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Chapter 1. A naïve inquiry into translation between Aboriginal languages in pre-Invasion Australia

  • Anthony Pym
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Translation Flows
This chapter is in the book Translation Flows

Abstract

Was there translation between Australian Aboriginal languages prior to the European Invasion dated from 1788? The evidence from archeological research and the accounts of early European settlers would suggest that there were no specialized translators as such between Aboriginal languages, no specific communicative solution that could be called translation in the post-Renaissance Western sense of the term, and no evidence of a dominant lingua franca that might have acted as an alternative communication solution. Instead, we find ample reference to polyglot speakers, to multilingual meeting places for trade, ceremony and dispute resolution, to multilingual narratives, and the use of local sign languages, smoke signals, bush tracks and message sticks, all of which could help in the performance of communication across language borders. Taken together, these practices suggest interlingual communication flows based not on conveying a message clearly or quickly, but on multilayered interlingual practices based on respect for the territorial embeddedness of languages and the active, informed interpretation of data. Unlike Western calls for ever more translations across ever more languages, Indigenous practices might enhance sustainability by teaching us to respect linguistic diversity, translate less, and think more.

Abstract

Was there translation between Australian Aboriginal languages prior to the European Invasion dated from 1788? The evidence from archeological research and the accounts of early European settlers would suggest that there were no specialized translators as such between Aboriginal languages, no specific communicative solution that could be called translation in the post-Renaissance Western sense of the term, and no evidence of a dominant lingua franca that might have acted as an alternative communication solution. Instead, we find ample reference to polyglot speakers, to multilingual meeting places for trade, ceremony and dispute resolution, to multilingual narratives, and the use of local sign languages, smoke signals, bush tracks and message sticks, all of which could help in the performance of communication across language borders. Taken together, these practices suggest interlingual communication flows based not on conveying a message clearly or quickly, but on multilayered interlingual practices based on respect for the territorial embeddedness of languages and the active, informed interpretation of data. Unlike Western calls for ever more translations across ever more languages, Indigenous practices might enhance sustainability by teaching us to respect linguistic diversity, translate less, and think more.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Foreword vii
  4. Part 1. Historical flows
  5. Chapter 1. A naïve inquiry into translation between Aboriginal languages in pre-Invasion Australia 3
  6. Chapter 2. The circulation of knowledge vs the mobility of translation, or how mobile are translators and translations? 23
  7. Chapter 3. A transatlantic flow of Spanish and Catalan romans-à-clef 43
  8. Chapter 4. Recognition versus redistribution? 69
  9. Chapter 5. From intersection to interculture 87
  10. Part 2. Current flows
  11. Chapter 6. Recirculated, recontextualized, reworked 107
  12. Chapter 7. Nollywood and indigenous language translation flows 129
  13. Chapter 8. Maryse Condé and the Alternative Nobel Prize of 2018 149
  14. Chapter 9. The role of literary agents in the international flow of texts 163
  15. Chapter 10. Flowing to the reception side 183
  16. Chapter 11. The tidalectics of translation 207
  17. Chapter 12. Combining translation policy and imagology 225
  18. Notes on the authors 247
  19. Index 251
https://doi.org/10.1075/btl.163.01pym

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Foreword vii
  4. Part 1. Historical flows
  5. Chapter 1. A naïve inquiry into translation between Aboriginal languages in pre-Invasion Australia 3
  6. Chapter 2. The circulation of knowledge vs the mobility of translation, or how mobile are translators and translations? 23
  7. Chapter 3. A transatlantic flow of Spanish and Catalan romans-à-clef 43
  8. Chapter 4. Recognition versus redistribution? 69
  9. Chapter 5. From intersection to interculture 87
  10. Part 2. Current flows
  11. Chapter 6. Recirculated, recontextualized, reworked 107
  12. Chapter 7. Nollywood and indigenous language translation flows 129
  13. Chapter 8. Maryse Condé and the Alternative Nobel Prize of 2018 149
  14. Chapter 9. The role of literary agents in the international flow of texts 163
  15. Chapter 10. Flowing to the reception side 183
  16. Chapter 11. The tidalectics of translation 207
  17. Chapter 12. Combining translation policy and imagology 225
  18. Notes on the authors 247
  19. Index 251
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