[Air-l] AIOR international

Mon Mar 20 02:05:18 PST 2006

Nathanial, Jerek ... all

I think we need to use our collective imaginations on the language  
issue. If we just leave it to English we miss out on a feast of  
collective ideas and perspectives that different languages bring to  
the table.  Also, most people (outside US and UK) speak more than one  
language, so it's not just a matter of either speaking in English or  
not. Most of us operate in two or more languages - the question is  
how/when do we manage to do both?

We (a collection of bloggers) have been trying out a bi-lingual  
blogging experiment. Once a month you translate someone's blog in  
another language to your own. And anyone who's interested in joining  
in - please do.

Here is some of the context of events leading to the Carnival of blog  
translations:

I reflected about different ways people in Portugal blog in two  
languages:
http://btrayner.blogspot.com/2006/02/bilingual-blogging-in-portugal.html

This led me to make a suggestion for the BlogHer conference in US in  
July:
http://blogher.org/node/2257

This led to a call to the "Blog translation carnival" by Liz Henry:
http://literarytranslators.blogspot.com/2006/02/carnival-of-blog- 
translation.html

And the first blog translation carnival took place on February the  
28th, with Russian, French, English, Portuguese, Swedish, Bulgarian,  
and Spanish all represented:
http://literarytranslators.blogspot.com/2006/02/first-carnival-of- 
blog-translation.html

And the second carnival of blog translations will take place on March  
28th. Fee free to join in. All the information you need is here:
http://btrayner.blogspot.com/2006/03/call-to-second-carnival-of- 
blog.html

Here's a toast to having fun in different languages, rather than  
feeling trapped by them!

Um abraço a todos!
Beverly

Beverly Trayner
Web page: http://btrayner.info
Blog: http://btrayner.blogspot.com

On Mar 20, 2006, at 3:21 AM, J. J. wrote:

> I concur Nathaniel,
>
> Although there may be a lot of problems with English-only approach  
> we have
> no practical choice either. We use English because this is where  
> the action
> is. The problem gets only more compounded by issues of culture and  
> identity:
> non-English scholars may find themselves comparing their work to  
> that of
> English-only audience and get very little in return. Those who read  
> text
> translated from English in their native language, (not only  
> Japanese, why
> would it be different in any other language?) may not always  
> appreciate and
> seek value in their own neck of the woods following models from the
> English-speaking world, not always helpful and even less reflective  
> of their
> own realities.
>
> Jarek Janio
> Santiago Canyon College
> Orange, California
>
>
>> From: Nathaniel Poor <natpoor at umich.edu>
>> Reply-To: air-l at listserv.aoir.org
>> To: geert lovink <geert at desk.nl>
>> CC: air-l at listserv.aoir.org
>> Subject: Re: [Air-l] AoIR in Latin-America
>> Date: Sun, 19 Mar 2006 21:44:50 -0500
>>
>> I was thinking: "If we spin off the people who don't speak
>> English.... who may not even be on the list in the first place...
>> then we will have a more restricted view of the Internet..."
>>
>> pero si, entiendo que es un problema con las idiomas del mundo... y
>> ingles... y el internet...
>> (but yes I understand that it's a problem with languages of the
>> world... and English... on the net...)
>> I also understand there is, currently, no easy answer to the issue of
>> "we speak different languages but want to talk to each other"
>> actually I had my undergrads read... something... from the "ferment
>> in the field" edition (1980s?) of the Journal of Comm, that had a
>> dialog where Ev Rogers was one of the people, and he, I think it was
>> him (apologies if I am wrong), had an interesting point about
>> language where he said, for instance, English-language researchers do
>> get a lot of material to read, but at the same time a lot of it is
>> translated, so, the example he used was the Japanese, the Japanese
>> can get most of the English material in translated form, but Japanese
>> work is rarely translated into English
>> now I don't know if that was true then or even true now, but for me
>> it was an interesting point about how language issues may not quite
>> cut in expected ways
>>
>> I feel that if we spin off non-English, then as you write there will
>> never be any postings on the list in languages other than English!
>> (but not like I am fluent in anything but English, my Spanish is not
>> very good, and honestly I find my near mono-lingualism a problem)
>> maybe it is chicken and egg...
>>
>> but, now that I have a better understanding of how it might work I
>> think it sounds like a solution worth trying
>> Sue is going to be a "go-between", and perhaps some others will also
>> be on both lists and can cross-post *and* translate
>> that would be really cool....
>> so instead of creating different lists that are very separate, there
>> can be communication! (my PhD is in Comm)
>>
>> I am also glad the AIR conference is in different parts of the world,
>> although that may only avoid American-centrism, but we are a young
>> organization and these things take time (there is always ICA....)
>>
>>
>> On Mar 19, 2006, at 4:03 PM, geert lovink wrote:
>>
>>> hi, i was a bit surprised about your remark on the aior as the list
>>> and organization is so deeply anglo-centric. there are NEVER any
>>> postings on that list in languages other than english. so what does
>>> that 'regardless of language' means to you? there are hardly any
>>> lists, sites, blog or journals that are poly-lingual. best, geert
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>> ---------------------------------------------
>> Nathaniel Poor, Ph.D.
>> www.umich.edu/~natpoor
>> Visiting Assistant Professor
>> Communication Studies Dept.
>> Albion College
>> http://www.albion.edu/commstudies
>>
>>
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>
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