Traduction et droits linguistiques au Brésil : questions éthiques et politiques

This article constructs a dialogue around translation/interpreting as a corrective with respect to linguistic and sociocultural asymmetries, the legacy of centuries of domination of one community over another, with special reference to Brazil. These unequal relations between languages serve as the backdrop for discussing translation and language rights in perspective: a consideration of translation rights as the right to translate and to be translated. Translation, whether written or oral (interpreting) is a process of textual reallocation from which new signifiers emerge, introducing new spaces for subjectivation and dialogue. It is at once a manifestation and an illustration of the contact, confrontation, and conflict of languages, speakers, norms, and realities. We therefore propose that new commitments arise from the circulation of voices that translation makes possible, based on certain concrete situations within the context of linguistic rights in Brazil. Within this specific context, this translation/mediation would effectively guarantee access to certain rights and be a resource for assuring the visibility of those languages, speakers, and texts rendered invisible, thus promoting linguistic diversity within a supranational framework. Furthermore, we call for a broader discussion of the ethics of translation/ interpreting, and inevitably, since relations are at stake, the political questions this raises.