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Unit4CulturalEncountersSusanBassnettWeliveinanageofeasyaccesstotherestoftheworld.Cheapflightsmeanthatmillionsofpeopleareabletovisitplacestheirparentscouldonlydreamabout,whiletheInternetenablesustocommunicatewiththeremotestplacesandthetraditionalpostalservicesarenowreferredtoalmostmockinglyassnailmail.Whenstudentsgooffback-packing,theycanemailtheirparentsfromInternetcafesintheHimalayasorfromadesertoasis.Andasformobilephones—theclickingoftextmessagingatanyhourofthedayornighthasbecomefamiliartousall.Everyone,itseems,provided,ofcourse,theycanaffordtodoso,needneverbeoutoftouch.Significantlyalso,thisgreatglobalcommunicationsrevolutionisalsolinkedtotheexpansionofEnglish,whichhasnowbecometheleadinginternationallanguage.ConferencesandbusinessmeetingsaroundtheglobeareheldinEnglish,regardlessofwhetheranyonepresentisanativeEnglishspeaker.Englishhassimplybecomethelanguagethatfacilitatescommunication,andformanypeoplelearningEnglishisanessentialsteppingstoneontheroadtosuccess.Sowhy,youmaywonder,wouldanyonehavemisgivingsaboutallthesewonderfuldevelopments,andwhydoestheriseofEnglishasagloballanguagecausefeelingsofuneasinessforsomeofus?Forthereareindeedproblemswiththecommunicationsrevolution,problemsthatarenotonlyeconomic.Mostfundamentalistheprofoundrelationshipbetweenlanguageandculturethatliesattheheartofsocietyandonethatweoverlookatourperil.Differentculturesarenotsimplygroupsofpeoplewholabeltheworlddifferently;languagesgiveusthemeanstoshapeourviewsoftheworldandlanguagesaredifferentfromoneanother.Weexpresswhatweseeandfeelthroughlanguage,andbecauselanguagesaresoclearlyculture-related,oftenwefindthatwhatwecansayinonelanguagecannotbeexpressedatallinanother.TheEnglishwordhomesicknesstranslatesintoItalianasnostalgia,butEnglishhashadtoborrowthatsamewordtodescribeadifferentstateofmind,somethingthatisnotquitehomesicknessandinvolvesakindoflonging.Homesicknessandnostalgiaputtogetherarealmost,butnotquite,thePortuguesesaudade,anuntranslatablewordthatdescribesastateofmindthatisnotdespair,angst(EnglishborrowedthatfromGerman),sadnessorregret,buthoverssomewhereinandaroundallthosewords.TheearlyBibletranslatorshittheproblemofuntranslatabilityhead-on.HowdoyoutranslatetheimageoftheLambofGodforacultureinwhichsheepdonotexist?WhatexactlywasthefruitthatEvepickedintheGardenofEden?WhatwasthecreaturethatswallowedJonah,giventhatwhalesarenotgiventoswimminginwarm,southernseas?Facedwithunsurmountablelinguisticproblems,translatorsnegotiatedtheboundariesbetweenlanguagesandcameupwithacompromise.Compromisingissomethingthatspeakersofmorethanonelanguageunderstand.Whentherearenowordsinanotherlanguageforwhatyouwanttosay,youmakeadjustmentsandtrytoapproximate.EnglishandWelshspeakersmakeadjustmentsregardingthecolourspectruminthegrey/green/blue/brownrange,sinceEnglishhasfourwordsandWelshhasthree.Andevenwherewordsdoexist,compromisesstillneedtobemade.Theworddemocracymeanscompletelydifferentthingsindifferentcontexts,andevenawordlikebreadwhichreferstoastaplefooditemmadeofflourmeanstotallydifferentthingstodifferentpeople.TheflatbreadsofCentralAsiaarealongwayawayfromMother'sPridewhiteslicedtoasties,yetthewordbreadhastoserveforboth.Inevitably,thespreadofEnglishmeansthatmillionsofpeopleareaddinganotherlanguagetotheirownandarelearninghowtonegotiateculturalandlinguisticdifferences.Thisisanessentialskillintoday'shybridworld,particularlynowwhentheneedforinternationalunderstandinghasrarelybeensoimportant.Butevenasmorepeoplebecomemultilingual,sonativeEnglishspeakersarelosingout,fortheyarebecomingevermoremonolingual,andhenceincreasinglyunawareofthedifferencesbetweenculturesthatlanguagesreveal.Communicatinginanotherlanguageinvolvesnotonlylinguisticskills,buttheabilitytothinkdifferently,toenterintoanotherculture'smentalityandshapelanguageaccordingly.Millionsofpeoplearediscoveringhowtobridgecultures,whiletheEnglish-speakingworldbecomesevermorecomplacentandcutsdownonforeignlanguagelearningprogrammesinthemistakenbeliefthatitisenoughtoknowEnglish.Worldpeaceinthefuturedependsoninterculturalunderstanding.Thosebestplacedtohelpthatprocessmaynotbetheoneswiththelatesttechnologyandstateoftheartmobilephones,butthosewiththeskillstounderstandwhatliesin,underandbeyondthewordsspokeninmanydifferentlanguages.文化冲突我们生活在一个交流非常便捷的时代。便宜的机票使得我们可以到那些我们的家长只能幻想的地方去,而网络使得我们可以跟最遥远地方的人们进行交流。在这种情况下,传统的邮政现在被戏称为蜗牛邮件。当学生们在背包远足的时候,他们可以用电子邮件从喜马拉雅的网吧或者从沙漠里的绿洲给他们的家长发邮件。不管是白天还是晚上,我们也能通过手机来发短信。所有可以付的起这种方式的人都可以随时随地的获取最新信息。同样重要的是,全球交流的革命跟英语的普及是不可分割的。英语现在变成领先的国际语言。不管与会者是否是把英语作为母语,全球不管哪个角落的会议和商业会谈都是使用的英语。英语已经变成一种促进交流的语言。同时,对很多人来说,学习英语是他们通往成功道路上的奠基石。所以你可能会好奇为什么有些人对于这些美好的发展有所顾忌,为什么英语作为一个国际通用语言会使得有些人对英语的不适应?交流上的革命确实存在问题,并且这些问题并不仅仅是经济上的。最根本的东西是,语言和文化之间的不可分割的关系是一个社会的核心,而我们忽视了一些最关键的事情。不同的文化不仅仅是给不同组别的人贴上标签,语言是帮助我们理解世界的工具,每个语言之间都是有区别的。因为我们通过语言来表达我们的所见所想,而语言是跟文化密切相关的,所以有时候就可能产生我们能用一种语言表达出来的东西,是不能用另外一种语言来表达出来的。英语的想家翻译成意大利语就变成了怀乡病,但是英语有时候必须要用同样的词来表示另外一种意思,这种意思不是单纯的想家,而是包含了一层渴望的意思在里面。尽管不是同一种意思,英语的想家和怀乡病放在一起的意思还有所接近的。但是葡萄牙语的saudade所表达的意思却是不能用其它语言来翻译的。这个词表达的意思不是绝望、愤怒、悲伤或后悔,儿是在以上这些意思之间。早期的圣经翻译者就碰到了有些意思是不可翻译的这么个问题。比如你要如何把上帝的羔羊的形象翻译给一个连羊都不存在的人