Slides from my plenary talk at the LAUD Symposium in Landau, Germany, April 6, 2016. Conference program and materials: https://www.uni-koblenz-landau.de/de/landau/fb6/philologien/anglistik/laudsymposium2016

1. Learning to Translate
Linguistic Landscape
David Malinowski
Yale University
Center for Language Study
david.malinowski@yale.edu
TW: @tildensky
This talk: http://bit.ly/LAUD2016
LAUD Symposium
Landau, Germany
April 6, 2016

2. Howdoyousay“Welcome!”inGerman?

3. Howdoyousay“Welcome!”inGerman?

4. Howdoyousay“Welcome!”inGerman?

5. What German word belongs
on the white sign?

6. What German word belongs
on the white sign?

7. (How) Would you express this
in another language?

9. Working with a(nother) German-reading partner, discuss:
1. Have you seen this or similar stickers anywhere else?
2. What do you take this sticker, across from the
Parkhotel, to mean? Who posted it, and why?
3. Does the message translate to another language or
variety of German that you speak? Why or why not?
4. Think of a sticker or other way that you’d like to
respond to this sticker, and post it here:
http://bit.ly/LAUD2016

10. Translation
holds particular promise, both as an
approach for language learning and
teaching in the linguistic landscape
&
more broadly, as a figure or heuristic
through which linguistic landscape
researchers-as-practitioners think about
what it is we do, and why, and how
My argument today:

11. Translation?
Why not translanguaging?
Codemeshing?
or metrolingual multitasking?

12. Taking the perspective of a
language learner...

13. Dongdaemun, Seoul, 1994 – my ‘first sign’ as a Korean learner

14. Dongdaemun, Seoul, 1994 – my ‘first sign’ as a Korean learner

15. Dongdaemun, Seoul, 1994 – my ‘first sign’ as a Korean learner
trees/bushes obj. Let’s love

16. Language learning & teaching in the LL

17. ACTFL National Standards for
Foreign Language Education
Communication
Cultures
Connections
Comparisons
Communities

18. linguistic
pragmatic
intercultural
multimodal, multiliterate
symbolic, critical, participatory
LL as opportunity to cultivate
many competences

19. • Burwell, C. & Lenters, K. 2015. Word on the street: Investigating
linguistic landscapes with urban Canadian youth.
• Cenoz, J., & Gorter, D. (2008). The linguistic landscape as an additional
source of input in SLA.
• Chern, C. -l., & Dooley, K. (2014). Learning English by walking down the
street.
• Chesnut, M., Lee, V. & Schulte, J. (2013). The language lessons around
us: Undergraduate English pedagogy and linguistic landscape research
• Dagenais, D. et al. (2009). Linguistic landscape and language awareness.
• Malinowski, D. (2015). Opening spaces of learning in the linguistic
landscape.
• Rowland, L. (2012). The pedagogical benefits of a linguistic landscape
project in Japan.
• Sayer, P. (2009). Using the Linguistic Landscape as a Pedagogical
Resource.
Language learning & teaching in the LL

20. Possible activities in and with the LL
• Walking, observation, note-taking
• Photography, street recordings
• Recorded interviews
• Classroom & online discussions, activities
• Neighborhood descriptions & drawings
• Mapping
• Writing, blogging
• Classroom and/or community-based art projects,
exhibits, installations
• Civic events, protests
• Publication

21. is “…a living, moving activity, not a dead
one to be pinned down in a museum. It
is this dynamism which can make it so
interesting and so stimulating, not only
to linguists and translators, but to
teachers and students too.”
(Guy Cook, 2010, p. xix)
Translation
in Language Teaching

22. Translation
holds particular promise, both as an
approach for language learning and
teaching in the linguistic landscape
&
more broadly, as a figure or heuristic
through which linguistic landscape
researchers-as-practitioners think about
what it is we do, and why, and how
Returning to my argument today:

23. Today: Exploring “&points” for translation
Suggestion Instigation Response
1. Translation as
revealing /
/faultlines
Miller (1992),
“Translation as the
double production
of texts”
Reading faultlines
in Nash (2016), “Is
linguistic
landscape
necessary?”
2. Translation as
responsibility and
response
Robinson (1997),
What is
translation?
‘Translating’ LL
methods to L2
pedagogy
3. Translation as
public action and
activation
Venuti (1995), The
translator’s
invisibility
“Translate New
Haven” project
introduction

24. Today: Exploring “&points” for translation
Suggestion Instigation Response
1. Translation as
revealing /
/faultlines
Miller (1992),
“Translation as the
double production
of texts”
Reading faultlines
in Nash (2016), “Is
linguistic
landscape
necessary?”
2. Translation as
responsibility and
response
Robinson (1997),
What is
translation?
‘Translating’ LL
methods to L2
pedagogy
3. Translation as
public action and
activation
Venuti (1995), The
translator’s
invisibility
“Translate New
Haven” project
introduction

25. 1. Translation as revealing / / faultlines
Instigation from translation studies:
Joseph Hillis Miller (1992), “Translation
as the double production of texts”. In
Kramsch & McConnell-Ginet (eds.), Text
and context: Cross-disciplinary
perspectives. D.C. Heath.

26. 1. Translation as revealing / / faultlines
“A different translation produces a
different original, by emphasizing
different faultlines in the original, that is,
by traducing the original in one way
rather than another. The original is led
out into the open where the translator is
obliged to see hitherto hidden features.”
H. Miller, 1992, p. 124

27. 1. Translation as revealing / / faultlines
Response: Reading (‘target text’/LL)
faultlines in a ‘translating’ text
Joshua Nash, 2016. “Is linguistic
landscape necessary?” Landscape
Research, 41(3)

28. 1. Translation as revealing / / faultlines
1. What is the responsibility of linguistic landscape research to
landscape (studies and other bordering fields)?
2. What is unique or valuable about the knowledge (theory,
method, practice) that LL affords vis-a-vis its neighbors?
3. What are the affordances, limitations, and ideologies of the
visual mode—and the medium of the digital image—for the
representation and interpretation of data, phenomena of
interest?
4. (Meta-level): What is to be gained from ‘translating’ the
concerns, frameworks, methods, and practices of one field
to another?
Questions for LL revealed by ‘translations’ like Nash’s

29. Today: Exploring “&points” for translation
Suggestion Instigation Response
1. Translation as
revealing /
/faultlines
Miller (1992),
“Translation as the
double production
of texts”
Reading faultlines
in Nash (2016), “Is
linguistic
landscape
necessary?”
2. Translation as
responsibility and
response
Robinson (1997),
What is
translation?
‘Translating’ LL
methods to L2
pedagogy
3. Translation as
public action and
activation
Venuti (1995), The
translator’s
invisibility
“Translate New
Haven” project
introduction

30. Today: Exploring “&points” for translation
Suggestion Instigation Response
1. Translation as
revealing /
/faultlines
Miller (1992),
“Translation as the
double production
of texts”
Reading faultlines
in Nash (2016), “Is
linguistic
landscape
necessary?”
2. Translation as
responsibility and
response
Robinson (1997),
What is
translation?
‘Translating’ LL
methods to L2
pedagogy
3. Translation as
public action and
activation
Venuti (1995), The
translator’s
invisibility
“Translate New
Haven” project
introduction

31. 2. Translation as responsibility/response
Instigations from translation studies:
Douglas Robinson, 1997. What is
translation?: Centrifugal theories, critical
interventions. Kent State UP
Theo Hermans, 2009. “Translation,
ethics, politics”. In Munday (ed.), The
Routledge companion to translation
studies.

32. 2. Translation as responsibility/response
“Source text” “Target text”
Word-for-word?
Sense-for-sense?
Sourcelanguage
Targetlanguage
Author(s)Reader(s)
Reader(s)Translator(s)

33. 2. Translation as responsibility/response
"translation, enmeshed as it is in social
and ideological structures, cannot be
thought of as a transparent, neutral or
innocent philological activity"
Hermans, 2009, p. 95

34. 2. Translation as responsibility/response
Response: ‘Translating’ LL methods to L2
pedagogy

35. 2. Translation as responsibility/response

36. Henri Lefebvre’s The production of space (1991)
pushing innovation in LL methodologies
Trumper-Hecht (2010) analysis of Arab
and Jewish walkers’ perceptions of
Arabic & Hebrew in Upper Nazareth
1) Investigation of official policy
2) Documentation of LL as visible to
the researcher, and reading 1) in
light of 2)
3) Surveys and interviews with
everyday residents, reading 1) and
2) in light of 3)

37. Henri Lefebvre’s The production of space (1991)
pushing innovation in LL methodologies
Through juxtaposition of
conceived, perceived, and lived
spaces, “[add] a third dimension
to linguistic landscape studies”
(Trumper-Hecht, 2010, p. 236).

38. 1.2.
3.
Lefebvre 
Trumper-Hecht 
L2 teachers’ workshops

39. Lefebvre 
Trumper-Hecht 
L2 teachers’ workshops

40. Think of tools and
techniques to facilitate…
• contextualizing
• historicizing
• mapping
• categorizing
…and discussing, debating,
representing, sharing these
Lefebvre 
Trumper-Hecht 
L2 teachers’ workshops

41. Lefebvre 
Trumper-Hecht 
L2 teachers’ workshops

42. Think of tools and
techniques to facilitate…
• observation
• listening
• sensing
• recording
…and discussing, debating,
representing, sharing these
Lefebvre 
Trumper-Hecht 
L2 teachers’ workshops

43. Lefebvre 
Trumper-Hecht 
L2 teachers’ workshops

44. Think of tools and techniques to facilitate
drawing, imagining, interviewing, designing, storytelling,
creating, protesting, enacting, etc…
…and discussing, debating, representing, sharing these

45. Think of tools and techniques to facilitate
drawing, imagining, interviewing, designing, storytelling,
creating, protesting, enacting, etc…
…and discussing, debating, representing, sharing these
Think of tools and
techniques to facilitate…
• observation
• listening
• sensing
• recording
…and discussing, debating,
representing, sharing these
Think of tools and
techniques to facilitate…
• contextualizing
• historicizing
• mapping
• categorizing
…and discussing, debating,
representing, sharing these

46. Example: Reading boundaries in your city

47. Example: Reading boundaries in your city

48. Example: Reading boundaries in your city

49. Example: Reading boundaries in your city

50. Example: Reading boundaries in your city

51. Workshops and walking tours with Yale language instructors

52. NEXT WEEK (11 March 2016):
Street Signs and Linguistic Landscapes
By Wednesday, March 9th at 5:59 pm (Paris 23h59), each student
should post a photograph of a sign from your neighborhood that
you find culturally interesting and that will provoke discussion.
You should post this on
http://padlet.com/wall/xxxxxxxxx.
Padlet is very easy; no need to sign up. Just click on the screen
and you can drag/import a picture. Put a caption on it, as well
as your name. (Click on the question mark on the side for more
info about how to do it.)
If you have trouble with this, email your picture to me
at xxxxxxxxx@yale.edu and I will post it for you.
Activity prompt to prep for 2-on-2 Skype conversation
C. Skorupa, Yale-Télécom Paris French/English telecollaboration

53. C. Skorupa, Yale-Télécom Paris French/English telecollaboration

54. C. Skorupa, Yale-Télécom Paris French/English telecollaboration

55. R. Llopis-García, ÑYC Twitter project (#1202spn)

56. Today: Exploring “&points” for translation
Suggestion Instigation Response
1. Translation as
revealing /
/faultlines
Miller (1992),
“Translation as the
double production
of texts”
Reading faultlines
in Nash (2016), “Is
linguistic
landscape
necessary?”
2. Translation as
responsibility and
response
Robinson (1997),
What is
translation?
‘Translating’ LL
methods to L2
pedagogy
3. Translation as
public action and
activation
Venuti (1995), The
translator’s
invisibility
“Translate New
Haven” project
introduction

57. Today: Exploring “&points” for translation
Suggestion Instigation Response
1. Translation as
revealing /
/faultlines
Miller (1992),
“Translation as the
double production
of texts”
Reading faultlines
in Nash (2016), “Is
linguistic
landscape
necessary?”
2. Translation as
responsibility and
response
Robinson (1997),
What is
translation?
‘Translating’ LL
methods to L2
pedagogy
3. Translation as
public action and
activation
Venuti (1995), The
translator’s
invisibility
“Translate New
Haven” project
introduction

58. 3. Translation as public action/activation
Instigation from translation studies:
Lawrence Venuti, 1995. The translator’s
invisibility: A history of translation.
Routledge.

59. 3. Translation as public action/activation
"A translated text should be the site
where a different culture emerges,
where a reader gets a glimpse of a
cultural other”
Venuti, 1995, p. 306

60. 3. Translation as public action/activation

61. 3. Translation as public action/activation

62. 3. Translation as public action/activation
Response: Translate the City

63. 3. Translation as public action/activation
from Translate New Haven project overview
Translate New Haven is a new initiative in applied
language studies at Yale and in the city of New
Haven, aiming to imagine and visualize a more
multilingual New Haven through translation,
discussion, and collaborative “deep mapping” of
language in public spaces. The project builds upon
the idea of linguistic landscape where,
everyday, people see with their own eyes “what
languages are prominent and valued” by their
society, and take in silent lessons about “the social
positioning of people who identify with particular
languages” (quotes from Dagenais et al., 2009)

64. 3. Translation as public action/activation
Church Street, New Haven

65. 3. Translation as public action/activation
Church Street, New Haven?

66. NewHavenGreen

67. NewHavenGreen?

68. NewHavenGreen?

70. Are “no loitering” and “no se permite vagabundos” semantically
equivalent? Pragmatically? Legally? What other ways could this message
be expressed? (in either/both English or/and Spanish, or others?) How
do ‘walkers’ near this bank read this notice, feel in the neighborhood?

72. What does “authorization” mean, and who counts as “authorized personnel”
and “their guests” in terms of social relationships? How might these be
expressed (or not) in other languages, other geo-cultural locales in translating
this sign? (can you find parallel/contrasting examples in other places?

73. Sample activity prompt: Translate Your City
The language(s) you see and hear around you in public places convey powerful
messages about what histories, cultures, and identities are valued right where
you are. Yet things didn’t and don’t necessarily have to look and sound the way
they do now. What would your building, your neighborhood, or your city look,
sound, and feel like if things were expressed differently, in the language you’re
learning? (and are there any limits beyond which it’s hard to imagine?)
Pick a place, a theme, a kind of text, or some elements of the linguistic
landscape that you might like to change or create anew, and:
• Tweet or Instagram your ideas for translating signs, marking spaces, or
otherwise transforming a locale. Translations don’t have to be ‘correct’. And
you can use your posts as spaces for commenting, remembering, imagining,
exploring or thinking out loud—all this is part of the larger process of
translation. When possible, use geo-referenced hashtags like #translateNHV
(“translate”+city code) to make your posts findable, and add your location
(see this page for Twitter).
• Design a larger translation project like a mural or other artistic reimagining of
a place, a map or visitor’s guide in the language you’re learning, a blog or
website to chronicle your explorations, or…

74. 3. Translation as public action/activation
Translate New Haven project updates at:
http://davidmalinowski.info/translate-new-haven/
To be mirrored from http://cls.yale.edu

75. Today: Exploring “&points” for translation
Suggestion Instigation Response
1. Translation as
revealing /
/faultlines
Miller (1992),
“Translation as the
double production
of texts”
Reading faultlines
in Nash (2016), “Is
linguistic
landscape
necessary?”
2. Translation as
responsibility and
response
Robinson (1997),
What is
translation?
‘Translating’ LL
methods to L2
pedagogy
3. Translation as
public action and
activation
Venuti (1995), The
translator’s
invisibility
“Translate New
Haven” project
introduction

76. Translation
holds particular promise, both as an
approach for language learning and
teaching in the linguistic landscape
&
more broadly, as a figure or heuristic
through which linguistic landscape
researchers-as-practitioners think about
what it is we do, and why, and how
My argument today:

77. Thank you
LAUD Symposium
Landau, Germany
April 6, 2016
David Malinowski
Yale University
Center for Language Study
david.malinowski@yale.edu
TW: @tildensky
This talk: http://bit.ly/LAUD2016
And special thanks to:
Candace Skorupa & students, Yale University
Reyes Llopis-García & students, Columbia University