Found in Translation

From Abkhaz to Zulu
Which official document holds the Guinness World Record for being the most translated document
in the world? The UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which has been translated into more
than three hundred languages.
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Given that there are between six thousand and seven thousand
languages worldwide, we wouldn’t quite call it “universal,” but it holds the record for coming
closest. (As for the most translated author, Guinness gave that award to Agatha Christie in 2011, at
which point there were 6,598 translations of her novels, short stories, and other works on record.
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)
Have Language, Will Travel
Most languages are strongly associated with a specific place in the world, but
sometimes the connection between language and territory is not so

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straightforward. Consider the case of the Roma community. Also known as the
Romani, these nomadic people are often referred to as gypsies by outsiders
(though within some Roma communities, the term gypsy is seen as a
derogatory term). The term Romani includes at least eight separate linguistic
and ethnic branches: Roma, Iberian Kale, Finnish Kale, Welsh Kale,
Romanichal, Sinti, Manush, and Romanisæl.
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But the Romani are more than just followers of a lifestyle—they are a
distinct ethnic group. Their roots date back to northern India and Pakistan in
around 1000 CE. Invading forces pushed them from their homeland, starting a
forced migration to today’s Anatolia in western Turkey. Frightened and
harried, they did not take much with them on their journey aside from their
language and customs. They stayed in Anatolia for a couple hundred years, but
when yet another invading force arrived, they began moving again. The family
groups fragmented, dispersed, and moved over various routes into Europe.
They were expelled (or enslaved) at every destination, so whenever they could
escape, they kept moving. Although there are no written records of this history,
linguists have painstakingly deconstructed the different Romani dialects,
identifying commonalities, and relating them to languages spoken in the areas
of assumed origin to arrive at this account of Romani history.
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With ten to twelve million Romani worldwide, only two million are reported
to speak one of the many forms of the Romani language. This discrepancy
prompted Debbie Folaron of Concordia University in Montreal to initiate the
Translation Romani project (www.translationromani.net), a website and
community designed to provide “a language-centric point of belonging.”
Though it may not be immediately apparent to the outsider, translation plays a
crucial role for Romani. Romani visitors “get it right away when they see it,”
Debbie explains.
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More often than not, if a Romani person in Hungary or Russia wants to
know what’s happening with the Romani community in Canada or Spain, this
can happen only through translation. Even if both have maintained some form
of Romani, the differences between the dialects can be enormous. Of course,
this presents a language problem, even within the website itself. Debbie and her
team chose Kalderash, a branch of the Roma subgroup that represents the most
widely spoken dialect and is typically used in international forums. Ron Lee, a
widely respected speaker and writer from the Kalderash group and the author
of the only comprehensive English–Kalderash dictionary, translated the site
content. It is also translated into Portuguese, French, Spanish, German,
Hungarian, Italian, Turkish, and Czech, all languages spoken by large Romani
populations.

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Translation Romani provides a virtual home for Romani translators
scattered around the world. Romani translators are often not part of the
professional translation community. This site provides tools to equip them as
professional translators and to build up a professional community by
networking with other Romani colleagues. Much more important, sites like this
may help a fragmented ethnic group find a territory they can claim as their
own, even if it’s only a virtual one.