Translation and the New Digital Commons

Open Access

Abstract

International audience ; In this presentation, we have three key claims. First, we wish to make a case for an alternative conception of linguistic diversity, which sees language pluralism not as an "obstacle" or "barrier" that needs to be (dis)solved, but rather as a value that needs to be cherished and promoted, at different levels of politics and society. Second, we also hold that the "Digital Humanities" create new possibilities and thus open a "new age" for literary translation, which will also deeply impact research and education [Lacour, P. et alii (2010a)]. Third, as we should argue, the application of interpretive and corpus-driven linguistics to Computer Assisted Translation should foster collaboration on the realm of precise translation of cultural texts [Bénel, A. and Lacour, P. (2011)] and therefore help reinforcing the sustainability of culture(s) and identity(ies), "on" and "off" line. Behind these claims, lies a conception of "language as a common good" which can (or should) be freely disposed by all its users. This paper aims consequently at proposing a more appropriate definition of the copyright for digital literary translation, especially for multilingual corpora.