on translation
Chun Jimmy Huang
huangc20 at UFL.EDU
Mon Sep 29 16:37:00 UTC 2008
How about teach them linguistics so that they would be able to
perceive different worldviews in different cultures and then
decide what they want to do/learn?
Chun (Jimmy) Huang
PhD candidate,
Linguistics, University of Florida
Special assistant,
Siraya Culture Association
On Mon Sep 29 09:53:21 EDT 2008, Daniel Kaufman
<bahasawan at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> Interesting discussion on religion and languages. I've often
> thought about this problem of linguists, indigenous peoples and
> bible translations. Secular linguists often criticize missionary
> groups for their exploitation of social and economical
> asymmetries to spread their particular worldview to groups which
> may not be familiar with life beyond their borders. The paradox
> of course is that these missionary linguists often facilitate
> medical and social services which are rarely provided by secular
> linguists. It is a frustration of mine that atheism and
> secularism do not seem to be as conducive to this type of
> humanitarian work. Among secular linguists, this probably stems
> from the fact that our mission is to absorb and not to instruct,
> to observe but not to alter. I, for instance, tend to think that
> I have far more to learn from others in the field than I have to
> teach them, especially in matters of "worldview". I happen to
> find it ironic and somewhat absurd that the same culture which
> has been responsible for so much war, genocide and environmental
> destruction is the same culture which has spread throughout all
> corners of the globe with the task of teaching morality to
> indigenous communities, those very communities which felt and
> continue to feel the brunt of their destructive actions in the
> first place.
> In any case, I now think that the stance of aloof observation is
> equally untenable in the present. Perhaps it is incumbent on
> secular linguists to prepare "unreached peoples" (to use the
> missionary term) for the coming onslaught of modernity that will
> inevitably transform their lives. To that end, maybe there
> really should be a common text which can be translated and used
> to put things in context, to at least diffuse the illusion that
> the wonders of anti-malaria pills and airplanes come in a
> package which includes mid-western evangelical Christianity. How
> about a text showing the consequences of Western contact on
> Native Americans from an indigenous perspective? That's
> certainly a story which I doubt has ever been heard from a
> missionary.
>
> Dan
>
>
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