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Linguistic, cultural and political differences make interpretation difficult, but analysts also point to factors like the target audience.
" ‘Never right’: why there’s a war of words over Beijing’s English translations
Linguistic, cultural and political differences make interpretation difficult, but analysts also point to factors like the target audience
Jane Caiin BeijingandMeredith Chenin Hong Kong
Published: 6:00am, 28 May 2025Updated: 9:29am, 28 May 2025
America’s top diplomat Marco Rubio has made clear that he does not trust Beijing’s English translations of Chinese officials’ words – he says they are “never right”.
The China hawk has instead urged his colleagues to go back to the original Chinese version of statements put out by Beijing to get a more accurate understanding of what is going on.
Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, appears to be the most powerful diplomat under President Donald Trump. He is the first person since Henry Kissinger to hold the national security adviser and secretary of state positions at the same time, making him the point man on China over the next four years.
Rubio has been blunt about his distrust of China. During his secretary of state confirmation hearing in January, he highlighted the importance of referring to the original Chinese to understand the words of President Xi Jinping.
“Don’t read the English translation that they put out because the English translation is never right,” he said.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has been blunt about his distrust of China. Photo: AFP
The subject of translation came up again later that month, when Rubio and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi spoke by phone. Wang reportedly told Rubio to “hao zi wei zhi” – an idiom Beijing translated as “act accordingly” in its English readout of the call. It was more stern in foreign media reports on the meeting – Reuters translated it as “conduct yourself well”, while Bloomberg’s translation was “conduct yourself properly”.
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Adding to the confusion, Rubio denied Wang had even given him any warning. “The translator that was on the call did not say anything to me that I felt was over the top. But then they put out these games – they like to play these games,” Rubio said in an interview on The Megyn Kelly Show, according to a transcript released by the US Department of State.
“They put out these translations where it says one thing in English and then it’s translated in a different – they use a different term in Mandarin – so like ‘He was warned not to overstep himself’. They never said that.”
Accurate translation is a difficult task given the linguistic, cultural and political differences between the United States and China. Analysts also point to other factors, such as the target audience for the messaging.
But one thing is clear – understanding what the other side is saying is more important than ever amid a 90-day pause in the US-China tariff war and with key areas on the table for negotiation, from electric vehicles to semiconductors and rare minerals.
Xiaoyu Pu, an associate professor of political science at the University of Nevada, said the linguistic, conceptual and political differences between the countries could lead to gaps in perception and interpretation.
He said some Chinese political phrases were “highly idiomatic, historically rooted or symbolic”, and that made them challenging to translate directly.
Why Wang Yi’s message to Marco Rubio may have been lost in translation
‘There are limits’: the problems with China’s bid to patch things up with Europe
In further high-level exchange, China and US say channels remain open
Pu noted that there was also a difference in political communication styles. He said Chinese official discourse could be vague and ambiguous, whereas Western diplomatic language tended to be more direct and precise.
He said there was also some flexibility with translation that could be used strategically for different audiences.
“As one Chinese concept can be translated into different English terms, sometimes Chinese officials intentionally emphasise the Chinese meaning for a domestic audience while translating the idea into English for an international audience,” Pu said.
He pointed to the idiom used by Wang as an example, saying it was intended for a nationalistic domestic audience, while the official English translation was more moderate.
According to Pu, Chinese concepts could sometimes also be interpreted by foreign translators in the West in ways that fit their country’s political climate, rather than genuinely adhering to the original Chinese meaning.
Interpretations of an idiom used by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi have varied. Photo: AFP
Pang Zhongying, a visiting senior fellow at Singapore’s ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, said Rubio seemed to have “inherited” a distrust of Beijing’s translations from other China hawks like Robert Lighthizer.
Lighthizer, the US trade representative and architect of the trade war with China in Trump’s first term, wrote in his 2023 book No Trade Is Free that: “There is often a major difference between what China says in Chinese to its people and the way it officially translates those words into English for Western audiences.
“Routinely, the harsh, combative language is watered down. It thus is important to look to an unofficial and candid translation to determine what is being conveyed,” he said, citing an interpretation of Xi’s report to the 2022 Communist Party congress provided by Kevin Rudd, the former Australian prime minister and a China expert who speaks fluent Mandarin.
Pang said political distrust was at the heart of “misconception or disinformation” given that both sides had a large team of professional translators to draw on.
He said one way to reduce the problem was by increasing face-to-face communications so that misunderstandings could be cleared up. That was especially important given the range of issues expected to be negotiated by Beijing and Washington following the trade war truce agreed in Geneva earlier this month, he added.
Sabine Mokry, a researcher at the University of Hamburg’s Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy, said the criticism of Beijing’s English translations reflected a deep-seated mistrust that had become one of the defining features of US-China relations.
She said the remarks were “a bit overblown”. “It speaks to a common perception – or misperception – that we don’t know anything about their [Chinese authorities’] intentions and they hide everything,” she said.
Mokry analysed the official English translations of foreign policy documents released by Beijing from 2013 to 2019. According to her study findings, published in 2022, almost half of the documents contained differences between the English and Chinese versions, and most of those differences potentially altered the intended meaning.
But she said the two versions were not entirely different, and the key messages remained largely consistent because the official translations were “carefully crafted” to align with Beijing’s political objectives and diplomatic priorities.
Mokry found that the Chinese version usually signalled stronger and more assertive intentions while the English version came across as softer, since they targeted different audiences.
“The question is more about how the US government and also governments around the world can build up enough capacity to deal with the original Chinese texts instead of just relying on the official English translations,” she said.
Mokry said machine-learning tools could help to identify translation differences but it remained crucial to have experts available who could work with the original Chinese statements, point their colleagues to the nuances and add the interpretive context that went beyond linguistic skills.
To do that, she said it was important to understand the institution issuing the document and its role in the political system.
How are Chinese citizens feeling the effects of the US-China tariff war?
How are Chinese citizens feeling the effects of the US-China tariff war?
According to Wang Huiyao, founder and president of the Centre for China and Globalisation, a Beijing-based think tank, the historical and cultural differences that shape the values of Chinese and Western societies – and the way concepts are expressed and decoded – are the main reason for misperceptions when it comes to translation.
Wang said Chinese civilisation was rooted in agrarian traditions such as cultivating one’s plot and favouring modesty, while Western cultures, influenced by nomadic and expansionist histories, tended to emphasise individualism, mobility and global outreach.
He noted that some of the terms used in Chinese political messaging could be hard for international audiences to grasp. But he said instead of just communicating those unfamiliar phrases Beijing could create new terms and concepts that might gain international acceptance if there was clear context and the ideas were framed in more globally relatable ways.
Wang gave the example of Beijing’s renamed trade and infrastructure strategy, the Belt and Road Initiative.
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When it was launched in 2013 it was known as One Belt, One Road. But that caused confusion because it was not a road but sea routes linking China’s southern coast to East Africa, the Mediterranean and Latin America, while the “belt” refers to a series of overland corridors connecting China with Central Asia, the Middle East and Europe.
It quietly became the Belt and Road Initiative in 2015 – a name that is now recognised globally – with the Chinese name left unchanged.
Wang said further efforts from both China and the US were needed to boost exchanges in education and tourism, ease visa restrictions, and allow more access for foreign media to promote mutual understanding.
He said far more Chinese had studied in America than Americans in China since the reform and opening-up began in the 1970s. According to Wang, that imbalance, with a limited number of Americans learning Chinese, had a serious impact on how well they could understand each other.
“Chinese people are much more familiar with the United States than Americans are with China,” he said"
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3311936/never-right-why-theres-war-words-over-beijings-english-translations
#metaglossia_mundus
"Speech recognition for interpreters
20/09/2025
On Saturday September 20, 2025 Josh Goldsmith, from Techforword, will be giving a one day training on “Speech recognition for interpreters”.
Here are the details:
Date: Saturday, September 20, 2025 from 09:00 to 17:30.
Location: Novotel Geneva, Rue Zurich 19, 1201 Geneva
Trainer: Josh Goldsmith
Training: Speech recognition for interpreters (see description below)
Participants: 20 (maximum number of participants)
Registration fee:
Members of AIIC: CHF 100.00 (EURO - 107.00)
Non-members: CHF 200.00 (EURO - 214.00)
About this event
Unlock the power of speech recognition and elevate your interpreting skills in this dynamic full-day workshop. Numbers, dates, names, and terminology can be particularly tricky, but cutting-edge AI tools can ease the stress, allowing you to focus on delivering top-quality interpreting. Through hands-on training, you'll explore the best speech recognition solutions for online and onsite meetings, simultaneous and consecutive settings. Get ready to test-drive industry-leading tools, refine your techniques, and gain practical insights
tailored to the needs of interpreters. Join us and discover how AI-driven speech recognition can transform the way you work!
About the trainer : Josh Goldsmith
Josh Goldsmith is a UN- and EU-accredited translator and interpreter and AIIC member working from Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese and Catalan into English. He splits his time between interpreting, translating, and working as a trainer and researcher focusing on the intersection between interpreting, technology and education. As Founder and Geek-In-Chief at techforword, Josh shares tips about technology, translation and interpreting in conferences and workshops, academic articles, the AI in Translation and AI in Interpreting Summits, and at techforword insiders, the premier online community for tech-savvy language professionals.
Speech recognition for interpreters
Full-day workshop
Numbers, dates, names and terminology can be especially challenging for interpreters.
But cutting-edge speech recognition tools can help to decrease the stress around numbers and terminology so you can focus on delivering higher-quality interpreting.
Join us for this hands-on workshop and explore the ins and outs of speech recognition in interpreting.
After this session, you’ll know how to:
● Set up speech recognition for online and onsite meetings
● Pick which speech recognition tool to use
● Use speech recognition in simultaneous and consecutive settings
You’ll also get a sneak peak of the newest speech-recognition-powered approach to interpreting, Sight-Consec.
Session overview
● Part 1: Introduction to speech recognition
● How speech recognition works
● Sight translation vs interpreting
● Part 2: “Generic” speech recognition tools
● Built-in captions in Zoom and other online meeting platforms
● Market overview: Otter, Web Captioner, and other speech recognition tools
● Deep dive: Maestra Web Captioner for speech recognition in 20+ languages
● Pros and cons of working from a running transcript
● Part 3: Audio routing
● Software for audio routing in remote meetings
● Hardware for audio routing in onsite meetings
● Part 4: Speech recognition tools for interpreters
● The 3 major players: CymoNote, InterpretBank, and SmarTerp
● Speech recognition for numbers
● Speech recognition for named entities
● Speech recognition for terminology
● Force replace
● Part 5: Sight-Consec: Combining speech recognition with note-taking
● How to go from sight translation to Sight-Consec
● Bilingual Sight-Consec with CymoNote
● Automated consecutive note-taking with speech recognition
● How to annotate transcripts while interpreting to boost your interpreting
● What to note down – and what to leave out – in Sight-Consec
● Part 6: The future of speech recognition-enabled interpreting
● Recap: Pros and cons of speech recognition
● What does the future hold?
The interactive training will include ample time for hands-on testing of tools and discussion of speech recognition.
Please bring a laptop and a headset or USB microphone + headphones. You can also bring a tablet and stylus if you have one.
All tools that will be covered include a free trial.
Please note:
This proposal is subject to change depending on developments in artificial intelligence.
Nevertheless, the session will provide an overview of the most cutting-edge AI-powered tools for interpreters based on available applications, and will include examples that specifically cater to the interpreting contexts and languages used in Switzerland. Please note that the trainer speaks English, French, Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese and can also provide examples in German and Arabic.
For registration please send an email to Melanie Klemm at training-ch@aiic.org.
https://aiic.at/client/event/roster/eventRosterDetails.html?productId=746&eventRosterId=9
#metaglossia_mundus
Abidjan, 28 mai 2025 (AIP) – La traduction des textes sacrés dans les langues ivoiriennes a été au centre d’une journée scientifique organisée le mardi 27 mai au Goethe-Institut d’Abidjan. Placée sous le signe de la coopération ivoiro-allemande, cette rencontre a réuni enseignants-chercheurs, linguistes, étudiants et diplomates autour du thème : « Les travaux de traduction des textes sacrés en Côte d’Ivoire : bilan et perspectives ».
Initiée par le Laboratoire dynamique des langues et discours (LADYLAD) de l’Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny, en partenariat avec l’Office allemand des échanges universitaires (DAAD), la journée visait à faire le point sur les efforts de traduction des textes religieux en langues locales, tout en explorant les perspectives de ce chantier culturel et scientifique majeur.
Représentant le doyen de l’UFR Langues, Littératures et Civilisations (LLC), le professeur Aboua Abia Alain a salué la portée multidimensionnelle de cette initiative.
« Traduire un texte sacré, ce n’est pas simplement transposer des mots d’une langue à une autre. C’est interpréter une vision du monde, une conception du divin, des valeurs éthiques et une culture vivante », a-t-il souligné, mettant en lumière les enjeux culturels et identitaires liés à cette démarche en contexte ivoirien.
L’ambassadeur de la République fédérale d’Allemagne, Matthias Veltin, a honoré de sa présence cette rencontre, exprimant son attachement personnel au monde littéraire et académique. « La diplomatie et la traduction partagent une vocation commune : bâtir des ponts de compréhension entre les peuples. J’explique aux Allemands la Côte d’Ivoire, et aux Ivoiriens l’Allemagne », a-t-il déclaré.
Le professeur Edzard Lutz, spécialiste du texte biblique en hébreu, a quant à lui offert une perspective historique et philologique sur les traductions anciennes, illustrant leur importance dans la transmission du patrimoine religieux. Il a évoqué notamment le Codex Sinaiticus, un manuscrit biblique du IVe siècle, pour montrer que certaines traductions sont parfois plus anciennes que les copies conservées dans la langue originale.
Pour le directeur du LADYLAD, Kra Enoc, cette journée visait à dresser un bilan rigoureux et à définir de nouvelles pistes de recherche et d’action. « Il est urgent de traduire les textes sacrés dans des langues telles que le baoulé, le bété ou le djoula, mais cela suppose de relever de nombreux défis : méthodologiques, culturels, mais aussi financiers », a-t-il expliqué, appelant à un soutien accru pour mobiliser les ressources intellectuelles et logistiques nécessaires.
Des initiatives concrètes ont été mises en avant, telles que celles de l’Alliance biblique de Côte d’Ivoire et de la Société internationale de linguistique, qui œuvrent activement à la traduction et à la diffusion des textes religieux dans les langues nationales.
(AIP)
dg/sdaf/cmas"
Abidjan, 28 mai 2025 (AIP)
#metaglossia_mundus
"Karima Kim primée pour sa traduction coréenne de la Muqaddima : un pont entre civilisations
« Beaucoup plus qu’un livre d’histoire, la Muqaddima est un projet intellectuel pour une compréhension globale de l’urbanisme, des dynamiques du pouvoir et des transformations sociétales », a déclaré la Sud-Coréenne Karima Kim, lauréate du Prix Ibn Khaldoun pour la promotion et la recherche dans les sciences humaines 2025 (catégorie « International »), pour sa traduction de la Muqaddima en langue coréenne.
La professeure coréenne s’exprimait lors de la cérémonie de remise du prix organisée mardi au Centre des Arts, de la Culture et des Lettres, à Ksar Saïd, Tunis. Ce prix est attribué par la Chaire ICESCO « Ibn Khaldoun pour la culture et le patrimoine » de Ksar Saïd, en partenariat avec l’association Med21.
Le comité d’évaluation, composé des historiens Abdelhamid Larguèche (président), Latifa Lakhdar et Faouzi Mahfoudh, a également attribué deux autres prix : au Franco-marocain Mehdi Ghouirgate (catégorie « Méditerranée ») et au Tunisien Moncef M’halla (catégorie « Pays d’accueil »).
Deux prix honorifiques ont par ailleurs été décernés à titre posthume aux professeurs tunisiens Ahmed Abdessalem et Aboul-Kacem Mohamed Kerrou, en présence des membres de leurs familles respectives.
Dans son intervention intitulée La Muqaddima, un pont entre les langues et les civilisations, Karima Kim a affirmé que « la pensée d’Ibn Khaldoun dépasse son cadre spatio-temporel. Elle propose des outils d’analyse qui demeurent utiles à notre époque ».
Bien plus qu’un historien du passé, « en Corée, Ibn Khaldoun est aujourd’hui considéré comme un penseur contemporain, porteur d’une vision critique et d’un esprit ouvert sur l’autre ».
Elle a qualifié la Tunisie, pays natal d’Ibn Khaldoun, de « lieu de mémoire, mais aussi de pensée vivante et d’innovation ». Elle y voit un pays tourné vers l’avenir, guidé par la pensée khaldounienne « comme un flambeau vers de nouveaux horizons ».
Karima Kim est revenue sur les conditions ayant entouré sa traduction, entamée en 2005. Elle dit avoir été animée par un sentiment de devoir envers le lecteur coréen, afin de transmettre la profondeur de la pensée d’Ibn Khaldoun dans leur langue.
Cette traduction est le fruit d’un long voyage intellectuel et culturel qu’elle qualifie d’expérience personnelle, dépassant le simple cadre académique.
Professeure de littérature arabe à l’Université de Hong-Kong des études étrangères de Séoul, Karima Kim est spécialiste de la littérature de la maqâma et de la littérature arabe contemporaine de la diaspora. Titulaire d’un doctorat portant sur l’œuvre d’al-Jahiz, notamment Al-Boukhala (Les Avares), elle rappelle qu’al-Jahiz (Abû Uthmân Amr Ibn Bahr al-Basrî), érudit irakien du IXe siècle, fut une figure majeure de la pensée arabe.
L’idée de traduire la Muqaddima est née d’une conviction intime : cette œuvre constitue un pont entre civilisations et ouvre de nouveaux horizons pour le dialogue entre l’Asie de l’Est et le monde arabe.
Elle a toutefois reconnu les contraintes liées à ce travail, notamment linguistiques, lexicales, et culturelles. Le style dense, les références historiques et les contextes propres au monde arabo-musulman ont nécessité un équilibre rigoureux, dans le respect du texte original.
Cette traduction a nécessité six années de travail, soit davantage que le temps qu’Ibn Khaldoun lui-même aurait mis à rédiger son manuscrit.
La version coréenne de la Muqaddima a connu un grand écho dans les milieux académiques et culturels de Corée du Sud. Sa publication a été largement médiatisée, suscitant un intérêt croissant pour la civilisation islamique et la pensée arabe.
L’ouvrage sera au cœur d’une conférence filmée cet été dans le cadre des classiques de la littérature mondiale présentés à l’Université nationale de Séoul.
En 2020, la version coréenne figurait parmi les œuvres primées du prestigieux Prix Sheikh Hamad pour la traduction et la compréhension internationale, décerné au Qatar. Une reconnaissance pour cette œuvre monumentale née au sud de la Méditerranée et désormais traduite vers de nombreuses langues, dont le coréen.
Véritable vecteur d’interculturalité, « la traduction ne se limite pas à transmettre les mots, estime la professeure Kim. Elle est un outil pour comprendre l’autre et construire des ponts entre les esprits et les cultures ».
À travers cette œuvre, elle dit avoir voulu offrir un aperçu de la profondeur de la pensée arabe et de la richesse de sa civilisation.
Karima Kim a conclu en souhaitant que cette rencontre jette les bases d’un « dialogue constant entre Orient et Occident, entre langues et cultures, dans un esprit de compréhension et de respect mutuels ».
Par La Presse avec TAP
le 28 mai 2025
https://lapresse.tn/2025/05/28/karima-kim-primee-pour-sa-traduction-coreenne-de-la-muqaddima-un-pont-entre-civilisations/
#metaglossia_mundus
At the 30th book fair in Prague, Chytomo was entrusted with a special mission — to observe young authors and translators participating in the CELA program (Connecting Emerging Literary Artists). We listened to presentations of literary works in five different languages, participated in professional discussions, and witnessed initial pitches to international publishers.
What young translators and writers in Europe are focusing on: A summary of the CELA Program in Prague
27.05.2025
VICTORIA FESHCHUK
At the 30th book fair in Prague, Chytomo was entrusted with a special mission — to observe young authors and translators participating in the CELA program (Connecting Emerging Literary Artists). We listened to presentations of literary works in five different languages, participated in professional discussions, and witnessed initial pitches to international publishers.
We’ll also share more information and insights into the Czech perspective on publishing.
This article was produced with the support of the International Festival Book Arsenal in the framework of the CELA program.
Consortium of young voices
How can a young author find a translator? How can a translator connect with an author? How can they both eventually find a publisher, and then readers? These were the questions that inspired the organizers of the CELA program. Today, the initiative includes 11 festivals across 11 European countries, including Ukraine (Book Arsenal).
This year, the program brought together 165 authors, translators, and literary professionals for networking, synergy, and future publications.
RELATED: Book Arsenal 2025 has announced its program
The Ukrainian authors included Myroslav Laiuk, Anastasiia Levkova, and Eugenia Kuznetsova. The list of Ukrainian translators and literary specialists featured Oksana Ziobro, Iuliia Stakhivska, Khrystyna Vengryniuk, Oleksandra Laktionova, Olga Bondarenko, Larysa Dobra, Yuliia Stankevych, Olena Roman, Olha-Anastasiia Futoran, Máximo André Martynenko Shchehlov, and Onujec Ionela-Paulina.
As part of the program, Eugenia Kuznetsova attended events at the Prague Book Fair, and authors Yulia Lukovniak (Slovenia) and Magdalena Sodomkova (Czechia), with Czech translator and journalist Rita Kindlerová, are scheduled to visit the International Festival Book Arsenal. Chytomo will also have a conversation with Lukovniak and Sodomkova during the Book Arsenal.
When discussing the implementation of the CELA program in Prague, it’s important to recognize that Czechia is slated to be the Guest of Honor at the Frankfurt Book Fair next year. As a result, the country is actively preparing to promote and sell copyrights to international publishers. Given the limited number of literary agencies in Czechia, this process actively involves publishers, translators, and authors.
The CELA special program in Prague focused on networking with other exhibitions’ special projects, and its participants attended events of the Fellowship Program and the Central and East European Book Market program.
RELATED: Through Covid-19 and war: the story of Frankfurt comeback
“This year we managed to organise at least three meetings with Czech publishers for each author(s). It is a challenge to find Czech publishers who would be interested in publishing a new generation of authors from different countries,” Michala Čičváková, the director and project manager of CzechLit, said. CzechLit coordinated the participation of authors from CELA in the Prague exhibition program.
As part of her role at CzechLit, Čičváková builds connections between German and Czech publishers and provides grants to support the translation and publication of Czech books into various languages. Taking into consideration her experience with texts’ pitching, she notes that attracting foreign publishers can be a challenging task — even when a grant is already secured — because Czech books are often not seen as financially appealing projects.
RELATED: Jan Kravčík: When you lose the cultural war, then the nation is totally lost
Participants of the program in Czechia are emerging authors from Ukraine, Bulgaria, Romania, and Spain: Luis Díaz, Ioana Maria Stăncescu, Gergana Galabova, and Kuznetsova. With the exception of Kuznetsova (“History of Ukrainian Borshch,” published by Vydavnytstvo in Ukrainian, has been published in Czech), these authors have not been translated into Czech, so building bridges is not easy. That is why the Czech CELA program resembles a mini-Frankfurt.
That’s where we make a second note about the broader context of Central and Southern Europe. In countries like Czechia, Romania, Bulgaria, and Ukraine, working with a literary agent is considered a luxury, particularly for emerging authors. This point is affirmed by Bulgarian literary agent Gergana Pancheva from the Sofia Literary Agency.
“It’s my first time in Prague, and for me, the local contexts, publishers, and audience are all completely new and unknown. As a writer, I explore universal things, the relationships between men, so I hope to find my audience here and, if I’m lucky, publishers,” Luis Díaz, a program participant and Spanish author, commented on the way to his readings.
Other participants of the program work with a variety of universal topics. Romanian author Ioana Maria Stăncescu writes about trauma and difficulties of mother-daughter relationships, Bulgarian author Gergana Galabova read an excerpt about bureaucracy, and Kuznetsova wrote about war.
“CELA is definitely a career boost. My book is suddenly being translated into German, maybe another book will be translated into Serbian. And I find myself more confident and less doubtful about whether it makes sense to write at all,” Czech author Anna Lunakova said.
Translators’ networking
For translators, the CELA program offers a valuable opportunity to discover new authors to work with and, importantly, to connect with publishers.
Authors who participate in the CELA program say that the program is mostly translation-centric. First and foremost, workshops on pitching book excerpts to publishers were designed specifically for them. The translators were expected to actively conduct meetings with local publishers.
It is important to highlight that publishers had the chance to meet translators working with less common language pairs, such as Bulgarian-Czech, Romanian-Czech, and Croatian-Czech. This is a good impetus not only to take an interest in a particular work, but also to establish long-term cooperation. Czech publishers (just like most Ukrainian publishers) find it easier to publish English- and German-language literature, partly because of access to translations — if you want to publish Macedonian or Romanian literature, it’s a completely different story.
“Another challenge is to introduce translators. In general, in Czechia, the names of translators are invisible to readers. If we look at the covers of most books published in the Czech Republic, there are no translators’ names, except for a few publishers. We would like to emphasise that translators are literary artists, equal to authors,” Čičváková said.
RELATED: Eero Balk: Our elders warned us that the KGB might try to recruit us
Other participants at the exhibition spoke about the challenges faced by translators. Notably, Petr Vidlák, the Czech translator of Nobel Prize laureate Olga Tokarczuk, said that he could not even afford basic groceries on his translation fees.
Most of the translators Chytomo spoke to in Prague juggle at least three or four professional roles: librarians, authors, managers, editors, or critics. Anna Lunakova, who was introduced as a writer for the CELA project, is also a translator, book reviewer, and project manager at Revue Prostor.
This, of course, was a major impetus for Czech translators to also participate in the CELA program. CELA participants included Markéta Cubrová, Adéla Mikešová, Klára Našincová, Jitka Zárubová, Anna Kostková, Bára Genserová, Věra Böhmová, and Petra Janků.
Kindlerová will talk more about the context of Czech translators during a public event at the International Festival Book Arsenal.
The Ukrainian book “Sheep Are Safe” by Kuznetsova was pitched to Czech publishers by its translator, Mikešová, who also participated in the CELA program. This was her first experience with presenting a book to foreign publishers.
“We managed to pitch the novel to Host and Větrné mlýny. They were genuinely interested and will now read an excerpt from the book in my translation,” Mikešová said.
RELATED: Ukrainian novel «Ask Miechka» was nominated for the European Union Literary Prize
Ukrainian perspective
“For me, as a Ukrainian author, any public event is an opportunity to talk about the Russian-Ukrainian war. It is primarily about promoting the Ukrainian narrative and resisting pro-Russian stereotypes among audiences. It is political activism, and I think that this is the mission of all Ukrainian authors now,” Kuznetsova shared in a conversation with Chytomo.
At the festival, Kuznetsova took part in two public events where she read her texts and engaged in discussions with other authors on topics such as literary sensitivity and responsibility, linguistic identity during war, and the experience of living in different countries.
“We need to talk about the war but in a somewhat lighter format. There’s a part of the audience abroad that associates Ukraine only with very difficult and traumatic experiences. Readers may consciously avoid this. After all, for some people, reading is just a leisure activity. I think it is crucial that Ukrainian literature, in addition to being conscious and informative, also provides something for the soul. And between the lines, we can write about what hurts us,” Kuznetsova said.
Photo credit: Svět knihy Praha, Jitka Hanusova, Jan Tichý
Translation: Iryna Saviuk
Copy editing: Terra Friedman King
"New Research Suggests Human Language Evolved More Than 135,000 Years Ago
By Emma Taggart on May 26, 2025
There are an estimated 7,000 languages spoken around the world today, allowing humans to chat, tell stories, and share information. Being able to communicate our ideas is an integral part of being human, and a new study suggests we’ve been using language a lot longer than we initially thought—at least 135,000 years ago.
Despite each language having its own unique sound and structure, new research suggests that all 7,000+ languages spoken today may trace back to a single linguistic family tree. A team of researchers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the American Museum of Natural History, the Department of Linguistics at University of São Paulo, and other international collaborators explored the genetics of ancient humans and uncovered that the capacity for language was likely embedded in our DNA long before our ancestors began migrating across the globe.
Miyagawa and his team looked at 15 different scientific studies, all using different methods, and noticed they all pointed to the same conclusion: humans started splitting into different groups about 135,000 years ago. This was based on studying things like our full DNA, Y chromosomes (passed down from fathers), and mitochondrial DNA (passed down from mothers). The researchers say that if language had developed after that split, then some human groups today might not have language, or they might communicate in a totally different way. But that’s not the case—all humans have language, leading the researchers to believe that language must have existed before humans spread out.
“Every population branching across the globe has a human language, and all languages are related,” explains Shigeru Miyagawa, a professor emeritus of linguistics and the Kochi-Manjiro Professor of Japanese Language and Culture at MIT. “I think we can say with a fair amount of certainty that the first split occurred about 135,000 years ago, so human language capacity must have been present by then, or before.”
Some scientists believe that humans might have had the ability to use language a few million years ago, just by looking at how other primates (like apes) communicate. But according to Miyagawa, it’s not just about making sounds—it’s about having the mental power to combine words and grammar into a system that lets us express complex ideas. He says human language is special because it has two key parts: words, which are the names we give to things like “tree” or “run,” and syntax, which refers to the grammar or rules that help us put words together in a meaningful way.
Miyagawa suggests that humans had the mental capacity for language before they began using it to communicate. At first, it may have been a private thinking tool, but by around 135,000 years ago, it evolved into social communication. Evidence of this shift appears in archaeology around 100,000 years ago, with behaviors like carving symbols in caves and tombs.
“Language was the trigger for modern human behavior,” says Miyagawa. “Somehow it stimulated human thinking and helped create these kinds of behaviors. If we are right, people were learning from each other [due to language] and encouraging innovations of the types we saw 100,000 years ago.”
https://mymodernmet.com/human-language-history/?
#metaglossia_mundus
"Globalization, the process of increasing interconnectedness and interdependence among nations, has dramatically impacted the world in several dimensions, including economic, political, technological, and cultural. Although there is no denying that globalization has sped up a very worrying phenomenon—cultural erosion—it has also unquestionably produced enormous potential for growth, creativity, and intercultural communication. Cultural erosion is the term used to describe how traditional identities, values, languages, and rituals gradually deteriorate or vanish due to outside pressures. Cultures all around the world, particularly those of less prominent or indigenous people, are gradually being absorbed or supplanted by mainstream global—often Western—cultures in this age of globalization.
Culture is the foundation of individual and societal identity. It includes language, traditions, customs, beliefs, music, rituals, and collective ideals that have been passed down through centuries. However, as globalization progresses, these distinct cultural characteristics are frequently overwhelmed or supplanted by internationally dominant standards. This transformation is not usually forced; rather, it occurs gradually through a variety of channels, including media, technology, education, trade, and migration.
Mass media is one of the most powerful causes of cultural disintegration in the globalised world.
Western television shows, films, music, and internet content dominate worldwide airwaves and digital platforms, resulting in an increase in the adoption of Western lifestyles, fashion, language, and values. Local cultural forms, traditional storytelling, and indigenous music are frequently pushed to the sidelines, viewed as out of date or less enticing than new, global alternatives. As media consumption becomes more global, young generations, in particular, are growing up with influences that are frequently far removed from their own cultures. Language loss is another major cause of cultural decline. Language is more than just a means of communication; it carries a people’s philosophy, history, and identity
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As English becomes the main language of global business, research, and education, native and indigenous languages are dying at an alarming rate. Many children today are being raised to speak global languages instead of their mother tongues, particularly in urban areas and top educational institutions. This trend is especially hazardous because when a language dies, a major portion of the related culture goes with it.
Globalization fosters a consumer culture that prioritises material success, convenience, and standardized products. This has resulted in broad appeal of multinational brands, frequently at the expense of local crafts, traditional meals, and indigenous attire. In several nations, people are increasingly donning Western-style attire instead of traditional dress, and fast-food restaurants have supplanted many traditional cafes. As a result, the economic and cultural significance of indigenous commodities and customs is diminished, frequently leading to their demise or extinction.
Tourism, another result of globalization, can help or hinder cultural preservation. While technology provides a platform for displaying cultural heritage to the globe, it frequently leads to commercialization or even distortion of cultural practices. Traditions are occasionally changed or produced to meet visitor expectations, turning significant rites into empty shows. This commoditization robs culture of its authenticity and transforms it to a marketable commodity rather than a live, breathing way of existence.
Urbanization and migration patterns have also had a substantial impact on cultural loss. When people relocate from rural areas to cities or travel to foreign nations in quest of better opportunities, they frequently assimilate into the prevailing culture of their new environment. Traditional modes of living based on village groups and ancestral rituals are gradually fading. The cosmopolitan lifestyle in urban areas, affected by global trends, frequently hinders the continuation of cultural practices that are deemed to be outdated or unimportant.
Real-world examples highlight the concrete effects of globalization on cultural disintegration. The younger generation in India is increasingly drawn to English, Western clothes, and worldwide music, frequently at the expense of regional languages, traditional festivals, and classical arts. . Although India has one of the world’s most rich cultural heritages, contemporary media and global consumerism are fast transforming the social fabric. Similarly, in African countries, colonial history combined with globalization has resulted in the marginalization of native languages and practices. Western education and religion have superseded many indigenous ones, and traditional knowledge systems are typically rejected in favour of Western models. In Latin America, particularly in Brazil and Mexico, indigenous cultures are under pressure from American pop culture, resulting in the gradual extinction of native languages and customs.
The repercussions of cultural degradation are severe. One of the most serious consequences is the loss of identity. When traditional values, rituals, and languages are lost, individuals and communities may feel disconnected from their roots. This can lead to identity crises, especially among young people who feel torn between modern global influences and their traditional heritage. Social structures can also start to crumble. The loss of these cultural features might impair communal relationships, leading to increasing individualism and social fragmentation.
Furthermore, the loss of indigenous knowledge is a severe worry. Traditional societies often have extensive ecological, medical, and agricultural expertise that has been honed over generations. This information is frequently closely related to cultural behaviours and languages. As cultures deteriorate, so does this vital knowledge that could otherwise contribute to sustainable development and biodiversity conservation. Furthermore, as the world becomes more culturally homogenized under the effect of globalization, we risk losing the rich diversity that distinguishes human societies. . A homogeneous global culture may be efficient, but it lacks the vibrancy, complexity, and variety that local cultures provide.
Despite these problems, several initiatives are ongoing to protect and revitalise cultural heritage in the face of globalization. Government policies can help by identifying and conserving endangered languages, promoting traditional education, and sponsoring cultural preservation projects. International organisations like UNESCO have initiated projects to safeguard intangible cultural assets and promote awareness about the significance of cultural diversity. Surprisingly, the same technology that aids cultural deterioration can also be used for preservation. Traditional stories, crafts, music, and rituals can be documented and shared through digital platforms and social media. Educational films, podcasts, and mobile apps can help younger generations connect with their past in new ways.
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Educational institutions also have an important role to play. Schools and universities can incorporate cultural studies into their curricula, celebrate local festivals, and promote the usage of native languages. Bilingual and culturally inclusive education cultivates pride in one’s identity while also enabling for global involvement. Communities are organising local festivals, storytelling events, and cultural seminars to reconnect with their heritage. Involving adolescents in these projects guarantees that cultural information is passed down to future generations, not as historical relics, but as developing facets of identity. Tourism, when conducted correctly, can also aid in cultural preservation. Communities can profit economically from supporting ethical and courteous tourism while preserving the originality of local traditions.
Finally, cultural degradation caused by globalization is a major issue affecting cultures around the world. . While globalization offers significant chances for advancement and cross-cultural engagement, it must be negotiated carefully to ensure that local cultures are not destroyed in the process. Cultural diversity strengthens humanity and provides varied perspectives on the world. It is critical to recognise the significance of each culture and strive for a balance between accepting global trends and safeguarding indigenous traditions. Individuals, communities, governments, and international organisations can work together to conserve cultural identities and ensure that globalization serves as a bridge between cultures rather than an erasing weapon."
By Irfan Ali Khadim
May 27, 2025
https://minutemirror.com.pk/cultural-erosion-due-to-globalization-397567/
#metaglossia_mundus
"L’UE repousse encore la reconnaissance du catalan et du basque comme langues officielles
François David
Publié le mardi 27 mai 2025 à 17:20
Le vote a été reporté faute d’unanimité entre les 27 États membres. Plusieurs pays invoquent des doutes juridiques et le coût trop élevé de la mesure.
C’est un échec pour le gouvernement espagnol de Pedro Sánchez. Mardi 27 mai, les ministres européens ont décidé de reporter le vote sur le statut officiel du catalan, du basque et du galicien dans l’Union européenne. L’initiative n’a pas trouvé l’unanimité requise parmi les 27 États membres.
Comme le rapporte La Vanguardia, sept pays ont exprimé des doutes juridiques, techniques et financiers. L’Allemagne, la Finlande ou encore l’Italie ont demandé plus de temps pour examiner la proposition. Certains pays, comme la France, la Croatie ou Chypre, se sont aussi montrés sceptiques.
Trop cher, trop flou
L’argument principal ? Le coût. Selon une étude, cela pourrait coûter jusqu’à 44 millions d’euros par an. Tous les documents officiels de l’UE devraient être traduits dans ces trois langues. Les discours au Parlement européen aussi. L’Espagne a promis de prendre en charge les frais, mais cela n’a pas suffi à rassurer ses partenaires.
Autre point soulevé : le flou juridique. Le Conseil de l’UE s’interroge encore sur la nécessité éventuelle de modifier les traités européens, ce qui complique la procédure.
Une crainte d’effet domino
Les États craignent aussi un précédent. L’Europe compte une soixantaine de langues régionales ou minoritaires. Et si le catalan ou le basque deviennent langues officielles, cela pourrait ouvrir la porte à d’autres demandes.
Même si le catalan est parlé par environ 10 millions de personnes – autant que le suédois ou le tchèque – cela ne suffit pas à convaincre certains pays qui redoutent des conséquences politiques.
Derrière cette décision, il y a aussi des jeux politiques. La Vanguardia rappelle que l’Italie de Giorgia Meloni, proche du parti espagnol Vox, n’a aucun intérêt à offrir une victoire symbolique au socialiste Pedro Sánchez. Certains États préfèrent d’ailleurs éviter de prendre position publiquement, mais ils bloquent en coulisses.
Et maintenant ?
L’Espagne avait proposé une mise en œuvre progressive et promet de poursuivre son travail de lobbying pour convaincre ses partenaires. Ce dossier est important pour Pedro Sánchez : c’est un engagement pris dans son accord avec le parti catalan Junts, en échange du soutien à son investiture.
Mais pour l’instant, le catalan, le basque et le galicien ne deviendront pas langues officielles de l’UE. Le débat est simplement repoussé à plus tard. Et rien ne garantit qu’il aboutira."
https://www.francebleu.fr/infos/societe/l-ue-repousse-encore-la-reconnaissance-du-catalan-et-du-basque-comme-langues-officielles-8634000
#metaglossia_mundus
"Catholiques et protestants flamands s’entendent sur une bible commune
C’est une première depuis cinq siècles : à partir de l’Avent 2027, l’ensemble de la communauté chrétienne néerlandophone utilisera la même version de ses textes sacrés.
Par William Bourton
Publié le 27/05/2025 à 17:19
Fin 2027, curés et pasteurs flamands liront des passages de la même Bible lors de leurs messes et offices. C’est la première fois en cinq siècles – depuis la Réforme – que les Eglises catholique et protestante néerlandophones vont utiliser la même traduction du Livre : la NBV21, pour Nieuwe Bijbel-vertaling voor de 21e eeuw (« Nouvelle traduction de la Bible pour le XXIe siècle »).
https://www.lesoir.be/678197/article/2025-05-27/catholiques-et-protestants-flamands-sentendent-sur-une-bible-commune
#metaglossia_mundus
Launched on 1 January, the four-year REVEIL project offers training across Luxembourg to combat racism and promote intercultural understanding, with the goal of challenging personal biases and fostering lasting behavioural change in both public and professional sectors.
"New training initiative against racism and for intercultural understanding opens across the country
Julie Thilges – adapted for RTL Today|Update: 25.05.2025 11:06
Launched on 1 January, the four-year REVEIL project offers training across Luxembourg to combat racism and promote intercultural understanding, with the goal of challenging personal biases and fostering lasting behavioural change in both public and professional sectors.
REVEIL stands for 'Renforcer la cohésion sociale par l’interculturalité et la lutte contre le racisme et les discriminations' in French, which translates to "Strengthening Social Cohesion through Interculturality and the Fight against Racism and Discrimination". After the completion of the project, a full evaluation will be conducted. The goal is to assess not only participant satisfaction, but also whether the training has led to tangible changes in attitudes and behaviours.
The project is led by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), in collaboration with the Luxembourg Integration and Social Cohesion Centre (LISKO) of the Luxembourg Red Cross and the association Centre for Education and Dialogue.
The initiative is rooted in the findings of a 2022 study by the Centre for Intercultural and Social Study and Training (CEFIS), which explored racism and discrimination in Luxembourg. The study found a clear need to raise public awareness and offer training in intercultural competence.
Training sessions and personal experience with racism
Since the start of this month, REVEIL training sessions have been open to the public, targeting sectors where multicultural interaction is common. The project acknowledges that racism remains an issue in Luxembourg's multicultural society, and aims to directly address it through structured, reflective learning.
Cécile Jérouville, from the Luxembourg Red Cross, explained that participants are invited to critically reflect on their own behaviours and assumptions, and are provided with materials and tools to challenge their thinking, expand their worldview, and embrace other cultures and ways of life.
Arline Sonita Tchagnang, a project officer at LISKO, offered a personal account of why such training matters. Having arrived in Luxembourg in 2016, she experienced racism and glottophobia – a form of discrimination linked to accent – while studying in the country. She also recalled being turned away from a job interview, where she was told outright: “We don’t work with people like you.”
Sector-specific training opportunities
Various sectors can benefit from the programme, including municipal authorities, youth and childhood services, and the social sector. These groups are offered both general training sessions and more targeted modules relevant to their field. Interested organisations or individuals can register online"
https://today.rtl.lu/news/luxembourg/a/2306883.html
#metaglossia_mundus
"The Mistake Europeans Make in Japanese Restaurants
Some common gestures in Asian restaurants in Europe can be perceived as cultural errors in Japan...
Sticking chopsticks in rice: a taboo full of meaning
In Japan, it is strongly discouraged, even shocking, to stick your chopsticks vertically into a bowl of rice. This gesture evokes a funerary practice: during Buddhist rites, a bowl of rice is placed with two chopsticks inserted in the center as an offering for the deceased. It is a powerful image, linked to death, mourning, and respect for spirits.
Reproducing this gesture in an everyday context, such as during a meal with friends or in a restaurant, is therefore extremely frowned upon. For the Japanese, this amounts to inadvertently invoking funeral symbolism in a moment of conviviality. It can even be perceived as a lack of respect or a basic ignorance of cultural codes.
Why this gesture remains common outside Japan
Outside of Japan, and especially in Europe, sticking your chopsticks in rice is often a practical gesture: you place them in the bowl while you pour yourself something else, or to take a break. For the uninitiated, it has no particular connotation. In many so-called "Japanese" restaurants (sometimes inspired by China or Korea), no instructions are given on the proper etiquette.
Furthermore, in Western culture, the symbolism of the meal is very different. We value autonomy at the table, and setting down cutlery in a practical manner is common. Without intercultural education, the symbolic significance of gestures escapes us. This is why this type of clumsiness is common, although it is never done with bad intentions.
What to do instead?
To avoid confusion or awkwardness, it is recommended to place chopsticks flat on a chopstick rest (called a hashi-oki), often provided in traditional Japanese restaurants. If one is not available, it is acceptable to place them parallel to the edge of the plate or bowl, in a neat and orderly manner.
Another elegant solution: roll up a corner of the paper napkin to create a small temporary support. This gesture demonstrates a willingness to adopt good practices, something the Japanese particularly appreciate in foreign visitors.
Other gestures to avoid at the table
Sticking your chopsticks isn't the only common cultural mistake in Japanese restaurants. Here are some other behaviors to avoid:
Rubbing chopsticks together: This implies that they are of poor quality, which can be offensive in a well-kept establishment.
Pointing at someone or a dish with your chopsticks: This is considered rude.
Passing food from one pair of chopsticks to another: this gesture also evokes funeral rites, particularly when the bones of the deceased are passed on.
Using chopsticks to move a bowl: they are not serving or object handling tools.
A culture of respect and harmony
What may seem rigid or excessive from a European perspective actually stems from a philosophy deeply rooted in Japanese culture: respect for the gesture, the moment, and each other. A meal is not just about eating, but a moment of sharing, balance, and gratitude. Every detail, down to how you hold or place your chopsticks, contributes to this harmony.
Adopting these gestures is a sign of understanding. It's also a mark of respect for the people who perpetuate this tradition, whether in an izakaya in Tokyo or a small family restaurant in Kyoto.
By learning to recognize and avoid these mistakes, we're not just demonstrating politeness; we're entering a culture of subtlety, where even the smallest detail has its place and significance. Respect isn't just expressed through words, but also through gestures, especially at the table."
https://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/other/the-mistake-europeans-make-in-japanese-restaurants/ar-AA1FkgBv
#metaglossia_mundus
"Faute de consensus, la décision de déclarer le basque, le catalan et le galicien langues officielles de l’UE a été reportée
L’Espagne réclame avec insistance que le basque, le catalan et le galicien soient reconnus comme des langues officielles de l'Union européenne, un sujet explosif qui embarrasse une grande partie des 27. Le sujet a été abordé ce mardi matin par les ministres des Affaires européennes de l’UE, réunis à Bruxelles, mais la décision a été reportée, faute de consensus.
Qu’est-ce que ça changerait ?
L'Union européenne, où l’on dénombre une soixantaine de langues régionales ou minoritaires, compte actuellement 24 langues officielles. Ce statut implique notamment que les documents juridiques de l’UE (traités, règlements ou accords internationaux) soient traduits dans ces langues, et qu’une interprétation soit disponible pour les sommets et réunions ministérielles.
Pourquoi l’Espagne défend le projet ?
L’Espagne avait pourtant mis « tout son poids politique » dans la bataille, selon un autre diplomate à Bruxelles. Le gouvernement du socialiste Pedro Sánchez a absolument besoin des voix catalanes pour faire passer la plupart de ses textes aux Cortes, le Parlement espagnol. Depuis une précédente tentative par Madrid en septembre 2023, qui n’avait pas eu plus de succès, un important travail a été accompli pour tenter d’apaiser les craintes de nombreux États membres, peu enclins à ouvrir la boîte de Pandore des langues régionales.
Pourquoi ça coince ?
Une telle reconnaissance nécessite une décision à l’unanimité des Vingt-Sept. Ce qui n’est toujours pas le cas. Beaucoup de ministres ont insisté mardi pour que la discussion se poursuive et obtenu que la décision soit renvoyée à une autre réunion, faute de consensus, a assuré un diplomate à Bruxelles.
Plusieurs d’entre eux ont cependant multiplié les signes d’apaisement à l’égard de Madrid. « Je pense que la diversité linguistique est importante et nous sommes toujours constructifs », a souligné le ministre finlandais aux Affaires européennes Joakim Strand. Mais pas au point d'« européaniser un sujet national », a résumé un diplomate européen.
Plusieurs États membres, dont les pays baltes, redoutent, en acceptant la demande espagnole, d’être contraints à reconnaître eux-aussi le statut de langue officielle aux langues régionales utilisées sur leur territoire. Une grande partie de la population balte parle russe et « donc, le russe pourrait devenir une langue officielle », ce que ces pays ne souhaitent pas, a ainsi expliqué Marko Stucin, secrétaire d’État slovène aux Affaires européennes.
Le service juridique du Conseil de l’UE, instance qui rassemble les États membres, a jugé qu’il était impossible d’accéder aux demandes de l’Espagne sans changer les traités.
Quel consensus pourrait être trouvé ?
Mais pour certains pays, il y a peut-être une possibilité de compromis. Il suffirait pour cela de se limiter aux langues régionales implantées de longue date et déjà reconnues comme langues officielles dans les constitutions nationales. Dans ce cas, il n’y aurait en fait que trois langues éligibles : le basque, le catalan et le galicien. Et l’Espagne a toujours assuré qu’elle était prête à payer les frais de traduction pour ces trois nouvelles langues"
Publié le 27/05/2025 à 15h49
https://www.sudouest.fr/culture/le-basque-langue-officielle-de-l-union-europeenne-pourquoi-le-sujet-divise-encore-les-pays-membres-24623346.php
#metaglossia_mundus
Au cours de l’atelier de sensibilisation à la traduction littéraire arabe – français, organisé, à Arles au Collège international des traducteurs du 8 au 12 avril 2025, par l’association ATLAS dans le cadre du programme Livres des deux rives piloté par l'Institut français, les participantes et participants ont pu échanger avec Stéphanie Dujols, traductrice littéraire de l’arabe au français et tutrice de l’atelier. Elle a traduit dernièrement Je suis ma liberté de Nasser Abu Srour aux éditions Gallimard et travaille actuellement à la traduction d’un roman intitulé ذئب العائلة(Le Loup de la famille), écrit par Souhaib Ayoub, co-tuteur de cet atelier. Transcription réalisée par Hugo Buton, après un entretien mené collectivement par les participantes et participants de l'atelier.
"Livres des deux rives : à la découverte du métier de traductrice avec Stéphanie Dujols
Ce qui m’intéresse, c’est ce qui résiste à la traduction, en particulier dans la syntaxe : l’intraduisible.
Au cours de l’atelier de sensibilisation à la traduction littéraire arabe – français, organisé, à Arles au Collège international des traducteurs du 8 au 12 avril 2025, par l’association ATLAS dans le cadre du programme Livres des deux rives piloté par l'Institut français, les participantes et participants ont pu échanger avec Stéphanie Dujols, traductrice littéraire de l’arabe au français et tutrice de l’atelier. Elle a traduit dernièrement Je suis ma liberté de Nasser Abu Srour aux éditions Gallimard et travaille actuellement à la traduction d’un roman intitulé ذئب العائلة(Le Loup de la famille), écrit par Souhaib Ayoub, co-tuteur de cet atelier.
Transcription réalisée par Hugo Buton, après un entretien mené collectivement par les participantes et participants de l'atelier.
Mis à jour le 27/05/2025
Atelier de sensibilisation à la traduction littéraire arabe – français, organisé par l’association ATLAS dans le cadre du programme Livre des deux rives piloté par l'Institut français.
Qu'est-ce qui vous a conduit vers le domaine de la traduction littéraire, et vers l’arabe ?
Durant mon adolescence, j’ai vécu cinq ans en Tunisie. J’étais au lycée français, où on nous enseignait un peu d’arabe en troisième langue. Mais c’était aléatoire, je crois que nous n’avions ce cours qu’une année sur deux…
À l’université, je n’étais pas particulièrement attirée par les cours dits « de version ». Il se trouve que j’étais « rimbaldienne ». Un jour, j’ai lu dans une revue qu’Adonis, qui avait tenté de traduire Rimbaud en arabe, venait de déclarer forfait. Ce constat d’impossibilité a résonné en moi. Je me suis intéressée alors aux traductions arabes existantes des Illuminations. J’ai découvert que Rimbaud, dont l’œuvre et la figure ont accompagné le mouvement de renouveau de la poésie arabe, notamment au Liban, avait été beaucoup traduit en arabe. J’ai donc choisi de consacrer un mémoire de maîtrise à une analyse stylistique comparative de diverses traductions arabes de quelques poèmes des Illuminations. Je pensais ensuite approfondir la question dans une thèse de doctorat un peu utopique. J’aurais voulu réunir plusieurs poètes arabes contemporains rimbaldiens et coordonner un atelier visant à établir une tentative de traduction collective des Illuminations. Dans tout cela, ce qui m’intéressait, c’était ce qui résiste à la traduction, en particulier dans la syntaxe. L’intraduisible.
Et puis finalement, Richard Jacquemond a créé une bourse pour former pendant un an un étudiant à la traduction littéraire. J’ai candidaté, et j’ai pris ce chemin, abandonnant mon fantasme de thèse-atelier. Ensuite Richard m’a proposé un roman qu’il n’avait pas le temps de traduire pour Actes Sud. Et de fil en aiguille, je suis devenue traductrice de littérature arabe contemporaine.
Lorsqu’on traduit de la littérature, même un court texte, on a besoin de temps. J’aime laisser le texte reposer, l’oublier, puis le reprendre avec un regard nouveau.
Comment naviguez-vous entre les dialectes et la fusha (l’arabe standard moderne) ?
Quand j’étais petite je parlais un peu le dialecte tunisien, puis je l’ai oublié. À la fac (l’INALCO), on étudiait peu les dialectes. On nous plongeait directement dans des poèmes hermétiques de la Jahiliyya.
Lorsque j’ai travaillé avec Richard Jacquemond en Égypte, j’ai appris naturellement le dialecte égyptien. Ensuite, à la fin des années 1990, je suis allée travailler en Palestine, comme interprète, pour le Comité international de la Croix-Rouge (CICR). Je traduisais toute la journée le palestinien dans les prisons, dans des conditions souvent extrêmes. Je l’ai donc appris très vite.
Je n’ai donc pas du tout étudié les dialectes de manière livresque. Je suis également allée en Irak, toujours comme interprète avec le CICR. Le premier jour, je me suis demandé si j’étais à ma place, car je ne comprenais pas grand-chose. Puis petit à petit, mon oreille s’est adaptée.
Quelle est votre place dans le processus de sélection des livres lorsque tu travailles avec des maisons d’édition ? Peut-il y avoir des textes imposés ou à l’inverse que vous refusez ?
J’ai travaillé principalement avec Actes Sud, mais je n’ai de contrat permanent avec personne. Je travaille en freelance, comme, je crois, tous les traducteurs littéraires.
Il m’arrive de refuser des textes pour diverses raisons. Cela a dû m'arriver trois ou quatre fois. Parce que je ne ressens pas d’affinité avec ces textes, dont l’écriture me semble trop hâtive, ou “journalistique”. Mais souvent on me propose des textes que j’accepte, comme le dernier que j’ai traduit : Je suis ma liberté, de Nasser Abu Srour aux éditions Gallimard, qui m’est en quelque sorte tombé du ciel. Parfois, c’est moi qui propose un texte et qui m’efforce de le défendre.
En revanche, j’ai quasiment arrêté de traduire pour des revues, car je trouve cela frustrant et inconfortable. On nous contacte souvent “au dernier moment”, alors que lorsqu’on traduit de la littérature, même un court texte, on a besoin de temps. J’aime laisser le texte reposer, l’oublier, puis le reprendre avec un nouveau regard.
Je crois que, pour un jeune traducteur, l’idéal est d’avoir un auteur à présenter qui n’a jamais encore été traduit en français.
Quelle est votre journée type ?
Ça dépend vraiment des traducteurs, chacun a son style. Je sais que certains ont un rythme tout à fait régulier : ils se lèvent le matin, boivent leur café et se mettent à traduire. Moi j’en suis incapable. Je suis complètement anarchique, procrastinatrice… Parfois, je m’y mets à minuit et je travaille toute la nuit. Et le lendemain je découvre que ce que j’ai traduit n’a ni queue ni tête.
J’ai lu dans une interview qu’une traductrice américaine de littérature arabe, professeure à la fac – comme beaucoup de personnes qui font ce métier peu lucratif – traduit une page par jour. Donc un livre de 300 pages lui prend 300 jours, sans compter les relectures. C’est sans doute un rythme idéal.
J’ai un ami qui traduit de la littérature de l’espagnol et du portugais vers l’arabe. Il est très demandé et traduit entre sept et huit livres par an. Je pense qu’il a une capacité de concentration fantastique.
Il y aussi certaines contraintes qu’on ne peut pas ignorer. On se met d’abord d’accord avec un éditeur. Ensuite, il faut attendre deux contrats : celui de l’auteur, puis le contrat de traduction. L’accord entre l’auteur et l’éditeur peut prendre beaucoup de temps et retarder l’établissement du contrat de traduction. Au début, je commençais à traduire dès l’accord de principe, mais désormais, j’attends toujours d’avoir signé mon contrat car j’ai déjà eu de mauvaises surprises…
Tout cela pour dire que lorsqu’on parle d’un livre, on parle toujours de deadline. Mais souvent, l’éditeur n’a pas la même conception de la deadline. Car si tu lui as dit qu’il te faut six mois pour traduire un livre, il peut considérer que ces six mois commencent à partir de l’accord de principe.
Pour le livre de Souhaib (Souhaib Ayoub, co-tuteur de l’atelier, NDLR), j’ai eu environ cinq mois. Mais je pense que je vais demander un petit délai supplémentaire. Pour Je suis ma liberté, de Nasser Abu Srour, je n’ai eu que six ou sept mois, ce qui était fort contraignant, compte tenu du volume et de la difficulté du texte.
En tout cas, si je peux me permettre un conseil : je pense qu’il est préférable de ne pas se lancer dans la traduction avec un gros livre, car il faut prendre son temps et le volume peut être problématique pour l’organisation quand on débute. On ne se rend pas forcément compte qu’il faut faire des pauses, qu’il faut oublier le texte pour pouvoir y revenir et le redécouvrir sous un autre angle.
Avez-vous des conseils à donner pour se lancer dans la traduction en indépendant ?
Je crois que, pour un jeune traducteur, l’idéal est d’avoir un auteur à présenter qui n’a jamais encore été traduit en français.
On peut commencer par envoyer un premier extrait de 20-30 pages – en général on envoie le début du livre, mais rien n’empêche de choisir un extrait dans le corps de l’ouvrage, ou plusieurs extraits. Il faut que ce soit très soigné pour que la maison d’édition puisse être convaincue de l’intérêt du texte. Donc il ne doit pas s’agir d’un premier jet. Je dirais au moins un cinquième jet. Il faut également présenter l’auteur et rédiger un synopsis ou une description de l’œuvre. Vous pouvez vous inspirer du programme proposé par ATLAS, LEILA, qui promeut des œuvres arabes pour qu’elles soient traduites en France et en Europe. L’idée étant de convaincre un éditeur d’accueillir un auteur et son œuvre dans le paysage éditorial français.
Reste à sélectionner un certain nombre de maisons d’édition auxquelles vous enverrez votre projet. On peut privilégier celles qui ont une ouverture sur la littérature arabe et qui en publient régulièrement. Mais certaines maisons qui n’ont encore jamais ou très peu publié de littérature arabe peuvent avoir envie d’ouvrir leur catalogue…
C’est aussi souvent une question de hasard. Je pense qu’il ne faut pas hésiter à taper à toutes les portes. Parfois, un membre d’un comité de lecture va apprécier votre texte pour une raison ou une autre et décider de le défendre.
Mais ma première expérience de traduction littéraire s’est faite à quatre mains, avec une amie traductrice égyptienne, Nashwa el-Azhari. (...) C’était une vraie aventure, très riche et très amusante, mais ce n’était pas de tout repos.
On a souvent en tête que le métier de traducteur est solitaire, comme celui de l’écrivain. Mais est-ce que la traduction peut être aussi une expérience collective ?
Personnellement, je connais assez peu de traducteurs, ou alors je les connais de loin. Et avec mes quelques amis traducteurs, au fond, nous parlons assez peu de traduction.
Mais ma première expérience de traduction littéraire s’est faite à quatre mains, avec une amie traductrice égyptienne, Nashwa el-Azhari. Il s’agissait de ce drôle de roman de Mohamed Mostagab (Les tribulations d’un Égyptien en Égypte) que Richard Jacquemond m’avait offert de traduire pour Actes Sud. Je ne sais pas pourquoi, j’ai spontanément proposé à cette amie de le traduire avec moi. C’était une expérience assez inoubliable. Elle était un dictionnaire ambulant, elle connaissait toutes sortes d’expressions idiomatiques en français, moi j’étais plutôt la « syntaxeuse ». On avait des visions très différentes qui nous rendaient complémentaires. Notre méthodologie était la suivante : on traduisait chacune un chapitre de notre côté, et ensuite on croisait nos deux versions afin d'en établir une troisième que l’on retravaillait côte-à-côte. C’était une vraie aventure, très riche et très amusante, mais ce n’était pas de tout repos. D’autres paires de traducteurs se partagent une traduction avec chacun sa partie à traduire, puis, sans doute, ils harmonisent ensemble les deux parties. C’est tout autre chose…
Si l’occasion se représentait, je retenterais l’expérience de la traduction à quatre mains, voire collective, car c’est très stimulant. Mais pour un petit texte !
Le programme Livres des deux rives
Image
Issu du Sommet des deux rives, financé par le Fonds Équipe France du ministère de l’Europe et des Affaires étrangères, le programme Livres des deux rives est piloté par l’Institut français. Sa première phase (2021-2023) impliquait le Maroc, l’Algérie et la Tunisie. En 2024, Livres des deux rives lance sa seconde phase et s’ouvre au Liban et à l’Égypte.
Ce projet vise à soutenir le dialogue entre les sociétés civiles des rives Nord et Sud de la Méditerranée par des actions de coopération autour du livre."
https://www.institutfrancais.com/fr/magazine/rencontre/livres-des-deux-rives-stephanie-dujols
#metaglossia_mundus
Two translators and a Nobel-winning novelist illuminate an undervalued skill
"
Saturday 24 May 2025
AI can’t match the human art of translation
Anthony Cummins
Two translators and a Nobel-winning novelist illuminate an undervalued skill
With more than 1.9m titles sold in the UK in 2022, it’s a boom time for translated fiction. Yet there are ominous reports in the trade press of publishers increasingly asking translators to clean up AI-generated first passes, so you sense storm clouds are brewing. In some markets abroad, novels translated from English are being outsold by imported originals, prompting overseas publishers to issue their own English editions. It’s hard not to feel that if the industry can find a way to do without translators, it will; even the language of praise (“seamless”) tends to imply that the best translators are the ones who let us pretend they don’t exist.
Two excellent new books enhance our appreciation of what’s actually involved in turning one language into another. Speaking in Tongues is a spry exchange between the Nobel-winning novelist JM Coetzee and his Argentine collaborator, the translator Mariana Dimópulos. She produced the first published text of his 2022 book The Pole, released in Spanish (El Polaco) before it came out in English. Coetzee, fed up of English lording it over other languages, wanted Dimópulos’s version to be considered the original from which other translations would be made. Doubtful publishers refused to play ball.
The dialogue examines these and other subjects in absorbing detail. Naive views of “faithful” translation are immediately demolished. Coetzee imagines translating the sentence “Roger and his brother caught a bus” into Vietnamese, which has words for “elder brother” and “younger brother”, but not “brother”; like it or not, the translator’s role is “semi-authorial”. That’s before you get to more ethical questions of, say, offensive material. Dimópulos prefers to “reproduce every view and position the manuscript gives me, even if I utterly disagree”; Coetzee, a translator himself, isn’t so sure.
The book keeps in sight Jen Calleja’s abiding excitement at language
The energy of their conversation lies chiefly in Coetzee’s attitude of perpetually troubled thoughtfulness. As they cordially bat around ideas on Kafka’s style or the untranslatability of colour, we glimpse a mind poised on the brink of a philosophical abyss. “If the word cannot be found, does it really exist?” asks Coetzee, unable to nail a description of a character in his latest work-in-progress. He recalls his schoolboy toil over grammatical gender in Latin: “It is only recently that I have begun to wonder whether I was not missing something: a window to a universe not of objects but of forces, forces which to our ancestors... were ultimately versions of the great procreative drives, the masculine and the feminine, embodied and embedded in language since time immemorial.”
Fair, a memoir by Jen Calleja, a translator from German to English, sticks to more practical matters. Where Coetzee and Dimópulos debate childhood language learning (“an acquisition of the idea of language itself”), Calleja, born in an English seaside town to a Maltese mechanic, recounts needing to persuade teachers at her cash-strapped state secondary not to scrap French and German.
The title flags her playful organising conceit – chapters on various aspects of translation are presented as different stalls at a fair – but it also signals Calleja’s concern with justice; here less a matter of line-by-line fidelity than labour conditions. The book’s transparency demystifies a 21st-century arts career: a kind of access-all-areas ask-me-anything, it’s clear-eyed about her struggles yet always keeps in sight her abiding excitement at language. The spark came in childhood, overhearing her father on the phone speaking Maltese, which she wasn’t taught. Further fuel came from adventurously pitching up in Munich as a school leaver in flight from a teenage relationship.
Calleja’s professional adulthood back in the UK among privately schooled Oxbridge graduates leads her to speculate on the link between her proficiency as a translator and the need to code-switch as a survival strategy. She says growing up in a household that owned only a few books prepared her for the repeated re-reading that’s now key to her life (“I can handle those 12 reads”); in a similar spirit of sincere self-inquiry, she wonders if her occupation might share a trace in common with her late mother, who had schizophrenia and heard voices.
Fair is spiky as well as frank. Calleja takes issue with a critic’s online post about not using dialect in translation; she turns a nitpicking Spectator review into a poem; and gives herself the last word over pesky interlocutors at panel events. Inkier trials of the job are dramatised with vigour: a discussion on how she handled the first line of Marion Poschmann’s The Pine Islands plays out as a comic dialogue of fretful second-guessing (“Don’t forget! Translators get paid per word, not by the hour!”).
Most publishers don’t even want translators named on a book jacket. The message is clear: they’re disposable, secondary, not the story. Calleja’s genre-busting memoir laughs in the face of all that, with cheek and joy and not a little bitterness. Its invigorating candour and vivid quiddity feels audacious, polemical, essential.
Speaking in Tongues by JM Coetzee and Mariana Dimópulos is published by Harvill Secker (£14.99). Fair: The Life-Art of Translation by Jen Calleja is published by Prototype Publishing (£12.99)
- https://observer.co.uk/culture/books/article/minding-their-language-the-art-of-t⁷ranslation
#metaglossia_mundus
"...India currently has 22 officially recognised languages and more ... local languages, making it complicated to code an AI model that can process all these languages seamlessly.
Ishan Garg & Kevin Lam
26 May 2025 06:32PM
NEW DELHI: India is building its own large language model it hopes one day may rival OpenAI's chatbot ChatGPT, but the country’s countless languages and dialects have made training it a challenge.
Some languages like Marathi share common roots with others such as Hindi and Gujarati, while others spoken in South India - such as Kannada, Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam - are completely different.
A large language model has to process these multiple languages seamlessly, and coding an AI model capable of understanding most of them, if not all, remains complicated.
TRAINING AI ON LOCAL LANGUAGES
One challenge faced by BharatGen, a consortium funded by India’s government, in training their large language model is a lack of online content in Indian languages.
The consortium said that while roughly half of all the data available on the internet is in English, Indian languages make up barely 1 per cent.
Literary works in many Indian languages have never been digitised, while a raft of cultural and traditional information has been verbally passed down for generations without being stored online.
On a more positive note, experts said that the diversity of languages and data collected from local sources could help create AI models with fewer biases.
Ganesh Ramakrishnan, a professor at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, told CNA his work involved reaching out to magazines, data sources, foundations and non-governmental organisations who have been gathering data in their local languages.
...
Experts said platforms like BharatGen need to invest billions of dollars on graphics processing units and data centres to achieve made-in-India generative AI at scale.
The hefty price tag would be a small price to pay to transform India from a major tech service provider to a major tech disruptor, in what could soon be a trillion-dollar market.
“India is all about scale and complexity,” said Shekar Sivasubramanian, head of the LEHS-AI unit at non-profit AI institute Wadhwani AI.
“If it is solved in India, and if it works in India, chances are, it will work in the world. That’s the opportunity"
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/india-ai-language-model-chatbots-bharatgen-5153516
##metaglossia_mundus
"In a world driven by communication, the ability to convert spoken words into written text has revolutionized how we interact with technology. Audio-to-text technology, also known as speech-to-text, is no longer just a cutting-edge concept—it’s an essential tool used across industries, from journalism and education to healthcare and customer service.
Whether you’re transcribing a podcast, drafting a report by voice, or creating accessible content, this technology is changing the way we work and communicate.
What Is Audio-to-Text Technology?
Audio-to-text technology is a form of speech recognition software that listens to spoken language and converts it into written text.
It uses algorithms and artificial intelligence (AI) to understand and process human speech in real-time or from recorded audio files. The output is a readable, editable transcript that can be stored, shared, or repurposed in various ways.
How Does It Work?
The magic lies in a combination of AI, natural language processing (NLP), and machine learning. Here’s a simplified breakdown:
Audio Capture: The system records or receives audio input.
Speech Recognition: AI models identify phonetic patterns in the audio.
Linguistic Analysis: The system breaks down speech into individual words and sentences using grammar rules.
Text Generation: Finally, the recognized words are converted into text, often with added punctuation and formatting.
Modern tools are also trained on large datasets, enabling them to distinguish between accents, dialects, and even different speakers.
Key Benefits of Audio-to-Text Technology
1. Improved Productivity
Why type when you can talk? Professionals can dictate reports, emails, or meeting notes quickly, freeing up time for more important tasks.
2. Enhanced Accessibility
Audio-to-text tools make digital content more accessible to people who are deaf or hard of hearing. Captions, transcripts, and subtitles break down barriers and promote inclusivity.
3. Better Documentation
In fields like healthcare and law, accurate records are critical. Audio-to-text provides real-time transcription for interviews, patient notes, and court proceedings.
4. Content Creation Made Easy
Podcasters, YouTubers, and marketers use transcripts to repurpose audio content into blogs, articles, or social media posts—maximizing reach and SEO impact.
Where Is It Being Used?
Education: Transcribing lectures and notes for students
Media & Journalism: Interview transcription and content archiving
Customer Service: Voice interactions recorded and analyzed for quality and training
Corporate Meetings: Auto-transcribed minutes and action items
Healthcare: Voice notes and patient documentation
Legal Sector: Transcripts for testimonies, hearings, and case files
Challenges of Audio-to-Text
Despite its many advantages, audio-to-text isn’t without hurdles:
Accuracy: Background noise, overlapping speech, or heavy accents can reduce precision.
Privacy Concerns: Storing sensitive data requires secure handling and encryption.
Language Support: Some systems still struggle with less commonly spoken languages or dialects.
However, continuous improvements in AI and machine learning are closing these gaps rapidly.
Popular Audio-to-Text Tools
Usevoicy.com: Speech-to-text everywhere
Otter.ai: Excellent for meetings and interviews
Google Speech-to-Text: Offers real-time transcription with cloud integration
Rev: Human-verified transcripts for higher accuracy
Descript: Popular among content creators and podcasters
Microsoft Dictate: Built into MS Office for easy integration
Each tool has its own strengths depending on your needs—whether it’s real-time captioning, multi-speaker recognition, or advanced editing features.
Tips for Getting the Best Results
Use a high-quality microphone to reduce background noise
Speak clearly and steadily
Choose a quiet environment for recordings
For recordings, consider editing or trimming the audio before transcription
Always review the output for final touches
The Future of Audio-to-Text
As voice technology continues to evolve, we’re likely to see even more intelligent, faster, and more accurate transcription services. Imagine seamless integration with virtual assistants, real-time translation, or voice-based coding—all powered by improved speech recognition.
With AI getting better at understanding human nuances, sarcasm, and context, we’re heading towards a future where typing might become the exception, not the rule.
Final Thoughts
Audio-to-text technology is more than a convenience—it’s a transformative tool that’s shaping the future of communication. From saving time to enhancing accessibility, it’s proving essential in both personal and professional circles. Whether you’re a student, entrepreneur, content creator, or healthcare worker, there’s a way this technology can streamline your life.
So, the next time you have something to say—why not let technology type it for you?"
By Anamta Shehzadi
May 27, 2025
https://techbullion.com/transforming-sound-into-words-the-power-of-audio-to-text-technology/
#metaglossia_mundus
Heart Lamp proves literary translation is more than technical.
Untranslatable Souls: The Radical Art of Literary Translation Culture and Society DC Web Desk 26 May 2025 1:09 PM Heart Lamp proves literary translation is more than technical. Representational image Translating literature, from Dostoevsky to Banu Mushtaq, demands more than linguistic accuracy—it requires a writer’s instinct, cultural awareness, and radical sensitivity to language. Recent controversy over poor translations of Gabriel García Márquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude and Fyodor Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov highlights the renewed relevance of translation criticism. The 2025 International Booker Prize, awarded to Heart Lamp, a collection of Kannada short stories by Banu Mushtaq translated by Deepa Bhasthi, marks a historic first: the first win for a short story collection and an Indian translator. Also Read - From shopping to self-love: Everything you need to know about World Singles Day Heart Lamp proves literary translation is more than technical. Bhasthi selected 12 stories from Mushtaq’s 50+ tales, capturing the emotional lives of southern Indian women. Prize judge Max Porter called it “a radical translation… genuinely new for English readers.” This radicalism lies in both content and approach. Translation, with sensitivity and imagination, is literary creation. As Vishnu Khare said, “Translating great literature demands as much genius as creating it.” Literary giants like Agyeya, Raghuvir Sahay, and Nirmal Verma excelled in translation, capturing a work’s soul through nuanced language. Also Read - Demand for lifestyle managers soars high Bhasthi’s Heart Lamp uses “an English with a Kannada hum,” or “translating with an accent.” She avoids simplifying Kannada for Western readers, aiming to “expose the reader to new words,” as she told Scroll.in. This resists exoticism and cultural flattening, making translation storytelling. In India’s Hindi heartland, Kabir’s mysticism, Ghalib’s ghazals, or Phanishwarnath Renu’s Bihari realism resist easy translation into English. Poor translations can be destructive—one Hindi translation turned “steaming jungles of Indonesia” into “flowing forests,” and another mangled a metaphor about energy redirection into a literal transfer. Also Read - Gen-Z’s Airport Tray Pic Trend Irks Many Fliers In contrast, Heart Lamp celebrates “a multiplicity of Englishes,” preserving the original’s vitality. Booker judge Sana Goyal noted the stories’ range, from quiet to comic, rooted in women’s lived resistance through memory. Bhasthi joins translators like Gregory Rabassa, Anthea Bell, and Tim Wilkinson, who co-created works. Rabassa’s translation of One Hundred Years of Solitude was preferred by Márquez himself. Bhasthi’s fidelity ensures Heart Lamp resonates in both Kannada and English. Also Read - Women transform the manufacturing sector This Booker win, elevating Kannada fiction to world literature, reflects a shift—validation now flows from South India outward. As Mushtaq said, “Literature is a sacred space where we live inside each other’s minds.” Translation, when done well, enables this, making it not just wordplay but world-making and, in Heart Lamp’s case, world-shaking. Written by: Hariom, University of Hyderabad, Intern. Listicle: All Indian Booker and International Booker Prize Winners (Up to 2025) 1. Arundhati Roy – The God of Small Things (1997) – Booker Prize First Indian to win the Booker for her poetic Kerala-based novel. 2. Kiran Desai – The Inheritance of Loss (2006) – Booker Prize A moving exploration of migration, loss, and identity. 3. Aravind Adiga – The White Tiger (2008) – Booker Prize A satirical take on class and ambition in modern India. 4. Geetanjali Shree (Author) & Daisy Rockwell (Translator) – Tomb of Sand (2022) – International Booker Prize First Hindi novel and Indian-language book to win the International Booker. 5. Banu Mushtaq (Author) & Deepa Bhasthi (Translator) – Heart Lamp (2025) – International Booker Prize First Kannada book and short story collection to win the prize. ( Source : Deccan Chronicle )"
https://www.deccanchronicle.com/lifestyle/culture-and-society/untranslatable-souls-the-radical-art-of-literary-translation-1881402
https://www.deccanchronicle.com/lifestyle/culture-and-society/untranslatable-souls-the-radical-art-of-literary-translation-1881402
"Central University of Kerala Invites Applications for Hindi Translator and Hindi Typist Posts on Contract Basis
May 26, 2025
The Central University of Kerala has invited applications from eligible candidates for the contractual engagement of Hindi Translator and Hindi Typist positions.
1. Hindi Translator
· Number of Posts: 1
· Category: Reserved for SC
· Essential Qualifications:
Candidates must possess any one of the following qualifications:
a. Master’s Degree in Hindi with English as a compulsory/elective subject or as the medium of examination at degree level
b. Master’s Degree in English with Hindi as a compulsory/elective subject or as the medium of examination at degree level
c. Master’s Degree in any subject other than Hindi/English with Hindi medium and English as a compulsory/elective subject or medium of examination at degree level
d. Master’s Degree in any subject other than Hindi/English with English medium and Hindi as a compulsory/elective subject or medium of examination at degree level
e. Master’s Degree in any subject other than Hindi/English with Hindi and English as compulsory/elective subjects or either of the two as a medium of examination and the other as a compulsory/elective subject at degree level
Additionally, a recognized Diploma/Certificate in Translation (Hindi to English and vice versa) or two years of translation work experience in any Government office or Public Sector Undertaking is required.
2. Hindi Typist
· Number of Posts: 1
· Category: Reserved for OBC
· Essential Qualifications:
Pass in 12th Standard from a recognized Board
Typing speed of 30 words per minute in Hindi
Working knowledge of Computer Applications
Application Process
The age limit is 35 years for the post of Hindi Translator and 30 years for Hindi Typist, with age relaxation applicable for reserved categories as per Government of India norms. Eligible candidates may send their updated CV along with supporting documents to contract.engage@cukerala.ac.in on or before May 30, 2025. The walk-in interview will be held on June 9, 2025 at the Office of the Registrar, Central University of Kerala, Periye Campus, Kasaragod. For detailed information, candidates are advised to visit the official website: www.cukerala.ac.in"
https://education21.in/central-university-of-kerala-invites-applications-for-hindi-translator-and-hindi-typist-posts-on-contract-basis/
#metaglossia_mundus
"China Daily | Updated: 2025-05-27 09:13
OSAKA, Japan — Japanese screenwriter and director Hikaru Takeuchi is an avid fan of the Chinese web novel Apocalyptic Forecast, a fantasy fiction about a disillusioned young man who gains mysterious powers and is drawn into a hidden world of supernatural conflict and secret societies.
"Translating Chinese web novels has become my favorite way to unwind as it brings me a sense of fulfillment," said Takeuchi.
Although she studied classical Chinese literature in school, she had little exposure to the online genre. That changed when work introduced her to Apocalyptic Forecast, which, in her words, "opened up a whole new world". She was especially struck by the multidimensional characters and the emotional complexity of the protagonist, whose joy and struggles resonated with her.
When the novel ended, Takeuchi felt compelled to write a letter to its author, Feng Yue. The cross-border fan mail became a symbolic bridge between cultures. Speaking with Xinhua News Agency in a recent interview, she expressed her hope of introducing more Japanese readers to the rich and emotional world of Chinese web literature.
Now, Takeuchi is not just a fan, but also a translator and grassroots promoter of Chinese web literature. Over the past three years, she has translated more than 200 chapters of Apocalyptic Forecast into Japanese and shared them with friends.
As Chinese online literature expands abroad, a growing number of overseas readers are becoming not just consumers, but translators, creators and even co-developers of new intellectual properties.
She is now planning to participate in the "Fiction Formula" contest — a joint initiative by WebNovel, a platform under China's Yuewen Group, and Japan's CCC Group, which owns the Tsutaya bookstore chain, to try her hand at original writing.
"Japan still relies heavily on cash payments, but through Chinese novels, I've learned about mobile payments and everyday life in Chinese high schools. It's fascinating," Takeuchi said.
For many Japanese readers, Chinese online literature offers a blend of novelty and relatability, a fresh yet accessible lens into contemporary Chinese society.
The success of Apocalyptic Forecast in Japan is far from isolated. Other Chinese web novels, including Joy of Life, The King's Avatar, and Battle Through the Heavens, have also gained loyal followings through localized publishing, anime adaptations and manga spin-offs.
The King's Avatar has been downloaded over 30 million times in Japanese, and its animated film was screened in nine countries and regions, including Japan, the Philippines and Singapore. Its manga version has received nearly 8 million likes on the manga app Piccoma.
Takeuchi also praised the anime adaptation of Dragon Raja, a Chinese fantasy novel by Jiang Nan, calling it high-quality and widely loved in Japan. She believes that as more Chinese novels evolve into anime, films and comics, their cultural influence in Japan will deepen.
According to Yuewen Group, by the end of 2024, its international platform WebNovel had launched around 6,800 translated works, supported 460,000 overseas authors and released roughly 700,000 original stories globally.
With nearly 300 million users across over 200 countries and regions, the platform is quickly becoming a dominant player in global online storytelling. The Japanese market stands out, with a 180-percent user surge in 2024 alone, ranking among the top five growth markets alongside Spain, Brazil, France and Germany.
Shinichiro Kamaura, executive director of CCC Group, voiced optimism about building a new cross-cultural IP ecosystem in partnership with Chinese firms. He emphasized the potential of blending cultural elements and shared values to inspire a new generation of Japanese creators.
Yuewen Group CEO and President Hou Xiaonan added that web fiction, now a leading force in China's "new cultural exports", is entering a new phase of global co-creation.
To truly succeed abroad, he said, Chinese stories must be localized — not just translated — in ways that resonate with new audiences.
Xinhua"
https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202505/27/WS683511aea310a04af22c1a71.html
#metaglossia_mundus
"Une journée d’étude pour repenser la place du dictionnaire est organisée à l'ISIT (Institut de management et de communication interculturels) le 12 juin 2025 pour inviter la communauté scientifique à réexaminer le rôle du dictionnaire dans la traduction à l’ère des intelligences artificielles (IA) génératives.
Axes d’études :
- Le dictionnaire papier ou numérique comme outil d’aide à la traduction ;
- La classe de langue ou de traduction et le dictionnaire ;
- De la linguistique de corpus aux IA génératives : comment conçoit-on un dictionnaire ? ;
- Fonction des dictionnaires face à la montée des nouveaux outils algorithmiques ;
- Terminologie, lexicographie et IA : quelles relations ?
- Loin d’opposer intelligence artificielle et dictionnaire, l’avenir de la traduction semble reposer sur une synergie intelligente entre ces outils.
Le dictionnaire, outil millénaire, trouve aujourd’hui un nouvel élan en s’associant aux technologies émergentes pour garantir rigueur, cohérence et richesse lexicale.
Plus de renseignements sur cette page.👇🏿👇🏿👇🏿
https://www.culture.fr/franceterme/Actualites/Journee-d-etude-le-dictionnaire-face-a-l-essor-de-la-traduction-automatique
#metaglossia_mundus
"Even as streaming gathers pace, accessibility remains an issue. However, AI has the ability to bridge this gap to make streaming available to more people.
Streaming has revolutionised how people watch TV — yet accessibility remains an issue. According to research by Scope, 20% of disabled people have cancelled a streaming subscription because of accessibility issues.
People who are deaf or hard of hearing face unique barriers in accessing streamed content. Captions are not always available, and when they are, they are often incomplete or of poor quality, thus impacting the viewing experience.
Also, some individuals with hearing loss, particularly those who communicate primarily through sign language, may struggle to process written text at the speed it is displayed on screen.
While captions and subtitles may be helpful for some, they lack the depth and richness of speech. Sign language, on the other hand, is more expressive and can convey the nuances of speech, including tone and emotion, that are easily missed in subtitles. Yet sign-language interpreters are rarely seen in streamed content, largely because of the associated cost and technical difficulties.
However, recent developments have shown that AI technology could bridge the accessibility gap for deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals.
Plugging the accessibility gap
AI is already being used to transcribe speech to written text to generate automatic captions in real time. But what is perhaps even more interesting is that it can also be leveraged to incorporate signing avatars into video streams.
This approach, under development by Bitmovin, integrates AI- and machine learning-driven natural language processing with 3D animation technologies to convert text representations of American Sign Language (ASL) poses into client-side avatars.
Under this concept, a text-based representation of sign-language poses is created in order to produce an additional subtitle track. The video player can then recognise and play this track using a customisable 3D avatar overlay, which signs the dialogue alongside the main video content. Initial experiments were done using the Hamburg Notation System, HamNoSys, which is used to represent sign language grammatically.
The animation of the avatar is driven by timing and content cues embedded within the sign-language subtitle track, so as long as a video player can access these cues, as it would for standard subtitles, it can be extended to support the overlay of a signing avatar.
Technical advantages
Much like adding a foreign-language subtitle, by treating sign language as its own subtitle track, it can be incorporated into existing workflows without requiring major changes to video players or delivery mechanisms.
Whether content is being streamed via DASH (Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP), HTTP live streaming or another common protocol, sign-language tracks can be delivered alongside the video using standard streaming formats. This makes it easier to bring sign-language support to a wide range of platforms and devices without major upheaval.
Another major advantage is that it eliminates the need for additional video channels or picture-in-picture (PiP) windows, helping to reduce complexity and cost. Instead of having to re-record and re-encode to update content with PiP, sign-language subtitle tracks can be edited and uploaded quickly.
Further considerations
While AI offers exciting possibilities for improving accessibility through automated sign-language generation, there are still important issues to be addressed.
These include the ethical considerations around who owns the training data used for the translation and the challenge of having enough translation datasets for all sign languages, as well as dialects within those languages.
Another key challenge lies in the use of “gloss”, a simplified form of transcription that provides a word-for-sign translation. Glossing lacks the grammatical depth of sign languages like ASL, which have their own syntax, structure and rules. As a result, gloss-based systems often produce translations that are literal and linguistically incomplete.
Similarly, while systems like HamNoSys are valuable tools for analysing sign language linguistically, they fall short when it comes to driving natural, fluid animation. For instance, HamNoSys does not currently support transitions between signs or overlapping gestures — both of which are essential for capturing the expressive flow of real-life signing.
Quality is another critical factor. Are avatars of high enough quality for the user, both in resolution and signing accuracy? For signing avatars to feel authentic and easy to follow, the rhythm and pacing of gestures must align closely with the spoken content.
This includes not just hand and arm movements, but also facial expressions, which play a vital role in conveying tone, emotion and grammatical cues in sign language. Media organisation NHK Group, for instance, has developed KiKi, a photorealistic signing digital avatar to help address these issues.
What’s next?
While this approach will not replace real-life signers for high-value live events, it may help to fill the gaps, enabling whole back catalogues to be signed that otherwise would be unfeasible. Bringing this kind of technology into video streaming opens up an entirely new way to deliver sign language.
As the approach evolves, there’s room to explore alternative representations beyond HamNoSys that might better reflect the natural flow and grammar of sign language, as well as leading to more accurate subtitle generation.
To generate more accurate and meaningful signing, future systems will likely need to draw from a wider range of inputs, including audio and video metadata, to better capture context and intention.
Fortunately, this is well within the realm of feasibility for near-term development, so it will be incredibly exciting to watch how this space develops.
Stefan Lederer is CEO and co-founder of Bitmovin"
https://uk.themedialeader.com/when-ai-meets-sign-language/
#metaglossia_mundus
"Chaque traduction est une décision
26 mai 2025
María Julia Francés a réfléchi sur le rôle des traducteurs dans le paysage médiatique actuel et sur les défis auxquels ils sont confrontés avec l’émergence des nouvelles technologies.
L'adaptation de la bande dessinée espagnole emblématique El Eternauta, créée par le scénariste Héctor Oesterheld et le dessinateur Francisco Solano López, a suscité beaucoup de buzz après sa première sur Netflix. L’un des aspects qui a retenu le plus l’attention a été sa traduction, notamment en raison du nombre d’idiomes et de connotations culturelles présents dans l’œuvre.
« La traduction audiovisuelle présente bien sûr de nombreuses facettes liées à la culture. L'anglais est généralement utilisé comme langue pivot : il n'est pas traduit directement d'une langue à l'autre, mais plutôt par une langue intermédiaire, et actuellement, c'est l'anglais qui domine, car c'est une langue de pouvoir. Autrefois, c'était le français, d'autres fois. Il est donc nécessaire de remplacer tout ce contenu culturel que le traducteur de la deuxième partie du processus ne peut plus maîtriser », explique María Julia Francés, coordinatrice du Diplôme d'études supérieures en outils et techniques théoriques appliqués à la traduction audiovisuelle à l'Université de Barcelone. Universidad Nacional de Rosario.
À cet égard, il a souligné que, contrairement à d’autres mots, Malvinas n’a pas une simple équivalence linguistique, mais porte plutôt une charge politique. « Malvinas-Falklands est une distinction politique. Dans les documents internationaux en anglais, comme les déclarations de l'ONU, on parle de Malvinas-Falklands, même si c'est en anglais. Ce n'est pas comme s'ils disaient « Falklands » simplement parce que c'est en anglais », a-t-il expliqué.
Pour elle, le choix de le traduire uniquement par Malouines implique d’ignorer la dimension politique de la langue. « Je pense que c'est une erreur totale », a-t-elle soutenu, rappelant avoir même observé cette omission dans des contextes institutionnels locaux : « Il y a dix ans, j'ai visité la Casa Rosada avec des amis américains, et les brochures mentionnaient les Malouines. Il s'agit d'une question de non-perception de l'aspect politique du langage. »
María Julia Francés a souligné le rôle important que joue un traducteur dans un projet audiovisuel.
Selon le traducteur, la décision de conserver certains termes espagnols répond à une stratégie de traduction qui cherche un équilibre entre deux approches : la domestication et l’étrangerisation. En traduction, on parle de stratégies à deux extrêmes. D'un côté, la domestication : on pourrait vouloir donner à El Eternauta l'impression d'avoir été réalisé en anglais, en ajoutant des expressions idiomatiques de cette langue et en supprimant les références territoriales, pour rendre le tout plus naturel pour un public anglophone. Cependant, cette stratégie, si elle facilite la réception, occulte également les valeurs de la culture argentine comme si elles étaient propres à la culture anglo-saxonne. Dans le cas de cette série, je pense que le contraste entre cette valeur du « nul ne se sauve seul » et les valeurs individualistes des productions anglo-saxonnes est fondamental.
Au contraire, Francés a souligné le chemin qui a été choisi. « Il comprend des mots espagnols et des thèmes très argentins, que le spectateur peut rechercher sur Google », a-t-il déclaré. De son point de vue, ce geste invite le public à participer activement sans le perturber : « Cette décision peut pousser l’autre stratégie, l’étrangeté, à l’extrême, ce qui peut avoir un effet exotisant, rendant tout étrange et les valeurs beaucoup plus difficiles à assimiler. Mais la traductrice fait un compromis : la traduction est assez naturelle, avec quelques petites choses à rechercher sur Google, sans pour autant paraître complètement étrangère. »
Pour Francés, ce choix est particulièrement significatif dans un contexte où les technologies de doublage automatique prolifèrent, cherchant à masquer l’origine étrangère des contenus. « Je trouve cela incroyablement intéressant dans un contexte où l'on parle de doublage avec intelligence artificielle, où l'on ne se rend pas compte que le produit vient d'un autre pays », a-t-il déclaré. À cet égard, il a estimé que les grandes plateformes tendent de plus en plus vers une consommation passive. L'objectif est que le public soit moins actif, même s'il peut participer sur les réseaux sociaux. Cependant, El Eternauta vous conseille : "Allez chercher sur Google."
Enfin, il a souligné que la stratégie de traduction est en dialogue direct avec la proposition narrative de la série elle-même. La stratégie choisie est cohérente avec celle des créateurs. Il ne s'agit pas d'une série totalement traditionaliste, incompréhensible pour quiconque n'est pas Argentin, mais plutôt d'une série qui intègre des éléments internationaux, voire un peu hollywoodiens, mais aussi des valeurs argentines. Il me semble qu'elle suit cette ligne, non seulement à cause du mot "Malvinas", mais aussi à cause de la stratégie de production globale.
L'IA et ses défis
L’intelligence artificielle a évolué à pas de géant ces dernières années, au point de remettre en question le rôle actif des humains dans de nombreux processus qui étaient impensables jusqu’à récemment. Le doublage automatique et les sous-titres instantanés alimentés par l'IA ne sont que quelques-uns des défis auxquels les traducteurs sont confrontés aujourd'hui.
« Je crois que nous devons plus que jamais réfléchir de manière critique à notre profession. Nous ne devons pas avoir peur d'affirmer que cette profession est politique, tout comme nos décisions », a déclaré Francés. Il a ajouté : « Quand j'étais étudiant, on nous répétait constamment qu'il fallait être neutre, mais en réalité, la neutralité n'existe pas dans le langage, et encore moins dans la communication. L'intelligence artificielle fait ce que tout le monde croyait neutre, ce qui a en réalité une origine probabiliste. L'important ici est que les êtres humains puissent choisir entre différentes options et en évaluer les effets. »
Le professionnel a souligné que les traductions actuelles de l’IA sont très crédibles et que les erreurs linguistiques ne sont généralement pas observées. Si elles sont détectées, c’est probablement parce qu’elles ont été réalisées par traduction automatique et non par intelligence artificielle générative. Les traducteurs automatiques, comme Google Traduction, qui est un système de traduction automatique du langage (NMT), sont plus littéraux et souvent plus faciles à détecter. Cependant, avec la traduction par IA, on ne s'en rend pas compte, car elle est très naturelle. Ce qui est également dangereux, car on pourrait vous dire n'importe quoi sans même s'en rendre compte.
Cycle de formation
Le Diplôme d'Études Avancées en Outils Théoriques et Techniques Appliqués à la Traduction Audiovisuelle est un programme de formation postuniversitaire basé au Centre d'Études Interdisciplinaires (CEI) de l'UNR. Le cours commence en août et est ouvert aux traducteurs de toutes les langues.
« Contrairement à d'autres programmes de troisième cycle du pays, ce diplôme adopte une approche très interdisciplinaire. Nous l'avons envisagé ainsi car la traduction se trouve à un tournant, avec l'introduction massive de l'intelligence artificielle et l'émergence des nouvelles technologies. Nous nous sommes donc demandés : pourquoi ne pas l'élargir ? Pourquoi ne pas, du point de vue de la communication sociale, examiner le rôle que nous jouons en tant que traducteurs audiovisuels ? Nous cherchons à analyser le produit dans son intégralité, en ne nous limitant pas à l'aspect linguistique, mais en disposant également d'outils techniques pour formuler des suggestions, prodiguer des conseils et explorer de nouvelles pistes pour la traduction actuelle », a déclaré María Julia Francés.
L’objectif du diplôme est de fournir des outils complémentaires à la formation traditionnelle en traduction, en intégrant des connaissances issues de la communication sociale, des neurosciences, de la musique, du son et d’autres disciplines. Nous espérons que les personnes formées dans le cadre de ce programme acquerront une perspective plus large, allant au-delà du simple comptage des caractères dans un sous-titre ou de la synchronisation audio pendant le doublage. Nous souhaitons leur fournir des outils que nous considérons comme essentiels pour l'avenir et qui, en réalité, l'ont toujours été, même si nous les percevons aujourd'hui comme encore plus nécessaires. L'idée est également d'inviter des personnes travaillant dans le domaine de l'accessibilité, notamment issues de la communauté, de groupes de personnes sourdes et aveugles, afin qu'elles puissent également contribuer à notre projet, ce qui nous semble fondamental.
Le cours débute au deuxième semestre de cette année et, au cours du premier trimestre 2026, il y aura un stage professionnel et des cours optionnels avec divers conférenciers invités. Pour plus d'informations, veuillez envoyer un e-mail à intaudiovisual@unr.edu.ar
Journaliste : Gonzalo J. García / Photographe : Camila Casero."
https://unr.edu.ar/fr/toda-traduccion-es-una-decision/
Mushtaq and Bhasthi deserve plaudits for their achievements, which are a big boost not only for Kannada and Indian literature but also for South Asia.
The NATO summit would not be possible without international interpreters.
"DAYTON, Ohio — NATO is comprised of 32 different countries, all coming together as allies for the betterment of the world.
What You Need To Know
NATO is comprised of 32 different countries speaking several different languages
The NATO summit uses international interpreters to diminish any language barriers
NATO interpreter, Elisabetta Ullman, said interpreting is hard work but they have trained for this for years and have a master's degree in interpretation
But how do all these countries communicate with each other during an international conference? Through technology and interpreters.
“So, you see, this is where the technician is and controls the sound, which is very important, and we have the various booths. This is for the French,” said NATO interpreter, Elisabetta Ullman.
It’s an aspect of the NATO summit that can sometimes be overlooked, but is vital to the success of communication. Interpreters are the glue that keeps these countries together. In soundproof booths, Italian, French and Spanish interpreters listen to speakers and interpret in their language to the delegates who need it.
“So, we have a mic. So, we see the speaker and we press the mic,” said Ullman.
For hours Elisabetta Ullman and her partner interpret dozens of different committee meetings in Italian.
“We get 30 minutes each, and we relay. So, you one, we help each other out,” said Ullman.
They speak the language of their choice into the mic and then the delegates listen through an earpiece that is given to them at their desk.
The interpreters say they were trained for this position and have a master’s degree in interpretation. But sometimes speakers forget they are being interpreted and speak too fast for them to catch up. It’s all part of the moving dialogue that is ongoing here in Dayton."
BY KENNEDY CHASE OHIO
PUBLISHED 5:00 PM ET
MAY 25, 2025
https://spectrumnews1.com/oh/columbus/news/2025/05/25/nato-interpreter-languages-international
#metaglossia_mundus
"PFN Launches PLaMo Translate Large Language Model Specialized for Japanese Text Translation
Available for free on web, also for on-premise use by individuals and companies with annual revenue under one billion yen
TOKYO – May 27, 2025 – Preferred Networks, Inc. (PFN) today launched PLaMo™ Translate, a large language model (LLM) developed in-house by the PFN group for text translation to and from Japanese, as an on-premise product for corporate customers in Japan.
PLaMo Translate is accessible for free trial on the dedicated website, and companies and individuals with annual revenue under one billion yen can download and use it on-premises for both commercial and non-commercial purposes.
PLaMo Translate is the latest in the PLaMo lineup of LLMs developed fully from scratch by the PFN group in Japan, and was trained on a unique dataset containing a high ratio of Japanese and English text to ensure superior translation quality and accuracy compared to overseas models. While general-purpose LLMs are typically cloud-based due to their large size, PLaMo Translate’s compact size for a specialized architecture allows users to operate it in on-premises and local environments. PFN plans to develop APIs that allow companies to integrate PLaMo Translate into their own services.
Key Features of PLaMo Translate
Natural and fluent translations
The PLaMo Translate model was trained to produce natural-flowing translations that maintain readability even in long texts. It takes account of up to 80,000 characters of previous context, resulting in higher consistency in style and vocabulary than competing models.
Faithfulness to the original formatting
PLaMo Translate can detect the original text’s style such as conversations, news articles and academic papers and faithfully translates it according to the style. As the model maintains line breaks and indentation, programming codes and texts in the markdown format are translated faithfully to the original formatting.
Compact size
As a specialized model for text translation, PLaMo Translate can operate on local PCs that meet certain conditions, enabling secure translation of confidential documents. It also places relatively low computational demands in on-premises environments.
How to Use PLaMo Translate
Free trial on dedicated site
The web-based version of PLaMo Translate is accessible for free. It supports up to 5,000 characters for Japanese-English/English-Japanese pairs and 2,000 characters for other languages. Input data may be used for PLaMo Translate’s future performance improvements.
Free on-premises use
Companies and individuals with the latest annual revenue of less than one billion yen can download the PLaMo Translate model shared today on HuggingFace under the PLaMo Community License for on-premises use, both commercially and non-commercially.
Paid on-premises use
Companies with annual revenue of more than one billion yen can purchase PLaMo Translate and use customized models. PFN provides integration support to tailor the model for specific business needs. (Contact form)
The development of PLaMo Translation was supported by the second round of the GENIAC (Generative AI Accelerator Challenge) project, implemented by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) for strengthening Japan’s generative AI development capabilities.
About PLaMo
PLaMo (pronounced “Plah-Mo”) is a brand for large language models (LLMs) developed in-house by the PFN group fully from scratch. Trained on high-quality datasets rich in Japanese content, PLaMo models have demonstrated world-class Japanese-language performance. Available models include the commercial flagship PLaMo Prime, lightweight PLaMo Lite for edge devices such as cars and manufacturing equipment, PLaMo-100B-Pretrained for non-commercial research purposes, PLaMo-fin-base additionally trained with Japanese financial knowledge, and PLaMo Translate specialized for Japanese text translation. PLaMo 1.0 Prime is offered through cloud APIs, Amazon Bedrock Marketplace, and on-premises, with built in by default in external services such as miibo (Japanese AI building platform), Tachyon Generative AI (corporate AI service), and QommonsAI (used by over 150 local governments in Japan)."
https://www.preferred.jp/en/news/pr20250527/
#metaglossia_mundus
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