Lost in Translation? Try Second Language Learning

Understanding Movements of Ideas and Practices across Time and Space

Bibliographic Data

ID4301020
AuthorsIpek Demir (0000-0002-3940-8594, corresponding author)
Year2011
Volume24
Issue1
Pages9-26
Publication date2011-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Historical Sociology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0952-1909 • E-ISSN: 1467-6443
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1467-6443.2011.01386.x
OpenAlexW1573846481
LanguageEN
Citations received8
References cited20

This article considers interaction, negotiation and exchange across the borders of systems of knowledge, be they disciplines, moral frameworks, cultures or ideologies, by focusing on "translation" and "second language learning" as epistemic tools. It does this by first elaborating the incommensurability thesis which is centred on the notion of untranslatability. The article then proposes an alternative "epistemology of interaction", namely the "second language learning thesis" as more suitable for describing the movement of ideas and practices across space and time. It argues that whilst translation is embedded in difficulties of one-to-one mappability, and at times ignorant of its role in facilitating power relations, "the second language learning thesis" aims to (1) capture the socially constituted nature of borders, interactions, transgressions, exchanges (and raids); (2) draw attention to the different types and layers of second language learning (from "pidgins" to bilingualisms) and (3) lay bare, where possible, the asymmetric nature of interactions, including epistemological and linguistic hegemony. In so doing, it turns attention to "strategies of exclusion" and "strategies of inclusion" in the policing of borders between cultures and disciplines, whether they are separated temporally or spatially

Epistemology · Hegemony · Ideology · Linguistics · Negotiation · Politics · Power (physics · Social science · Sociology · Discourse Analysis in Language Studies · Educational Theory and Curriculum Studies · Global Educational Policies and Reforms · Law · Philosophy

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Open DOISci-HubOpen Access