Languages in Different Time-zones                                            

Cronin argues that this unequal relationship between languages occurs when they belong to different time zones, a process he describes as the chronostratification of languages (refer lecture #22, “Translating in a Globalized World”). He explains that “certain languages are on the fast track of lexical creation and other languages are in different time-zones, with consequences for the development and representation of those languages” (122). Languages can thus be thought of as belonging to the past, present or future. According to this classification, English would belong to the optimal time-zone while a minority Celtic language would be in a more peripheral time-zone. In the Indian context, Hindi would be peripheral while tribal languages would be so removed from all this to be practically invisible.

Languages in the past are those like the tribal languages which are thought of as unequipped to handle various aspects of contemporary life. They would not have terms for modern gadgets or even states of mind that are seen as essential features of modern life. Languages in the present are those that are ill-equipped but try to compensate for these inadequacies by resorting to calques or literal translation of a foreign word or phrase. Sometimes they also use these words without any translation. How many Indian languages, for instance, use an indigenous term on a regular basis for objects like car, bus, train or computer? Calques are indicative of the laziness of language users to come up with a suitable equivalent in their own tongue. The result, as Cronin observes is this: “The calques end up discrediting the translation process and are regularly cited, for example, by the Anglophone press as pointing to the terminal hopelessness of attempts to control the nature of the assimilation of English into other languages” (Translation and Globalization, 122).

A language like English that is seen as able to represent the present world with all its technological sophistication and economic brilliance inspires confidence. It is felt that it can deal with the future too. It is a “strong language on the information super-highway”, in that this is the language spoken and written by science, technology and academic research in these areas (Translation and Globalization, 123).  A language like this would not like to be in a situation where it has to be translated into other languages to be understood. The power dynamics is such that it should not be translated; rather, others have to translate themselves to understand English.