tranfree issue 23 - 18th December 2000

Do You Translate An Obscure Language?

by Phil Naylor

"It depends on what you mean by an 'obscure' language," you might ask.

Well in my pursuit of fun or something a bit different to revitalise our energies at work, I found some rather interesting web sites dedicated to obscure languages.

Our livelihoods rely on the existence of different languages, and although the vast majority of the language combinations we deal with in business are not considered obscure, I was surprised to discover how many languages are in fact endangered.

I was also surprised to discover the efforts some people are going to so that lesser known languages may be preserved.

In fact, UNESCO (http://www.unesco.org) take the diversity of language very seriously...

"UNESCO’s work in the field of languages began to take off in the mid-1980s. A key step was the launch of the Linguapax project in 1986. This was designed 'to associate the teaching of languages with the promotion of international understanding and peace,' says Félix Marti, head of UNESCO’s Advisory Committee for Linguistic Pluralism and Multilingual Education, which was set up in 1998."

They also have some interesting books available. I like the sound of this one...

'Translators Through History' - By describing the main areas in which translators have distinguished themselves throughout the ages, this book highlights their important contribution to society and the fundamental role they have played in the unfolding of intellectual history itself.

We all knew that anyway.

SIL International in Texas (http://www.sil.org) work hard to 'facilitate language-based development through research, translation, and literacy.'  Their research efforts are very impressive. There's a report on true globalization for IT to encompass ALL the world's languages. They even have a catalogue of more than 6,700 languages spoken in 228 countries!

The International Clearing House for Endangered Languages (http://www.tooyoo.l.u-tokyo.ac.jp/ichel.html) reports on studies of global language extinction. And at The Yamada Language Center (http://babel.uoregon.edu) there are guides containing information about 115 languages, and 112 fonts for 40 languages in their archives.

But I think the biggest surprise of all was finding a web site written in Klingon (from Star Trek) - http://www.eridani.demon.co.uk/tlhIngan/

Now that's what I call obscure!

I stumbled on a site which had a Klingon translation of the Bible the other day. I couldn't believe anyone would go to the trouble.

I was amazed

Phil Naylor is Business Development Manager of...

http://www.translatortips.com

helping translators do better business

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