{"id":66882,"date":"2015-09-05T03:14:23","date_gmt":"2015-09-05T01:14:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sorosoro.org\/?p=66882"},"modified":"2025-10-21T21:57:14","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T19:57:14","slug":"translation-as-a-key-to-plurilingualism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sorosoro.org\/en\/2015\/09\/translation-as-a-key-to-plurilingualism\/","title":{"rendered":"Translation as a key to plurilingualism"},"content":{"rendered":"

Posted by Astrid Guillaume on January 24, 2011<\/span>
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\nAstrid Guillaume is vice-president of the European Observatory for Plurilingualism and Senior Lecturer at the Sorbonne, Paris.<\/em>
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\nThe world nowadays counts around 6,800 languages: there is no way to master 6,800 languages, not even a hundred for that matter, 10 human lives would not be enough. But invariably learning only one (i.e. English) becomes a danger, if other languages end up being less taught and therefore less visible, and if the all-English logic ends up standardizing the planet on a linguistic and cultural level. Thus the challenge, in the same way we protect living organisms, is to protect all the languages and cultures of the world by promoting plurilingualism.<\/p>\n

Yet plurilingualism implies a necessity to translate. And indeed, right behind language itself, translation is the first universal tool for communication.<\/strong> In all periods of history, in various civilizational contexts, translation has helped man improve their understanding of the Other while enabling their own language to live on.<\/p>\n

Throughout the history of mankind, translators and interpreters have always played a highly diplomatic and strategic part, as well as that of a conveyor of knowledge. <\/strong>Translation has deeply marked the history of human exchanges, be it in the constitution of States, religious mutations, worldwide diffusion of culture, or the safeguard of lesser-diffused languages.<\/p>\n

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The Oaths of Strasbourg (842)<\/p><\/div>\n

On a political level, for example, translation played a significant role in the 9th century during Charlemagne\u2019s division of the empire: his two grandsons, Louis the German and Charles the Bald, agreed to make a deal to claim their share of inheritance before their brother Lothair. So in 842, they commissioned the Oaths of Strasbourg to be drafted in both languages of both of their respective people: Tudesque for the people of Louis the German, Roman for that of Charles the Bald. Evidently, addressing and writing in the language of the other was already understood then as a strong political act that could contribute a peace process.<\/p>\n

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The Rosetta Stone<\/p><\/div>\n

On a more cultural level, glosses have helped decipher and decode a good number of forgotten languages at various periods. Translation was already essential during the Egyptians and the Mesopotamians 3,000 years BC. Which is precisely how Jean-Fran\u00e7ois Champollion deciphered the Rosetta Stone in the 19th century: carved in three languages, the stone made possible the comprehension of the greatest Egyptian edifices, unveiling deep through the grooves of Hieroglyphs, Demotic and Greek, the recent position acquired by a so-called Ptolemy called out to reign over Upper and Lower Egypt in 196 BC.<\/p>\n

Hence translation has greatly contributed to the creation and diffusion of humanity\u2019s historical, cultural and scientific heritage.<\/strong><\/p>\n

These are the reasons and issues driving the European Observatory for Plurilingualism to watch over and act in favour of the representativeness of languages in society and official entities, the command of two, three languages or even more, and the systematic use of translation. Because when a language ceases to be translated and spoken, it dies, and with it, some of the history of humanity disappears forever.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Plurilingualism and its corollary, translation, are yesterday\u2019s, today\u2019s and tomorrow\u2019s transdisciplinary tools for communication, those with the most respect for the world\u2019s languages and cultures.<\/strong>
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