Publications
Publication details [#10901]
Sosoni, Vilelmini. 2004. Multilingualism in Europe: blessing or curse? In Branchadell, Albert and Lovell Margaret West, eds. Less translated languages (Benjamins Translation Library 58). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. pp. 39–47. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
Publication type
Article in jnl/bk
Publication language
English
Abstract
The European Union’s democratic character implies, among other things, that everyone in the EU has the right to speak in his/her own national language and be understood by the speakers of the rest of the languages of the member-states. The existence of this multilingual way of working could lead one to wonder how it really works in practice. Is the EU a garden of Eden or a Tower of Babel? Why is multilingualism in the EU important? What is the status of lesser-used languages like Greek and Finnish, and even local varieties like Catalan and Gaelic? At the heart of multilingualism we find translation, an activity that is complex in itself but that becomes even more complex in the context of the EU. How does this multilingual and multicultural environment affect translation? What are the implications for the languages involved? Are all the languages equally affected or do the vehicular languages affect the lesser-used languages more?
Source : F. Note