{"id":990,"date":"2012-06-22T12:14:56","date_gmt":"2012-06-22T04:14:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=990"},"modified":"2012-06-22T12:14:56","modified_gmt":"2012-06-22T04:14:56","slug":"languages-big-small","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=990","title":{"rendered":"Languages Big & Small"},"content":{"rendered":"

In yesterday’s post, “On the Tyranny of Big Languages<\/a>,” I wrote that “so-called ‘smaller languages’ are actually languages of fewer speakers.” I put it this way to get away from the notion of stature-as-importance, and trying, in the case of Europe, to give a neutral presentation of why English, French, German, and Spanish might be considered “big languages” in comparison to the languages of the authors featured in the linked-to article, viz. Bulgarian, Romanian, and Czech. And in the case of Europe, not only is that true, but English, French, and Spanish are languages spoken in countries around the world, making them even bigger both in population and power.<\/p>\n

Originally thinking about languages big and small in the context of Europe meant I could bypass the question of whether Chinese–one of the world’s most widely spoken languages, but still a “less commonly taught language” (LCTL<\/a>) in the west–was a big or small language. I meant to give examples about the translation of Chinese into European languages was dependent on first being translated into English or French (here’s another one: the Greek version of Soul Mountain<\/em> \u9748\u5c71 by Gao Xingjian <\/a>\u9ad8\u884c\u5065 was translated from the French version by No\u00ebl Dutrait<\/a>; and another: in Norway, editors “follow the line-by-line edits made by US and UK publishers<\/a>” of Chinese translations), but then I mentioned that the first Chinese edition of what we know in English as One Hundred Years of Solitude<\/em> was translated from Russian and English editions… Is this to suggest that Chinese is a small language, then?<\/p>\n

Well, in terms of international power, yes (although it is one of the official languages of the UN<\/a>), though in terms of population clearly not. More specifically, in terms of translation into other languages, I don’t think publishers around the world are looking at what’s successful in the Chinese market to base their decision on what to do next, and the translation market in China clearly looks to other countries’ successes. Big and small are relative and vague terms, but when it comes to translation, it’s pretty plain that China is a follower rather than a leader. If we apply this retroactively to understanding the world system, we might say that while it’s clear that the current world system is not a representational democracy, it’s also clear that China could do more–or act differently–to set an international cultural agenda.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In yesterday’s post, “On the Tyranny of Big Languages,” I wrote that “so-called ‘smaller languages’ are actually languages of fewer speakers.” I put it this way to get away from the notion of stature-as-importance, and trying, in the case of … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[16],"tags":[384,586],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8srwF-fY","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":988,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=988","url_meta":{"origin":990,"position":0},"title":"On the Tyranny of Big Languages","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"June 21, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Publishing Perspectives has published a perspective on a panel in which three European writers--Bulgaria\u2019s Kalin Terziiski, Romania\u2019s R\u0103zvan R\u0103dulescu, and the Czech Republic\u2019s Tom\u00e1\u0161 Zme\u0161kal--discussed the state of literature and literary publishing around the world. The whole piece is worth a read, but to me, the most interesting question is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Links"","block_context":{"text":"Links","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2644,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=2644","url_meta":{"origin":990,"position":1},"title":"Yale’s Frederick Iseman Professor of Poetry in White People’s Languages","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"June 16, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"\"Since the 18th century, poetry has been a cornerstone of the Yale curriculum.\" It makes sense that Yale News--writing from the US, in English, for a university whose English dept. has contributed and constituted much of its fame--to highlight poetry in English when discussing poetry's stony corner at Yale and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Links"","block_context":{"text":"Links","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/news.yale.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/imce\/Iseman_Fred%20cropped.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":327,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=327","url_meta":{"origin":990,"position":2},"title":"Writing Across Languages debrief","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"November 12, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"The \"Writing Across Languages\" panel yesterday was, I thought, a grand success. As I mentioned in introducing the panel yesterday, the title itself was an act of what it describes, since the Chinese title of \"Writing Across Languages\" is \u8de8\u8a9e\u969b\u5beb\u4f5c (\"Translingual Writing\"), which is the Chinese title of the monograph\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "International Poetry Nights"","block_context":{"text":"International Poetry Nights","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=8"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":809,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=809","url_meta":{"origin":990,"position":3},"title":"NYTimes Bilinguals are Smugger","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"March 22, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"The New York Times \/ International Herald Tribune blog ran a particularly frustrating piece the other day under the title \"Rendezvous Always Knew \u2018Bilinguals Are Smarter.\u2019\" Yes, I agree that mastering other languages benefits intelligence, but it was the particular smugness--and cultural superiority--that I writhe against. In particular, Marcus Mabry's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Links"","block_context":{"text":"Links","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Yu Ying charter school in Washington, D.C.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/graphics8.nytimes.com\/images\/2012\/03\/19\/blogs\/Multilingual-rdv-kids-chinese-school\/Multilingual-rdv-kids-chinese-school-blog480.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4788,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=4788","url_meta":{"origin":990,"position":4},"title":"Translating Asian Languages: Prejudices and Privileges — International Zoom Meeting","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"April 14, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Translating Asian Languages: Prejudices & Privileges TRANSLATING ASIAN LANGUAGES: PREJUDICES & PRIVILEGESDate: Wednesday 15 April 2020Time: 8:00-9:30 p.m. (GMT+8)Platform: ZOOM (Meeting ID: 514 122 177)Languages: EnglishSpeakers: Lucas Klein, Grace Ting, and Matt TurnerModerator: Tammy Lai-Ming Ho 'Every translation sparks \/ another translation.' In the discussion \"Translating Asian Languages: Prejudices and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Links"","block_context":{"text":"Links","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xichuanpoetry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/image-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xichuanpoetry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/image-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xichuanpoetry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/image-1.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xichuanpoetry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/image-1.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2953,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=2953","url_meta":{"origin":990,"position":5},"title":"Jonathan Stalling’s translingual synesthesia of Rimbaud’s Bateau Ivre","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"January 23, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"I raced, stained by the moon\u2019s electric \u7231 \u00a0\u65e5\u5317\u56db\u5927\uff0c \u56db\u5927\u5317\u90a3\u5927 \u516b\u7231 \u00a0\u6d4a\u820c\u5440 \u4e48 \u00a0\u9a6c\u4e4c\u4e4c\u90a3\u2019\u56db \u00a0 \u5f1f\u62c9\u4e5f\u5403\u4e1d\u5361\u00a0 fragments, timbers crazed, black sea- \u53d1\u65e5\u8a00\u8a00\u54e5\u9a6c\u4e48\u90a3\u53f0\u56db\uff0c \u53f0\u4e1d\u4e1d\u9a6c\u516b\u4e48\u513f\u56db \u00a0 \u5361\u65e5\u5317\u6d4a\u56db \u00a0\u5927\uff0c \u516b\u62c9\u8a00\u5361 \u00a0 \u56db\u5f1f horses as my escort, July\u2019s battering me\u2014 \u54c8\u591f\u65e5\u56db\u4e48\u6d4a\u56db \u00a0 \u00a0\u8a00\u6d4a\u56db \u00a0 \u9a6c\u7231 \u00a0 \u4e5f\u56db\u5361\u554a\u65e5\u53f0\uff0c\u624e\u4e4c\u4e4c\u62c9\u7231\u2019 \u6d4a\u56db \u00a0 \u00a0\u516b\u8a00\u53f0\u4e48\u513f\u51b0 \u00a0 \u9a6c\u5f1f\u2014 So begins\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Links"","block_context":{"text":"Links","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/990"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=990"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/990\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":992,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/990\/revisions\/992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}