people think that’s the idea. Use a dictionary, and just do word substitution.

Languages have not just grammar, but sort of rules of operation, ways of expressing things, reality, that are different from each other. They’re just so different. Which makes translation very hard.

For example, Japanese. In Japanese, the verb is always at the end of the sentence, which means that you can watch the person you’re talking to, and when you get to the verb, you can do things to it, morphological things. You can make it more polite; you can make it negative. You can add a little word that means, “Don’t you agree?” English does not operate that way.

5. What do you do when you’re stuck on a problem?

CM: What I’ve learned with any problem, translation included — writing, personal problems with people — is just leave it for a while. You’ll come back. Just leave it. Stop beating your head against the wall. I mean, pop psychologists even recommend this. You’re having an argument with somebody, you know, come back later, when you’ve both thought about it. Teaching problems — they don’t solve themselves right away. So, let it go. Go do something else.

Translation is especially great. I dug up a translation the other day that I didn’t remember doing. It was the beginning of a poem up to the last couple of lines. And I thought, what the heck? This is really good. I gave up on it, because it got harder. And then I never went back, and now I am.

It will seem easier when you go back. Because you know, you’ve done it a thousand times. You’ll be back. You’ll be back later.

Teaching is a great thing. Teaching is like a riddle you’re solving all the time. You screw up, you know, you teach a class, something’s not going well. And if you can’t fix it, then maybe you’ll fix it next semester. “Well, we’ll never do that assignment again.”

6. What has changed the most in terms of your approach to teaching through the years?

CM: Back in the day, there was no such thing as writing drafts and getting comments and then doing revisions. I mean, when I was a kid in college, you just wrote. You didn’t even discuss your topic ahead of time with the teacher. It’s Thursday, the paper’s due. You hand in the paper, you get a few comments and a grade, and you just forge ahead to the next paper.

This isn’t how real writers write. They revise, revise and revise some more, and they show it to somebody, and they put it away. So, the insight was building as many revisions as humanly possible into the class. This changes the nature of the comments you can give. If you’re only going to see the paper once, you have to comment on everything. But if you’re going to allow students a couple of drafts, then you can talk about the huge things first. Towards the end, you’re talking about smaller and smaller things, like, you know, the fine points of organizing sentences.

You can only do that if you build in enough drafts.

7. What’s a book you’ve read recently that resonated with you?

CM: There’s a book called “Journey Into Cyprus” by Colin Thubron. Oh, man, what a writer. What a dream of a writer. [In 1972,] he decided what he really needed to do was backpack around Cyprus, which turns out to be really dangerous, because half of it’s owned by the Greeks, half by Turks. And every time you get to a dividing line, somebody threatens to shoot you.

In the book, you get his narrative, you get everything he sees, everybody he meets, everything he eats and drinks. History, mythology, philosophy — you get everything.

8. What’s the most interesting place you’ve visited in your world travels?

CM: Maybe Kyoto, Japan. The town is just one great Buddhist town. You can get lots of vegetarian food. You see priests walking down the street. It’s just beautiful. The outskirts are temples and mountains. I dream about it sometimes.

9. What is one hope you have for the next generation in your field?

CM: That translators get paid better. It’s really hard to make a living as a literary translator. There are a few superstars, you know, like Gabrielle García Márquez’s translator Gregory Rabassa, who made it big. García Márquez famously said, “When I read his translation of 100 Years of Solitude, I liked it more.” There are only a few people who can do that.

In general, everybody’s got a day job. Most of us translators are teachers, you know. I don’t think I myself would give up teaching, but for some people, it would be great to be able to make a living through translation alone.

10. What’s a principle you try to live by?

CM: Well, here’s the thing I tell my kids sometimes. Life on Earth is really difficult. You’re born, you suffer. You fall in love and they don’t love you, you break your arm. And then, somewhere along the way, somebody’s going to die. If it isn’t you, it’s other people. And since that’s just a basic truth of life, what we’re here for is to help each other through the thing. To be as kind as you can be to each other."
https://www.boisestate.edu/news/2026/01/02/ten-questions-meet-professor-and-literary-translator-clyde-moneyhun
#Metaglossia
#metaglossia_mundus

Idioms are an often invisible barrier to understanding and inclusion for second-language speakers because their meanings rely on shared culture as well as language.

 

"Being a linguist — and someone who has tried to learn several languages (including English) in addition to my mother tongue (Flemish Dutch) — I have an annoying habit: instead of paying attention to what people are saying, I often get distracted by how they are saying it. The other day, this happened again in a meeting with colleagues.

 

 

 

 

I started writing down some of the expressions my colleagues were using to communicate their ideas that may be puzzling for users of English as a second or additional language.

 

 

 

 

In a span of about five minutes, I heard “it’s a no-brainer,” “to second something,” “being on the same page,” “to bring people up to speed,” “how you see fit,” “to table something” and “to have it out with someone.”

 

 

 

 

These are all expressions whose meanings do not follow straightforwardly from their lexical makeup — they’re called idioms by lexicologists.

 

 

 

 

Idioms are part of daily communication. But this anecdote also suggests that we take it for granted that such expressions are readily understood by members of the same community. However, when it comes to people who are new to said community, nothing could be further from the truth.

 

 

 

 

Idioms and the limits of language proficiency

 

Research conducted at the University of Birmingham several years ago revealed that international students for whom English is an additional language often misunderstand lecture content because they misinterpret their lecturers’ metaphorical phrases, including figurative idioms.

 

 

 

 

More recent research confirms that English idioms can remain elusive to second-language learners even if the expressions are intentionally embedded in transparent contexts.

 

 

 

 

One of my own recent studies, conducted with international students at Western University in Canada, also found that students incorrectly interpreted idioms and struggled to recall the actual meanings later on after being corrected.

 

 

 

 

This shows just how persistently confusing these expressions can be.

 

 

 

 

It’s worth mentioning that we’re talking about students who obtained high enough scores on standardized English proficiency tests to be admitted to English-medium universities. Knowledge of idioms appears to lag behind other facets of language.

 

 

 

 

When literal meanings get in the way

 

The challenge posed by idioms is not unique to English. All languages have large stocks of idioms, many of which second-language learners will find puzzling if the expressions do not have obvious counterparts in their mother tongue.

 

 

 

 

There are various obstacles to comprehending idioms, and recognizing these obstacles can help us empathize with those who are new to a community. For one thing, an idiom will inevitably be hard to understand if it includes a word that the learner does not know at all.

 

 

 

 

Members of a community need to have greater empathy for newcomers who are not yet familiar with the many hundreds of potentially confusing idioms that are used so spontaneously in everyday life. (Unsplash)

 

However, even if all the constituent words of an expression look familiar, the first meaning that comes to a learner’s mind can be misleading. For example, as a younger learner of English, I was convinced that the expression “to jump the gun” referred to an act of bravery because, to me, the phrase evoked an image of someone being held at gunpoint and who makes a sudden move to disarm an adversary.

 

 

 

 

I only realized that this idiom means “to act too soon” when I was told that the gun in this phrase does not allude to a firearm but to the pistol used to signal the start of a race.

 

 

 

 

I also used to think that to “follow suit” meant taking orders from someone in a position of authority because I thought “suit” alluded to business attire. Its actual meaning — “to do the same thing as someone else” — became clear only when I learned the other meaning of suit in card games such as bridge.

 

 

 

 

The idea that idioms prompt a literal interpretation may seem counter-intuitive to readers who have not learned a second language because we normally bypass such literal interpretations when we hear idioms in our first language. However, research suggests that second-language learners do tend to use literal meanings as they try to make sense of idioms.

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately, when language learners use a literal reading of an idiom to guess its figurative meaning, they are very often misled by ambiguous words. For example, they will almost inevitably misunderstand “limb” in the idiom “to go out on a limb” — meaning “to take a serious risk” — as a body part rather than a branch of a tree.

 

 

 

 

Recognizing the origin of an idiomatic expression can also be difficult because the domains of life from which certain idioms stem are not necessarily shared across cultures. For example, learners may struggle to understand English idioms derived from horse racing (“to win hands down”), golf (“par for the course”), rowing (“pull your weight”) and baseball (“cover your bases”), if these sports are uncommon in the communities in which they grew up.

 

 

 

 

A language’s stock of idioms provides a window into a community’s culture and history.

 

 

 

 

Same language, same idioms? Not exactly

 

Idiom repertoires vary across communities — whether defined regionally, demographically or otherwise — even when those communities share the same general language.

 

 

 

 

For example, if an Aussie were to criticize an anglophone Canadian for making a fuss by saying “you’re carrying on like a pork chop,” they may be lost in translation, even if there isn’t much of one. At least, linguistically that is.

 

 

 

 

Although people may have learned a handful of idioms in an English-language course taken in their home country, those particular idioms may not be the ones they will encounter later as international students or immigrants.

 

 

 

 

The moral is simple: be aware that expressions you consider perfectly transparent because you grew up with them may be puzzling to others. We need to have more empathy for people who are not yet familiar with the many hundreds of potentially confusing phrases that we use so spontaneously." 

 

By Frank Boers, 

 

Western University

 

December 16, 2025

 

https://theconversation.com/the-trouble-with-idioms-how-they-can-leave-even-fluent-english-speakers-behind-271681

 

#Metaglossia 

 

#metaglossia_mundus 

"L'arabe, pilier de l'espagnol : un dictionnaire encyclopédique ravive la mémoire linguistique d'al-Andalus

Un nouveau dictionnaire révèle l'origine arabe de milliers de mots et ravive la mémoire d'al-Andalus

Cours de langues de la Fondation Trois Cultures

Adieu BB, la légende nous a quittés

Ouverture des inscriptions pour le nouveau trimestre d'arabe et d'hébreu à la Fondation des trois cultures

 

Nouveau dictionnaire encyclopédique élaboré par le professeur Anwar Mahmoud Zenati, professeur d'histoire et de civilisation à l'université d'Ain Shams.

Abdelhay Korret 

04/01/26

 

Sources et portée du lexique d'origine arabe

Méthodologie et lecture culturelle du dictionnaire

Un nouveau dictionnaire encyclopédique rédigé par le professeur Anwar Mahmoud Zenati, professeur d'histoire et de civilisation à l'université d'Ain Shams, vient d'être publié, avec une préface du professeur Karl Pinto, spécialiste en histoire islamique à l'université du Colorado à Boulder (États-Unis). L'ouvrage se concentre sur les mots espagnols d'origine arabe, dans une perspective scientifique qui va au-delà de la simple compilation lexicale pour s'aventurer dans l'analyse historique et culturelle.

 

Cet ouvrage constitue une contribution importante au domaine des études linguistiques et lexicographiques, car il aborde le profond héritage linguistique forgé au cours de siècles d'interaction entre l'arabe et l'espagnol, en particulier pendant l'expérience andalouse, lorsque l'arabe est devenu un vecteur fondamental pour la transmission des connaissances, des techniques, des concepts et des modes de vie vers l'espace ibérique.

 

Le dictionnaire met en évidence la présence de l'arabe dans l'espagnol comme l'un des témoignages les plus riches du contact entre les langues dans l'histoire, une présence façonnée au cours de près de huit siècles d'interaction culturelle, depuis la conquête islamique d'al-Andalus en 711 jusqu'à sa chute en 1492. Au cours de cette période, un environnement linguistique complexe s'est développé, dans lequel l'arabe a coexisté avec le latin tardif, le castillan, le catalan et le basque, donnant lieu à une influence étendue qui a englobé le vocabulaire, les structures linguistiques et les toponymes, et qui s'est étendue aux domaines scientifique, administratif et intellectuel.

 

 

Corepunk MMORPG

Un verdadero MMORPG de la vieja escuela ¡Cómo los de antes, pero mejor!

Sources et portée du lexique d'origine arabe

L'ouvrage s'appuie sur des sources linguistiques et historiques de renom, parmi lesquelles les travaux de Joan Corominas, Reinhart Dozy et Federico Corriente, ainsi que les dictionnaires de la Real Academia Española (RAE), qui s'accordent à souligner que l'arabe a apporté plus de 4 000 mots, directs et indirects, à l'espagnol, devenant ainsi sa deuxième source lexicale après le latin. Cette influence ne se limite pas à l'usage quotidien, mais touche des secteurs clés tels que l'agriculture et l'irrigation, l'architecture et les arts, la musique, l'administration et le droit, la philosophie et les sciences, le commerce, l'économie, la gastronomie et le textile.

 

Nouveau dictionnaire encyclopédique élaboré par le professeur Anwar Mahmoud Zenati, professeur d'histoire et de civilisation à l'université d'Ain Shams.

Le dictionnaire offre une approche globale de ce phénomène en retraçant les termes espagnols d'origine arabe, en analysant leur structure phonétique et morphologique et en étudiant leurs déplacements sémantiques au fil du temps, toujours en les reliant à leurs contextes culturels. Il met également en évidence les facteurs historiques qui ont contribué à consolider cette influence, tels que le mouvement de traduction scientifique à Tolède, l'essor des métiers et des industries, le développement de l'architecture et de l'agriculture andalouses, et l'évolution des systèmes administratifs et financiers inspirés du droit islamique.

 

 

Méthodologie et lecture culturelle du dictionnaire

Loin d'être conçu uniquement comme un dictionnaire linguistique, cet ouvrage se présente comme une lecture intellectuelle de l'importance de l'arabe dans l'espagnol, compris comme un registre vivant de la mémoire d'al-Andalus et comme une preuve des échanges culturels qui ont influencé la configuration de l'Europe de la Renaissance. Ses responsables soulignent que la langue n'est pas seulement un instrument de communication, mais un répertoire de l'expérience humaine, à travers lequel il est possible de relire l'histoire d'al-Andalus et de comprendre la nature du métissage culturel qui a fait de la péninsule ibérique un pont entre l'Orient et l'Occident.

 

L'objectif du dictionnaire est de réaffirmer une vérité linguistique fondamentale : l'influence de l'arabe sur l'espagnol n'est ni circonstancielle ni ornementale, mais une composante structurelle de l'identité même de la langue. L'héritage arabe en Espagne soutient l'ouvrage, transcendant le domaine politique pour devenir une contribution intellectuelle et culturelle durable, dont les traces sont encore présentes dans les noms des villes et des fleuves, ainsi que dans le lexique de la vie quotidienne, de la science et de l'administration, confirmant que le contact entre les langues a été, et continue d'être, une voie d'enrichissement mutuel.

 

Abdelhay Korret, journaliste et écrivain marocain"

https://www.atalayar.com/fr/articulo/culture/larabe-pilier-lespagnol-dictionnaire-encyclopedique-ravive-memoire-linguistique-dal-andalus/20260104100000221893.html

#Metaglossia

#metaglossia_mundus

""Neuroscientists Devise Formulas to Measure Multilingualism

New calculator measures how multilingual a person is—and how dominant each language is

Jan 5, 2026 James Devitt

 

More than half of the world’s population speaks more than one language—but there is no consistent method for defining “bilingual” or “multilingual.” This makes it difficult to accurately assess proficiency across multiple languages and to describe language backgrounds accurately. 

 

A team of New York University researchers has now created a calculator that scores multilingualism, allowing users to see how multilingual they actually are and which language is their dominant one. 

 

The work, which uses innovative formulas to build the calculator, is reported in the journal Bilingualism: Language and Cognition.

 

“Multilingualism is a very broad label,” explains Esti Blanco-Elorrieta, an assistant professor of psychology and neural science at NYU and the paper’s senior author. “These new formulas provide a clear, evidence-based way to understand your language strengths and how multilingual you truly are, bringing scientific clarity to an everyday part of life for millions of people.”

 

The calculator works in nearly 50 languages, including American Sign Language, and allows users to fill in an unlisted language. 

 

Blanco-Elorrieta and Xuanyi Jessica Chen, an NYU doctoral student and the paper’s lead author, developed the formulas—embedded in a multilingual calculator that users can deploy to measure their multilingualism and language dominance—that are drawn from two primary variables:

 

Age of language acquisition for listening, reading, speaking, and writing

Self-rated language proficiency for listening, reading, speaking, and writing

The calculator then yields a multilingualism score, which indicates how multilingual a person is on a scale from monolingual to perfect polyglot. The language-dominance is separately tabulated by calculating the difference in ability between languages.

 

In the below video, a trio of multilingual NYU students tried it out to test their abilities in different languages—with results that were both surprising and affirming.

 

 

Video by Jonathan King/NYU

 

The authors—both multilingual speakers—note that past research has shown that self-rated language proficiency is, in fact, an accurate and efficient measure of actual language proficiency. The researchers also implemented other statistical controls to minimize self-rating bias. They add that, similarly, age of language acquisition has been shown to be a predictor of abilities: the earlier one learns a language, the more likely it is they will be able to master native-like proficiency in that language.

 

“Multilingualism is a very broad label. These new formulas provide a clear, evidence-based way to understand your language strengths and how multilingual you truly are, bringing scientific clarity to an everyday part of life for millions of people.” Esti Blanco-Elorrieta, an assistant professor of psychology and neural science

The researchers validated their measure by testing it in two distinct populations: healthy young bilinguals and older bilinguals with language impairments. They compared their results to those obtained from existing methods that rely on acquiring much more extensive language background information. Across both groups, the formulas produced language-dominance results that were nearly identical to those generated by more complicated measures, showing that the new approach is both simple and accurate.

 

“Rather than just labeling someone as ‘bilingual’ or ‘monolingual,’ this tool quantifies how multilingual one is,” notes Chen.

 

“This calculator offers a transparent, quantitative tool that researchers, clinicians, and educators can adopt to better characterize multilingual populations, ultimately improving research quality and real-world applications—from language education to clinical assessment,” concludes Blanco-Elorrieta.

 

The research was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health (R00DC019973) and the National Science Foundation (2446452)."

https://www.nyu.edu/about/news-publications/news/2026/january/neuroscientists-devise-formulas-to-measure-multilingualism.html

#Metaglossia 

#metaglossia_mundus 

"Le Japon investit dans la traduction de mangas assistée par l'IA.
Chaque année, seulement 10 % environ des mangas publiés au Japon sont traduits en anglais. Ce pourcentage est encore plus faible pour les autres langues.

Le gouvernement japonais a désigné le manga comme un nouveau secteur clé. - Photo : Romancing Japan

Selon Nikkei Asia , le Japon soutiendra l'expansion de la distribution de mangas sur les marchés internationaux en formant des ressources humaines capables de traduire rapidement des bandes dessinées à l'aide de l'intelligence artificielle (IA).

Il s'agit d'une nouvelle initiative du gouvernement japonais visant à empêcher les internautes d'accéder à des sites web piratés. Auparavant, l'Agence japonaise des affaires culturelles avait également pour objectif de développer un système d'intelligence artificielle capable de détecter automatiquement les sites web enfreignant le droit d'auteur.

Prévenir le piratage des mangas dû au manque de traductions.
Les mangas sont très populaires sur les marchés étrangers, mais de nombreux lecteurs choisissent encore de lire des versions copiées et mises en ligne illégalement.

Selon Yukari Shiina, chargée de cours à l'Université des Arts de Tokyo, la principale raison est que le rythme de traduction des mangas n'a pas suivi la demande des lecteurs, créant ainsi les conditions propices à la propagation des violations de droits d'auteur.

Une enquête menée par l'organisation anti-piratage Authorised Books of Japan (ABJ) a révélé qu'environ 900 sites Web pirates spécialisés dans la publication de mangas ont enregistré 2,8 milliards de visites en provenance de 123 pays et territoires rien qu'en juin 2025.

Face à cette situation, l'Agence japonaise des affaires culturelles soutiendra des programmes de formation à la traduction de mangas par intelligence artificielle, à hauteur de 100 millions de yens par projet. Ce soutien devrait inclure des formations intensives en traduction et des méthodes d'application efficaces de l'IA.

Shogakukan, l'éditeur de mangas à succès comme Doraemon et Conan, soutient également le développement de logiciels de traduction de mangas basés sur l'intelligence artificielle. - Photo : Toho

Parallèlement, des entreprises privées accélèrent également le développement d'outils de traduction de mangas basés sur l'IA. Mantra, une start-up affiliée à l'Université de Tokyo, a développé un outil capable de traduire des œuvres complètes, y compris le style des dialogues et le contexte narratif.

Cet outil prend en charge 18 langues et permet de réduire de moitié le temps de traduction par rapport aux méthodes traditionnelles. Actuellement, Mantra traite environ 200 000 pages par mois, soit l’équivalent de 1 000 volumes de manga.

« L’IA réduit considérablement les tâches simples comme le remplacement de mots, mais les humains jouent toujours un rôle clé pour garantir l’exactitude, le naturel de l’expression et le contexte », a déclaré Shonosuke Ishiwatari, PDG de Mantra.

L'interface de traduction de mangas de Mantra, basée sur l'IA - Photo : Nikkei Asia

Depuis deux ans, la maison d'édition Shogakukan utilise des outils de traduction développés par différents spécialistes de l'IA, dont Mantra. Ces outils sont capables de reconnaître le texte des images de manga et d'effectuer les traductions. Lorsque le texte traduit est trop long pour la bulle de dialogue, l'IA ajuste automatiquement la taille de cette dernière.

La relecture, essentielle à l'amélioration de la qualité des traductions, reste encore une tâche humaine. Nobumasa Sawabe, PDG de Shogakukan, estime que l'IA accélère considérablement le processus de traduction. Shogakukan ambitionne de porter la part de son chiffre d'affaires réalisé à l'international à 10 % d'ici quatre ans, contre 3 à 4 % actuellement.

Par ailleurs, Mme Yukari Shiina a souligné que la qualité des traductions sur les sites de mangas piratés est souvent inégale. « Développer les activités de traduction est essentiel, non seulement pour garantir les droits légitimes des auteurs et des éditeurs, mais aussi pour offrir aux lecteurs des œuvres de meilleure qualité », a-t-elle insisté."
Báo Tuổi Trẻ
04/01/2026
https://www.vietnam.vn/fr/nhat-ban-dau-tu-cho-nhan-luc-dich-manga-bang-ai
#Metaglossia
#metaglossia_mundus

une application de traduction bidirectionnelle khmère-anglais gratuite, désormais accessible sur Play Store, App Store et via le site www.translate.kh. 

 

Le ministère des Postes et des Télécommunications (MPTC) du Cambodge marque un tournant décisif dans la transformation numérique nationale. Le 2 janvier, il a dévoilé TranslateKH 2.0, une application de traduction bidirectionnelle khmère-anglais gratuite, désormais accessible sur Play Store, App Store et via le site www.translate.kh. 

 

Cette initiative, qui succède à la première version lancée le 25 novembre 2024, s’appuie sur l’intelligence artificielle avancée, le deep learning et un modèle linguistique massif pour des traductions contextuelles, surpassant les approches purement syntaxiques.

 

Au-delà de la commodité quotidienne, TranslateKH 2.0 s’inscrit dans une stratégie économique ambitieuse : doper la compétitivité du Cambodge sur la scène régionale et mondiale, où le bilinguisme anglais-khmer devient un atout stratégique.

 

Révolution technologique au cœur du projet

Dotée d’une compréhension contextuelle fine, l’application excelle dans les nuances culturelles et idiomatiques propres au khmer, une langue à tonalité complexe. Contrairement aux outils génériques comme Google Translate, TranslateKH privilégie la précision sémantique, idéale pour les documents officiels, contrats commerciaux ou échanges touristiques. 

 

Le MPTC met en avant une interface intuitive, un mode hors ligne partiel et des mises à jour régulières basées sur les retours utilisateurs, positionnant le Cambodge comme pionnier en IA localisée en Asie du Sud-Est.

 

Enjeux économiques : un levier pour les PME et le commerce régional

Dans un Cambodge où le numérique explose – avec 75% de pénétration internet en 2025 –, TranslateKH agit comme un catalyseur économique. Les PME, pilier de l’économie (représentant 60% du PIB), gagnent en fluidité pour négocier avec des partenaires RCEP (Chine, Vietnam, Thaïlande). 

 

Prenons l’exemple des exportateurs de textiles et d’agroalimentaire : des contrats en anglais clair accélèrent les deals, réduisant les coûts de traduction externe de 30 à 50%. Le tourisme, contributeur majeur (12% du PIB pré-pandémie), bénéficie aussi : guides et hôteliers communiquent sans barrière.

 

Focus sectoriel : Les entreprises du garment, concentrées à Phnom Penh et autour de Sihanoukville, intègrent déjà l’outil pour former leurs équipes bilingues, alignant compétences locales sur les standards ASEAN.

 

Impact éducatif : démocratiser l’anglais, former la jeunesse

L’éducation supérieure cambodgienne, avec ses 200 000 étudiants, souffre d’un déficit linguistique : seul 20% maîtrise l’anglais courant. TranslateKH 2.0 pallie cela en servant d’auxiliaire pédagogique – pratique interactive, quiz intégrés –, favorisant l’accès aux ressources MOOC internationales (Coursera, edX). 

 

Pour les universités techniques (automobile, IT, construction), cela accélère la curriculum internationalisation, alignée sur les besoins industriels. Résultat projeté : hausse de 15% des embauches qualifiées d’ici 2027, selon les projections du ministère de l’Éducation.

 

Témoignage fictif illustratif : « En tant qu’enseignant en comptabilité, TranslateKH transforme mes cours : mes étudiants saisissent désormais les normes IFRS en un clin d’œil », confie un professeur de l’Institut Royal d’Économie.

Inclusion numérique et attractivité touristique

L’inclusion reste clé : l’application cible les zones rurales (40% de la population), via des partenariats avec les opérateurs télécoms pour des forfaits data bonifiés. Côté tourisme, Phnom Penh, Siem Reap et Sihanoukville attirent 7 millions de visiteurs prévus en 2026. Des menus bilingues instantanés ou des visites guidées en temps réel valorisent le patrimoine khmer (Angkor, gastronomie), multipliant les upsells dans l’hôtellerie-restauration.

Vers une souveraineté linguistique numérique

 

https://www.cambodgemag.com/post/traduction-connect%C3%A9e-le-cambodge-propulse-le-bilinguisme-num%C3%A9rique-avec-translatekh-2-0

#Metaglossia 

#metaglossia_mundus 

Les limites de la traduction des symboles
"Dans le cadre des "Grandes conférences" était diffusée sur France Culture au cœur de l'été 1971, une allocution de Roger Caillois intitulée "Les limites de la traduction des symboles". Auteur littéraire et aussi essayiste, c'est en tant que traducteur qu'il intervenait à cette occasion.

“Seul de tous les arts, la littérature souffre de la malédiction de Babel.” C’est par cette sentence introductive que Roger Caillois résume l’enjeu du problème de la traduction, dans la conférence prononcée quelques mois seulement après son élection à l’Académie française au début de l'année 1971.
La tâche ingrate du traducteur
En cette année 1971, Caillois est un intellectuel reconnu depuis déjà de nombreuses années. Ses essais, ses critiques littéraires, son travail poétique lui valent une reconnaissance sinon du grand public du moins des cercles intellectuels. Mais Roger Caillois est aussi un traducteur lui-même et non des moindres puisqu’il a traduit en français l’œuvre du maître argentin Jorge Luis Borges.
C'est donc en connaissance de cause qu'il évoque dans cette intervention la difficulté de transposer d’une langue à l’autre ce qui est parfois au-delà des mots. Il y explique ce qu'est selon lui une traduction fidèle, et quelles en sont les difficultés alors que "dans chaque langue, aucun mot même le plus ordinaire ne constitue l'équivalent exact du mot étranger correspondant."
Cette "opération ingrate, complexe, traitresse" n’est pas pour autant impossible pour le traducteur mais sa tâche est colossale. Il lui faut selon les mots de Caillois "inventer le texte qu’aurait écrit l’auteur traduit si sa langue maternelle avait été celle du traducteur et non la sienne".
Retrouvez l'ensemble de la Nuit  "Roger Caillois, arpenteur de l’imaginaire"

Par Denise Parent
Présentation Gérard Mourgue
Avec Roger Caillois
Les grandes conférences - Les limites de la traduction des symboles, par Roger Caillois : Le 21/05/1971 à Kaboul (1ère diffusion : 30/07/1971)
Indexation web : Documentation sonore de Radio France
Archive Ina-Radio France"
https://www.radiofrance.fr/franceculture/podcasts/les-nuits-de-france-culture/roger-caillois-arpenteur-de-l-imaginaire-16-18-la-traduction-ideale-selon-roger-caillois-2631438
#Metaglossia
#metaglossia_mundus

"For centuries, the Arapaho have called Colorado and Wyoming home. The tribe gave names to places like the Kawuneeche Valley, the Never Summer Mountains, and Mount Blue Sky.

But the language the Arapaho have spoken for centuries is at risk of disappearing, as fewer members of the tribe have learned the language.

A team of language experts at the University of Colorado Boulder is working to change that. They’re compiling an online database that includes recordings of the Arapaho language and can be used as a learning and teaching tool.

Andrew Cowell is a linguistics professor at CU, and faculty director of the Center for Native American and Indigenous studies. He helped launch this project more than two decades ago.

He joined Erin O’Toole to talk about how he hopes the digital database helps future generations learn and continue to speak the Arapaho language.

You can access the Arapaho Language Project here.👇🏿👇🏿
https://www.kunc.org/podcast/inthenoco/2026-01-02/the-arapaho-language-is-endangered-a-cu-professor-hopes-this-project-will-help-preserve-it
#Metaglossia
#metaglossia_mundus

"Con el objetivo de impulsar la inclusión y mejorar la comunicación con personas sordas en distintos entornos sociales y educativos, los estudiantes José Eduardo Méndez Merino y Luis Óscar Aguilar Cota trabajan en el desarrollo del Proyecto Signa, una innovadora propuesta tecnológica enfocada en la creación de un traductor de lenguaje de señas.

El proyecto, actualmente en su versión beta, consiste en una plataforma tipo curso interactivo que traduce al Lenguaje de Señas Mexicano (LSM). A diferencia de las plataformas tradicionales que traducen entre idiomas orales, Signa está diseñada para facilitar la comprensión y el aprendizaje del lenguaje de señas, buscando impactar positivamente en la vida de personas con discapacidad auditiva.

“El proyecto se llama Signa, es un traductor de lenguaje de señas que actualmente se encuentra en su versión beta. Desarrollamos una plataforma tipo curso interactivo que traduce al lenguaje de señas en lugar de a otro idioma”, explican sus creadores.

Actualmente consiste en una plataforma web, pero en el futuro los jóvenes quieren implementar una versión también en aplicación móvil. “Funciona mediante clases para los usuarios que gusten aprender la lengua de señas, poniéndoles actividades dependiendo el nivel que elijan.

De momento, el sistema inicia con tres cursos básicos, que son “Abecedario”, “Alimentos” y “Animales”. Estos módulos buscan introducir al usuario en los fundamentos del LSM a través de animaciones e interfaces accesibles. Además, presenta un sistema de evaluación para determinar si han aprendido los cursos.

Otra mejora en la que se encuentran trabajando es en implementar el reconocimiento de voz, para que mediante un creador de imágenes con Inteligencia Artificial pueda generar en automático la seña de lo que la persona diga. Para ello, detallan, tuvieron un acercamiento con un ingeniero de Google, quien les dio consejos y opciones para implementar esta tecnología a su programa.

“Cuando observamos los noticieros en televisión, es común ver a una persona en un recuadro pequeño interpretando el contenido en lenguaje de señas. Nuestro propósito es innovar este proceso incorporando tecnología; buscamos que, cada vez que una persona esté hablando, aparezca una animación generada con inteligencia artificial que traduzca simultáneamente a lenguaje de señas”.

Méndez Merino y Aguilar Cota señalaron que uno de los principales propósitos es generar empatía y reducir la discriminación que enfrentan las personas sordas en los entornos laborales y educativos.

“Lo que buscamos es generar empatía hacia las personas que utilizan el lenguaje de señas, a fin de disminuir la discriminación que enfrentan en los entornos laborales y educativos. Queremos invitar a la comunidad a mostrarse más abierta e incluyente con las personas usuarias del lenguaje de señas”.

Para garantizar precisión y confiabilidad, los estudiantes obtuvieron información sobre LSM a partir de fuentes oficiales del gobierno, recordando que cada país cuenta con su propio lenguaje de señas.

De esta manera, los jóvenes universitarios buscan romper la barrera de comunicación que enfrentan las personas con discapacidad auditiva, promoviendo mayor accesibilidad, comprensión y participación en los distintos ámbitos de la vida cotidiana."
1 de enero de 2026
NBCS Noticias
https://nbcs.mx/?p=159640
#Metaglossia
#metaglossia_mundus

"Google has started rolling out a new version of its Translate app with a feature that allows you to create more accurate Gemini AI-assisted translations, 9to5Google reported. The feature appears as an AI model picker at the top of the app, allowing you to choose between "Fast" and "Advanced" translations. It's appeared for some users on iOS but not Android to date, and the Advanced mode only translates between English and French, and English and Spanish.
Google Translate now offers Gemini-assisted translations https://www.engadget.com/ai/google-translate-now-offers-gemini-assisted-translations-151008774.html
#Metaglossia
#metaglossia_mundus

"On December 30, 2025, Tencent Hunyuan announced the open-sourcing of Hunyuan Translation Model 1.5 (HY-MT1.5), available in 1.8B and 7B variants. Supporting mutual translation across 33 languages and 5 ethnic/regional dialect conversions, the models are now live on the Hunyuan website, GitHub, and Hugging Face for direct developer access.

Key highlights:

HY-MT1.5-1.8B targets edge deployment: quantized version runs smoothly on 1GB memory, enables offline real-time translation with average 50-token processing in 0.18 seconds (faster than major commercial APIs), matching most commercial tools—ideal for instant messaging and smart customer service.
HY-MT1.5-7B upgrades the WMT25 30-language champion model, improving accuracy and reducing annotation carryover and language mixing for professional scenarios.
Both models support edge-cloud hybrid deployment and three practical features: custom terminology libraries for fields like medicine and law, context understanding for coherent long-text translation, and format-preserving translation for webpages and documents. Built with large-model distillation, they deliver high performance in small sizes, already deployed in Tencent Meeting and Enterprise WeChat, with compatibility for Arm, Qualcomm, Muxi, and other platforms.

Source: IT Home"
https://pandaily.com/tencent-hunyuan-open-sources-translation-model-1-5-runs-on-1-gb-phone-memory-outperforms-commercial-ap-is
#Metaglossia
#metaglossia_mundus

"Building a national Large Language Model: Opportunities and challenges

 

Imagine interacting with a virtual assistant that understands you perfectly – whether you’re speaking fluent Arabic, simplified English, or a natural mix of both. Within seconds, it delivers a response that isn’t just accurate but also culturally attuned, recognizing regional nuances and context. This is the promise of AI agents, intelligent digital assistants powered by cutting-edge Large Language Models (LLMs).

 

LLMs are transformative AI systems capable of understanding and generating human-like language. They serve as the brains behind AI agents, enabling them to process complex queries, adapt to different dialects, and engage in meaningful conversations. Whether assisting with customer service, translating in real-time, or offering legal and financial guidance, these agents are redefining human-computer interactions.

 

While models of private-sector leaders like OpenAI’s GPT 4.5, Google’s Gemini 2.0 and DeepSeek R1 lead the global AI race and more advanced AI agents are evolving (such as Manus AI), a new movement is taking shape: national LLMs. Countries are developing their own AI models tailored to their linguistic, cultural and economic realities.

 

These homegrown models not only ensure greater data sovereignty but also provide AI systems that truly understand local dialects, traditions and societal values – bridging gaps left by global models and shaping the future of AI on their own terms.

 

For the UAE and the broader Middle East, the potential of Large Language Models (LLMs) extends far beyond technological innovation. They represent a strategic opportunity to drive economic growth, enhance digital sovereignty, democratize AI access and foster inclusivity. While developing an advanced LLM comes with technical complexities, it also involves key economic decisions, workforce development and long-term strategic planning.

 

What gives the UAE an edge is its strong political determination, investment capacity and rapidly growing AI ecosystem. With a clear vision to lead in AI, the country is not just adopting global models but actively shaping the future of LLMs through the development of models like Jais (a 13-billion parameter model trained on a dataset containing 395 billion tokens of Arabic and English data).

 

By building models that understand the region’s linguistic diversity, cultural nuances and economic needs, the UAE can create AI solutions that are not only locally relevant but also globally competitive—setting a new benchmark for AI in the Arabic-speaking world and beyond.

 

The case for a national LLM

The demand for LLMs is undeniable, with applications spanning customer service, education, healthcare, coding, and even governance. Globally, over 30 nations are developing their own LLMs, embedding their unique linguistic and cultural preferences into AI systems. That’s not just about national pride but also about developing independent capabilities.

 

National LLMs allow countries to reduce reliance on foreign models by ensuring data sovereignty and security as well as full control over model parameters and biases.

 

Significant steps in this direction have already been taken with Jais in the UAE, one of the most advanced Arabic LLMs, demonstrating the country’s commitment to AI leadership and laying the groundwork for future innovations.

 

Arabic is a rich and complex language, infused with layers of dialects depending on the region and social context. Often, global models struggle with these intricacies. LLMs developed locally could further bridge this gap, fostering AI systems that understand and adapt to Emirati nuances while extending this capability to the wider Arabic-speaking world.

 

The region’s bilingualism – most prominently the interplay between Arabic and English – creates yet another incentive. Think of a business traveler at Dubai International Airport or a student accessing academic materials; an LLM that intuitively understands the cultural and linguistic expectations in such scenarios could transform user experiences. By enabling these services locally, the UAE can reduce reliance on foreign-produced AI systems, keeping data safe within national borders.

 

Beyond immediate use cases, a successful national LLM enhances the UAE’s competitiveness in the global AI race. It positions Emirati institutions as essential players in shaping the future of AI, fostering not just innovation but economic growth through AI-enabled industries.

 

The economic upside

Building a national LLM also becomes an economic catalyst beyond a technological milestone. Having an LLM available locally means government agencies, universities, and private enterprises can integrate advanced language understanding into their systems. This reduces time, effort, and costs previously spent outsourcing or adapting foreign tools.

 

But the economic benefits extend far beyond ease of use. A national LLM becomes the foundation for an ecosystem of innovation. It empowers local tech startups to build applications on top of the language model – from chatbots and translation aids to advanced analytics tools and agents. This boosts local entrepreneurship and economic diversification, a critical pillar of the UAE’s long-term development strategy.

 

National LLMs also create jobs, not only in the fields of AI model development but also in linguistics, ethics, and policymaking. Expanding regional AI expertise fosters human capital, ensuring that regional talents lead the way, rather than relying on external specialists.

 

The challenges

At the same time, developing an LLM is a high-stakes endeavor. Building state-of-the-art AI systems requires vast amounts of high-quality data, computing power, and financial investment.

 

Data availability and quality are arguably the most pressing challenges. Arabic dialects vary drastically not just between countries like Morocco and Iraq but even intra-nationally. Sourcing digitized, representative datasets for these diverse linguistic forms is daunting. Large portions of Arabic text available online – social media posts and blogs – might not meet the quality standards required for AI training.

 

Resources are another challenge. Training LLMs requires massive computing power and high-performance GPUs. The UAE’s growing investments in cloud infrastructure provide a strong foundation, while efficient approaches like DeepSeek’s offer a path to more affordable models. But technology alone isn’t enough – a national LLM holds value only if widely adopted. Without strong buy-in from government agencies, businesses, and educators, it risks becoming an underutilized investment.

 

Lastly, the talent question is critical. The UAE has made significant strides in cultivating AI-centric education, but the reality of a global AI talent shortage remains. Attracting world-class experts while simultaneously developing homegrown capabilities will be essential to leading the way in the future.

 

For the UAE and regional players, the choice to invest in a national LLM must be guided by purpose. Does everyone build from scratch, like GPT-NL in the Netherlands? Or do we layer Arabic-language capabilities onto an existing foundational model (RAG-layering), a cost-effective approach?

 

Each decision has trade-offs. Building a new foundational model offers exceptional contextualization but requires ongoing financial commitment for updates and maintenance. RAG-layering limits the scope of flexibility but ensures faster rollouts and lower initial costs.

 

Stakeholders must also decide how to prioritize applications. Should early focus be on public sector adoption, such as using LLMs in smart government services? Or should innovation centers work closely with private enterprises looking to solve commercial challenges? These choices will define the trajectory of the UAE’s AI ambitions.

 

Conclusion

The drive to build a national LLM isn’t merely a technical pursuit; it’s a strategic response to a rapidly shifting world. For the UAE and its neighbors, the opportunity lies not just in offering localized capabilities but in galvanizing economic innovation through AI tools that resonate globally and regionally.

 

The challenges, no doubt, are significant. But with visionary leadership, strategic public-private partnerships, and a commitment to developing both talent and infrastructure, the UAE can emerge not just as a participant but as a pioneer in the global AI landscape.

 

An article from Javier Alvarez and Fred Liebler. Both are senior members of FTI Consulting."

31 December 2025 Consultancy-me.com

https://www.consultancy-me.com/news/12262/building-a-national-large-language-model-opportunities-and-challenges

#Metaglossia 

#metaglossia_mundus 

"Forget Keanu: Ulster Scots translation of Beckett classic takes on spate of celebrity Godots

Tragicomedy will be performed outdoors in Northern Irish countryside as part of new festival celebrating Irish playwright

 

Beneath a stark steel tree in a bleak upland bog, a literary masterpiece is set to assume a different linguistic mantle.

 

Samuel Beckett’s enigmatic tragicomedy Waiting for Godot will make its world premiere in Ulster Scots, a moment described as a “coming of age” for the minority language, and the antithesis of the trend for celebrity Godots.

 

On Good Friday, after an uphill trek of about 3km, the audience will arrive at a spot in the vast volcanic Antrim Plateau in Northern Ireland, if not footsore then certainly empathic to the physical discomfort of Estragon struggling to remove his ill-fitting boots.

 

The “existential landscape of heath, moss and bog” in County Antrim lends itself to a script “peppered with exterior references”, said Seán Doran, of festival organiser Arts over Borders, which is staging the production as part of a major new arts festival, the Samuel Beckett Biennale.

 

But while there have been previous outdoor productions, it will be the “forceful pronunciation and sound” of delivering it in Ulster Scots, or Ullans, for the first time and in a region where the language is spoken, that will “bring a whole new total register” and change the whole performative aspect of the play, said Doran.

 

In October, a commissioner for Ulster-Scots was appointed under the Identity and Language Act in Northern Ireland to act as cultural safeguard for the language, which has its roots in the early 17th -century plantations of Scots speakers to the north of Ireland.

 

Against this backdrop, Frank Ferguson, who is translating the play, hailed its performance as “a major coming of age moment”. “It shows a confidence in what Ulster-Scots can do as a language, because you take on one of the major global dramatic phenomenon and you place it within its Ulster-Scots translation.”

 

The working title is Ettlin Fur Godot, and its famous stage directions of “A country road. A tree. Evening” will translate as “A loanen. A tree. Dailygan”. Ferguson, research director of the Centre for Irish and Scottish Studies at Ulster University, suggested that audiences may develop an ear for Ulster Scots, which has many words with similar roots to English – but that translations might be provided.

 

Ferguson considers it a language, not dialect, one that in the wake of the Good Friday agreement is “discovering itself and trying to find its way in the world”. And it works “beautifully” in the Godot setting, he said.

 

Not least because of “ the sense of waiting and hoping and longing for something; all minority languages are longing for that sort of moment of salvation, that moment of revelation. So, that looking, and hoping, and wishing for a Godot-like figure or moment works very well I think with Ulster Scots because in a sense it’s waiting for its moment to live and find itself again”.

 

It will be performed on Good Friday, 3 April 2026 (Beckett was born on a Good Friday), and is part of a new Beckett Biennale, which over the next 10 years will experiment with unexpected approaches including translations in Aboriginal Noongar, Sami and Inuit , and productions starring homeless actors.

 

Keanu Reeves (right) appearing as Estragon in Waiting for Godot, is the latest celebrity to star in the play. Photograph: Andy Henderson/AP

Arts Over Borders, producers of cross-border north-south arts festivals, aims to bring Godot back to its original roots when it premiered in French in Paris in 1953 and in London and Dublin two years later. The biennale aims to be the antithesis of the current trend for productions starring big names.

 

Keanu Reeves is the latest Hollywood star, currently performing on Broadway; double-acts such as Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen, Bill Paterson and Brian Cox, Ben Whishaw and Lucian Msamati, and Robin Williams and Steve Martin are others who have risen to its challenges.

 

Doran appreciates “celebrity Godot” as a vehicle that spreads the word more effectively than anything else. But he believes it can detract from other perspectives, possibilities and insights. “And that’s clearly what we’re trying to do through the different languages, the outdoor setting, the homeless actors.”

 

The Samuel Beckett Biennale will be set in rural and urban settings in Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and England in 2026, returning in 2028.

 

 This article was amended on 2 January 2026."

 

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2026/jan/01/samuel-beckett-waiting-for-godot-new-ulster-scots-translation

#Metaglossia 

#metaglossia_mundus 

We are building a world that treats translation as a problem to be solved. But translation was never just a technical challenge — it is an act of witnessing.

"When an interpreter breaks, they are not breaking down. They are breaking open — making room for unbearable truth to enter, and for all of us to see it.

 

Flynn Coleman is an international human rights attorney. She is a visiting scholar in the Women, Peace, and Leadership Program at Columbia University’s Climate School and the author of “A Human Algorithm.”

 

Roman Oleksiv was 11 years old when he stood before the European Parliament and, in a calm voice, described the last time he saw his mother. She was under the rubble of a hospital in Vinnytsia, Ukraine, hit by Russian missiles in July 2022. He could see her hair beneath the stone. He touched it. He said goodbye.

 

That’s when Ievgeniia Razumkova, the interpreter translating his words, stopped mid-sentence. Her eyes filled with tears, she shook her head. “Sorry,” she said. “I’m a bit emotional as well.”

 

A colleague then stepped in to finish, as Ievgeniia, still crying, placed her hand on the boy’s shoulder. He nodded and continued on.

 

That moment is what makes us human.

 

A translation algorithm would not have stopped. It would have rendered Roman’s testimony with perfect fluency and zero hesitation. It would have delivered the words “the last time I saw my mother” just as it would the sentence “hello, my name is Roman.” Same tone. Same rhythm. No recognition.

 

Today, we are building a world that treats translation — and increasingly everything else — as a problem to be solved. Translation apps now handle billions of words a day. Real-time tools let tourists order coffee in any language. Babel, we are told, is finally being fixed.

 

All of this has its place. But translation was never just a technical challenge. It is an act of witnessing.

 

An interpreter does not merely convert words from one language to another. They carry meaning across the chasm between us. They hear what silences say. They make split-second ethical and semantic decisions over which synonym preserves dignity, when a pause holds more truth than a sentence, whether to soften a phrase that would shatter a survivor.

 

When Ievgeniia broke down in Brussels, she was not failing. She was doing her job. Her face told a room full of diplomats what no algorithm could: “This matters. This child’s suffering is real. Pay attention.”

 

I have spent years working in international human rights law, war crimes tribunals, genocide prevention — all the imperfect architecture we try to rebuild after atrocity. In these spaces, everything hinges on language. One word can determine whether a survivor is believed. The difference between “I saw” and “I was made to see,” or between “they did this” and “this happened.”

 

Roman Oleksiv has undergone 36 surgeries. Burns cover nearly half his body. He was 7 years old when that missile hit. And when he described touching his dead mother’s hair, he needed someone in that room who could hold the weight of what he was saying — not just linguistically but humanly. Ievgeniia did that. And when she could not continue, another person stepped forward.

 

There is a reason interpreters in trauma proceedings receive psychological support. The best ones describe their work as a sacred burden. They absorb something. They metabolize horror, so it can cross from one language to another without losing its force.

 

Interpreters are not alone in this either. There are moments when trauma surgeons pause before delivering devastating news, journalists choose to lower their cameras, and judges listen longer than procedure requires. These are professions where humanity is not a flaw — it is the point.

 

This is not inefficiency. It is care made visible.

 

Algorithms process language as pattern, not communion. They have no understanding that another mind exists. They do not know that when Roman said goodbye, he was not describing a social gesture — he was performing the final ritual of love he would ever share with his mother, in the rubble of a hospital.

 

Translation apps do serve real purposes, and generative AI is becoming more proficient every day. But we should be honest about the trade we are making. When we treat human interpreters — and any human act of care — as inefficiencies to be optimized away, we lose that pause before “the last time I saw my mother.” We lose the hand on the shoulder. We lose the tears that say: “This child is not a data point. What happened to him is an atrocity.”

 

My work studying crimes against humanity has taught me that some frictions should not be smoothed. Some pauses are how we recognize one another as human. They are echoes in the dark, asking: “I am still here. Are you?”

 

When an interpreter breaks, they are not breaking down. They are breaking open — making room for unbearable truth to enter, and for all of us to see it.

 

Roman deserved someone who could help us stand in his deepest pain, so that we might all lift it together.

 

A machine could not do that. A machine, by design, does not stop."

January 1, 2026 4:00 am CET

By Flynn Coleman

https://www.politico.eu/article/when-the-interpreter-wept-what-automation-erases-inside-europes-institutions/

#Metaglossia 

#metaglossia_mundus