Metaglossia: The Translation World

The International Mother Language Day falls on February 21. As Mother Languages is a very important issue in contemporary Sri Lanka, with its outlook to become a trilingual nation, the Department of Official Language has decided to hold an essay competition at school level to help sensitise public opinion towards the mother tongue. Promoting mutual respect based on the love for one’s mother tongue, is another aim of this competition.

The islandwide competition will be held at two levels: Senior and Secondary.

Senior Level is open for students of Grades 12 and 13, while the Secondary is for Grades 10 and 11. Candidates can submit essays in English, Sinhala or Tamil.

English is a language that offers us myriad choices. We can be unfailingly precise, but also poetic, and even funny. A sense of humor pervades many of the newest words entering English, via the technology industry.

Organizers of the Mother Language Lovers of the World (MLLW) held a very successful Seminar at the University of British Columbia on Sunday, October14.The theme of the seminar was Multilingualism for Inclusive Education. President of MLLW, Rafiqual Islam, welcomed the attendees and gave a brief account of the organization’s objectives and the expected outcome of this event. He was followed by John Yap, BC’s Minister of State for Multiculturalism. Yap commended the organizers for planning this event and bringing various stakeholders to-gather. He stressed the significance of multilingualism in a multicultural Canada. This function was co-sponsored by Multicultural Helping House Society. Its president, Tom Avendano, stressed that Canada is a wonderful country and that all of us should do our bit to make it even better. He stated that a person’s mother tongue plays a major role in his/her growth and development.
This gathering brought to-gather a number of prominent resource people with impeccable credentials in this field. They included Dr.Chinnoy Banerjee, president of Hari Sharma Foundation. Dr. Banerjee stated that we lose our bearings when we lose our language. He emphasized that culture and language don’t stay the same. They keep evolving. We should not only accept but also respect linguistic differences. Mutual respect for different languages and cultures are essential for the success of a multicultural society. Chinnoy also expressed concern about extinction of a lot of languages, especially the Aboriginal ones. This point was reinforced by a number of speakers who followed him.
Dr. Iqbal Bhuiyan, from the MLLW, made a very comprehensive presentation about the struggle for mother language by the Bangladeshi community which gave birth to the International Mother Language Day (IMLD). His theme-IMLD in our Multicultural Canada-its Significance and Framework brought the question of multilingualism into sharp focus. This idea was reinforced by all of the speakers who followed him. They included Dr. Jessica Ball from the University of Victoria, Dr. Onowa McIvor, Director of Indigenous Education, University of Victoria and myself.
Dr. McIvor explained in detail the fate of the Indigenous languages in Canada. She dealt in detail with the mistreatment of Native children in residential schools especially with reference to their language and culture. Dr. McIvor mentioned that prior to the contact of Aboriginals with the people from Europe; more than 450 Indigenous languages were flourishing in this country. However, since the arrival of Europeans this number has declined to less than 60 .She stated that if some drastic measures aren’t taken soon to reverse this trend, there will be very few (possibly 3) , Indigenous languages left in this country. However, she expressed hope that people and governments seem to be paying more attention than before to the revival of these languages. This is very encouraging.
There are 6,900 languages spoken around the globe. 22% of them have less than 1,000 speakers. Nearly half of them might become extinct by the end of this century. In this context, this Seminar was an appropriate one. It brought to-gather a number of distinguished resource persons to discuss the issue and work collaboratively in finding solutions. The importance of a mother language, whatever it is, can’t be underestimated. Multilingualism is an integral part of multiculturalism. In order for them to prosper, Canadians, along with different levels of government, have to play a pivotal role. Certainly, Canada’s two official languages are English and French. Every resident/citizen of this country must make an effort in becoming fluent in at least one of them. At the same time, let’s not forget that Canada is a multilingual country. As such, other languages should also get some support and recognition. Currently, all of the languages other than English and French are considered to be foreign languages. This is something that must be looked at. Take for example, the Punjabi language. The Punjabi community has made a commendable contribution to the growth and development of Canada for more than 125 years. Though their culture, customs and religion are considered to be Canadian yet their mother language Punjabi is still considered to be a foreign language. Same goes for many other languages.

En effet, comment prétendre faire de la prévention contre le SIDA, lutter contre le paludisme ou la tuberculose, si l’on n’est pas correctement compris par les populations que l’on cherche à toucher? Comment enseigner les techniques de production agricole, de gestion de l’eau ou de production d’énergie, si les formateurs s’expriment en anglais, en français, ou même dans une grande langue nationale que la plupart des villageois, souvent pas ou peu scolarisés, ne parlent pas? C’est ainsi que dans son article 2, la convention de l’UNESCO note que, la diversité culturelle est une grande richesse pour les individus et les sociétés. La protection, la promotion et le maintien de la diversité culturelle sont une condition essentielle pour un développement durable au bénéfice des générations présentes et futures. Davidson, linguiste britannique à SIL (au quartier Moursal) remarque que l’idée selon laquelle l’existence d’une seule langue apporterait la paix, quelle que soit la langue, est un mythe absolu et vrai.

La nécessité de protéger nos langues et dialectes
Bien que le français et l’arabe (tchadien) soient les langues officielles du Tchad, il y a plus de 120 langues parlées partout dans le pays. Il y a 30 ans, plusieurs langues étaient utilisées à travers le pays pour le commerce dans les marchés de chaque région. Dans la région du Moyen Chari par exemple, la langue Sara se parle au marché. Plus au nord le long du fleuve Chari, on parle le bagirmi. Mais la plus populaire reste la langue arabe, langue des nomades commerçant s qui voyagent partout dans le pays. Dans les marchés de la région du Ouaddaï , on parle presque uniquement l’arabe (tchadien),comme au Guéra et à N’Djaména. Mais aujourd’hui, même l’arabe tchadien parlé sur ces marchés commence à perdre sa valeur au détriment du français. Car beaucoup ne savent pas parler le pur arabe tchadien ou soient ne connaissent pas compter en arabe tchadien. Mais là où le bat blesse, dans certaines régions, on constate encore plus la dégradation sinon la disparition des dialectes.

Recently, the Turkish state took a decision to designate Kurdish language as an elective course, as part of their drive to rekindle the stagnated "Kurdish Opening". This decision will implement in coordination with the Institute of Living Languages at Mardin Artuklu University.
The Kurdish Globe was able to interview Professor Dr. Kadri Yildirim, the Director of the Institute of Living Languages. He is a professor of Arabic literature and language, whose research has specialized in the works of Kurdish classic literature. In addition, he has considerable works in the Kurdish and Turkish languages in relation to Ahmad-i Khani.

Globe: How long are your ongoing efforts in relation to the Kurdish language at the University of Mardin Artuklu? Would you give us information about the level of studies?

In Hindi films from the ‘70s till the late ‘80s, the new-bahu-of-the-house made it her job to dismiss traditions.

Débat : "la langue maternelle comme outil de développement"
Vendredi 4 mai à la délégation de la culture de Bonanjo à 15h.
C’est sur ce thème que sera centré le débat. Intervenants : Pr Carl Ebobissé : typologie ethnique et importance de l'enseignement de la langue maternelle dans le système éducatif camerounais, Pr Héléne Ntonè : rôle de l'université dans la production des activités culturelles, M. Valère Epée : place de la culture Sawa dans le patrimoine, M. Mayi Ongla : rôle des pouvoirs publics dans la promotion de la langue maternelle au Camerounais.

Ang Tigbuhat has been a teacher for over 25 years. After that many years teaching it is not unusual for a teacher to worry about fundamental issues like "quality of thinking." How well do his students think?

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In a manner of speaking, one should ideally “think” only in between sentences. One might realize what problems a writer must have to surmount if he or she is translating thoughts into another language even as he or she writes. And it is possible this difficult process of translation and retranslation might have something to do with impoverishing the quality of his students’ thoughts.
Tigbuhat knew that the thinking process needs to be an easy, comfortable and enjoyable process for his students if they are ever going to be intelligent artists. He knew from experience that the process of translation and retranslation is almost always not an enjoyable process unless applied to the specialized task of translating text. And in the end, he felt it was good cause for him not to inflict the English language on his students unless they were already good in it and used the language for thinking and doing their art. The latter was most especially critical.