The Role of Translation in the Revitalization Process of Minority Languages: The Case of Basque

Abstract

All literature reflects the existing discourse in a given community, and translation –as a process of rewriting texts– is a readily accessible tool which linguistic minorities can use to shift power dynamics in their society or, at least, suggest new paradigms and new discourses. In this paper we analyze the key role which translation plays in the cultural systems of minority languages and how translation helps revitalize these languages. The aim of the paper is to defend this key role of translation in the revitalization processes of all minority languages and, at the same time, to highlight the main obstacles one may come across and to try to establish some basic guidelines which may be applied throughout all these processes to maximize their results. Therefore, this paper deals with language standardization, language planning, choice of texts to translate, source languages of the translations, target audience of the translations, diglossia, actual bilingualism, language orientation in translations and the dichotomy between originals written in the language and translations. In order to do so, we will first picture the theoretical frame upon which this paper is based and we will go on to discuss translation into Basque. Finally, we will establish a set of guidelines for other minority languages.