4th Mercator International Symposium
Mercator-Media
Translation of Culture, Culture of Translation: Languages in Film, Television and Literature
Aberyswyth, Wales
26 - 28 October 2005

• Media News - MM
• Legislation News - ML

• Bulletin 61 - ML
• Working Paper 18 - ML
• Slovakia online - ME
• Voices from Tundra and Taiga - ME

• Partners for EMILL - ME
• New titles - ME

IV Mercator International Symposium
"Translation of Culture, Culture of Translation: Languages in Film, Television and Literature"

MERCATOR-MEDIA

Dates Announced for the 4th Mercator International Symposium

The 4th Mercator International Symposium will be held on 26, 27 and 28 October 2005 in Aberystwyth, Wales and will have the theme of "Translation of Culture, Culture of Translation: Languages in Film, Television and Literature".

Language transfer, which includes, for the purposes of this symposium, subtitling and dubbing of both film and television as well as literary translation, is a multi-faceted phenomenon from the point of view of minority languages. It can be used to disseminate cultures which find themselves outside the audiovisual and literary ‘mainstream’ and to maximise audience or reader numbers for minority cultural products. Moreover, translation into minority languages not only increases the volume of available material in a marginalised language, but may have a wider cultural impact and contribute to the development of the language as a dynamic creative medium. On the other hand, the effect of ‘importing’ cultural references on a large scale may not always be viewed positively.

This symposium will seek contributions to this discussion from those active as practitioners and policy-makers in the audiovisual and literary fields (producers, directors, broadcasters, subtitlers and dubbers, scriptwriters, publishers, authors, translators) as well as those concerned with these issues in an academic context. While the emphasis will be on autochthonous minority languages (that is to say the languages of groups long-established on their current territory and using a language other than the primary official language of their state or a language in some sense socially and/or politically marginalised) connections may be made with issues of concern to smaller state languages, migrant languages and cultural production originating from beyond the metropolitan mainstream. We shall welcome contributions which make those connections. Key areas of discussion will include (but need not be limited to):

• The politics of translation
• The effects of ‘global’ culture
• Cultural policy and translation
• Language transfer and cultural transfer
• Translation and language planning
• International partnerships
• Digital technology and the internet
• Sign languages in the audiovisual media
• Learners and fluent speakers as audiences/readers
• Children as audience/readers

Abstracts of approximately 500 words or suggestions for panel discussions should be sent (as Word files or as plain text within the e-mail) to george.jones@aber.ac.uk by 1 June 2005. Notification of acceptance will be sent by 1 July 2005.

Written abstracts/proposals submitted for consideration will be accepted in Welsh, English, German or French. Abstracts in other languages can be considered subject to prior agreement with the organising committee.

Full details of registration and programme will shortly appear on the Mercator-Media website http://www.aber.ac.uk/mercator.

• Greek State Television in Censorship Row [+]
• Scottish Language Dictionaries: Writers Auction [+]
  

Legislation news - Mercator-Linguistic Rights and Legislation

• Step forward for Spanish in Europe but step back for Catalan, Basque and Galician in Spain [+]
• One step further for the support to Low German and Saterfrisian in Lower Saxony's schools [+]
• New Court decision recognising the unity of the Catalan language [+]
• Report on linguistic discrimination submitted to the UN [+]
  

Greek State Television in Censorship Row

On 27th March NET, the second channel of the Greek state television broadcaster, ERT, finally broadcast a programme which had been at the centre of a censorship controversy. The programme in question was ‘Taxidevontas stin Ellada’ (Travelling in Greece). The broadcast in question was dedicated to the Lerin/Florina region of Western Macedonia and was supposed to have been broadcast on 21st March. The presenter of the programme believed it to have been because some inhabitants of the villages in the region said on camera that their mother tongue was Macedonian and that it had been banned for decades in Greece. The Greek Member State Committee of the European Bureau for Lesser used Languages protested officially and categorically condemned the decision, pointing out that only a few months previously Greece had hosted the Olympic Games under the motto ‘Celebrating Cultures, Celebrating Diversity’ and that the incident took place during the European Week Against Racism. In cooperation with Greek Helsinki Monitor, the Member State Committee brought the issue to the attention of the UN Human Rights Committee in Geneva. Greece’s representative then claimed that the broadcast had been postponed for ‘technical reasons’ only and promised it would be aired on the 27th.

Scottish Language Dictionaries: Writers Auction

Scottish Language Dictionaries asked for donations of work from some of Scotland’s most eminent writers for a charity auction to support such projects as the revision of the Concise Scots Dictionary. They say they were ‘absolutely overwhelmed by the generosity of their response’.

• J K Rowling sent The Ballad of Nearly Headless Nick, from the original manuscript of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, in her own hand.
• Ian Rankin provided the handwritten draft of a possible opening to the final (alas) Rebus novel, with corrections
• Edwin Morgan donated a witty Tale from Baron Munchausen: My Visit to St Petersburg (typed and signed)
• Ron Butlin gave a handwritten poem, the poignant Contemporary Music in Scotland
• Adam McNaughton gave his hilarious, handwritten version of Romeo and Juliet
• Alexander McCall Smith explained in his own hand why he writes about Africa and donated the poem from the end of 44 Scotland Street (handwritten), a signed copy of The Sunday Philosopher’s Club and signed pamphlets
• Anne Donovan gave the signed typescript of the short story All that Glisters, winner of the Macallan/Scotland on Sunday short story competition 1997
• Janet Paisley donated five radio scripts about the life of Robert Burns from some very unusual angles: The Story and the Song
• Alasdair Gray donated a signed print in his unique style
• James Robertson gave the Baffie Sang and A Triple Manifesto for MSPs

The cream of Scottish writers value the work that Scottish Language Dictionaries do in recording and promoting the Scots language and you can assist in this work of national importance by bidding for these items. Photocopies may be viewed at the Scottish Poetry Library, 5 Crighton’s Close, Canongate, Edinburgh (map at www.spl.org.uk, entry free). The distinguished auctioneers, Lyon and Turnbull, who have generously given their time and expertise, will conduct the auction on the evening of Thursday 24th March 2005 before an invited audience of booksellers attending the major PDFA Book Fair to be held in the Assembly Rooms in Edinburgh on Fri/Sat 25th & 26th March, also supported by Lyon and Turnbull. Telephone bids +44 131 557 8844. E-mail bids info@lyonandturnbull.com. For further information, e-mail chris.robinson@sldl.org.uk.

The items above are sold on the understanding that copyright remains with the respective authors and that any publication or further use cannot occur without the unfettered approval of those authors and their publishers.

Scottish Language Dictionaries Limited is a charitable limited company which combines the former Scottish National Dictionary Association and the Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue. The ten volume Scottish National Dictionary covers Scots from 1700 onwards and the twelve volume Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue covers Scots from the earliest times up to 1700. They are available free at www.dsl.ac.uk. We are core funded by the Scottish Arts Council but in order to continue to record and promote the Scots language, and in particular to update and revise our Concise Scots Dictionary, we urgently need additional funding. More information can be found at www.sldl.org.uk and www.scuilwab.org.uk.

The Scottish Poetry Library is an independent library open and accessible to all. Founded in 1984, it is based in an award-winning building in Edinburgh and houses a collection of Scottish and international poetry in books and magazines, on tape and CD, together with a substantial children’s section. It also hold collections from across Scotland, from Shetland to the Borders. See www.spl.org.uk for online catalogue, poetry resources and listings of poetry events in Edinburgh and across Scotland. A map of the Scottish Poetry Library’s location may be found at www.spl.org.uk/about/contact.html.

Scottish Language Dictionaries would like to thank Lyon and Turnbull, the Scottish Poetry Library and, of course, the writers for all their effort.

Bulletin 61 - Mercator-Linguistic Rights and Legislation

I Quarter 2005 | English and Catalan versions. Now the Bulletin is available in PDF Format. These are the main contents of the Bulletin:

• Eslovenia: Act on public usage of Slovenian language (APUSL) 15 July 2004
• Schlewwig-Holstein: Act promoting Frisian in the public domain 11 November 2004
• Romania: Act on the use of the Romanian language in public places, relations and institutions, 12 november 2004
• Council of Europe: Recommendation of the Committee of Ministers on the application of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages by: Switzerland, Finland and the Netherlands
• As well as new bibliography and links.
  

Working Paper 18 - Mercator-Linguistic Rights and Legislation

We have published a new Working Paper in our Publications section. This document is available in English (translation) and Spanish (original version).

• The origins and evolution of language secessionism in Valencia. An analysis from the transition period until today
• L'origen i l'evolució argumentativa del secessionisme lingüístic valencià. Una anàlisi des de la transició fins a l'actualitat
  (by Vicent Climent-Ferrando)
  

More information on minority languages in education in Slovakia online - Mercator-Education

The enlargement of the EU with ten new member states in May 2004, brought a lot of new minority language communities into the Union; there are approximately ninety communities which cover about thirty different languages.

Articles on the role of such minority languages in pre-primary, primary, secondary and higher education in Hungary, Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Slovenia were already, and still are online available on the website of Mercator-Education. Now a paper on minority languages in education in Slovakia is online available as well. It is striking to see that there is especially a lot of education in Hungarian in Slovakia, at almost all levels. There is not that much education provided in the other minority languages spoken in Slovakia. You will be able to read more about this topic in the article “Minority language education in Slovakia” at our site. A paper on the situation of minority languages in education in the Czech Republic will follow soon. Just click on “General information on the languages in the current and new member states of the EU” at http://www.mercator-education.org.

Voices from Tundra and Taiga: Endangered languages in Russia - Mercator-Education

Since 2004 the Frisian Academy and Mercator-Education are host institutions for the research program Voices from Tundra and Taiga, a joint effort of Dr. Tjeerd de Graaf with Russian colleagues. Our projects within this program study endangered languages and cultures of the Russian Federation, which must be described rapidly before they become extinct. Earlier work on the reconstruction technology for old sound recordings found in archives in St.Petersburg has made it possible to compare languages still spoken in the proposed research area with the same languages as they were spoken more than half a century ago.

The results of modern fieldwork and the reconstructed data from sound archives provide important information for the preparation of language descriptions, grammars, dictionaries and edited collections of oral and written literature. This can also provide new methods of teaching these topics. One of the languages chosen in our projects is the Nivkh language of Sakhalin in the Far East of the Russian Federation.

Our research student Hidetoshi Shiriaishi and his Nivkh colleague have published a series of books with Nivkh stories, songs and conversation in which for the first time the corresponding spoken texts are recorded on a CD as part of the books. The first two volumes in the series, Sound Materials of the Nivkh Language appeared as a results of the Japanese program on Endangered Languages of the Pacific Rim (ELPR).. The third volume of this series appeared in March 2005 as a special publication of the research program Voices from Tundra and Taiga.

This unique material is not only used by linguists, but also by the language community itself, where it can be applied for the education in Nivkh. Similar teaching methods are developed for other endangered minority languages. More details on our program can be found on the website on Endangered Languages under Research as one of the current Mercator-Education projects; see: http://www.mercator-education.org.

Mercator – Education is in search for more partners on the European Minority Languages Library project, also called EMILL. Since 2003 ME has been working on the pilot project Digibyb (www.dbfrysk.org) which will shortly be finished. It is the intention to proceed and extend the project in a European context with EU funds. The goal of the EMILL project (www.emill.org) is to establish a network of digital libraries of minority languages and the creation of a European portal. Ideal partners for the project are libraries in a minority language community. Either they have a lot of experience with a digital library, either they are just looking into the possibilities, in both cases this project can be very interesting.
If you are interested in the project please contact Cor van der Meer at cvdmeer@fa.knaw.nl

• Atlas des langues du monde : Une pluralité fragile / roland Breton. – Paris : Éditions Autrement, 2003. – 80 p. – isbn 2746704005 – signature 100LANG18
• Tweetaligheid in Nij Smellinghe / Yvonne Datema. – Drachten : author, 2000. – 41 p. – signature 100Fri308
• Onderzoek naar de Friese taal en taalbeleid in de gezondheidszorg / [projektmanager] Hannie Kadijk; [projektmedewerkers] Ronnie Kanbier … [et al]. – Leeuwarden : Christelijke Hogeschool Noord-Nederland; Instituut Service Management, 2001. – 20 p. – signature 100Fri309
• Vele talen, één familie : Talen in de Europese Unie / Europese Commissie. – Luxembourg : Bureau voor officiële publicaties der Europese Gemeenschappen, 2004. – 22 p. – isbn 9289477628 – signature 100MLG264
• Sharing a world of difference : The earth’s linguistic, cultural and biological diversity /Tove skutnabb-Kangas, Luisa Maffi and David Harmon; [ed. by] Linda King. – Paris : UNESCO; WWF; Terralingua, 2003. – 56 p. – isbn 9231039172 – signature 100Gsg212
• Ethnicity and nationalism in Russia, the CIS and the Baltic States / [ed. by] Christopher Williams and Thanasis D. Sfikas. – Aldershot [ etc.] : Ashgate, 1999. – 386 p. – isbn 185521914X – signature 100LANG19
• Europe as a cultural project : Final report of the Reflection Group of the European Cultural Foundation (2002-2004) / [ed. by] Dragan Klaic. – Amsterdam : European Cultural Foundation, 2005. – 74 p. – signature 100Gr120
• Language learning and teacher education : a sociocultural approach / [ed. by] Margaret R. Hawkins . – Clevedon [etc.] : Multilingual Matters, 2004. – 204 p. – isbn 1853597635 – signature 100Gsla155
• Applying sociolinguistics : Domains and face-to-face interaction / Diana Boxer – Amsterdam [etc.] : John Benjamins, 2002. – 245 p. – isbn 902721851X – signature 100Gsg213
• Urban multilingualism in Europe : Immigrant minority languages at home and school / [ed. by] Guus Extra and Kutlay Yagmur. – Clevedon [etc.] : Multilingual Matters, 2004. – 428 p. – isbn 1853597783 – signature 100MLG267
• Studying speaking to inform second language learning / [ed. by] Diana boxer and Andrew D. Cohen. – Clevedon [etc.] : Multilingual Matters, 2004. – 335 p. – isbn 1853597201 – signature 100Gsl79
• Keleier : Ofis ar Brezhoneg . – Vol. 60 (2005). – Roazhon / Rennes: Ofis ar Brezhoneg = Office de la langue Bretonne, 2005. – signature 100Bre11
• Die Europäische Charta der Regional- oder Minderheitensprachen und die Sprachenpolitik in der Lausitz / Ludwig Elle. – Bautzen / Budysin : Sorbisches Institut – Serbski Institut, 2004. – 63 p. – isbn 3980860825 – signature 100Sor25
• Upper Sorbian / Gunter Schaarschmidt. – München : LINCOM EUROPA, 2002. – 80 p. – isbn 3895862606 – signature 100Sor26
• Working together : NGOs and Regional or minority languages / Eduardo J. Ruiz Vieytez. – Strasbourg : Council of Europe Publishing, 2004. – 65 p. – isbn 9287153957 – signature 100MLG265
  Buttleti del centre Mercator dret i legislaciö lingüístics. – Vol. 60 (2004). – signature 100Cat65