© Intercultural Studies Group Universitat Rovira i Virgili Plaça Imperial Tàrraco Tarragona Fax: (++ 34) On inculturation Anthony Pym

© Intercultural Studies Group A basic problem Mtuze will not be using words like i-democracy. Alternatives do exist in Xhosa, he says, and now is the time to dust them off […] Professor Ntuli[‘s] translation will veer more towards everyday Zulu, which means he may use words like i- democracy […] Antjie Krug, A Change of Tongue (2003: 268)

© Intercultural Studies Group First attempt (1992) The reason for the material text transfer sets up the problem to which the translator responds.

© Intercultural Studies Group First attempt (1992) The reason for the material text transfer sets up the problem to which the translator responds. “I want to be part of all the languages of my country.” “One’s language should never be a dead end. […] That is why I believe in translation for us to be able to live together.”

© Intercultural Studies Group Second attempt (1998) Professional intercultures mark the boundaries.

© Intercultural Studies Group Second attempt (1998) Professional intercultures mark the boundaries.

© Intercultural Studies Group A border:

© Intercultural Studies Group Second attempt (1998) Professional intercultures mark the boundaries. “She finds herself in Mandela’s sitting room in Houghton, Johannesburg, along with the designated translators of three other editions [all professors], waiting to discuss the work that lies ahead.”

© Intercultural Studies Group Third attempt (2005) Translators manage the risks of non-cooperation.

© Intercultural Studies Group Third attempt (2005) Translators manage the risks of non-cooperation. “The English book simply uses ‘nephew’ [for the relation between Mandela and Matanzima], but in Xhosa there are particular words for every kind of relation. It takes them almost a quarter of an hour to work it out.” “he wants every Zulu to be able to read the book with ease and enjoyment” “no bookshop for African languages”

© Intercultural Studies Group What I didn’t see… Quine: “radical translation, i.e. translation of the language of a hitherto untouched people” What is the relation between the jungle linguist and the native?

© Intercultural Studies Group The radical does not exist Quine: “a chain of interpreters of a sort can be recruited of marginal persons across the darkest achipelago”. There is always a degree of secondary encoding, giving relative certitude (Chesterman v. Arrojo) George William Grace: “Today, this ‘Western’ culture has expanded to embrace almost the entire world”

© Intercultural Studies Group The radical does not exist English is not a foreign language. There is only one culture involved. Cultures spread through translation, across languages. The key element is what is translated. What was the “dusty” Xhosa word for “democracy”? What was its concept?

© Intercultural Studies Group Inculturation, “the incarnation of the Gospel in autonomous cultures and at the same time the introduction of these cultures into the life of the Church” (John Paul II, Slavorum Apostoli 1985) “Through inculturation the Church makes the Gospel incarnate in different cultures and at the same time introduces peoples, together with their cultures, into her own community.” (John Paul II, Redemptoris Missio 1990)

© Intercultural Studies Group Inculturation, 1994 The people of Israel throughout its history preserved the certain knowledge that it was the chosen people of God, the witness of his action and love in the midst of the nations. It took from neighboring peoples certain forms of worship, but its faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob subjected these borrowings to profound modifications [...].The encounter between the Jewish world and Greek wisdom gave rise to a new form of inculturation: the translation of the Bible into Greek introduced the word of God into a world that had been closed to it and caused, under divine inspiration, an enrichment of the Scriptures. (Varietates Legitimae 1994)

© Intercultural Studies Group Inculturation, 2001 “The work of inculturation, of which the translation into vernacular languages is a part, is not therefore to be considered an avenue for the creation of new varieties or families of rites; on the contrary, it should be recognized that any adaptations introduced out of cultural or pastoral necessity thereby become part of the Roman Rite, and are to be inserted into it in a harmonious way.” (Liturgiam authenticam 2001: 5)

© Intercultural Studies Group Inculturation? - Literature as institution? - Capitalist economies? - IT? (Microsoft?) - Political modernity? - Universities? - Liberal humanism? - Translation Studies?

© Intercultural Studies Group Inculturation in Africa “Inculturation requires acceptance of the fact that God has been at work in the history of all peoples and that their history is sacred. Culture is the sacred space of people.” (Mutabazi 2004: 64) ‘It is erroneous to think that Western culture is morally superior to African culture, and that western customs are consistent with the Christian faith while African customs are not.” (Mugambi 1989: 197) ‘Technological and scientific success is directly related to cultural rediscovery.” (Mugambi 1989: 5)

© Intercultural Studies Group “Dust-off” democracy? Does the traditional Xhosa word for “democracy” refer to multi- party, multicultural, multilingual democracy?

© Intercultural Studies Group Out-culturation Mexican culture Science fiction (Gouanvic) The gay novel (Harvey) Translation Studies?

© Intercultural Studies Group Meta-culturation The European Court European bureaucratic prose (Agent-principle reversal) Translation Studies?

© Intercultural Studies Group Sub-culturation MTV culture You Tube culture Translation Studies (Leipzig, from Prague and Bratislava, from Petersburg and Moscow, from Paris and Berlin… these are not wholly foreign languages)

© Intercultural Studies Group The Western translation form? Alien-I and assumption of quantitative equality From a Renaissance based on the myth of equal languages Not found in India, China, Vietnam.