Translatability. The function of scientific translation
EuroScience Open Forum, (2004)Abstract
When I got the kind invitation to speak at the Euro Science Open Forum, I was somehow surprised by the provoking alternative in the title of this session, “universal language or polyglot discourse”, followed by a question mark. I must admit that I am very fond of polyglot discourses just because the diversity of languages – which in the humanities is regarded as a most creative element of human culture – is the main object of my own research. On the other hand I am very glad that we have a common language because otherwise our actual communication would be very difficult. Common language defines, in a certain sense, a social community, even if this community includes very different people or even people with very different cultural backgrounds, e.g. the Greek koine and the Latin language which have influenced all European languages and the whole Western epistemological system, the Arabian language that had been spoken for centuries in most parts of the Mediterranean area and the Middle East, or Persian having been the lingua franca of central Asia throughout the Middle Ages. In this historical perspective it is indeed significant that in the 20th century English – the language of trade and commerce – has become the universal language of science.