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"Demand for Indigenous Latin American language interpreters has surged in Oregon. This group is helping meet it
Updated: Dec. 01, 2025, 7:46 a.m.|Published: Dec. 01, 2025, 6:02 a.m.
Puma Tzoc, left, senior director of the Collective of Indigenous Interpreters of Oregon, and Malín Jimènez, right, associate director. Originally from Guatemala, Jimènez started volunteering as an Indigenous language interpreter as a teenager. She later worked in environmental advocacy but a friend convinced her to return to interpretation, saying, “Our community needs you.”Vickie Connor | The Oregonian/OregonLive
By Mike Rogoway | The Oregonian/OregonLive
Puma Tzoc was living in New York a decade ago when a friend asked him to help a client who had spent three months in jail. The client spoke only K’iche’, an Indigenous language from his native Guatemala, and was in a legal purgatory — unable to understand his circumstances or argue his case.
So Tzoc, also from Guatemala, took a crash course in the ethics and protocols of legal interpretation and stepped in. The friend’s client was out of jail the next day and Tzoc was on his way to a new career and calling, inspired at the immediate impact he could have on someone else’s life.
Negotiations on Global Treaty to End Plastic Pollution Reach Critical Phase
Tzoc went to work providing interpretation services in the New York courts and for health care providers. Then, after moving to Portland in 2016, he became coordinator of the Collective of Indigenous Interpreters of Oregon. An arm of the nonprofit Pueblo Unido PDX, the Collective interprets in 17 different languages and aims to give Indigenous language speakers a voice in the legal system, health care and the schools.
“We’re really committed to the people we serve and our community,” Tzoc said.
Oregon has more than 50,000 immigrants who speak Indigenous languages, according to Pueblo Unido, arriving in the U.S. from Mexico and Central and South America. Local demand for interpreters who speak such languages has been rising steadily. That was initially due to increased migration from Indigenous communities. Now, there’s growing demand from people facing legal hearings as the federal government cracks down on immigration.
The Collective works with health care providers, legal organizations and schools to match up patients, clients and parents with interpreters who speak 17 Indigenous languages. Some of those have two or three distinct variants.
“We serve as this clearinghouse for interpreters,” said Carla Gonzalez, Pueblo Unido’s executive director.
The Collective works with more than 40 paid interpreters, assisting with civil and criminal court matters, immigration proceedings, medical appointments and parent-teacher conferences. Another 28 interpreters in other states and Guatemala supplement that network.
Most of the interpretation is done online, in video calls, with interpreters around the state and occasionally in other parts of the country. The agency using the interpreters pays for their services.
It’s challenging work, according to Tzoc, because dialects often differ considerably from one village to another. For example, he said the Mixtec Indigenous language in Mexico has more than 60 variations. The Collective asks people to provide the name of their town and village to identify the specific variation.
“Those variations are totally different,” Tzoc said, “and they couldn’t understand each other.”
Complicating matters, Indigenous languages often don’t have words for the terms frequently used in American legal proceedings and in the health care system. Tzoc said it can be challenging to convey a cancer diagnosis, for example, or to explain the concept of psychiatry.
Many Indigenous words have their roots in the environment in which the languages formed. They refer to plants, animals and specific cultural touchstones, often described as the cosmovision of the Indigenous people of Central America.
“We always connect it to our cosmovision,” Tzoc said. “Every time we express ourselves, it’s using the natural things that we have around to express ourselves.”
For example, he said, if people speaking some Indigenous languages get sick, they might say, “The air hits us.”
“When we said that in our native language,” Tzoc said, “that means we get sick.”
Artificial intelligence has made great strides in real-time translations between the world’s most widely used languages, but Tzoc said he doubts computers will be able to capture the cultural nuances of Indigenous languages anytime soon.
“Doing interpretation, using a translation app for something like that, it will not be accurate,” he said.
The Oregon Judicial Department provides interpretation for people engaged in criminal or civil proceedings, including child custody matters and divorce. Spanish, Russian and Vietnamese are among the languages most commonly spoken by those who don’t understand English, but the number of people speaking Indigenous languages is growing rapidly.
“It is challenging because some of the languages are so rare. It’s hard to find a particular language,” said Yvette Tamamoto, the department’s interim language access coordinator.
The department had 1,600 requests for Indigenous language interpretation last year, Tamamoto said, a 28% jump from 2023. She said it’s on pace for more than 1,800 requests this year.
The most requests come for the Mayan languages of Mam, Chuj, Q’anjob’al and Akateko. All are spoken in rural parts of Guatemala and some places in Mexico.
The Judicial Department has signed up to use the Collective’s interpreters, but Tamamoto said court hearings are frequently rescheduled, so the department hasn’t actually worked with the Collective yet.
But Clear Clinic, a free legal services nonprofit, uses the Collective frequently to help Indigenous language clients.
“They really focus on making sure their interpretation is accurate and as culturally responsive as possible,” said Cody Winger, a Clear Clinic paralegal.
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This fall, he said, the Clear Clinic connected with a child who had emigrated from Guatemala. He said the child faced persecution and violence sometimes directed at Indigenous people there, conditions that could qualify the child for asylum in the United States. But the child spoke a dialect of a smaller Indigenous language.
“Using the Collective, we found an interpreter who spoke the right language and the right dialect,” Winger said. Through that interpreter, he said Clear Clinic completed an asylum application in hopes of clearing a path for the child to stay in the U.S.
“I don’t know what we would do if we didn’t have the Collective, honestly,” Winger said. “We absolutely would not be able to provide the level of service that we do.”
Mike Rogoway
https://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/2025/12/demand-for-indigenous-latin-american-language-interpreters-has-surged-in-oregon-this-group-is-helping-meet-it.html
#Metaglossia
#metaglossia_mundus
"Radi Ellili dévoile l’auteur de la traduction truquée de la Résolution 2797 (2025) du Conseil de Sécurité sur le Sahara Occidental
Selon le journaliste sahraoui Mohamed Radi Ellili, le Maroc a réussi à déformer le texte de la Résolution 2797 (2025) du Conseil de Sécurité sur le Sahara Occidental grâce à la complicité du dénommé Abdelbari Moustahssine, Chef du service arabe de traduction de la Division de la documentation
depuis octobre 2023.
Le Maroc a réussi à le recruter en s’appuyant sur son origine Marocaine, provoquant ainsi l’énième scandale onusien vis-à-vis du peuple sahraoui.
D’après Reda Ellili, Rabat a échoué dans la réalisation des trois objectifs que l’administration Trump a promis et inclu dans la version initiale :
-mettre fin au mandat de la MINURSO
-renoncer au principe d’autodétermination du peuple sahraoui
– faire de la proposition marocaine d’autonomie la base de la solution.
Ellili a publié le texte du Draft Zero indiquant les termes qui ont été modifiés. Moustahssine a remplacé les mots « les deux parties » par « les parties » en vue d’impliquer l’Algérie dans le processus des négociations.
Lien vers la deuxième version déformée et manipulée par ledit Abdelbari Moustahssin.
Maroc #Sahara_occidental #Division_de_traduction_des_Nations_Unies #Résolution 2797(2025)#
https://moroccomail.fr/2025/12/01/sahara-occidental-radi-ellili-devoile-lauteur-de-la-traduction-truquee-de-la-resolution-2797-2025-du-conseil-de-securite-sur-le-sahara-occidental/?amp=1
#Metaglossia
#metaglossia_mundus
"Les traducteurs belges (et leurs archives) (Interfrancophonies, n°18, 2027)
La traduction est un produit local. Elle ne se réduit pas à un simple transfert linguistique : toujours située, elle porte l’empreinte de celui qui traduit — de sa formation, de son horizon linguistique, de son inscription nationale ou régionale. Dans cette perspective, le cas des traducteurs belges est particulièrement révélateur : leur position singulière, à la croisée des aires linguistiques romane et germanique, met en évidence la diversité interne de la francophonie et invite à interroger la traduction comme pratique localisée et différenciée. Comment, dès lors, cette position spécifique — à l’intersection des traditions française, néerlandaises, allemande et européenne — façonne-t-elle leurs gestes traductifs ?
Ce numéro d’Interfrancophonies se propose de creuser le phénomène de la traduction en Belgique, non seulement du point de vue plus général — en partie déjà étudié mais encore riche de pistes — de la circulation du texte, mais aussi à travers l’exploration des archives des traducteurs : brouillons, carnets, correspondances, paratextes et documents de travail qui permettent de reconstruire le processus traductif et de cerner, au plus près, les opérations intellectuelles, les choix linguistiques et les arbitrages culturels qui se déroulent dans l’atelier du traducteur. L’œuvre littéraire étant désormais envisagée comme un work in progress plutôt que comme un résultat achevé, la rencontre entre la génétique textuelle et la traduction – la première enquêtant sur la fabrique, la seconde étant elle-même fabrique (de langues, de pensée, de textes) – s’avère particulièrement prometteuse dans ce « balcon sur l’Europe » qu’est la Belgique.
Parmi les axes de recherches possibles :
Approches comparatives : en quoi une traduction belge se distingue-t-elle d’une traduction produite en France ? Comment se manifestent ces différences, par exemple dans la traduction d’œuvres canoniques ? Quelles convergences ou divergences avec les traducteurs d’autres aires francophones ? Quels contacts entre les traducteurs du plat pays et leurs homologues francophones ? Y a-t-il des œuvres qui ont été traduites en Belgique avant de l’être en France, ou qui y ont connu une diffusion plus importante (par exemple à travers plusieurs retraductions) que dans d’autres espaces francophones ?
Approches philologiques et perspectives ecdotiques : que révèlent les variantes, hésitations, pentimenti et strates manuscrites des traducteurs belges ? Quels horizons ecdotiques découlent de la prise en compte de ces documents ?
Perspectives culturelles et linguistiques : comment les spécificités belges (plurilinguisme, contexte politique, rapport au français « central ») modèlent-elles la pratique traductive et auto-traductive ? Quel est le lien entre traduction et création dans une situation de contact des langues comme celle de la Belgique (songeons aux nombreux écrivains-traducteurs belges) ?
Nous encourageons des propositions qui articulent analyse textuelle et exploration archivistique, et qui ouvrent à une réflexion théorique sur la traduction comme pratique localisée.
Les contributions pourront s’inscrire dans différents axes :
Études de cas (un traducteur, une œuvre, un corpus d’archives)
Approches comparatistes (Belgique / France / autres aires de la francophonie)
Réflexions méthodologiques (philologie, critique génétique, ecdotique)
Analyses de la réception et des effets culturels
Échéancier
30 avril 2026 : date limite pour l’envoi des propositions (titre et résumé de 300 mots, accompagnés d’une brève notice bio-bibliographique)
15 mai 2026 : notification d’acceptation des propositions
1er décembre 2026 : remise des articles complets
juillet 2027 : parution du numéro 18 d’Interfrancophonies
Les propositions et articles sont à envoyer à Fernando Funari : fernando.funari@unifi.it
—
Bibliographie
Génétique de la traduction
A. Cordingley, P. Hersant, « Translation Archives : an Introduction », Meta, 66, 1, 2021, p. 9-27, en ligne.
F. Durand-Bogaert (dir.), Genesis, 38 « Traduire », 2014, en ligne.
A. Farge, Le Goût de l’archive, Paris, Seuil, 1989.
G. Henrot Sostero, Archéologie(s) de la traduction, Paris, Classiques Garnier, 2020.
P. Hersant (dir.), Palimpsestes, 34 « Dans l’archive des traducteurs », 2020, en ligne.
C. Montini, Traduire. Genèse du choix, Paris, Archives contemporaines, 2016.
G. Sofo, C. Montini, « Cibler la source : ce que la génétique des traductions fait aux textes », Continents manuscrits, 21, 2023, en ligne.
Les traducteurs belges et leurs archives
Béghin Laurent, Laurence Pieropan, Fernando Funari (2025). Dante en Belgique francophone, Pacini Editore, pp. 1-185., vol. LXXII-LXXIII (1-2)
De Bonis Benedetta (2023). « Vera/The Ends of Stories. Approche génétique de la traduction d’un roman sans fin », Continents manuscrits, vol. XXI.
Funari Fernando (2023). « Traductions de traductions : Dante entre France et Belgique », Interfrancophonies, no 14, pp.115-135, VERSION ONLINE
Funari Fernando (2024). « Nicolas Muller, passeur inattendu de Dante en Belgique. Étude et édition génétique du manuscrit AML 14673/9 (Par., XXXIII) », Interfrancophonies, vol. 15, pp. 1-34, VERSION ONLINE
Funari Fernando (2025). « Le traducteur comme auteur. Exploration des avant-textes traductifs de quelques passeurs belges de Dante, d’hier à Toussaint », Semicerchio. Rivista di Poesia comparata, vol. LXXII-LXXIII (1-2), pp. 44-51, VERSION ONLINE
Marinucci Giulia et Pieropan Laurence (à paraître). « Fattori della ricezione dantesca nel Belgio all'inizio del '900 e emergenza del traduttore Ernest de Laminne », in Marco De Cristofaro et Cecilia Schwartz, coll. « Passeurs & Passaggi », Pacini.
Pieropan Laurence (2013). « Pierre Poirier, jurisconsulte, esthète et traducteur », in Catherine Gravet (dir.), Traductrices et traducteurs belges, Mons, Université de Mons - Service de communication écrite, coll. « Travaux et documents » (n° 1), p. 297-325.
Pieropan Laurence (à paraître). « Pierre Poirier et Nicolas Muller : consciences (des tensions) du monde et filtre dantesque ? », in Actes du colloque international Dante est un poète français. La réception de Dante en France, entre traduction et création (XIXe-XXIe siècles), Université de Rennes 2, 27-28 mars 2025.
Pratiques traductives et spécificités linguistiques en Belgique
J. Altmanova, C. Meurée, M. G. Petrillo (dir.), Nouveaux paradigmes linguistiques dans la littérature belge francophone (de 1989 à aujourd’hui), Annali dell’Istituto Universitario Orientale di Napoli. Sezione romanza, LXIII, 2, 2021.
Costa Béatrice et Pieropan Laurence (2025). « Traduire ce que fait le discours, et non les mots. La traduction de la Commedia par Pierre Poirier : un avant-traduire meschonnicien », in Laurent Béghin, Fernando Funari, Laurence Pieropan (dir.), Dante en Belgique francophone, Semicerchio. Rivista di poesia comparata, n° LXXII (2025/1-2), pp. 29-35, ISSN:1123-4075 Accesso ONLINE all'editore.
De Bonis B., F. Funari (dir.), Réécriture, traduction et adaptation dans le théâtre belge de langue française, Interfrancophonies, n° 10, 2019 (http://interfrancophonies.org/nouvelle-serie/10-2019.html).
C. Nannoni (dir.), La Belgique au prisme des langues : bi/plurilinguisme, traduction, autotraduction, RILUNE, n° 16, 2022 (https://rilune.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&id=94&Itemid=131).
Responsable :
Fernando Funari (Université de Florence)
Url de référence :
http://interfrancophonies.org
Adresse :
Revue Interfrancophonies - Université de Florence"
https://www.fabula.org/actualites/131311/les-traducteurs-belges-et-leurs-archives-interfrancophonies-n-18-2027.html
#Metaglossia
#metaglossia_mundus
"Fernando Funari, Le texte retraduit. Approches lexicométriques pour l’analyse comparative
Bologna, DeriveApprodi, coll. "Musei della Traduzione", 2025
EAN : 9788865486535
266 pages
Prix : 24 EUR
Date de publication : 01 Décembre 2025
Publié le 30 Novembre 2025 par Marc Escola (Source : Fernando Funari )
Quelle est la différence entre deux traductions d’un même texte ?
Ce livre propose des outils concrets pour analyser écarts de lexique, isotopies, registres et marquages discursifs. Objectif : rendre les intuitions critiques mesurables et offrir des résultats transmissibles et réplicables.
L’enquête porte sur le corpus des retraductions françaises de Dante – plus de sept millions de mots sur presque trois siècles (1775-2025) –, offrant un terrain exceptionnel pour étendre le champ des questions : de quelle manière la traduction a-t-elle enrichi le lexique du français ? Comment mesurer l’écart lexical entre une traduction en vers et une traduction en prose, ou saisir l’évolution sémantique d’un terme à travers les siècles ? Et que révèle la comparaison entre un Dante traduit en France, en Belgique ou au Québec ?
Dans chaque cas, l’analyse parcourt toute la chaîne : formulation de la question, constitution du corpus (normalisation, lemmatisation, alignement, segmentation, annotation), choix des outils appropriés – sémantique distributionnelle, indice de spécificité, étude de la collocation, Analyse Factorielle des Correspondances (AFC) –, puis retour constant aux concordances et interprétation des résultats. La contribution est double : théorique, en définissant la différence traductive comme productivité du sens ; méthodologique, en proposant une chaîne transférable à d’autres corpus et langues, qui rend les hypothèses falsifiables et les preuves cumulatives. Il en résulte un atelier comparatif où le quantitatif prépare, oriente et rend vérifiable l’intelligence des fonctionnements intimes du texte traduit.
Un progrès concret dans le dialogue entre humanités numériques et traductologie.
—
Table des matières
Introduction
Dire, à nouveau, presque la même chose 11 ; Lexicométrie et textométrie pour la retraduction 15 ; Atelier Dante 23
Méthode 1 – Le traducteur comme auteur. Idiolecte traductif et néoformation en traduction 31
Introduction et problématique 31 ; Peut-on parler d’un idiolecte traductif ? Étude de la keyness 33 ; La néoformation en traduction 41 Évaluer la productivité néologique dans la diachronie (1775-2025) 72 ; Le traitement du nom propre en traduction : approche historique 82 Vers une notion de généalogie traductive 99 Conclusion 104
Méthode 2 – Formes de synonymie en traduction 105
Introduction et problématique 105 ; La concordance parallèle 109 ; Mesurer l’évolution lexicale : protocole Trends 114 ; Formes de synonymie : Thesaurus 119 ; Mesurer la synonymie dans le temps 129 ; Conclusions 139
Méthode 3 – Étude de la collocation 139
Introduction et problématique 139 La collocation 141 La différence des profils lexicaux 145 Étude de cas 1 : prose vs. poésie 148 Étude de cas 2. Comparaison diachronique des réseaux métaphoriques (subcorpus XIXe vs. subcorpus XX) 169 ; Étude de cas 3. Se retraduire : Eugène Aroux, 1842 vs 1856 193
La retraduction comme processus : approches génétique et ecdotique 209
Critique génétique de la traduction : quels horizons de recherche ? 209 ; Le manuscrit du traducteur 212 ; Comment réaliser une édition génétique de la traduction 226 ; Textes 230
Conclusion 243
Annexe méthodologique 245
Postface : la traduction, Bible des pauvres ? 253
Œuvres citées 255."
https://www.fabula.org/actualites/131300/fernando-funari.html
#Metaglossia
#metaglossia_mundus
And the Walls Became the World All Around has won the 2025 Warwick Prize for Women in Translation.
The winner of the 2025 Warwick Prize for Women in Translation is And the Walls Became the World All Around by Johanna Ekström and Sigrid Rausing, translated from Swedish by Sigrid Rausing and published by Granta.
And the Walls Became the World All Around is a memoir consisting of 13 handwritten notebooks that Johanna Ekström (1970-2022) asked her friend Sigrid Rausing to finish. First published in Swedish in 2023, it has been described as a literary experiment, a continuation of 30 years of friendship, and a deep meditation on grief.
The 2025 prize was judged by Boyd Tonkin, Susan Bassnett, and Véronique Tadjo...
"The prize launched in 2017 with the aim of addressing the gender imbalance in translated literature and increasing the number of international women’s voices accessible to a British and Irish readership. In 2025, the competition received 145 eligible entries from 34 languages.
Submissions for the 2026 Warwick Prize for Women in Translation will open on 1 April 2026.
Notes to Editors
The prize is generously supported by the School of Creative Arts, Performance and Visual Cultures at the University of Warwick, and by the British Centre for Literary Translation at the University of East Anglia.
Click here for more details about the Women in Translation prize, the 2025 shortlist and longlist, and previous winners.
For more information please contact:
Ann Baylis, Media and Communication Officer
ann.baylis@warwick.ac.uk / 07876 876937
For Women in Translation events or news items you would like us to publicise: womenintranslation@warwick.ac.uk
About the University of Warwick
Founded in 1965, the University of Warwick is a world-leading institution known for its commitment to era-defining innovation across research and education. A connected ecosystem of staff, students and alumni, the University fosters transformative learning, interdisciplinary collaboration and bold industry partnerships across state-of-the-art facilities in the UK and global satellite hubs. Here, spirited thinkers push boundaries, experiment and challenge convention to create a better world."
https://warwick.ac.uk/news/pressreleases/winner-of-the
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#metaglossia_mundus
"Widely considered India’s first review journal to appear in English, The Book Review (TBR), started by three bibliophile friends, turns 50 next year. As a part of its golden jubilee celebrations, TBR is hosting a seminar on literary translations, titled Echoes Across Tongues, in Bengaluru next week.
Set up by Chitra Narayanan, Uma Iyengar and Chandra Chari in 1976, TBR was begun with the intention to review books of all genres published in India. “Our basic job is reviewing books in the source language which has resulted in the book being translated too, at times. We have been focusing on languages, and over the years, have brought out languagespecific issues as well,” says Iyengar. In August this year, TBR held a roundtable in Delhi, to discuss the state of Indian publishing since Independence and the role of reviews.
The upcoming Bengaluru session, which will go on for a dayandahalf, will comprise three segments. The first session, ‘The Art of Translation’, will be chaired by author Chandan Gowda and will include writers Kamalakar Bhat, Vivek Shanbaug and Arshia Sattar on the panel. The second one on multilingual translation will be helmed by awardwinning translator Vanamala Viswanatha, with the panel comprising V.S. Sreedhara, Mini Krishnan and E.V. Ramakrishnan, among others.
Poet and translator A.J. Thomas will oversee the last segment on translating different genres and he will be joined by International Bookerwinning translator Deepa Bhasthi, among others.
Underlining the need to rethink the role and relevance of literary translations, Viswanatha, who has translated medieval and modern Kannada writing, including, most recently, Kuvempu’s epic, Bride in the Hills, says, “We can write a new kind of history of our nation... there is a critical mass of translations of Indian texts across multiple languages written over the last century that reflects the other Indias outside the realm of writing in
English now,” she says.
Translator T.S. Saravanan hopes to discuss the role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in translating. “The negative mindset about AI translations is not true. Generally, there are two groups of translators: those who stay away from technology and those using it, and the truth lies somewhere in between both. That is the mentality we are going to discuss.” He, however, emphasises on the human element. “AI can be used, provided the appropriate prompt is given. It helps boost speed, too. But the human touch is needed.”
Adds Viswanatha, “Irony, sarcasm, reiteration, metaphor, proverbs — all these literary tropes are as yet beyond the realm of AI. It can be an ally to the translator, and may not necessarily be a threat. A human translator is not easily replaceable, at least right now, especially in literary translations.”
Niche interest
Iyengar recalls how editors from The New York Review of Books were invited to TBR’s 20th anniversary celebrations in 1996. “They shared that they came into being because The New Yorker went on strike, and how they were able to sell a humongous amount of copies for the very first issue,” she says.
Though TBR continues to focus on books published in India, it occasionally receives works from universities on topics of Indian scholarship. But the publication, which also has an online edition, “continues to be a niche journal”, says Iyengar, adding that reader interest has increased since they went online.
“We started out by chipping in ₹1,500 each because there was no book review journal in India at the time. And even today, there doesn’t seem to be another one in English. Though Biblio reviews books, their issues come out sporadically,” says Iyengar.
Echoes Across Tongues is on December 4, 5 at Bangalore International Centre. Details: Instagram @thebookreviewindia"
https://www.pressreader.com/india/the-hindu-kochi-9WW8/20251130/282587384280904
"Les ambitions de l'Afrique en matière d'IA freinées par la rareté des données
By
Foi Omoniyi
Lorsque vous interrogez ChatGPT sur un élément d'origine africaine, la réponse est souvent succincte et peu nuancée. Il arrive même qu'elle soit totalement inventée. Cela s'explique en partie par le fait que les modèles d'IA sont entraînés sur des ensembles de données restreints provenant d'Afrique.
Pour remédier à ce déficit de données, les pays africains doivent organiser leurs ensembles de données et les rendre accessibles en ligne, selon les intervenants de Moonshot by TechCabal, mercredi.
Alors que la plupart des Africains utilisent des modèles de langage à grande échelle (LLM) déjà construits par des organisations internationales, ces LLM sont entraînés sur peu de données provenant d'Afrique — par exemple, seulement 2 % des données mondiales sur les soins de santé proviennent d'Afrique. Cela est en partie attribuable au manque de documentation pour certaines cultures et langues.
La mise en ligne de données africaines présente des défis. La documentation fait défaut pour certaines langues africaines. Le chargement de ces ensembles de données peut également s'avérer coûteux pour les Africains confrontés à la pauvreté et à la crise du coût de la vie. Le principal obstacle réside peut-être dans les difficultés généralisées liées à l'alphabétisation numérique en Afrique. Bayo Adekanmbi, fondateur de Data Science Nigeria, propose des solutions alternatives, notamment l'utilisation de la transcription vocale pour documenter les données.
Certaines startups africaines comme Intron Health, une entreprise nigériane spécialisée dans l'IA Cette technologie est déjà utilisée. Intron Health permet aux médecins et aux professionnels de santé de saisir des données dans les dossiers médicaux en convertissant la parole en texte.
Pour collecter des données vocales, des startups africaines font appel à des agents chargés de recueillir des enregistrements audio. Cependant, la capture de données vocales dans le contexte africain présente des défis spécifiques, car de nombreux Africains intègrent le pidgin ou le yoruba à leur langage. Pour pallier ce problème, Bayo Adekanmbi suggère aux startups d'envisager la gestion du changement de code vocal dans leurs modèles d'IA.
Pour parvenir à une documentation exhaustive des langues et de la culture africaines, Lavina Ramkisson, membre du conseil d'administration de l'IA de la GSMA, estime que des partenariats mondiaux en matière d'infrastructures et de compétences sont indispensables. Olumide Okubadejo, responsable produit chez Sabi, partage cet avis : les partenariats public-privé constituent un excellent moyen d'améliorer la collecte de données et, par conséquent, l'adoption de l'IA sur le continent."
https://techcabal.com/fr/2024/10/09/africa-ai-ambitions-stunted-by-data-scarcity/
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#metaglossia_mundus
"Former Irish-language commissioner Seán Ó Cuirreáin has said low pay and lack of strict standards for state interpreters mean there is a risk of repeating the type of miscarriage of justice seen in the Maamtrasna murders case over 140 years ago.
He said there are serious issues arising from the recent RTÉ Investigates/RTÉ Documentary on One investigation into interpreting flaws which led to an African couple being wrongly jailed on charges of injuring their daughter through female genital mutilation..."
Lorna Siggins
30 November 2025
https://m.independent.ie/irish-news/courts/experts-call-for-improvements-around-system-for-interpreters-in-court-cases/a182843359.html
#Metaglossia
#metaglossia_mundus
"30 years of Translation and Interpreting studies: Insights from didactics, practice and research
Event description
As part of the celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters of the University of Alicante and the 30th anniversary of the studies of Translation and Interpreting, the Department of Translation and Interpreting has the pleasure of convening the 9th International Lucentino Colloquium.
Over these three decades, major events have impacted our society deeply: the European Union, agenda 2030, pandemics and wars, misinformation, social media, climate emergency, migration crises, mass tourism, housing shortage, poverty and inequality. But perhaps the most startling change, at least in practical terms, has been brought by technological advances, from the emergence of personal computers, e-mail, the internet and mobile phones, to artificial intelligence and its unfathomable effects.
The 9th International Lucentino Colloquium aims to become a venue to meet and reflect upon the evolution of the translation and interpreting industry in the field of didactics, professional practice and research over the last three decades since the creation of the official translation and interpreting studies at the University of Alicante. We will encourage reflection through an analysis of the past, questioning the present and conceptualising the future that we want, through the exchange of opinions and mutual learning.
Practical Information
Wednesday, 28 January to Friday, 30 January 2026
Alicante, Spain"
https://knowledge-centre-translation-interpretation.ec.europa.eu/en/events/9th-international-lucentino-colloquium
#Metaglossia
#metaglossia_mundus
"En un mundo editorial que exige velocidad, los traductores se enfrentan al reto de preservar la sensibilidad estética de una obra mientras cumplen plazos cada vez más ajustados. ¿Cómo reconocer, entonces, una buena traducción entre tantas versiones disponibles?
Helena Cortés Gabaudan es una traductora española, germanista y profesora titular de la Universidad de Vigo, quien en 2021 obtuvo el Premio Nacional de Traducción por su trabajo en El diván de Oriente y Occidente, de Goethe. Con décadas de trabajo entre aulas y manuscritos, conoce de primera mano la tensión entre dedicar años a perfeccionar la traducción de un libro y la presión editorial de completarlo en el menor tiempo...
La traducción de un libro y la presión editorial de completarla en poco tiempo implican un conflicto entre el tiempo de calidad que requiere un trabajo artístico y las exigencias comerciales del mercado. Los traductores deben sacrificar el tiempo necesario para una relectura exhaustiva y un ajuste fino del texto, lo que puede llevar a versiones menos matizadas o con menos riesgos estilísticos, simplemente para cumplir con una fecha de entrega preestablecida. El resultado es un equilibrio difícil entre la búsqueda de la excelencia estética y la necesidad de entregar el trabajo a tiempo."
Por: Manuela Cardozo
https://cambiocolombia.com/cultura/articulo/2025/11/el-arte-de-traducir-libros-entre-la-minucia-excelencia-estetica-y-las-presiones-del-mercado-editoral/
#Metaglossia
#metaglossia_mundus
Deepa Bhasthi's International Booker Prize win brings attention to Kannada literature. She'll be in Kolkata discussing language and translation. Keywords: Deepa Bhasthi, International Booker Prize, Heart Lamp.
#Metaglossia
#metaglossia_mundus
"Gaelic and Scots have now been recognised as official languages as part of a range of new measures coming into force on St Andrew's Day.
The Scottish Languages Act, which MSPs voted through in June, also empowers parents to ask for a Gaelic school to be established in their area and aims to ensure that more qualifications are available in Gaelic.
It includes powers for ministers to commission research into the use of Gaelic and Scots and establish teaching standards for the languages.
Scotland's Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes called it a "historic milestone".
"St Andrew's Day is a fitting time to celebrate Scotland's identity by recognising Gaelic and Scots as official languages," she said.
"This is a historic milestone which acknowledges the vital place these languages hold in Scotland's culture and heritage."
MSPs back new powers supporting Gaelic and Scots
Forbes: Law would help parents who want Gaelic schools
Gaelic schools thrive while native language declines
Forbes added that the Scottish government had already allocated £35.7m for Gaelic and Scots initiatives this year.
Other measures in the act include supporting the creation of areas of linguistic significance in Gaelic communities so ministers can better target policies to support the language's growth.
The Scottish Languages Bill was introduced on St Andrew's Day in 2023.
It was passed at the Scottish Parliament in June this year and received Royal Assent on 1 August 2025.
Latest census statistics show that 130,161 people in Scotland had some Gaelic skills in 2022, an increase of 43,105 from 2011.
And it shows that 2,444,659 people in Scotland had some Scots skills in 2022, an increase of 515,215 from 2011.
The Scottish council with the highest proportion of Gaelic speakers was Na h-Eileanan Siar (Western Isles) with 57.2% having some Gaelic skills.
This was far higher than the next highest council areas, Highland (8.1%) and Argyll and Bute (6.2%)."
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9891455007o
#Metaglossia
#metaglossia_mundus
"Atelier de traduction avec avec la BaaM – Voix de Palestine Institut des Cultures d’Islam (ICI)
Paris jeudi 11 décembre 2025.
L’ICI invite la BaaM (Bibliothèque arabe associée de Marseille) pour une journée dédiée à la traduction arabe/français et à la poésie palestinienne contemporaine, en écho aux oeuvres de l’exposition Those Who Walk the Land de l’artiste Sabreen Haj Ahmad.
En amont de la Veillée, un atelier de traduction de poésie palestinienne arabe/français est proposé. Les participants sont invités à travailler sur la traduction de poèmes de Yousef Elqedra, en présence de l’auteur, et avec l’appui de Lotfi Nia, traducteur algérien de poésie et littérature arabe.
L’ICI invite la BaaM (Bibliothèque arabe associée de Marseille) pour une journée dédiée à la traduction arabe/français et à la poésie palestinienne contemporaine, en écho aux oeuvres de l’exposition « Those Who Walk the Land » de l’artiste Sabreen Haj Ahmad.
Le jeudi 11 décembre 2025
de 18h00 à 19h30
gratuit Tout public.
Horaire : année-mois-jour-heure
début : 2025-12-11T19:00:00+01:00
fin : 2025-12-11T20:30:00+01:00
Date(s) : 2025-12-11T18:00:00+02:00_2025-12-11T19:30:00+02:00
Institut des Cultures d’Islam (ICI) 19 rue Léon 75018 Paris"
https://unidivers.fr/event/atelier-de-traduction-avec-avec-la-baam-voix-de-palestine-institut-des-cultures-dislam-ici-paris-paris-2025-12-11t1900000100/
#Metaglossia
#metaglossia_mundus
"Ljubljana, 29 November - The 2025 Mira Prize, which honours outstanding women authors and is given out by the women's section of the Slovenian PEN, was conferred on Friday evening at the Slovenian Book Fair on translator and philosopher Tanja Petrič and writer and poet Marija Švajncer. The jury unanimously decided to pick two laureates this year."
https://english.sta.si/3494295/translator-and-poet-win-mira-prize
#Metaglossia
#metaglossia_mundus
'Ice' imagines an alternate early-20th-century world reshaped by the Tunguska explosion, where a mysterious substance freezes not only Siberia’s landscape but the very logic and history of Europe. Blending political intrigue, metaphysics, scientific speculation and epic journeying, Jacek Dukaj creates a universe in which language fractures, reality ossifies and thought itself becomes perilously rigid. Translating this immense, hybrid world required an act of reconstruction as much as interpretation, challenging English to carry its archaic textures, neologisms and philosophical ambition.
"Jacek Dukaj’s ‘Ice’ is one of the most ambitious novels in modern Polish literature: a 1,000-page alternate history where language freezes, logic bifurcates, and reality is reshaped by a meteor from the Siberian sky. For translator Ursula Phillips, bringing this linguistic and philosophical labyrinth into English meant seven years of deep immersion and confronting what she calls ‘the limits of possibility’.
Ursula Phillips has spent decades opening Polish literature to English-language readers, from the classic novels of the long 19th century to contemporary voices such as Agnieszka Taborska and Piotr Paziński. Though she is often associated with her pioneering work on women writers, her range is far broader, encompassing historical fiction, philosophical prose and, now, one of the most ambitious speculative novels of the 21st century.
Bringing Jacek Dukaj’s Ice into English required nothing less than a reconstruction of language itself. The novel’s vast alternate Russia – shaped by the 1908 Tunguska event and frozen into a rigid metaphysical order – bristles with archaic Polish, Russian bureaucratic jargon, scientific invention and hundreds of neologisms. For Phillips, the challenge was not just to translate a story, but to translate an entire worldview: its logic, its mood, its philosophical architecture, and the distinctive narrative voice of Benedykt Gierosławski. The result of seven years’ work is a landmark translation of a book that has already become a modern classic in Poland and is now poised to capture new readers in English.
Agnes Dudek: What first struck you when you encountered ‘Ice’ – the scale of its ambition, its language, or its philosophical depth? What convinced you that it was worth the extraordinary labour of bringing it into English?
Ursula Phillips: I saw the language of Ice as an enormous translation challenge, everything else hinges on the language. This in itself was an attraction for someone like me who has been working with translations for many years: to attempt the seemingly impossible, like climbing the ultimate mountain. As I have mentioned elsewhere, it took me to the limits of possibility. On the other hand, translation is one of the arts of the possible – it is possible to find viable solutions to most problems, although some things have to be reinvented or reconceived, like Dukaj’s neologisms or his particular use of the Polish reflexive pronoun się in his narrative technique. Any translation is only ever an approximation of the original, only one of an unlimited number of possible versions. The immense size of the book and its many dimensions were daunting, but I happen to like reading long complicated books.
AD: You are best known for translating 19th-century Polish prose and women’s writing. What kind of mental or linguistic shift did Dukaj’s novel require from you?
UP: Yes, I am known in Poland mostly for my translations of women novelists of the 19th and early 20th centuries. However, it’s a misrepresentation to suggest that I only translate dead women. I’ve recently published translations of Agnieszka Taborska and Piotr Paziński, and my first foray into translating Polish literature was Wiesław Myśliwski’s Palace. I’ve also translated contemporary academics, as many men as women.
My interest in translating the women writers emerged from my research, it had a specific purpose: why write in English about this dimension of Polish literary history, trying thereby to include these women in wider European debates, when no one outside Poland can read their texts? Of course, my work in this field convinced me that the writers I translated were important figures, and I have returned to them now: I’m currently working on a new English translation of Maria Kuncewiczowa’s The Stranger, and am planning to revive other projects which I had to put aside because of Ice, in particular Nałkowska’s The Impatient. But my long background in studying 19th-century Polish literature, as well as Russian, predating my work on Polish women, was fundamental when translating Ice, since Dukaj’s archaism dates from this period, namely the late Russian Empire, including the Russian partition of Poland. I am well used to reading this non-contemporary prose, so it didn’t feel like a seismic ‘linguistic shift’ to me.
Also, my own written English is not especially contemporary, in fact, so I didn’t feel it was any particular mental leap to immerse myself in the book’s setting and atmosphere. It felt familiar from my reading of the big 19th-century Russian novels. This is perhaps another reason why I chose to translate it – it felt close to my heart.
But I would add, as a general point, that translating women writers or translating as a feminist does not preclude translating men or translating genre fiction. I’m also a professional, so it’s my obligation to be as sensitive to all the possibilities contained in a text: the task is to translate as open-mindedly and empathetically as possible what one has before one.
Jacek Dukaj and Ursula Philips, photo: Polish Cultural Institute London fb.com/polishinstitutelondon
AD: How long did the translation take, and what sustained you through a project of this scale and difficulty?
UP: The translation itself took five years, and then there were another two years before publication, so seven in all. In the beginning, I was still working on other projects, but eventually these were finished or had to be put aside in order to complete Ice within a reasonable time. At times, it was very intense. I found myself working four, five, six hours a day on this one thing. Total immersion. What sustained me? Well, I often discussed individual issues as well as the experience as a whole with translator colleagues, experts on the historical or philosophical background, or simply other sympathetic friends and family members. This certainly sustained me. There were moments when I asked myself why I took it on at all, but it never crossed my mind to give up.
Working with the author also added to the time taken, resulting for example in lengthy exchanges by email or in person in Kraków or London and in several iterations of many files. But I regard such cooperation as time well spent, since it definitely improved the final product. As the work progressed, this process also gave me the opportunity to ask questions, as well as the confidence that I was more or less on the right track.
AD: ‘Ice’ is famous for its hybrid language – archaic Polish, Russianisms, neologisms and scientific-philosophical coinages. How did you approach this layered linguistic world at the sentence level? Did you attempt to mirror Dukaj’s linguistic eccentricities in English – his archaic spelling, syntax and wordplay – or did you seek other ways to evoke that atmosphere?
UP: Well, this is an enormous question, perhaps the most important, and I devote a postscript to it, a full sixteen pages, in the English version (on the invitation of the publisher). I’ll try to summarise here.
Starting with the ‘archaic’ Polish, it seems to me that the initial impact of the text when you first open the original, is visual, a view supported by several Polish native speakers whom I consulted. Polish orthography was reformed in 1936. Significant changes involved less usage of the letter ‘j’
Ursula Philips, photo: Edyta Dufaj / Instytut Książki
and the replacement of all -em and -emi adjectival case endings with -ym, -ymi. Seemingly minor changes, but given the frequency with which they occur, the impact is overwhelming. In order to reproduce such an effect in English, you would have to go back to the written/printed English of the early 18th century at least. The differences between our contemporary English and English at the turn of the 20th century are nowhere near as great. So, using the language (syntax, spelling, capitalisation conventions, obsolete vocabulary) of early 18th-century English would create not archaism but anachronism (in other words, the language would be inappropriate to the period of the book’s setting). So, I didn’t introduce any early 18th-century conventions such as capitalising nouns or using archaic past-tense verb forms (in apostrophe d, and not the modern -ed, e.g. ‘walk’d’ not ‘walked’). I took care, however, not to introduce any word not used in English before 1930 (the action starts in 1924 of the alternative reality, with history having frozen in 1908).
Another important aspect of Dukaj’s ‘archaism’ are the Russianisms. This is a very specific application of Russian: not only does it evoke Dostoevsky and other pre-revolutionary writers, it also conveys the language of administration, bureaucracy and power that Poles living in the Russian partition, in occupied Warsaw, would have heard on a daily basis. Polish readers, encountering this text in 2007, would have been able, however, to understand these Russian terms and phrases, even if they had never studied Russian, because of the common Slavic roots.
This affinity – of language, if not of culture – cannot be reflected in English, as there is no language of equivalent status which would be so closely understandable and at the same time so closely linked to external domination. I decided to keep various Russian words, which should be understandable from the context (although we have provided a glossary, where Russianisms and neologisms are listed in a single sequence, since for readers who do not know Russian, the Russianisms also function as neologisms), those connected with everyday life (clothes, food) but also those associated precisely with Russian power: tchinovnik, natchalnik, ispravnik, okhrannik. In my translation, however, these are not italicised, because they are organically integrated into Dukaj’s Polish, worked into the structure of sentences, sometimes reflecting even the syntax of Russian. The number of Russianisms increases as the protagonist Benedykt Giersławski travels closer to Irkutsk, to the epicentre of the Ice.
I also had to decide on an appropriate system of transcription of the Cyrillic into English that would have been used at the time. This was a mental juggling act as well. Dukaj uses a ‘Polonized’ phonetic transcription suited to the Polish ear and orthography, so I had to deduce from this what the Cyrillic would have been and then re-transcribe according to historically appropriate British methods, which tend to prefer simple transliteration rather than phonetic transcription.
Most difficult for me was the philosophical terminology with which I am less familiar. Clearly, in philosophical speculations and propositions, the vocabulary needs to be precise and specific, distinct from everyday usage. Here, I turned to colleagues in the UCL Department of Philosophy, who helped me to establish the correct vocabulary used in logic and mathematical logic. The translation of niekonieczy (as ‘non-necessary’, and not ‘unnecessary’) and niekonieczość (‘non-necessity’) in this context was especially important to get right.
As to the scientific vocabulary, this was relatively straightforward, namely the actual vocabulary used in ‘regular’ physics, cold-temperature physics, chemistry, technology, all from which Dukaj then develops his neologisms for the so-called ‘black physics’ and the technologies based upon it.
Jacek Dukaj at the Economic Forum in Karpacz, 2024, photo: Radek Pietruszka / PAP
AD: Were there words or concepts you found truly untranslatable, and how did you respond when fidelity and legibility clashed?
UP: This is probably the best place to talk about neologisms, many of which were not directly translatable by any close equivalents, and about Dukaj’s narrative using się (again I go into greater depth in my postscript which is entitled precisely: Translating the Untranslatable).
On my first reading of the whole book in Polish, I noted at least 400 neologisms. These relate to new natural phenomena, to the black physics, prompted by an element brought from outer space by the Tunguska meteor (1908) called tungetitum (I kept the term used in the book by Nikola Tesla), and then to the scientific research, technological developments and new industries based upon it. Some neologisms lent themselves to literal translation, such as the all-important zimnazo, which I translated as coldiron (one word), created from the regular Polish words (zimny meaning ‘cold’, and żelazo meaning ‘iron’). Dukaj, however, plays with prefixes and other devices available in Polish, often based on opposites or rather obverses or negations, which do not have equivalents in English. For example, in relation to the ‘black’ light phenomena: ćmiatło, świecień, ćmieczka. The wordplay here depends on the prefix ćmi- (implying dark) and świ- (implying light), and connotes to the actual Polish words światło (meaning ‘light’), cień (‘shadow’) and świeczka (‘candle’). I played at first with etymological solutions, but these quickly became contrived and academic: darklight, lightshadow, darkcandle… Here, the author came to my rescue suggesting that I should not be so literal and to think more in terms of how I as a non-scientist would describe these phenomena to other laypersons. I came up with: unlicht, glintz, blackwicke. I trust they work in context, but another translator would have thought of different things, as there is no right and wrong here. I discuss the neologisms in more detail in my postscript to the book.
I also discuss Dukaj’s invented narrative with się there, which hinges on his use of the reflexive pronoun, which doesn’t exist in English, allowing him to hide the subjectivity of his first-person narrator Benedykt Gierosławski by replacing first-person pronouns and verb forms (marked masculine) with a third-person grammatical form using się and neuter verb endings, thus creating an impersonal narrative voice. To reproduce this in English is impossible. After experimenting with various ideas, I decided in the end to make this as succinct as possible: I took the semantic element only of the infinitive (eat, sleep, run, freeze), hence without tense and without person, and placed it at the very beginning of the sentence – thereby indicating to readers that this is the narrative voice speaking. It feels a bit strange at first, just as it does in the original Polish, but I am confident that readers will get used to it, as Polish readers have done.
I prefer to talk about linguistic closeness rather than ‘fidelity’ because what exactly am I meant to be ‘faithful’ to? Translating is rewriting, there is no avoiding this fact. A translation is merely an impression of the original. As to readability in English – this is ultimately the most important thing, otherwise readers will give up. If the new text does not read naturally in English, puts readers off because of clunky style, then the whole thing fails. You ask about syntax: well, the syntax needs to be adjusted to English, since preserving Polish syntax (as some translators admittedly try to do) can disrupt fluency and naturalness. Balancing on the tightrope between close adherence to Polish style and making the text comfortable to read, reminds me of the old conflict between preserving foreignness and domesticating. Ultimately, it’s a compromise.
AD: What does ‘Ice’ represent in the Polish literary imagination? Why do you think it captured such attention despite its intimidating complexity?
UP: Well, I’m not Polish, so I can only answer as someone who has studied Polish history and literature as an outsider, albeit for over forty years. When we talk about the Polish literary imagination, what first springs to mind is the Romantic tradition of Adam Mickiewicz and Juliusz Słowacki, to which there are many references in Ice.
In Mickiewicz’s case, for example, to his Forefather’s Eveand especially, or so I felt, to the poems appended to part three of that drama, the ones that refer to Poles living in Russia and to the Wilno (Vilnius) students exiled to Siberia for patriotic activities in the early 1820s (Mickiewicz describes the kibitkas, mentioned by Benedykt at the end of Chapter the Third, when the express train crosses the border between European and Asian Siberia). Meanwhile a passage from Słowacki’s Anhelliis quoted at the point when Benedykt finds himself totally alone in the icy wastes. Katorga (another word I have preserved, without italics), which refers to exile into the depths of Siberia to penal settlements with hard labour in mines or logging work-gangs, an experience suffered by many Poles who participated in nineteenth-century uprisings against Russian power, is well recorded in Polish literature as well as painting. Ice features several prominent real-life exiles, who remained in Siberia and contributed to its scientific exploration, such as Karol Bohdanowicz, Jan Czerski, Benedykt Dybowski, Kazimierz Grochowski, as well as the ethnographer and novelist Wacław Sieroszewski.
So, the novel definitely draws on Polish historical experience, not least because the protagonist’s father is one such Polish ex-katorzhnik or Sibyrak, and it is in search of him that Benedykt sets out on his Siberian odyssey. In this sense then, we could say the novel captures at least part of the Polish literary imagination – but that imagination is not monolithic, just as individual readers are not stereotypical in what they choose to identify with in the text.
It is important to point out, however, that despite this historical experience, Poles are rarely presented in Ice as victims. Not all are ex-katorzhniks. In fact, the novel reflects the fact that Poles got everywhere in the Russian Empire and many took advantage of career and economic opportunities. The fictional, all-powerful Minister of Winter is a Pole, Piotr Rappacki. In Irkutsk, the mayor Bolesław Szostakiewicz is Polish, as are the powerful industrialists who have made fortunes on the new Ice minerals, such as Wojsław Wielicki, with whom Benedykt lodges. Many were born and raised in Irkutsk, and are not themselves former convicts. Meanwhile, the role of Józef Piłsudski, who leads a secret army of Polish exiles in Siberia on the Japanese side in a new (invented) Russo-Japanese war, is by no means idealised. On the contrary, he is shown, in his own words, to be a potential dictator. I had the feeling that Dukaj acknowledges the past, but creates self-confident Polish protagonists who have moved on from that status of victimhood or oppression.
Ethnic groups other than Poles are also portrayed, of course, in particular the Tungusic peoples. Dukaj introduces aspects of shamanism, drawing on the research of some of the Polish exiles mentioned above but also on records kept by earlier travellers. Meanwhile, Russian political dissidents are included amongst the katorzhniks, in particular the former Marxist turned religious fanatic, the alcoholic Filimon Romanovitch Zeytsoff. Interestingly, or significantly, the most virulent criticism of the Russian ruler, Nikolay the Second Aleksandrovitch, does not come from Poles but from disaffected Russians, such as the army captain Privyezhensky whom Benedykt meets in the train.
Castle Square with the tents of Russian troops stationed in front of the Royal Castle, after 14 October 1861, photo: Karol Beyer / National Museum in Warsaw
AD: The novel envisions an empire frozen in time, where even logic and history turn to ice. In translating ‘Ice’, did you sense that you were also translating a worldview – a system of logic and metaphysics rather than just a story? How do you read its political and philosophical undertones – and what do they suggest about Poland’s relationship to empire and modernity?
UP: I’m unwilling to give my own interpretations of the political and philosophical undertones. I want readers to decide for themselves, not hear my views. But yes, I did have the sense that I was translating a worldview, an approach to understanding the world grounded in logic and mathematics that indeed had fundamental ontological implications which transcended the specific historical context of Polish-Russian relations, but this is not divorced from the development of the ‘story’, if by ‘story’ we mean ‘plot’.
Without being a spoiler, I’ll try to explain where this worldview and its implications originate, if I’ve understood them correctly. Put briefly, Dukaj’s starting point is the essay by Tadeusz Kotarbiński entitled The Problem of the Existence of the Future(1913) which distinguishes between two different types of logic: two-valued and three-valued (quotations from Kotarbiński are included as mottos to the four main sections of the novel). Dukaj then tries to imagine how this dichotomy, in particular the Aristotelian two-value logic, might play out in reality, in life, in the material world. Wishing to locate his speculations in Kotarbiński’s own time, he found an ideal catalyst for transforming known reality in the Tunguska meteor explosion of June 1908. He uses that moment of impact to introduce into Siberia a new element from outer space that gradually transforms everything.
As for Poland and its relation to empire and modernity, Dukaj’s narrator Benedykt does not convey a message of victimhood, as I indicated above. Despite the experience of katorga, Dukaj’s Polish industrialists, scientists, manufacturers and politicians in Irkutsk are shown successfully exploiting the new natural resources, building fortunes, affording material luxuries and adopting the artistic styles of the contemporary West. In this sense, the Poles adapt to modernity. In relation to empire, he also does not omit to mention that in the early history of Siberian conquest and exploitation, cruel feats worthy of imperial overlords were committed by named Polish adventurers.
Of course, reading the novel today through the lens of our contemporary politics, it is tempting to regard Vladimir Putin as a present-day emanation of the frozen logic of the Ice, of the uncompromising ‘yea-yea nay-nay’ approach to truth and falsehood, portrayed in the novel as typical of Russian religion and politics, forever torn between these two mutually exclusive extremes. In a recent interview, Dukaj described Putin as ‘a pure emanation of the Russian worldview and mentality’. Certain aspects of Russian power remain disturbingly constant: the present-day FSB is a modern variant of the tsarist Okhrana, katorga was a forerunner of Stalin’s GULAG and today’s Siberian prisons (I refer to the experiences of Aleksey Navalny and Maria Alyokhina). In more generalised terms, we could say that the dichotomy operates on every level from logic to physics to biology to ontology to mentality to politics: two-valued three-valued, yea-yea nay-nay, truth-falsehood, necessity-non-necessity, Winter-Summer, Ice-Thaw, Lyednyaks-Ottepyelniks, Russia-Poland.
Tatra Mountains in winter, Morskie Oko, photo: Karol Majewski / Getty Images
AD: Were there any particular English literary models or voices that helped you capture Dukaj’s tone – perhaps from Victorian prose, speculative fiction, or philosophical writing?
UP: I prefer to talk about ‘inspirations’ rather than ‘models’. The word ‘model’ suggests that a translator might chose to follow or even copy another writer’s style in order to convey that of their own writer, whereas it’s important to convey the unique individual style with which the translator is tasked. As to ‘voices’ we should be clear that we are not referencing Dukaj’s ‘voice’ or ‘tone’ but that of his narrator and protagonist Benedykt Gierosławski: it is Benedykt’s voice that matters here, not that of the author – after all, novelists write different books with different narrators, and so the narrating ‘voice’ can vary. Benedykt’s tone reflects his personality and is quite distinct: he has a detached, humorous, tongue-in-cheek, self-deprecatory attitude towards himself. This provides a self-ironic counterbalance to his philosophical speculations (or ramblings?) about logic and existence.
Regarding ‘inspirations’ (as distinct from ‘models’), there were many. An aspect of the book that made a particular impression on me was the fantastical architecture and atmosphere of the extreme ice – I found it tantalising, beautiful and menacing at the same time. I was inspired by literary ice journeys written in English, from Wordsworth’s The Prelude, to the opening scenes of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, to the trek across the ice fields in Ursula Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness.
As I was beginning the project, I read Polly Clark’s Tiger (2019), which is about researching tigers in the taiga. Her descriptions of the frozen forests, the ‘skin-paring cold’ and the birch trees exploding in a ‘deadly spray of wood and ice’ encouraged me to stretch for extreme vocabulary (though I don’t remember using ‘skin-paring’). Meanwhile, there are also the indigenous Siberian peoples, especially the Tungus, whose shamanic rituals feature in the second half of the book. After reading more recent academic articles on the topic, I opted to apply the vocabulary suggested by the Polish anthropologist Maria Antonina Czaplicka in the glossary to her book Aboriginal Siberia, published in English in 1914 when Czaplicka was a scholar at Oxford University. Her terminology was contemporary to the action of Ice and therefore seemed ideal. For example, my choices for the various shaman souls come from her.
The original has a strong storytelling impetus. In the first months working on the translation, I re-read several novels by Dickens, not as ‘models’ but in order to absorb something of their narrative energy and slight archaic tone: this reconfirmed me again in the conviction that the translated text has to have drive and personality, and that such a long book as Ice has to be as vigorous on page 1000 as it is on page one. Sustaining this requires attention to brevity and clarity of expression, variety in the structures of sentences, choice of colourful but appropriate vocabulary (I am constantly looking for synonyms to avoid repetition of the same words) and the reduction of too much wordiness – Dukaj uses a lot of what I call ‘padding words’ (in Polish: przecie, przecież, jednak, nawet, również, tudzierz) which may add nuance (a certain informal chattiness) to Benedykt’s narrative and therefore work in the Polish, but they clog up the English style and add little to the meaning. English is less tolerant of such padding.
Towards the beginning of the project, I also read all three volumes of Neal Stephenson’s The System of the World, another enormous feat of energised storytelling. Dukaj has sometimes been compared to Stephenson. From the scientific or sci-fi point of view, this makes sense: the centrality of the contrasting visions of Leibniz and Newton underlie all mathematical, scientific and philosophical speculations, but there are also significant differences. Stephenson does not attempt to recreate the ‘archaic’ English of the late 17th and early 18th centuries, and although many characters are fictional, he does not fundamentally change the historical setting, does not create an alternative historical reality to the extent that Dukaj does, wherein the First World War, the Russian Revolutions of 1917 and Polish independence have not taken place. Nevertheless, reading The System of the World did in some way help me to manage such an enormous volume of complex material.
Dickens was also an inspiration for the speech of Tchingis Shchekelnikoff. Here I examined the speech of Magwitch and Bill Sykes. Certain divergences from the grammar of standard received English, for example, can give a flavour of lower-class speech, although I was extremely wary of importing anything resembling dialect, such as Cockney or Scottish or West Country, because this would have created a cultural mismatch with the setting of the novel in Siberia.
Icealso feels like those long 19th-century Russian novels, in particular Dostoevsky’s, clearly, one of Dukaj’s inspirations. This was perhaps my overriding stylistic aim: to make the narrative sound like Dostoevsky, including digressions, long sentences and all. I tried to imagine, without consulting those contemporary translations too deeply, how such a long novel translated from a foreign language might have read at the beginning of the 20th century – much like a novel written in English, in fact.
Finally, I should mention Andrij Pavlyshyn’s 2018 Ukrainian translation. It’s sometimes helpful when translating to refer to the solutions of translators into other languages, although the usefulness is limited given the different structures of the languages. As I read Ukrainian, it was interesting to see how he had tackled issues where I had had difficulty, where I was not confident that I had grasped the sense of the Polish, it was a kind of insurance policy.
'Day ut ia pobrusa, a ti poziwai' – the first sentence written in Polish in the Book of Henryków around 1270, photo: Wikimedia / CC
AD: How do you think English-language readers will approach ‘Ice’ – in terms of genre, themes or expectations – and what kind of readership do you imagine for the book outside Poland? Do you anticipate that Anglophone readers will interpret its dramatic ‘Thaw’ or its Siberian setting through contemporary lenses such as climate fiction or Eastern European history?
UP: I am unable to comment on sales in Poland, I haven’t researched that. The novel was originally published in 2007. I remember reading, early in 2008, an intriguing review by Wojciech Orliński, if I remember correctly, which prompted me to buy the book at the time. I gathered that the book was selling well; how subsequent editions have fared I’m not sure, but the fact that there have been new editions suggests that its popularity persists.
On whether the novel in some way represents ‘climate fiction’, Dukaj himself is quite clear: this was not his intention. However, it is possible that English-language readers may construe such a reference. Without my giving too much of the plot away, the great Thaw that takes place late in the book is massively impressive and may come, on a first reading, as a shock. This drama is not related, however, to theories of climate change, less still to present-day ecological campaigns. However, as I was translating these sensational descriptions of the melting ice, I couldn’t help but be aware that Siberia is currently warming and the permafrost is thawing, although the causes in the novel are quite different. Even so, some of the physical phenomena envisaged by Dukaj are actually coming true right now: the collapse of the soil, massive distortions to the ground resulting in bumpy airstrips and crooked buildings, not least the release into the air of long-dormant species of insect, which only add to the huge swarms of summer mosquitoes tormenting animals and people, the so-called Siberian gnus.
As to how it will sell in English, let’s wait and see. The publisher (Head of Zeus, part of Bloomsbury) clearly believes that there will be enthusiastic readers. It’ll be published in the United States after Christmas. I already have two online interviews booked with American critics in January/February to discuss the translation. There has been good publicity here in Britain, but I myself am waiting for longer in-depth reviews from commentators who have had time to read the whole book and reflect upon it. I imagine that the book would appeal to at least two audiences: first, science fiction aficionados and readers who enjoy immersing themselves in alternative realities, and second, readers who follow literary fiction from Eastern Europe, including historians of Russia.
I’m often asked, as a translator and as a historian of Polish literature, how I expect Anglophones to be able to understand the context and sense of Polish literary texts, the implication being that they may not be able. If I achieve anything, I would dearly love to break down the misconception that only Poles can really understand their history and literature. It is possible to understand them by studying them. I see a work such as Ice, as I have many others before it, from Mickiewicz’s Pan Tadeuszto Bolesław Prus’ The Doll to Olga Tokarczuk’s The Books of Jacob, as precisely the means by which non-Polish readers can learn about Polish history and culture. It’s not that one has to know the history of Poland and Russia in order to understand Ice – on the contrary, the book itself provides the insights. That said, it is probable that the scientific and philosophical, i.e. universal, supranational aspects of the book may appeal more to English-language readers. The publisher also classifies it as ‘steampunk’ which may likewise attract a specific group of readers. It remains to be seen.
Published: Nov 29 2025
Last updated: Nov 29 2025"
https://culture.pl/en/article/at-the-limits-of-possibility-ursula-phillips-on-translating-jacek-dukajs-ice
#Metaglossia
#metaglossia_mundus
"Few industries evolve as quietly or as powerfully as language translation. Once a background service, translation is now reshaping how companies expand, communicate, and build trust across borders. The Spanish Group, an ISO-certified translation firm, has released its forecast for 2026, and the message is clear: translation has outgrown its role as a support function and stepped into the core of global strategy.
“Cultural adaptation is essential to communicate authentically and inclusively with diverse audiences worldwide,” said Salvador Ordorica, CEO of The Spanish Group. “Next year promises to be exciting for how businesses can leverage translation to reach their goals, as well as adhere to increasing regulations and evolving digital laws and ESG reporting standards.”
What emerges from the company’s analysis is a picture of an industry maturing fast, where the line between communication and commerce continues to blur.
From Translation to Localization
The first and perhaps most significant shift is philosophical. Businesses are no longer viewing translation as the final step in a content process, but as the foundation for how they design and deliver their message.
According to Ordorica, 2026 will see translation move from being transactional to being deeply local. “As digital expansion accelerates, businesses realize simple accuracy isn’t enough; it has to resonate culturally.”
That resonance is increasingly driving the way teams operate. Marketing and localization specialists now collaborate at the earliest stages of product and campaign development. This means companies are thinking about tone, humor, idioms, and even color associations before a single line of copy is written. The result is a global business landscape where authenticity, not just accessibility, defines success.
The New Language of Travel
Nowhere is this more visible than in the travel industry. As international tourism surges past pre-pandemic levels, travelers expect seamless multilingual experiences that go far beyond websites and brochures.
Ordorica notes that “travelers now expect instant, multilingual support — across everything from booking systems to chat help.” The shift has expanded the importance of languages like Korean, Portuguese, and Arabic, evidence that travel brands are serving increasingly diverse markets.
Companies that once saw translation as a marketing cost now treat it as a customer service investment. The ability to speak directly to travelers in their native language is becoming a marker of both respect and reliability.
Localization as a Supply Chain Tool
Behind the scenes, language is also becoming a tool for stability. Global supply chains, already stretched by geopolitical and economic shifts, are being reinforced through localization.
As companies expand into emerging regions such as Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia, clear and culturally correct communication is proving essential. Training materials, safety manuals, and compliance documents must all be adapted with precision to keep operations moving smoothly.
“Translation has evolved from a marketing task to a critical part of keeping business running smoothly,” said Ordorica. In other words, localization is no longer about marketing presence — it’s about operational survival.
Emerging Markets, Emerging Languages
English, Spanish, Chinese, and Arabic still dominate international communication, but the horizon is widening. As digital growth accelerates in India, Indonesia, Vietnam, and East Africa, regional languages are gaining prominence in boardrooms and business plans.
Ordorica predicts that early investment in Hindi, Indonesian, Vietnamese, and Swahili will separate leaders from laggards. “Early localization in these languages gives brands a competitive edge as these markets grow digitally,” he said.
This linguistic shift mirrors a broader economic trend — power and innovation are dispersing. Companies that adapt early to linguistic diversity will be best positioned to build trust in markets where cultural nuance defines consumer loyalty.
AI and the Human Element
Artificial intelligence remains the most disruptive force in translation, and 2026 will test how organizations balance automation with authenticity. AI tools can now produce usable translations in seconds, but speed often comes at the cost of nuance.
“With AI tools becoming standard parts of workflows, the trend now is toward human-checked translations that complement, not replace, automation,” said Ordorica. “Certified accuracy and deep cultural insight matter most.”
The legal, medical, and government sectors already show why this balance matters. A machine can produce a readable text, but only a trained linguist understands the stakes of tone, context, or liability.
AI is proving most effective when treated as a drafting tool, a way to generate first versions that humans refine. Ordorica encourages business leaders to stay curious but careful. “Don’t replace research, studies, and expertise with artificial intelligence just to save time or produce more content. Prioritize quality over quantity. The coming years will show who uses AI wisely with human oversight and who doesn’t — impacting trust and credibility.”
Language as Leadership
Translation has always been about understanding, but in 2026, it is about strategy. The companies that rise above the noise will be those that communicate not only across markets but within them, with messages that feel native, credible, and culturally intelligent.
As Ordorica frames it, the future of translation is not about faster tools or cheaper output. It is about how faithfully meaning travels between people. In an era when connection defines credibility, language has become leadership itself."
https://gritdaily.com/words-become-strategy-translation-global-business/
#Metaglossia
#metaglossia_mundus
"The Ferryman and His Wife by Frode Grytten; Woman in the Pillory by Brigitte Reimann; Iran+100, edited by various; Sea Now by Eva Meijer
The Ferryman and His Wife by Frode Grytten, translated by Alison McCullough (Serpent’s Tail, £12.99)
On the last day of his life – how does he know? He just does – Norwegian ferryman Nils Vik takes a final boat trip, alone after a lifetime helping others. He remembers those he has ferried, including actor Edward G Robinson; Miss Norway 1966, who was “declared the most beautiful woman in the nation and won a Fiat 850”; and young gay man Jon, who was bullied by his father, then drowned in a car, channelling the Smiths: “What a heavenly way to die … to die by his lover’s side.” ...
Woman in the Pillory by Brigitte Reimann, translated by Lucy Jones (Penguin Classics, £10.99)
When a German farm needs extra manpower during the second world war while farmer Heinrich is off fighting for the Third Reich, a Russian prisoner of war, Alexei, is brought in to help. Frieda, Heinrich’s sister, treats him like dirt (“they’re only half-human”), but Heinrich’s young wife, Kathrin, is charmed, and then some. When she sees him showering outside and they make eye contact, “a jolt went through her as if she’d been caught doing something wicked”....
Iran + 100, edited by Fereshteh Ahmadi, Peter Adrian Behravesh and Leila Elder, translated by various (Comma, £10.99)
Ten Iranian authors imagine Iran in 2053, a century after the US- and UK-backed coup that overthrew the democratically elected government. In one story, Iran must pour away its sanctioned oil, and a man uses the public ceremony as cover to fake his own death. In another, a further revolution has taken place, with men subjugated by women, and strictures enforced by drones. “Once feared clerics were sent to the same prisons they’d once filled. Only this time, the guards were women. They called it therapy.”...
Sea Now by Eva Meijer, translated by Anne Thompson Melo (Peirene, £12.99)
When a collapse in the Gulf Stream causes the sea to reclaim the Netherlands, a kilometre per day, there’s panic over what to do. Businesses see an opportunity (“Four life jackets for the price of three!”), while most people evacuate, except those calling themselves “remainers”, who believe the flooding is a “LEFT WING CONSPIRACY”. Meijer has fun switching between a series of characters: the prime minister (other countries, he hopes, “would be overjoyed at the arrival of the Dutch”); members of a pressure group Sea Now! (“We must take our lead from the sea now”); and a newsreader reduced to broadcasting on YouTube (“Don’t forget to like and subscribe”). It’s so lively that when the tone changes, and a group of young people return later on a boat to explore the old country, the silence and serenity are mesmerising."
John Self
28 Nov 2025
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/nov/28/the-best-recent-translated-fiction-review-roundup-the-ferryman-and-his-wife
#Metaglossia
#metaglossia_mundus
"Instagram Empowers Creators to Go Global with Local Voice Translations and Fonts
In the coming months you will soon be able to use Meta AI to translate reels in five new Indian languages.
Additionally, creators will now have the benefit of using new Indian fonts on Edits.
Today, at the exclusive ‘House of Instagram’ event in Mumbai, we shared two new updates from Instagram that not only underline India’s importance for Meta, but also further the possibilities for creators to reach new audiences.
Meta AI Translations Expand To Five New Indian Languages on Instagram & Facebook
We’re excited to announce in the coming months you will soon be able to use Meta AI to translate reels in five new Indian languages, helping you discover more entertaining content from across India and around the world. In October, we launched the ability for creators to dub and lip-sync their reels to and from English, Hindi, Spanish, and Portuguese, helping them reach more people globally. Now, the same capability will soon be available in Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Marathi.
How will this work?
Creators have the option to use Meta AI to transform their reels, so they sound and look fluent in some of the world’s most spoken languages, helping them reach more people globally and grow an international audience. When turned on, the tool preserves the sound and tone of your voice, so your reels feel authentically you. You can also choose to enable the lip syncing feature, which syncs the translated audio to your mouth’s movements, so it looks like you’re actually speaking the language.
New Indian Fonts Available on Edits
Additionally, creators will now have the benefit of using new Indian fonts on Edits. So you’ll now be able to style your text and captions with Devanagari and Bengali-Assamese scripts, in languages such as Hindi, Marathi, Bengali and Assamese. This update will roll out on Android in the coming days.
How will this work?
Within your editing timeline, head to “Text” on the bottom tools tray.
From there click on the “Aa” icon where you’ll see the list of fonts available.
If your device is already in Devanagari or Bengali-Assamese scripts, these fonts will be defaulted in the font tab. If not, slightly swipe down when you’re on the “all fonts” tab to filter your fonts by language.
These new updates follow a spree of other features launched in the past month to benefit creators. This includes the ability to restyle your photos and videos in Instagram Stories and make edits—big or small—using Meta AI. There are also new features in Edits, such as bulk editing captions, reversing your videos, using lip sync to bring your photos to life, and access to 400 more sound effects."
https://about.fb.com/news/2025/11/instagram-empowers-creators-to-go-global-with-local-voice-translations-and-fonts/
#Metaglossia
#metaglossia_mundus
"Recherche de bénévoles pour de la traduction, de l'interprétariat et de la médiation culturelle. L’association Agir pour la réinsertion sociale recherche des bénévoles pour accompagner des personnes allophones – qui ne maîtrisent pas encore le français – dans leurs démarches d’insertion sociale et professionnelle. Notre association est basée à Saint-Ouen-L’Aumône mais intervient dans tout l’Ouest du Val d’Oise (les villes de l’agglomération de Cergy-Pontoise, jusqu’à Argenteuil, Ermont, Cormeilles-en-Parisis etc) et dans le nord des Yvelines (ex : Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, Verneuil-sur-Seine, Meulan, Andrésy, Carrières-sous-Poissy…). Nous recherchons des personnes capables de soutenir les équipes dans : • La traduction écrite (documents administratifs, informations, courriers…). • L’interprétariat en direct lors d’entretiens individuels ou de rendez-vous, au bureau ou à domicile. • La médiation interculturelle, notamment pour expliquer le fonctionnement des institutions, les démarches à suivre et leur importance. • L’accompagnement physique, si nécessaire, vers des services publics, des structures administratives ou des lieux essentiels du quotidien (ex: centre social ou maison de quartier, centre de santé, etc). • La participation à des activités collectives, pour favoriser l'inclusion, la compréhension et l'expression des personnes allophones (ex: ateliers pédagogiques, temps de travail participatif...). Sautez le pas Contactez nous si vous souhaitez : • Contribuer à l’insertion de personnes allophones. • Mettre vos compétences linguistiques et interculturelles au service d’une cause utile. • Vivre une expérience riche sur le plan humain et relationnel. • Rejoindre une équipe engagée et bienveillante. Précisions Missions possibles : En fonction des besoins et de vos disponibilités, vous pourrez participer à : • Des entretiens individuels en binôme avec une travailleuse ou un travailleur social (traduction, clarification, explication des démarches). • Des accompagnements physiques : accompagner une personne vers une institution, l’aider à comprendre une procédure ou à réaliser une démarche. • Des sorties collectives : visites de quartier, découverte de la ville, de lieux culturels ou emblématiques, appréhension du territoire. • Des ateliers collectifs : • ateliers numériques / aide aux démarches en ligne, • ateliers ludiques autour du relogement (comprendre les démarches, entretenir son logement), • ateliers d’information et d’accès aux droits. Profil, rôle et posture: • Maîtriser le français et une autre langue (pachtou, dari, soninké, wolof, somali, bengali, portugais, russe, anglais, etc) • Être en capacité d’écouter, de traduire littéralement des conversations et/ou des documents écrits. • Permettre la compréhension et l'expression des personnes allophones (ne maitrisant pas le français) • Faciliter le dialogue interculturel entre les travailleurs et travailleuses sociales et les publics allophones. • Être fiable, respecter la confidentialité des échanges dans la volonté de soutenir l’inclusion sociale des personnes. • Être un relai rassurant et facilitateur pour des personnes en pleine adaptation. Nous cherchons des bénévoles disponibles : • du lundi au vendredi: entre 9h et 17h • du lundi au vendredi en soirée : entre 18h et 20h • le samedi en journée."
https://www.oneheart.fr/actions/je-traduis-et-jinterprete-pour-des-personnes-qui-ne-maitrisent-pas-encore-le-francais
#Metaglossia
#metaglossia_mundus
Survey: What impact do liturgical and scriptural translations have on your spiritual life?
"Does the liturgy need a new translation?
What impact do liturgical and scriptural translations have on your spiritual life? Take our survey.
In the Pews Nathaniel
Unless you happened to grow up speaking Ancient Greek and Hebrew (with a smattering of Aramaic for good measure), the words you are familiar with from scripture, whether read aloud at Mass or silently at home, are not the same words divinely inspired millennia ago. They are the product of the work of countless translators laboring to render ancient tongues into living, understandable vernacular.
Take our survey
The translation that has shaped your prayer life and spiritual imagination is itself part of a rich, ongoing tradition—one link in a long chain of linguistic evolution that stretches from early Christian communities to the present day. Each generation truly receives the Word anew, translated with care to speak to its own time and place.
In the very near future, a new link will be added to that ever-growing chain: This month, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops approved a new Bible translation in an overwhelming 216-4 vote, to be called “The Catholic American Bible,” expected for release in 2027.
Speaking to The Catholic Standard, Bishop Steven J. Lopes, chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Divine Worship, described the new translation as seeking to create a “common text between the lectionary at Mass, the Scripture that is used in the Liturgy of the Hours and a Bible text that you can have as a physical Bible for your own private prayer and devotion”.
The Catholic American Bible (CAB) will replace the New American Bible, Revised Edition (NABRE), which was released in March 2011 after 20 years of consultation and revision. The CAB is not a completely new translation: its Old Testament will be a revised version based on the NABRE, replacing the Book of Psalms with The Abbey Psalms and Canticles—a translation created by monks at Conception Abbey in Missouri. The New Testament, however, has been newly translated, with work beginning in 2013 soon after the release of the NABRE, with 5 editors and 18 revisers contributing to the project.
According to coverage from The Pillar, the translators balanced dual goals: improved readability and suitability for liturgical proclamation while maintaining scholarly rigor. This reflects an ongoing tension in biblical translation—how literal should a translation be? How much should translators prioritize the beauty and flow of English over strict adherence to ancient sentence structures? The Catholic American Bible aims to split this difference, offering a text that works equally well for private meditation, public worship, and scholarly settings.
The process by which Catholics receive approved translations has evolved significantly. Before 1983, translations required approval either from the Apostolic See or from a local diocesan bishop, a system that granted individual bishops considerable authority. The 1983 revision to the Code of Canon Law changed this, entrusting approval to both the Apostolic See and bishops’ conferences such as the USCCB. This shift centralized the approval process and guaranteed Vatican oversight.
The journey toward the Catholic American Bible began decades ago. The original New American Bible (NAB) was published in 1970, stemming from the Confraternity Bible project, which responded to Pope Pius XII’s 1943 encyclical Divino Afflante Spiritu (On Promoting Biblical Studies) calling for translation from the original languages of scripture rather than from the Latin Vulgate. Fifty-one biblical scholars worked on the New American Bible from 1944 to 1970, representing a massive collaborative effort.
The NAB became the standard for American Catholic worship, but other English-speaking countries approved different translations—the Jerusalem Bible in England and Wales, the Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition in Canada for certain uses, and others.
As a global church whose history spans thousands of years, the project of translation will likely always be essential to life in the Catholic church, whether for scripture, or the liturgy, or encyclicals, or even just Christmas cards. As such, we shouldn’t expect the Catholic American Bible to put the final pin in this saga—the current translation of the Mass is just about as old as the NABRE, so perhaps we should be preparing also for a new translation on the liturgical front.
As American Catholics anticipate this new translation—and wait, perhaps, for a translation of the Mass to match—it’s worth pausing to reflect on our own relationship with scripture and the liturgy. What do we actually need from a Bible translation? What’s missing from current liturgical translations? What would help us encounter the gospel more deeply? These are the questions we’d like you to ponder in the latest U.S. Catholic Sounding Board survey..."
https://uscatholic.org/articles/202511/does-the-liturgy-need-a-new-translation/
#Metaglossia
#metaglossia_mundus
Due to Kindle's latest offer CEATL and EWC call on the global book sector to stand in solidarity with human literary translators.
"Joint Call by EWC & CEATL to stand in solidarity with human translators
Joint Statement by EWC and CEATL to call on the global book sector, including writers, agents, publishers and readers, to stand in solidarity with human literary translators.
Let’s protect writers’ and translators’ work, their diverse creativity and their livelihood.
Let’s protect culture and champion rich human creativity.Let’s defend ourselves against the logics of mere profit. Let’s keep fostering an industry that nurtures a love of reading of works written, translated, illustrated and published by human beings.
Books cannot be translated in a click!
We are deeply troubled by the recent announcement from Amazon to launch Kindle Translate, a new AI-powered translation “service”, for Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) authors. Currently in beta, Kindle Translate will initially offer translation of e-books between English and Spanish and from German into English, to selected KDP authors for free.
What’s it about?
Kindle Translate promises to:
“Create publication-ready translations in a few days, for free.”
“Preview quality of translations before publication.”
“Reach new readers worldwide and earn more royalties.”
What is going to happen?
This is another blow to literary translators (fiction and nonfiction alike), whose profession is being increasingly threatened by AI: from Audible’s recent announcement to launch a new automated translation service for audiobooks to Dutch publisher Veen Bosch & Keuning’s announcement that they will use AI to translate books into English, the ease with which translators seem to be removed from the translation process in favour of AI services and tools is incredibly worrying and should be a wake-up call for all players in the global book sector.
Why are we concerned?
Writing a book takes intense labour time, life-long development of craft, and highly professional skills and creativity. The same applies to the translation of a book: the skills, crafts and expertise of translators are instrumental in the creation of high-quality translations, which respect the writer’s sense of storytelling and style as well as enrich the reader’s experiences.
AI does not translate, it merely generates textual material. And: most AI models have been unlawfully trained on copyright-protected works without consent, attribution or remuneration of the writers and translators. Many AI-powered translation services claim to provide perfectly accurate translations but there is no such thing. A literal translation is the opposite of a good translation.
What does this threat take away from all of us?
Imagination, creativity and sensitivity are intrinsically human. AI does not grasp humour and metaphors, cannot experience the emotions, nor interpret the intention behind the words. On the contrary, it flattens and impoverishes texts and stories, and reports suggest that it reinforces biases and stereotypes, and increases the risk of inaccuracies and errors. Every author must be aware that a machine translation might harm their text, style, and hence their reputation. Additionally, AI raises many questions in terms of accountability of the automated, non-protected output that is remixed and generated by an AI model...
We, CEATL and EWC, represent around 260.000 individual authors and translators from 91 associations in the book and text sectors, who work as writers and literary translators in all genres in Europe and beyond.
Brussels, 24 November 2025
European Council of Literary Translators’ Associations (CEATL)
European Writers’ Council (EWC)"
https://europeanwriterscouncil.eu/2511_jl_ceatl_ewc_translators/
#Metaglossia
#metaglossia_mundus
"Through the fellowship program and translation fund, Publishing Scotland seeks to bring Scottish literature to readers around the world.
Last month at the Frankfurt Book Fair, Publishing Scotland made an open call to international publishers with an interest in Scottish writers and literature to participate in the program next summer. There are eight slots available.
The fellowship program, which was founded in 2015, seeks to foster relationships between the Scottish market and publishers from around the world with the goal of expanding the network, facilitating the buying and selling of rights, and broadening the reach of Scottish literature. Over the last decade, the program has welcomed 71 publishers from 19 countries for meetings, publisher and agent visits, and insight into the Scottish publishing market.
Taking place in August, the week-long fellowship coincides with the Edinburgh International Book Festival, the expanded Global Ink conference at the Book Festival, and the world-famous Edinburgh Festival and Fringe.
Scotland-based literary agent Jenny Brown of Jenny Brown Associates has been involved with the fellowship since its inception and credits it for bringing Scottish literature to new markets. “The Fellowship has become a highlight in the publishing calendar: it has boosted Scotland’s international profile, enabling us to meet publishers and giving us a deeper understanding of their markets.”
“They in turn encounter the vibrant and diverse literary scene of Scotland. And as a result of building those relationships, agents and publishers have sold significantly more rights, increasing the reach of writing from Scotland internationally.”
In addition to the applications being open for the fellowship program, Publishing Scotland also announced a new round of their translation fund which is also open. The fund supports the translation fees for foreign publishers interested in publishing Scottish writers. Priority will be given to the translation of contemporary literature, including fiction, nonfiction, poetry, writing for children and graphic novels.
Applications for the fund will be focused on the merit of the work to be translated, financial need of the international publisher, a potential marketing plan, and, most importantly, passion and enthusiasm for the work selected.
For more information on Publish Scotland and these opportunities, visit the website here. For more Publishing Perspectives coverage of the Scottish market, click here.
By Erin L. Cox, Publisher | @erinlcox
https://publishingperspectives.com
Erin L. Cox is the Publisher of Publishing Perspectives. She has spent more than 25 years on the business development and promotional side of the publishing industry, working in book publicity at Scribner and HarperCollins, advertising sales and marketing at The New Yorker..."
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Appel à communications
Colloque international de linguistique, Sofia, 19-21 novembre 2026
In honorem
L’année 2026 marque le 100e anniversaire de la fondation du Cercle linguistique de Prague, dont les travaux, les théories et les concepts ont laissé une empreinte profonde sur toute la linguistique moderne. À cette occasion, le Département d’études romanes de l’Université de Sofia « Saint Clément d’Ohrid », en partenariat avec l’Université Masaryk (Brno), organise un colloque international consacré à l’histoire de cette organisation informelle de chercheurs, mais aussi à la notion pragoise de fonction et à ses implications pour les théories linguistiques d’obédience fonctionnelle.
Propositions de communication et langues du colloque
Le colloque est organisé sur le principe d’un appel à communications, dont les réponses sont attendues avant le 15 avril 2026 aux adresses suivantes : clp2026sofia@yahoo.com et iburov@uni-sofia.bg. Les propositions de communication, contenant un titre, un résumé d’environ 500 mots et une bibliographie sélective (une quinzaine de références au maximum), feront l’objet d’une évaluation de la part d’un comité scientifique. Le résumé doit établir le lien avec le thème du colloque, présenter les objectifs visés, l’approche théorique et la méthodologie adoptées, orienter vers les hypothèses de travail et/ou les résultats attendus. Les auteurs seront informés de l’acceptation de leurs propositions de communication le 1er juin 2026 au plus tard.
Dans le respect de la tradition instaurée par les Pragois de rédiger leurs textes fondateurs et programmatiques en français (cf. notamment les Thèses de 1929 et le Projet d’une terminologie phonologique standardisée de 1931) et de donner un nom français à leur tribune officielle, les Travaux du CLP, la langue principale du colloque sera le français. Seront acceptées toutefois des propositions de communications présentées également en italien, en roumain (langues enseignées dans le Département d’études romanes de l’Université de Sofia) et en anglais.
Les communications auront une durée de 20 minutes et seront suivies de 10 minutes de discussion. Les conférences plénières auront une durée de 45 minutes et seront suivies de 15 minutes de discussion.
Argumentaire
La linguistique ‘fonctionnelle’ cent ans après la fondation du Cercle linguistique de Prague
Admirant le modèle du Cercle linguistique de Moscou (CLM) avec ses activités, Vilém Mathesius (1882-1945), linguiste et historien de la littérature, prend l’initiative, dès 1925, de fonder à Prague, conjointement avec Bohumil Trnka (1895-1984), Roman Jakobson (1896-1982) et Serge Karcevski (1884-1955), un groupe analogue d’échange d’idées en matière de linguistique et de littérature. Réuni, le 6 octobre 1926, pour sa première séance (Mathesius 1966 [1936] : 139-140, Battistella 2022 : 221-222), celui-ci se voit rapidement rejoindre, à travers différentes formes de participation ou de collaboration, par linguistes, littéraires et philosophes tchèques et étrangers, parmi lesquels la figure la plus importante pour le développement futur du groupe est certainement celle de Nikolaï Troubetzkoy (1890-1938). La théorisation de nouveaux termes et concepts, sa méthodologie rigoureuse et son approche inédite de la langue feront du Cercle linguistique de Prague (CLP), pendant plus d’une décennie, le foyer d’une véritable révolution en linguistique, qui finira par imposer celle-ci comme une discipline pionnière et un modèle à suivre pour les sciences humaines. D’autres associations formelles ou informelles de linguistes vont se constituer par la suite, en se réclamant d’une filiation avec le CLP, comme la Société Genevoise de Linguistique (fondée en 1940) (Sechehaye 1941 : 175-176), en contestant l’approche pragoise, comme le Cercle linguistique de Copenhague (fondé en 1931), ou en suivant simplement la ‘mode’ des ‘cercles’ européens, tout en imitant le fonctionnement de sociétés savantes plus anciennes, comme le Cercle linguistique de New York (fondé en 1943), qui continue les activités suspendues sous l’Occupation de la Société de linguistique de Paris (fondée en 1864) (Testenoire 2023). Toujours est-il qu’aucune autre école de pensée n’aura jamais un impact comparable à celui du CLP sur la théorie linguistique moderne et le colloque prévu du 19 au 21 novembre 2026 à l’Université de Sofia « Saint Clément d’Ohrid » se propose de lui rendre hommage, notamment en ce qui concerne l’établissement du paradigme structuraliste.
Vachek (1966 : 6-7) rappelle que l’approche pragoise se réclame non seulement de l’épithète structuraliste (insistant sur la nécessité d’aborder les faits de langue dans leur interdépendance mutuelle), mais aussi de l’épithète fonctionnaliste (étant donné que chaque élément de la langue est censé accomplir une certaine fonction). Les Thèses de Prague, élaborées et présentées à l’occasion du Ier Congrès international des slavistes, organisé en octobre 1929 dans la capitale tchécoslovaque, promeuvent effectivement déjà une « [c]onception de la langue comme système fonctionnel » (CLP 1929 : 7). Parmi les nombreux concepts importants introduits par le CLP, les organisateurs du présent colloque ont choisi en effet de rendre hommage surtout à celui de fonction, en déroulant un fil rouge qui parcourt quatre de ses cinq sections thématiques. Certes, l’importance de cette notion pour la linguistique moderne ne saura être mise en valeur par la seule étude de son acception pragoise, intimement liée aux recherches sur les diverses fonctions de la langue et de ses éléments, raison pour laquelle nous invitons à étudier ses développements structuralistes, post-structuralistes et modernes qui lui réservent une place centrale ou qui se réclament d’une approche fonctionnelle. Toutes les approches, si diverses soient-elles, qui défendent une conception de la langue comme système de communication dont la structure ou l’évolution sont déterminées par ses fonctions (communicative, expressive ou autre), qui expliquent les structures ou les processus linguistiques par des principes fonctionnels ayant une validité en dehors du langage, qui analysent le fonctionnement de la langue à travers les interactions entre ses locuteurs ou avec son environnement écologique ou socio-culturel, ou qui contestent les théories fonctionnelles dans un cadre formel ou génératif, seront les bienvenues.
Sections thématiques
1. Histoire du CLP et études épistémologiques de ses thèses et concepts
Cette section thématique invite à l’étude historiographique des idées du CLP et de ses membres individuels, à la recherche de ses précurseurs ou continuateurs, à l’analyse des rapports de filiation ou de contestation avec les autres théories structurales (européennes ou étatsuniennes) de la première moitié du XXe siècle, ou à l’élucidation des liens de la théorie pragoise avec les autres sciences humaines.
Forte de sa position géographique centrale en Europe et animée d’un climat scientifique particulièrement propice dans les années 1920-1930, la ville de Prague a stimulé la rencontre de courants linguistiques venus de l’est et de l’ouest avec une tradition tchèque qui, en les personnes de Tomáš Masaryk (1850-1937) et Vilém Mathesius, avait souligné, bien avant la fondation du CLP, l’importance d’une description synchronique et fonctionnelle de la langue (Jakobson 1973 : 313, Fischer-Jørgensen 1975 : 19). Tout en affichant une certaine continuité d’idées à la fois avec Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913) et l’École de Kazan, les Pragois ont toujours été attentifs à marquer leurs distances par rapport à ces deux sources d’inspiration (Troubetzkoy 1949 [1939] : 4, Jakobson 1973 : 252-253, Jakobson 1976 : 55) et à souligner l’importance de l’apport tchèque pour l’élaboration de la théorie pragoise (Vachek 1967 : 335, Fronek 1988 : 93), si bien que les recherches qui explorent le transfert d’idées de Genève et de la Russie vers Prague n’ont jamais cessé d’être un paradigme fécond (cf. entre autres Caussat 1990, Coursil 1995, Gadet 1995, Bergounioux 2014). La langue comme système de relations syntagmatiques et paradigmatiques, les implications des dichotomies langue/parole, synchronie/diachronie, la théorie du phonème et du signe, le concept d’opposition ont fait l’objet d’un développement pragois qui ne saurait être séparé de ses sources chez Saussure, Jan Baudouin de Courtenay (1845-1929) et Mikołaj Kruszewski (1851-1887), et nous encourageons toute communication qui se propose de revoir ou d’analyser sous un nouveau jour ces relations de filiation complexes.
Un paradigme largement méconnu de la linguistique tchèque de l’entre-deux-guerres, qui se cristallise dans les activités du CLP, concerne la dimension de la sociologie du langage, de l’élaboration et de la planification de corpus de langues, motivée par la situation multilingue de l’État tchécoslovaque (cf. Chloupek & Nekvapil, eds., 1987). En marge des études historiographiques sur l’héritage pragois, cette perspective de recherche est devenue aujourd’hui l’un de ses plus beaux fleurons, notamment avec les efforts de Neustupný (1978) pour asseoir la planification linguistique macro-sociétale sur une théorie des problèmes langagiers, efforts qui ont finalement abouti à la Language Management Theory (cf. Jernudd 1983, Neustupný & Nekvapil 2003, Nekvapil 2006).
Contrairement à ce qu’indique son nom, le CLP n’a pas limité son intérêt à des problèmes strictement linguistiques. Des travaux de poétique de Jakobson ont été discutés déjà au sein du CLM (Jakobson 1973 : 133-134), et Jan Mukařovský (1891-1975), qui était fondamentalement esthéticien et théoricien de la littérature, collaborait étroitement avec le chercheur russe pendant sa période ‘pragoise’ dans ses recherches sur la valeur esthétique du son, assurant ainsi le « lien entre la linguistique pragoise et le structuralisme littéraire tchèque au sens large »[1] (Battistella 2022 : 240). Jakobson (1973 : 132) souligne d’ailleurs clairement l’inspiration extralinguistique de la théorie structuraliste, en l’associant principalement, mais non exclusivement, aux techniques créatives et représentatives des « grand artistes nés dans les années 1880 », à savoir Picasso, Joyce, Braque, Stravinsky, Xlebnikov, Le Corbusier. Toutes les communications qui se proposent d’explorer les origines ou les activités non strictement linguistiques ou interdisciplinaires du CLP seront donc accueillies avec intérêt.
Cette section encourage enfin les études de la collaboration entre les membres du CLP à travers leurs échanges épistolaires. La correspondance du début des années 1920 de Troubetzkoy avec Jakobson, mais aussi avec Antoine Meillet (1866-1936) et Ivan Šišmanov (1862-1928), révèle des moments encore largement inexplorés de sa période ‘pré-phonologique’, et surtout de la période entre 1920 et 1922 où il enseignait à l’Université de Sofia en y donnant un cours d’Introduction à la linguistique comparée avec un intérêt particulier pour les principales langues indo-européennes (Jakobson 1985). Non encore complètement émancipé de ses premiers travaux d’ethnographie et de folklore, et marqué surtout pour son intérêt pour la reconstitution du proto-slave et la linguistique comparée des langues slaves, cet épisode de la carrière académique de Troubetzkoy invite naturellement à y chercher les ébauches de ses idées qui l’illustreront, à partir de la fin des années 1920, et surtout avec ses Grundzüge (1939) posthumes, comme le père-fondateur de la phonologie moderne.
2. Fonction et fonctionnalisme en phonologie
Les travaux en phonologie du CLP sont indiscutablement ceux qui ont fait la gloire du groupe et ont transformé ce nouveau champ de recherche pour le début du XXe siècle en science-pilote pour les autres sciences du langage, lesquelles ont progressivement reçu d’elle non seulement des concepts heuristiques mais aussi une rigueur méthodologique élaborée au fil des années 1930. Même si la mise en place de la phonologie pragoise s’associe surtout aux noms de Troubetzkoy et Jakobson, beaucoup d’autres membres du CLP ont écrit eux aussi sur le phonème, les neutralisations et la nature des oppositions phonémiques (cf. Havránek 1931, Vachek 1935, 1936, Trnka 1936, Novák 1939, Karcevski 1943) ; sans oublier le rôle de Mathesius (1929) pour l’abandon de la conception psychologisante du phonème héritée de Baudouin, et encore soutenue par Troubetzkoy à l’occasion de son intervention en 1931 au IIe Congrès international de linguistes à Genève, au profit d’une conception fonctionnelle qui fera la gloire non seulement du CLP mais du fonctionnalisme européen en général. Cette conception fonctionnelle du phonème s’est imposée par la mise au premier plan de sa fonction distinctive, au détriment de sa fonction constitutive ou identificationnelle, défendue par les Écoles de Moscou et de Leningrad, qui en fait aussi une unité positive de constitution des morphèmes. Loin d’être un simple débat d’écoles, cette question s’ouvre naturellement sur la notion de pertinence communicative (Martinet 1991 [1960] : 13). Réalisée à travers une pertinence significative (grâce aux unités de la première articulation) et une pertinence distinctive (assurée par les unités de la seconde articulation), la pertinence communicative fait apparaître une solidarité fonctionnelle entre monèmes et phonèmes. Il en est ainsi car la fonction distinctive martinétienne ne se conçoit qu’à travers la réalisation de la fonction significative, cette dernière ayant besoin d’un support formel pour se réaliser (Feuillard 2001 : 9-10). Cela touche, de son côté, à une question encore plus globale : celle du rapport entre phonologie et morphologie, et plus généralement entre son et sens, mais aussi celle de la manière dont les théories linguistiques (structurales, génératives ou autres) modélisent ce rapport, et de la manière dont l’analyse des (nouvelles) données empiriques des diverses langues peut ultérieurement l’éclairer.
Les Pragois ont consacré l’indépendance de la phonologie par rapport à la phonétique, sans toutefois nier les liens étroits qui les unissent. L’idée même que le phonème est doté d’un contenu interne défini en termes articulatoires ou acoustiques confère aux unités du signifiant une vision plus substantialiste que celle de Saussure (Bergounioux 2014). Les travaux de Jakobson de fin de carrière envisagent la phonologie comme une phonétique fonctionnelle, adoptant ainsi une perspective qui est fondamentalement celle de Martinet : chez ce dernier, des contraintes d’ordres articulatoires (propriétés de la substance difficilement compatibles ou source d’une difficulté de production) jouent en effet, à travers la notion d’inertie, un rôle primordial pour le comportement des phonèmes et leur organisation en système (cf. en particulier Martinet 1949). Il ne serait pas exagéré de dire que c’est effectivement le CLP qui a ouvert le débat, toujours d’actualité, sur l’interface phonétique/phonologie, sur la nécessité d’une phonologie construite sur des bases phonétiques (Ohala 1983, 1990, Hayes, Kirchner & Steriade, eds., 2004, Burov 2018), sur les processus de phonologisation ou d’émergence de forme à partir d’une substance (Ohala 1973, 1993, Barnes 2002). Remontant aux travaux de Jakobson et ses collaborateurs (Jakobson 1962 [1939], Jakobson & Lotz 1949, Jakobson, Fant & Halle 1952, Cherry & Halle & Jakobson 1953, Jakobson & Halle 1956), l’idée que les segments possèdent un contenu interne est liée au moins à deux questions importantes pour les cadres modernes : les primitives phonologiques (traits, éléments, particules, gestes) et les constituants (nœuds) qui les dominent doivent-ils être définis uniquement sur la base de critères phonétiques ou (aussi) sur la base de critères fonctionnels (possibilité d’un ensemble de phonèmes de fonctionner comme une classe naturelle dans les processus phonologiques) ; les inventaires doivent-ils contenir un nombre aussi réduit que possible de primitives polyfonctionnels (comme le stipulent les Théories des éléments) ou un nombre plutôt élevé de traits définis de manière univoque au risque que cela engendre des redondances (cf. entre autres Ladefoged 1989, Burov 2023) ?
3. La fonction à la jonction de la synchronie et de la diachronie
Dès les Thèses de 1929, les Pragois opèrent une synthèse originale des approches synchronique et diachronique (p. 7-8). Celle-ci va à l’encontre, d’une part, de la conception ‘atomique’ du changement linguistique promue par les Néo-grammairiens par sa mise en rapport avec l’évolution globale du système de la langue et avec les facteurs (synchroniques) qui le motivent ; d’autre part, elle s’oppose à Saussure et aux Genevois, accusés de privilégier trop l’analyse synchronique. À la conception statique du système linguistique qui transparaît du Cours de linguistique générale (Saussure 1931 [1916]), les Pragois opposent en effet l’idée de synchronie dynamique, qui sera élaborée dans les travaux de Jakobson (Gadet 1995) et surtout dans ceux de Martinet (Babiniotis 2009). Il est possible de remonter cette idée aux Programmes et travaux de Baudouin des années 1870, où le linguiste polonais souligne la complémentarité de ce qui est statique et changeant dans la langue (Baudouin de Courtenay 1972 [1871] : 71, [1876-1877] : 92-95), mais aussi à ses travaux de fin de carrière, où il traite de manière plus approfondie les problèmes de « stabilité dynamique » (traits relativement stables qui se prêtent plus difficilement à des changements diachroniques), d’une part, et les transformations dynamiques (diachroniques) qui se profilent en synchronie, d’autre part. Certes, cela ne revient pas à sous-estimer le rôle d’un autre précurseur important du CLP, Tomáš Masaryk, avec sa « vision structuraliste de la langue » basée sur une « conception téléologique du fonctionnalisme linguistique », l’idée de « synchronie dynamique » et le « rôle des sujets parlants pour le développement de la langue et le changement linguistique »[2] (Fronek 1988 : 93).
En effet, si la notion de fonction a un sens tout à fait univoque en synchronie, où elle renvoie au rôle des unités dans le système de la langue, en diachronie, elle ne saurait se comprendre que comme « ce vers quoi tend la langue dans son ensemble » (Verleyen 2013 : 26). Considérée dès les Thèses comme « un système de moyens d’expression appropriés à un but » (CLP 1929 : 7), la langue est effectivement abordée par les Pragois à travers une vision finaliste dans laquelle elle est supposée poursuivre une certaine harmonie, stabilité, ou un équilibre du système, la création de structures toujours plus régulières et prévisibles, etc. Dans une telle vision téléologique, cristallisée dans la correspondance de Troubetzkoy avec Jakobson de la fin des années 1920, le changement diachronique ne peut être conçu que comme une espèce d’homéostase : même si certains changements pourraient être vus comme destructeurs, ils sont suivis par d’autres dont la finalité est de rétablir un certain équilibre dans le système (Verleyen 2013 : 7).
Cependant, si l’idée que le changement linguistique poursuit une certaine finalité a été souvent dénoncée comme « antiscientifique » (cf. en particulier Martinet 1955 : 18), ces points soulevés par les Pragois ont été repris de manière heuristique à une époque moderne à travers une approche qualifiable de fonctionnelle. Débarrassée de la conception troubetzkoyenne et jakobsonienne de la langue comme une totalité organique, celle-ci se propose d’expliquer le changement par référence aux besoins communicatifs des locuteurs ou à des contraintes fonctionnelles (cognitives, pragmatiques, mnémoniques, anatomiques, physiques ou autres) qui déterminent leur comportement langagier. Par exemple, si les voyelles tendent à être équidistantes dans l’espace phonétique ou à y occuper certaines positions préférées qui favorisent leur audibilité et distinctivité (Liljencrants & Lindblom 1972, Lindblom 1986), ou si l’analogie tend à aboutir à des structures plus régulières, plus prévisibles et facilement mémorisables (Albright 2008, Garrett 2008), peut-on conclure à l’existence de contraintes synchroniques qui orientent l’évolution diachronique possible vers un état final préféré plutôt que vers un autre (cf. notamment les « contraintes fonctionnelles adaptatives » de Haspelmath 2019 ou les « contraintes écologiques » de Maddieson 2006) ? Si ces contraintes sont adaptatives, fonctionnelles et extralinguistiques en même temps, s’expliquent-elles par le fait que la langue fonctionne elle-même comme un système complexe adaptatif (Sinnemäki 2014 : 191, Patriarca, Heinsalu & Léonard 2020 : 11, Burov 2021 : 68), étroitement imbriqué dans son milieu éco-social et échangeant de manière fluide une énergie avec des systèmes connexes : l’anatomie, le comportement et la cognition de l’homme ? Dans quelle mesure les concepts de la Théorie des systèmes complexes (cf. notamment Simon 1962, Auyang 1998, Gribbin 2004), en particulier celui d’attracteur, conçu « comme un ensemble d’états vers lequel un système dynamique évolue de façon irréversible en l’absence de perturbations » (Lacombe 2023 : 4), expliquent-ils les contraintes synchroniques qui déterminent l’évolution des langues ? Cette section thématique invite enfin à réfléchir sur les sources diachroniques possibles de certaines structures ou distributions synchroniques, et à voir dans quelle mesure la diachronie est responsable de la haute fréquence ou de la rareté de certains éléments et structures dans les langues du monde (cf. Harris 2008, Haspalmath 2019).
4. Théorie de la marque et bases fonctionnelles de l’opposition marqué ~ non marqué
L’invention de la notion de marque, attribuée parfois à Troubetzkoy, se cristallise plutôt dans ses échanges épistolaires avec Jakobson du début des années 1930 (Viel 1984 : 443-444, Gadet 1994). Plus concrètement, Troubetzkoy s’interroge, dans une lettre du 31 juillet 1930 adressée à Jakobson, sur le rapport entre les deux termes d’une opposition privative. Il y propose à ce sujet le terme признак /priznak/ ‘trait, propriété’ (qui sera ultérieurement traduit en français par ‘marque’), et dans sa réponse du 26 novembre cette même année son compatriote avance les néologismes adjectivaux признаковый /priznakovɨ/ (‘marqué’ ou litt. ‘pourvu d’un trait’) et беспризнаковый /bespriznakovɨ/ (‘non marqué’ ou litt. ‘dépourvu d’un trait’) (Jakobson 1985 : 162-163, Gadet 1994 : 87). Conformément à l’étymologie russe du mot, le terme marqué d’une opposition privative est considéré par Troubetzkoy (1931) comme articulatoirement plus complexe que sa contrepartie non marquée, parce que produit avec un geste articulatoire supplémentaire (auquel correspond un trait particulier), absent du terme non marqué (thèse relayée par Vachek 1936). Les réflexions sur la marque seront développées surtout par Jakobson, qui la mettra en rapport avec l’acquisition, la dégradation et la diffusion typologique des systèmes phonologiques. Ces développements permettront, à partir de Jakobson (1932), d’étendre progressivement ce concept, strictement phonologique à l’origine, à d’autres sciences du langage, et aboutiront finalement à toute une Théorie de la marque (cf. entre autres Chomsky & Halle 1968, Kean 1980, Greenberg 1987, Battistella 1990, Andrews 1990, Bybee 2011).
Confondue dès son origine avec l’opposition simple ~ complexe (à cause du contenu intrinsèque plus complexe qu’est censé présenter le terme marqué par rapport au terme non marqué), cette opposition a été progressivement inscrite dans une série de dichotomies : naturel ~ non naturel, prototypique ~ non prototypique, universel ~ marginal, fondamental ~ secondaire, primitif ~ dérivé, régulier ~ irrégulier, iconique ~ arbitraire, etc. Seront particulièrement appréciées toutes les communications qui se proposent de discuter, de questionner ou d’enrichir ces dichotomies, de mettre en rapport la marque avec d’autres concepts ou de chercher des bases fonctionnelles pour l’opposition marqué ~ non marqué. Il a été soutenu, en particulier, que le rapport entre marque et complexité est beaucoup moins univoque qu’il ne paraît, et que si le terme marqué tend à être syntagmatiquement plus complexe, il tend en même temps à être paradigmatiquement plus simple (Moravcsik 2013 : 173). Complexité et marque ont été considérées aussi comme étant dans un rapport de général à particulier, la marque correspondant à ce qui, dans la Théorie des systèmes complexes, s’analyse comme une complexité fonctionnelle : fonctionnement contraint d’une unité, d’une structure ou d’un ensemble de structures formant un sous-système linguistique (Burov 2019, à paraître).
Cette section offre enfin l’occasion de s’interroger sur les bases fonctionnelles possibles des oppositions entre termes marqués et non marqués. Si les oppositions singulier ~ pluriel, voix active ~ voix passive, phrase affirmative ~ phrase interrogative/négative, etc. s’interprètent effectivement à travers cette dichotomie, la tendance des termes non marqués à être syntagmatiquement plus brefs favorise-t-elle leur majeure fréquence d’usage ou en est la conséquence ? Si les formes utilisées plus souvent se prêtent mieux à la réduction à cause de leur majeure prévisibilité et de l’effet de l’érosion phonétique (Haspelmath 2008b), est-ce parce que les situations conceptuelles plus fréquentes sont plus faciles à reconnaître et leur marquage ultérieur est inutile (Cristofaro 2010) ? La récupérabilité de l’information dans des conditions qui facilitent au maximum la production permet ainsi de respecter le principe fonctionnel de l’économie qui n’est pas strictement linguistique mais sous-tend l’activité humaine en général (cf. aussi Haiman 1985).
5. Typologie linguistique et approche fonctionnelle des universaux du langage
Les travaux de Mathesius sur le tchèque, l’anglais et l’allemand, menés souvent dans une perspective contrastive, le conduisent à souligner l’intérêt d’une comparaison synchronique de langues génétiquement non apparentées. Il développe ainsi sa caractérologie linguistique, censée étudier uniquement les « traits fondamentaux des langues » (Mathesius 1964 [1928]), étape importante d’une longue évolution qui fera comprendre aux linguistes de la seconde moitié du XXe siècle que la mise en place d’une méthode comparative à grande échelle est la seule voie susceptible d’aboutir à des taxonomies générales des ressemblances entre les langues. Située dans le sillage de Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767-1835), Georg von der Gabelentz (1840-1893), Franz Finck (1867-1910) et d’autres précurseurs de la typologie linguistique, la caractérologie de Mathesius exercera une influence profonde sur les travaux de typologie d’un autre membre du CLP, Vladimír Skalička (1909-1991) (cf. Skalička 1935, 1979).
La recherche de lois phonologiques générales et d’une typologie universelle des oppositions distinctives a marqué profondément la carrière de Troubetzkoy à partir de la fin des années 1920. Non seulement les Grundzüge (1939), mais aussi Troubetzkoy (1929, 1931), discutent des propriétés structurelles universelles des systèmes consonantiques et vocaliques, ainsi que les paramètres de la variation observée à travers des exemples d’un grand nombre de langues. Mais l’orientation universaliste de la phonologie pragoise sera parachevée par Jakobson dont les recherches sur le langage enfantin et l’aphasie (Jakobson 1949 [1939], 1941) portent à la découverte de tendances universelles qui régissent la typologie des systèmes phonologiques, et à la conclusion que la diversité apparente des traits distinctifs n’est pas illimitée (Jakobson, Fant & Halle 1952, Jakobson & Halle 1956). Les combinaisons de ces traits – universels, binaires et en nombre fini – sont censées rendre compte de la composition de tous les systèmes phonémiques.
Les recherches de Jakobson, comme le souligne Körtvélyessy (2017 : 101), ont inspiré aussi bien l’approche typologique, empirique, fonctionnelle et inductive des universaux, inscrite dans le sillage de Greenberg (cf. entre autres Greenberg, ed. 1963, 1975, Greenberg, Ferguson & Moravcsik, eds., 1978, Comrie 1989, Bybee 2006, Haspelmath 2008a, b, 2019, Cristofaro 2010, Moravcsik 2010, 2013), que l’approche générative et déductive chomskyenne (cf. entre autres Chomsky 1965, 1968, Bach & Harms, eds., 1968, Boeckx 2006). Plus concrètement, Greenberg reprendra à Jakobson l’idée d’universaux implicationnels ainsi que la notion pragoise de marque, en les étendant aux domaines morphosyntaxique et lexical (cf. Greenberg 1963, 1987). Chomsky, lui, s’inspirera des idées du linguiste russe sur l’acquisition des systèmes phonémiques pour défendre l’innéité des universaux, tout en développant sa propre théorie binariste des traits (Chomsky & Halle 1968).
Cette section thématique invite à enrichir le débat sur les universaux du langage/universaux linguistiques entre typologues (fonctionnalistes) et générativistes (Cooreman & Goyvaerts 1980, Burov 2020) de nouveaux arguments à l’appui de chacune des deux approches, à justifier ou à questionner le recours à des principes fonctionnels (économie, expressivité, iconicité/transpa-rence, automatisation/routinisation, etc.) pour expliquer la large diffusion ou la rareté d’éléments, de structures ou de processus linguistiques à une échelle globale (Haiman 1985, Bybee 2006, 2010, Moravcsik 2013), à étudier la part du locuteur et de l’auditeur pour le changement linguistique et l’émergence des patrons (trans)linguistiques (Ohala 1973, 1993), à mettre en rapport la structure d’une communauté parlante, les besoins communicatifs de ses membres et la fonction (identitaire, véhiculaire, communicative) de leur langue avec les propriétés structurelles internes (Kusters 2003, Nettle 2012).
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L’ensemble de ces thématiques, avec les paradigmes de recherche qu’elles évoquent, permettent d’espérer que ce colloque pourra effectivement honorer le centenaire de la fondation du CLP, en stimulant à la fois des études historiographiques et une mise en perspective moderne d’un de ses concepts-clés, celui de fonction, à travers ses nombreuses implications pour les théories linguistiques d’obédience fonctionnelle.
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Conférenciers pléniers
Gabriel Bergounioux (Université d’Orléans), Joaquim Brandão de Carvalho (Université Paris 8), Sonia Cristofaro (Sorbonne Université), Martin Haspelmath (Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig), Ondřej Pešek (Université de Bohême du Sud, České Budějovice & Pražský lingvistický kroužek)
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Comité scientifique
Aleksandra Bagasheva (Sofia University), Gabriel Bergounioux (Université d’Orléans), Walter Bisang (Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz), Ivo Buzek (Université Masaryk), Joaquim Brandão de Carvalho (Université Paris 8), Greville Corbett (University of Surrey), Denis Creissels (Université Lumière Lyon 2), Sonia Cristofaro (Sorbonne Université), Christophe Gérard Cusimano (Université Masaryk & Pražský lingvistický kroužek), Rea Delveroudi (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens), Snezhina Dimitrova (Sofia University), Benjamin Fagard (Centre d’analyse et de mathématique sociales, CNRS & EHESS), Giuliana Fiorentino (Università del Molise), Jacques François (Université de Caen Normandie), Olga Galatanu (Université de Nantes), Martin Haspelmath (Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig), Adèle Jatteau (Université de Lille), Gueorgui Jetchev (Université de Sofia), Pierre Larrivée (Université de Caen Normandie), Jean Léo Léonard (Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier 3), Ksenija Léonard (Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier 3), Carmen MÎrzea Vasile (Institut de linguistique de l’Académie roumaine « Iorgu Iordan – Alexandru Rosetti » & Universitatea din Bucureşti), Katerina Nicolaidis (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki), Ondřej Pešek (Université de Bohême du Sud, České Budějovice & Pražský lingvistický kroužek), Daniel Petit (École Normale Supérieure & École Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Paris), Anna Pompei (Università Roma 3), Angela Ralli (University of Patras), Anthi Revithiadou (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki), Patrick Sauzet (Université Toulouse – Jean Jaurès), Kaius Sinnemäki (University of Helsinki), Rosanna Sornicola (Università di Napoli), Pierre-Yves Testenoire (Université Sorbonne Nouvelle), Assen Tchaouchev (Université de Sofia), Nina Topintzi (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki), Marina Tzakosta (University of Crete), Alain Viaut (CNRS), Rodica Zafiu (Institut de linguistique de l’Académie roumaine « Iorgu Iordan – Alexandru Rosetti » & Universitatea din Bucureşti)
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Inscription au colloque
Les frais d’inscription s’élèvent à 110 euros et leur paiement pourra s’effectuer du 1er juillet au 1er octobre 2026 par virement sur un compte bancaire qui sera communiqué ultérieurement aux participants retenus. Sont dispensés de frais d’inscription les membres des comités scientifique et d’organisation, ainsi que les enseignants, les chercheurs et les doctorants de l’Université de Sofia. Les communicants de l’Université Masaryk, non-membres des deux comités, ainsi que les doctorants d’autres universités, bénéficieront d’un tarif réduit de 60 euros.
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Publication des Actes
Les participants auront la possibilité de publier leurs textes dans les Actes du colloque, dont la parution est prévue pour 2028 (à préciser ultérieurement si dans un volume collectif ou dans un numéro thématique d’une revue de linguistique). Les articles soumis feront l’objet d’une évaluation et d’un tri sélectif de la part du comité scientifique en fonction d’un certain nombre de critères : originalité de l’approche, des faits présentés et de la problématique traitée, insertion dans le thème du colloque, pertinence des thèses et des arguments, clarté de l’exposé et du langage utilisé, etc. Les articles, conformes à la feuille de style qui sera communiquée ultérieurement, doivent contenir entre 30000 et 45000 caractères (bibliographie, notes et espaces compris) et être envoyés aux adresses clp2026sofia@yahoo.com et iburov@uni-sofia.bg pour le 31 mars 2027.
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Calendrier et dates importantes :
Date limite d’envoi des propositions de communication : le 15 avril 2026
Réponse du comité d’organisation : le 1er juin 2026 au plus tard
Inscription au colloque : du 1er juillet au 1er octobre 2026
Programme préliminaire : le 5 octobre 2026
Programme final : le 1er novembre 2026 au plus tard
Déroulement du colloque : les 19, 20 et 21 novembre 2026
Date limite d’envoi des articles pour la publication des Actes : le 31 mars 2027
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Comité d’organisation
Ivaylo Burov (Université de Sofia), Elena Dineva (Université de Sofia), Vittorio Ganfi (Université de Bergame), Milena Milenova (Université de Sofia), Alena Podhorná-Polická (Université Masaryk), Diana Vargolomova (Université de Sofia), Malinka Velinova (Université de Sofia)
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[1] Traduction de l’anglais (Ivaylo Burov).
[2] Traduction de l’anglais (Ivaylo Burov).
Questionner le préjugé occidental opposant oralité et écriture, cultures autochtones et civilisation
"Avec ce numéro de Mémoires du livre/Studies in Book Culture, on a voulu approfondir et élargir certains des questionnements amorcés dans le cadre du colloque « Livres et imprimés autochtones au Québec : édition, traduction, réception » tenu à l'Université de Sherbrooke en mai 2024, remettant implicitement en question le préjugé occidental opposant oralité et écriture, cultures autochtones et civilisation.
Il est nécessaire de prendre en considération, dans les études de la littérature des Peuples Premiers, la tradition orale et les traditions d’écriture de ces derniers, des pétroglyphes aux wampums, en passant par les discours et la pratique pétitionnaire. Par ailleurs, si la Commission de vérité et réconciliation a suscité une meilleure prise en compte dans la recherche universitaire de l’histoire des pensionnats autochtones au Canada, ainsi que des effets dévastateurs de ce système, notamment dans le rapport à l’école, peu de travaux érudits ont examiné la relation à l’écriture et à l’instruction qui s’est développée chez les peuples autochtones avant l’établissement de ce système assimilationniste, non plus que l’influence de cette histoire sur la tradition littéraire et intellectuelle autochtone au Québec.
Ce numéro cherche à élargir les interrogations possibles sur la production, la diffusion et la réception des livres et imprimés autochtones, contribuant à enrichir l’histoire du livre tant au Québec que dans la francophonie de l’Île de la Grande Tortue.
À propos de la direction de l'ouvrage
Professeure titulaire au Département des arts, langues et littératures de l’Université de Sherbrooke, Marie-Pier Luneau est directrice du Groupe de recherches et d’études sur le livre au Québec (GRÉLQ) et membre de la Société royale du Canada. Elle a notamment codirigé avec Josée Vincent le Dictionnaire historique des gens du livre au Québec (Presses de l’Université de Montréal, 2022), qui a remporté le prix Alphonse-Desjardins et le Prix de la recherche de l’Université de Sherbrooke.
Membre de la nation wendat, Louis-Karl Picard-Sioui est écrivain, poète et commissaire en arts visuels. Pour son oeuvre et son implication, il a reçu de nombreuses distinctions, dont le titre de Compagnon de l’Ordre des arts et des lettres du Québec (2025), le Prix de l’ICQ 2022 et le prix Jean‑Noël‑Pontbriand 2020. En plus de son travail de direction chez Kwahiatonhk!, il est présentement doctorant en études littéraires à l’Université Laval.
Professeure agrégée au Département d’études françaises et au Département de langues, littératures et cultures de l’Université Queen’s, Isabelle St-Amand s’intéresse à l’étude de la littérature et du cinéma autochtones, de même qu’aux méthodologies de la recherche collaborative propices à ces domaines particuliers..."
https://www.usherbrooke.ca/grelq/actualites/nouvelles-du-grelq/details/56990
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