RSJ News
Wanted: A babel fish
10-30-2009
J-Prof Donica Mensing attending a European conference on media literacy in Italy Oct. 22-25.
Living in Italy makes me wish that the babel fish was not just a fictional creature in the “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” but a product I could order from Amazon.
(If you haven’t read the book, the babel fish is: “small, yellow, leech-like, and is a universal translator which simultaneously translates from one spoken language to another. When inserted into the ear, its nutrition processes convert sound waves into brain waves, neatly crossing the language divide between any species ....” (Wikipedia)
Living in a country where you don’t speak the language is a humbling experience. While I am taking a fast paced Italian 111, my fluency is about equal to that of a 2-year old. Having directional conversations in Italian is still challenging so I have not yet attempted anything more sophisticated than ordering pizza.
Last week I attended a European conference on media literacy. It made me realize the challenges of holding conferences in Europe, where participants can easily speak a dozen different languages. Fortunately, each presentation was simultaneously translated into five languages. Attendees could check out head sets to hear the language of our choice: English, French, Italian, Dutch or German. I noticed a few people in the audience never wore a headset, so either they were incredibly fluent or missed a few speakers along the way.
I noticed that most speakers tended to end two or three minutes before the English translation ended, so that the conclusion of each speech was drowned out by clapping from the audience. Sometimes the translators would correct themselves (use to abuse, for example) and other times there were long gaps in the translation that made me wonder what I was missing.
Last week Google’s CEO predicted that in five years the Internet would be dominated by Chinese language media. As media continues to globalize, eventually Americans will also have to deal with the need for speaking multiple languages, struggling with translation systems and wishing for babel fish.
If you’re interested in discussing media literacy, please check out Networked Journalism where I’m posting items about journalism education. Here’s my conclusion to the post about media literacy: “Should media literacy be taught in j-schools?”
“… We have some enormous problems in front of us and our civic capacity for addressing these problems seems constipated at best. If we identified this issue as the problem to be addressed, what kind of “literacy” course might we build in response?”
I’m interested in hearing any thoughts you have about teaching (or taking) media literacy courses in j-schools and/or to university students in general.
I’m also blogging about the fun part of life in Italy here: Italy, A-Z. I’d love to hear from my Nevada friends!
