Dear All,
We all know about Don Bosco’s geographical interests, and even his somewhat idiosyncratic ways of ‘mapping’ the world (e.g. in his missionary dreams). And we know that he dreamed of a city that would be built between parallels 15 and 20 in Brazil, which is now reality... Brasilia, the capital of Brazil. You might like to read Fr Gildasio’s recent publication by that name (Parallels 15 and 20: Contemporary Research in Dialogue with Don Bosco), published this year by Salesian Press, Malta. But my point for this newsletter is only broadly related to the kind of research Fr Gildasio is speaking about. I want to highlight the need we have, as translators, to get things right, and to be culturally sensitive, including in translation, even if we have to make small changes to the original to do so!
Let me give you some examples.
Continents
Young people in Europe are often taught that there are five continents. And if they ever produce a map, then it is a Eurocentric map. But elsewhere in the world we are usually taught that there are seven continents. Some make it six by combining Europe and Asia and calling it Eurasia. Not all maps have to be Eurocentric either! We swing the globe around, depending which part of the world we live in and make that the centre!
So when translating some of the material that comes out of Rome (our Salesian Rome I mean), when I find reference to 5 continents (usually as a way of implying that the Salesians are at work in all continents) I remove reference to five and generalise it (all continents, or something similar), because I am aware that in some parts of the world people get a bit sensitive about this kind of thing, and we should appeal to the whole world, not just to Europe.
Countries
Then there are country names that have changed: think Burma-Myanmar, or Turkey-Türkiye, but there are others, e.g. Swaziland-Eswatini, Macedonia-North Macedonia, Czech Republic-Czechia, Cape Verde-Cabo Verde. Some countries actually require a definite article: the Gambia, the Philippines.
Cities
City names have changed in many places, especially with growing nationalism around the world. So while the Missions Sector are working on their soon to be published Bosco Food coloured recipe book (in two languages: Italian and English), they have to make sure they get all these references right in both languages. They have not as yet republished the Salesian World Map, but again, when and if they do they will have to be very sensitive to these kinds of issues , not only names, but occasionally changing borders as well. And if you are translating, or proofreading this kind of material in your own languages, then you need to be clued up on what to call countries and cities... should the city be in its own language or the translated version? The rules will differ from language to language, but the translator needs to know the rules for their language.
Circumscriptions
And let's not forget the changing ‘map’ of the Salesian world and its circumscriptions. How many are aware of the new CNA circumscription (Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco) based in Manouba? Or TZA (Tanzania), AON, and AOS (North and South West Africa).