Glossary entry (derived from question below)
French term or phrase:
plurilinguisme / multilinguisme
English translation:
plurilingualism/multilingualism
Added to glossary by
Julie FOLTZ
Feb 13, 2008 14:48
16 yrs ago
1 viewer *
French term
France
Accuracy & timeliness
Native in: French 
Works in: English to French, Spanish to French, French
plurilinguisme / multilinguisme
French to English
Social Sciences
Education / Pedagogy
Je dois traduire les deux termes (qui sont identiques en anglais) mais différemment voici un extrait pour que vous compreniez mon désarroi:
Au Luxembourg, la situation linguistique trouve son origine dans l’acte fondateur du Grand-duché de Luxembourg en 1839 et le pays a toujours été caractérisé par le « plurilinguisme ». L’emploi de ce terme est conforme à la distinction apportée par le Conseil de l’Europe entre « multilinguisme » et « plurilinguisme » : le multilinguisme fait référence à la présence, dans une aire géographique donnée, grande ou petite, de plusieurs variétés linguistiques (formes de la communication verbale, quel qu’en soit le statut) ; le plurilinguisme caractérise la compétence des personnes et renvoie au répertoire de langues que peuvent utiliser les locuteurs, quel que soit le statut de ces langues à l'école et dans la société. Le trilinguisme au Luxembourg (connaissance de l’allemand, du français et du luxembourgeois) est donc une forme particulière de plurilinguisme .
Au Luxembourg, la situation linguistique trouve son origine dans l’acte fondateur du Grand-duché de Luxembourg en 1839 et le pays a toujours été caractérisé par le « plurilinguisme ». L’emploi de ce terme est conforme à la distinction apportée par le Conseil de l’Europe entre « multilinguisme » et « plurilinguisme » : le multilinguisme fait référence à la présence, dans une aire géographique donnée, grande ou petite, de plusieurs variétés linguistiques (formes de la communication verbale, quel qu’en soit le statut) ; le plurilinguisme caractérise la compétence des personnes et renvoie au répertoire de langues que peuvent utiliser les locuteurs, quel que soit le statut de ces langues à l'école et dans la société. Le trilinguisme au Luxembourg (connaissance de l’allemand, du français et du luxembourgeois) est donc une forme particulière de plurilinguisme .
Proposed translations
(English)
Votes to reclassify question as PRO/non-PRO:
Non-PRO (2): Julie Barber, writeaway
When entering new questions, KudoZ askers are given an opportunity* to classify the difficulty of their questions as 'easy' or 'pro'. If you feel a question marked 'easy' should actually be marked 'pro', and if you have earned more than 20 KudoZ points, you can click the "Vote PRO" button to recommend that change.
How to tell the difference between "easy" and "pro" questions:
An easy question is one that any bilingual person would be able to answer correctly. (Or in the case of monolingual questions, an easy question is one that any native speaker of the language would be able to answer correctly.)
A pro question is anything else... in other words, any question that requires knowledge or skills that are specialized (even slightly).
Another way to think of the difficulty levels is this: an easy question is one that deals with everyday conversation. A pro question is anything else.
When deciding between easy and pro, err on the side of pro. Most questions will be pro.
* Note: non-member askers are not given the option of entering 'pro' questions; the only way for their questions to be classified as 'pro' is for a ProZ.com member or members to re-classify it.
Proposed translations
+6
5 mins
Selected
plurilingualism/multilingualism
First, it is important to distinguish between multilingualism and plurilingualism. These are
different concepts which entail different approaches in an institution that adopts either as the goal.
It is a question of the institutional or individual level. Plurilingualism is clearly defined in the
Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR, Council of Europe, 2001, p.
4). It means diversifying the individual’s use of languages in cultural contexts; interlocutors may
switch between languages and dialects in order to achieve effective communication. Both of us,
for example, switch continuously between three or four languages within the same conversation,
even within sentences. Plurilingualism is then an individual concept. Multilingualism, however,
implies the cooccurrence
of more than one language in society. Societies can achieve
multilingualism simply by making more languages available for learning in universities and
schools. Individuals may learn another language as a foreign or second language to communicate
with others in different societies or with others in the same society. So multilingualism is an
institutional or societal construct. A university can be multilingual, but its members may be
plurilingual.
http://www.palmenia.helsinki.fi/congress/bilingual2005/prese...
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 10 mins (2008-02-13 14:59:09 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
other examples
for the European Union, societal multilingualism and individual plurilingualism ...
www.celelc.org/docs/speech_final_website_2.doc
for the European Union, societal multilingualism and individual plurilingualism ...
www.celelc.org/docs/speech_final_website_2.doc
http://web.fu-berlin.de/elc/tnp1/SP4Report.doc
Individual Plurilingualism and Societal Multilingualism in an Official Bilingual ... government and (vii) the Council of the region Brussels Capital. ...
www.see-educoop.net/education_in/pdf/individ_pluril_societ_...
different concepts which entail different approaches in an institution that adopts either as the goal.
It is a question of the institutional or individual level. Plurilingualism is clearly defined in the
Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR, Council of Europe, 2001, p.
4). It means diversifying the individual’s use of languages in cultural contexts; interlocutors may
switch between languages and dialects in order to achieve effective communication. Both of us,
for example, switch continuously between three or four languages within the same conversation,
even within sentences. Plurilingualism is then an individual concept. Multilingualism, however,
implies the cooccurrence
of more than one language in society. Societies can achieve
multilingualism simply by making more languages available for learning in universities and
schools. Individuals may learn another language as a foreign or second language to communicate
with others in different societies or with others in the same society. So multilingualism is an
institutional or societal construct. A university can be multilingual, but its members may be
plurilingual.
http://www.palmenia.helsinki.fi/congress/bilingual2005/prese...
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 10 mins (2008-02-13 14:59:09 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
other examples
for the European Union, societal multilingualism and individual plurilingualism ...
www.celelc.org/docs/speech_final_website_2.doc
for the European Union, societal multilingualism and individual plurilingualism ...
www.celelc.org/docs/speech_final_website_2.doc
http://web.fu-berlin.de/elc/tnp1/SP4Report.doc
Individual Plurilingualism and Societal Multilingualism in an Official Bilingual ... government and (vii) the Council of the region Brussels Capital. ...
www.see-educoop.net/education_in/pdf/individ_pluril_societ_...
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
Jean-Christophe Helary
: it is clear that you underestimate yourself. you should have put a lvel 5 to your answer :)
3 mins
|
|
thanks Jean-Christophe ... habit!! It's rare to know with absolute certainty ...
|
|
| agree |
Wioletta Gołębiewska
: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plurilingualism
9 mins
|
|
thanks!
|
|
| agree |
writeaway
: good refs. funny that native Anglos rarely post a 5 CL. agree that 100% certainty is rare...... ;-)
10 mins
|
|
thanks :-)
|
|
| agree |
B D Finch
: Thanks for your research and resources.
31 mins
|
|
thanks BD!
|
|
| agree |
Cervin
: Good clear refs and I've learnt something too! Agree with writeaway!
1 hr
|
|
thanks Shelagh!
|
|
| agree |
Michele Fauble
4 hrs
|
|
thanks Michele
|
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
+4
5 mins
Nadia Morais
Portugal
Portugal
Portugal
EN,FR,ES>PT Translation & subtitling
Native in: Portuguese (Variant: European/Portugal) 
Works in: English to Portuguese, French to Portuguese, Spanish to Portuguese
plurilingualism / multilingualism
Check the glossaries from the European Union (IATE), I've written on this before and these are the terms I found.
Peer comment(s):
| neutral |
jessalexande (X)
: Only thing is, 'plurilingualism' isn't a word in English. If I didn't know French, I wouldn't understand (and my dictionaries wouldn't help me). Granted, wikipedia has it, but I still have reservations...
3 mins
|
|
Jessica, I've seen this word in several EU documents on education, so that implies it exists, unless the EU is using wikipedia for their translations...
|
|
| agree |
Jean-Christophe Helary
3 mins
|
| agree |
Jonathan MacKerron
: @Jessica - new words are being coined all the time, especially in EU-speak
16 mins
|
| agree |
Victoria Porter-Burns
:
1 hr
|
| agree |
Daniel Evans
: yes and also in new speak
3 hrs
|
+1
4 mins
unofficial/official multilingualism
Since the basic difference we're looking at here is whether or not the government gets involved (by mandating those languages in school and within the bureaucracy). In this form, the US would be unofficially multilingual (mostly Spanish/English) whereas Canada would be officially multilingual (French/English).
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 26 mins (2008-02-13 15:14:34 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
I understand that "plurilingualism" is attractive as a translation. At the same time, "official" documents tend to anglicize non-English words when they can't find an easy equivalent. I'm just being the devil's advocate here: I have a background in linguistics and "plurilingualism" isn't part of it, while all kinds of "multilingualism" are. Julie can, of course, choose whatever best suits her translation.
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 26 mins (2008-02-13 15:14:34 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
I understand that "plurilingualism" is attractive as a translation. At the same time, "official" documents tend to anglicize non-English words when they can't find an easy equivalent. I'm just being the devil's advocate here: I have a background in linguistics and "plurilingualism" isn't part of it, while all kinds of "multilingualism" are. Julie can, of course, choose whatever best suits her translation.
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
Ed Friesen
: I sort of agree -- except that the distinction that the EU is legislating here seems to bear simply on whether the multiple languages are present in a geographical place (multil.) or are part of an individual's repertoire (pluril.).
2 hrs
|
| neutral |
Beatriz Galiano (X)
: I agree with you in that 'pluri...' is not found in english linguistics, I had to translate this word some time ago and learnt it.
4 hrs
|
+1
2 hrs
individual vs. geographical/group/local multilinguism
This might be a way of echoing the distinction made in your text, without introducing a possibly confusing distinction between m. (a word your English readers know, and think they already understand, regardless of what Wiki, the EU, or we experts may think) and p. (a word that most of them haven't seen before).
Of course, if your readership consists of linguists or EU language experts, then you shouldn't hesitate to use m. and p., thereby making your job easier.
Of course, if your readership consists of linguists or EU language experts, then you shouldn't hesitate to use m. and p., thereby making your job easier.
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
Beatriz Galiano (X)
: Sounds good, esp. since as Jessica points out the word with 'pluri' exists only in latin languages I think.
2 hrs
|
Discussion