Introduction

We have been looking at the impact of globalization on languages and translation. We have seen how the world has shrunk and more people tend to travel to other countries. One of the foremost features of life in the 20th century and the present one is the migration of people from their homelands to other countries in search of livelihoods. This of course is not a modern phenomenon, but we cannot think of a period in which this was so well documented. Migration results in cultural hybridity or mingling, as people from one language and culture are forced to adapt to an alien language and culture. This results in mixing of languages and cultures, and also leads to problems in defining oneself in terms of mother-tongue or country. For example, consider the case of the child of Indian parents who have migrated to the USA. The child, born in the USA, is technically an American citizen. She will also be American in her taste and lifestyle, as she will imbibe the culture around her. But she will not be able to escape the Indian influence either, as her home and upbringing will bring that influence to bear on her. As far as language goes, she is sure to be fluent in English and might have a smattering of an Indian language. If she is asked to define herself in terms of language and country, she would find it difficult to answer easily. She would have to say that she is American but also Indian and that she cannot be defined by simplistic categories of language and nationality. Her identity is fluid and difficult to categorize. This member of the Indian diaspora is very much a citizen of today’s globalized world. This fluidity in identity also means that she calls no language her own because there is no territory that she can really call her own. She is, as Salman Rushdie so poetically described himself, a “translated being”, comfortable in multiple languages and at home in the world. Translation in this increasingly cosmopolitan or globalized world ceases to be an academic activity and becomes a daily necessity.