Multilingualism Bryan Harmelink Bible Translation and Church Interpreting
Multilingualism Bryan Harmelink Bible Translation and Church Interpreting: Challenges and Synergies
Multilingualism, Urbanization, and Transnationalism Changes in perspectives about multilingualism being the norm • Multiple interrelated systems • Fuzzy boundaries • Code switching not “speech error” but a pragmatic strategy • Changes in understandings of language contact: Weinrich, Languages in Contact, 1979 Hickey, Handbook of Language Contact, 2012
Multilingualism, Urbanization, and Transnationalism
Multilingualism Spectrum of language-identity correlations • Tight language-identity correlation in monolingual situations • Complex correlations as you move along the continuum to multilingualism
Multilingualism, Urbanization, and Transnationalism Urbanization • Creating new scenarios of language mixing • Shifts to regional and/or international languages for communication • We are becoming a world of cities In the words of Sherry Simon, the author of Translating Montreal, “This is the contemporary Babel—a multiplicity that has exceeded the limits of order and mutual comprehension” (Simon, 167).
Multilingualism, Urbanization, and Transnationalism • Definitions • Examples • Implications
Multilingualism, Urbanization, and Transnationalism Implications for Translation and Interpretation • Nuanced understanding of language use • Focus on identity • Focus on people who use language(s) as a means of negotiating identities in complex situations • Primacy of orality in constantly changing situations
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