Issue Details: First known date: 2021... 2021 The “Untranslatables” as Symptoms of Difference : From a Network of Languages to a Language of Networks
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'The purpose of this paper is to address the concern for the preservation of language difference and diversity. The threat to language diversity can be found historically in the dominance given to English and more recently, in the emergent forms of digital technologies. Their point of contact is the act of translation. In taking up Cassin’s concept of the “untranslatables”,the paper provides a critical foundation for thinking through the issue of language diversity. A focus on the translation of the bible into the Central Australian Aboriginal language of Aranda underpins how universal concepts are absorbed by the singularity of languages. In are-think of the issues raised for translation practices when they are dominated by machine translation, digital technologies have also innovated new language usage exemplified by evolving forms in text messaging and the rise of image translation formats such as emojis. This raises the question as to whether specifically designed emojis for Indigenous speakers is a threat to, or a form that preserves and extends, Indigenous languages. The paper concludes with a consideration of the value of translation in a digital world where post-truth dominates the information landscape.' (Publication abstract)

Notes

  • Epigraph:

    No volverá tu voz a lo que el persa

    Dijo en su lengua de aves y de rosas,

    Cuando al ocaso, ante la luz dispersa,

    Quieras decir inolvidables cosas. (Borges 116–17)

    You will never recapture what the Persian 

    Said in his language woven with birds and roses,

    When, in the sunset, before the light disperses,

    You wish to give words to unforgettable things.

    “The original is unfaithful to the translation.”

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Asiatic Digital Trends in Language and Literature : Asia and the 21st Century vol. 15 no. 1 June 2021 22092014 2021 periodical issue 'This special issue of Asiatic, themed Digital Trends in Language and Literature : Asia and the 21st century, was born in the context of International Conference on Language and Literature 2020 (ICLL 2020) organised at International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM)on 15-17January 2020. The conference was a collaboration between IIUM and Western Sydney University (WSU), Australia, and was also supported by Jinan University, Guangzhou, China. The event attracted a total of one hundred regular paper submissions, focusing on numerous contemporary and emerging topics related to language and literary digitalisation in Asia. The conference was held, fortunately, just before the COVID-19 pandemic struck the world. From that time until the publication of this issue, the world has undergone a sweeping digital transformation in the way people and institutions interact and operate in their daily lives. In a way, the theme of the conference in January 2020 serves as a harbinger of the shift to online and digital platforms, which are becoming progressively normalised in the wake of the COVID-19 viral attack worldwide.' (Introduction to the Special Issue) 2021 pg. 14-35
Last amended 1 Jul 2021 09:51:54
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