linguapax review8 82020 Translating Diversity Traduir la diversitat Linguapax Review 2020 Translating Diversity Traduir la diversitat Editat per: Amb el suport de: Generalitat de Catalunya Departament de Cultura Generalitat de Catalunya Departament d’Acció Exterior Relacions Institucionals i Transparència Secretaria d’Acció Exterior i de la Unió Europea Coordinació editorial: Carme Arenas Noguera Disseny i maquetació: Grafia, serveis gràfics Traduccions: Sara Blackshire Aquesta obra està subjecta a una llicència de Reconeixement-NoComercial-CompartirIgual 4.0 Internacional de Creative Commons Linguapax Review 8 3 CONTENTS CONTINGUTS • Introduction 5 • Introducció 9 CARME ARENAS NOGUERA • Translation, power, ethics 13 Challenging injustice in cross-cultural understanding and cooperation • Traducció, poder, ètica 33 Contra la injustícia en la comprensió i la cooperació interculturals ESTHER MONZÓ-NEBOT • Translation and language mediation 53 Processes and actions to solve various language problems in all fields • Traducció i mediació lingüística 67 Processos i accions per resoldre els diversos problemes lingüístics en tots els àmbits JOSEP MARIA MONTCADA ESCUBAIRÓ • Separate Gardens 81 • Jardins separats 97 LLUÍS MARIA TODÓ • Human translation and machine translation 111 Specificities, uses, advantages and disadvantages • Traducció humana i traducció automàtica 131 Especificitats, usos, avantatges i inconvenients ANTONI OLIVER • Translation and advertising 153 • Traducció i publicitat 165 XAVIER SÁNCHEZ • Linguistic diversity in entertainment: notes from audiovisual translation 177 • Diversitat lingüística a l’entreteniment: apunts des de la traducció audiovisual 193 BLANCA ARIAS • Dreams of language justice: linguistic diversity in international arenas 209 • Somnis de justícia lingüística: diversitat lingüística en escenaris internacionals 219 ELINE MÜLLER Linguapax Review 8 5 INTRODUCTION Carme Arenas Noguera In this 10-year anniversary of Linguapax Review, the 2020 issue, we wanted to focus on the wide range of specificities within translation. The purpose has been to open up a debate not only about translation, but also about the importance of translation in preserving linguistic diversity and the wealth this diversity represents, as a heritage that needs to be cared for. The constant work of finding the elements necessary for the fair coexistence between diverse languages is one of the objectives of Linguapax International. Also, the need to safeguard this linguistic diversity as a cultural heritage, through translation. If there’s one activity that guar- antees paying attention to the other, raising awareness, bringing them closer, it’s translation. Human language is already a translation of our thoughts. This is the reason behind the title of this issue: Translating diversity. If humanity has been capable of creating many diverse, fascinating languages, we must be capable of keeping them alive. We must contribute to driving away the threat of linguistic standardisation, of some languages prevailing over others. And this will only be possible through translation. We must fight against dwindling linguistic options caused by the uniform- ity that imperialist or colonial linguistic positions sometimes tempt us with or impose on us. By translating languages, what we do is translate humanity. Also, translation acts as a bridge enabling cross-cultural dialogue. It’s through translation that we discover new ways of life and cultures that are different from our own, other ways of perceiving the world and, in this sense, we broaden our universe, we expand our minds by opening up to others and this benefits us in many ways. Dear Umberto Eco said that the language of the world, the language of communication, of culture, in short, of progress, of tolerance, of diversity, of democracy, and of peace is trans- lation. The seven articles included in this issue of Linguapax Review approach the natural act of translation from different angles and practices, and address its specificities, advantages and dangers. Also, the consequences of not enabling good access to translation or interpreting in multilingual contexts. One of the aspects we wanted to address is the ethical attitude necessary in all translation and interpreting, given that translation is also a political act that isn’t free from influences and interests. We must keep in mind the power of translation and how this practice is influenced by certain policies. Hence the inherent responsibility in all translation and interpreting, and the need to establish an ethical code of translation, especially in its cross-cultural mediation nature, in its essential role in the cultural transformation of populations. And without neglect- ing the importance of the translator in this cross-cultural communication, since it’s within the context of cultural diversity that this role becomes truly necessary. In societies that are becoming more and more multilingual, language mediation is essential, not only as a tool of empowerment for all the individuals that make up our society, but also as a political tool of democratisation, given that everyone must be able to understand and 6 Linguapax Review 8 be understood. In this sense, in recent years, the Council of Europe has focused on incor- porating mediation as one of the key language skills of individuals, not considered language learners, but ‘social agents’. The Common European Framework of Reference for Languag- es (Companion volume, 2018: https://rm.coe.int/cefr-companion-volume-with-new-descrip- tors-2018/1680787989) has developed this aspect recently, within a single language and between languages. Everyone, as part of their language competence, must work on their mediation competence (textual, communicative, conceptual). Traditionally, we’ve discovered other cultures, other ways of life, we’ve travelled to exotic land- scapes, dreamt of faraway countries and mythical characters; in short, we’ve had access to universal literature thanks to the translation of great texts from all cultures. It would have been a real lack of awareness for authors to have remained isolated within the framework of their own source languages. Literary translation in itself has a particularity that makes it unique, in that it preserves the style of the source text, transferring all those cultural references the reader doesn’t have. We’ll nev- er be able to fully appreciate how literary translation has contributed to discovering the other and has been the driving force for influences between languages, how certain works have influenced us, how we’ve taken on cultural codes that are far-removed from our own. Good authors enrich and broaden language itself with significant contributions from the per- spective of style, image creation, renovation, even syntax. The translator is both a creator and renovator of language, because they provide new inflex- ions in language itself and their work becomes part of common heritage. And if literary translation requires the figure of an expert in both the culture of the source text and the target text, today, thanks to technological advances, we have access to sophisticat- ed and useful machine translation programs. There’s a big debate about whether machine translation will ever be able to replace human translation, if it’ll ever be able to understand the nuances of a text within the context it was written. Right now, thanks to artificial intelligence, we have very precise machine translation programs at our disposal that can achieve high levels of quality, especially with technical texts. We must understand the specificities of one mode of translation and the other, if MT guarantees the depiction of the cultural reality inherent to the text. But despite the advances in this sense, we must consider if all languages have access to these more or less complete MT programs. In our current world, where the weight of technology is greater every day, we should think about whether there’s equal opportunity when accessing tools in one’s own language to enjoy these advances democratically or there’s a language imposition, and which are the risks that languages that don’t have access to these tools are exposed to. Are these risks already visi- ble? Or will it be in the future when these languages will be pushed aside, with the subsequent consequences that this entails to the life of these non-technological languages, not to mention traditionally oral languages? New technologies may allow these languages to access translation on equal terms with writ- ten languages and may thus become more visible and competitive in the global arena. We must seek strategies to fight against any inequality and even potential imbalances. This leads us to the question on how linguistic diversity is preserved in the digital era, bringing to light the many examples of linguistic revitalisation where technology can help a lot. New Linguapax Review 8 7 tools allow us to find new strategies. How can we ensure cultural and linguistic diversity within public services in highly diverse urban contexts? Advertising and the audiovisual industry are currently two very present and influential sectors in society, with a growing economic potential. We should be able to guarantee the access of all languages in the audiovisual world. But which are the policies that governments would have to implement to prevent the main distributors from falling into certain linguistic dictatorships and for each speaker to have access to audiovisual content in their own language? And, regarding