The Linguist is a languages magazine for professional linguists, translators, interpreters, language professionals, language teachers, trainers, students and academics with articles on translation, interpreting, business, government, technology
Issue link: https://thelinguist.uberflip.com/i/807252
Like the astronaut Matthias Maurer and millions of other children worldwide, I was fascinated by space launches as a child. The space station Mir was even a diminution of my name. At the time, I was told it meant 'peace', but while preparing to interview Maurer, I found that mir (Мир) also refers to a peasant community that owned its own land (replaced by state ownership after the Russian revolution). The lack of a nuanced understanding of Мир, while not strictly necessary for most onlookers, is something of a metaphor for the cultural misunderstandings that later took place on the space station. Lessons have since been learnt, and language training is now a key component of space flight preparations, as Maurer, who is currently learning Russian and Chinese simultaneously, explains on page 8. If not adequately provided for, language barriers in the justice system can have different but no less catastrophic effects. Linguistic needs in the criminal justice system have been well documented, but as the use of mediation grows, researchers have begun to look at the specific requirements in this area (p.11). The role of linguist-mediator is a conflicted one, with interpreters having a duty to reproduce what has been said faithfully, and mediators often being required to reframe language to forge consensus. Finally, I was interested to hear how script consultants on programmes such as CBeebies' pre-school language-learning The Lingo Show ensure not only that the language component is correct but also that the script flows well, continuity is maintained, the cultural aspects are authentic and the diction is correct and accessible (p.18). Miranda Moore 4 The Linguist Vol/56 No/2 2017 www.ciol.org.uk NEWS & EDITORIAL CHIEF EXECUTIVE'S NOTES Six new CIOL members have recently been elected to Council and one new Trustee has joined the IoL Educational Trust Board (IoLET). Karen Stokes (Chair of Council), Professor Chris Pountain (Chair of the Trust Board) and I welcome them all warmly, and look forward to hearing the new views and perspectives each will bring. They join at a critical time as the value of languages is placed in the spotlight within the broader context of Brexit. They also join as the Institute (CIOL and IoLET) comes together at our annual strategy planning day. Last year, we looked into the middle distance and explored the challenges and opportunities our profession is likely to be facing over the next ten years or so. Shortening that perspective this time, we need to use the key trends we identified and consider their impact on the Institute over the next three to five years. Technology impacts on all our professional activity, as well as on the administration of our business; cultural shifts are radically changing the world in which we operate in ways we could barely foresee even last April; branding and positioning are critical to raise the profile of what we stand for and what we do; and collaboration is essential for strength and partnership across the profession. With Brexit raising many as yet unanswered questions, the Institute is taking a positive stance in respect of the issues that might affect our members and their work. The Institute engages regularly with the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Modern Languages (see page 6). This group circulated widely our statement issued at the time of the House of Lords debate on the triggering of Article 50, which urged the Prime Minister to clarify the status of foreign nationals living and working in the UK. We have launched our Higher Education (HE) Language Partner scheme with the aim of collaborating with universities to ensure healthy demand for and provision of language studies in the face of the threat to Erasmus+ and the internationalisation of HE. And I have authored a chapter on public service interpreting for a new publication bringing together an impressive collection of essays analysing the language needs of the UK and the potential impact on language policy of the decision to leave the EU. We are also preparing a 'professionalisation campaign' to engage with stakeholder organisations, so that we can act as one voice in promoting the value of the profession. With regulation still a longer term objective, our immediate goal is to build and promote the profile of our profession so that end-users, agencies, employers and government departments understand it better and hold it in greater respect, as they would the professional services of a lawyer, accountant or doctor. Chartership is a critical strand of this, and a means by which we can put ourselves on an equal footing, but we need engagement from all corners of the profession. The responsibility we each hold to help build recognition and trust is a theme picked up at Members' Day by Sally Fagan in her Threlford Memorial Lecture (which will appear in the next issue), and demonstrates how showing leadership in languages is something which every linguist can achieve. So let's all get on with the job! Ann Carlisle EDITOR'S LETTER