The Languages Of Covid 19

This collection advocates languages-based, translational research to be part of the partnerships and collaborations required to make sense of, and respond to, COVID-19 as one of the major global challenges of our time. Bringing together scholars and practitioners from a wide range of disciplines, this volume is bound by a common thread stressing the importance of linguistic sensitivity, (inter)cultural knowledge and translational mediation in the frontline response to COVID-19. Featuring contributors from around the world and reflecting on the language used to frame COVID-19 in diverse cultural contexts of the Global North and Global South, the book proposes that paying attention to the transmission of ideas, ideologies, narratives and history through processes of translation results in a broadening of social, cultural and medical understandings of COVID-19. Spanning nearly 20 signed and spoken languages, the volume argues that only in going beyond an Anglophone perspective can we better understand the cultural, social and political facets of the pandemic and, in turn, produce a comprehensive, efficient global response to disease management. This book will be of interest to scholars in translation and interpreting studies, modern languages, applied linguistics, cultural studies, Deaf Studies, intercultural communication and medical humanities.

This edited volume demonstrates the fundamental role translation and interpreting play in multilingual crises. During the COVID-19 pandemic, limited language proficiency of the main language(s) in which information is disseminated exposed people to additional risks, and the contributors analyse risk communication plans and strategies used throughout the world to communicate measures through translation and interpreting. They show that a political willingness to understand the role of language in public health could lead local and national measures to success, sampling approaches from across four continents. The book will be of interest to students and scholars of healthcare translation and interpreting, sociolinguistics and crisis communication, as well as practitioners of risk and crisis communication and professional translators and interpreters.

Did you keep a list of the words coined by Covid? Wayne Grady did! They're deftly woven into a journal/timeline, taking us through two years of surrealism and limbo.—Margaret Atwood This exploration of the many new terms of the Covid-19 pandemic provides insight into the ways an ever-evolving vocabulary helped us cope with our anxiety and adapt to a new reality. When the pandemic struck in early 2020, Wayne Grady started collecting the words and phrases that arose from our shared global experience. Some, such as “uptick” and “pivot,” had existed before but now took on new meaning, and others, such as “covidivorce,” “quarantini,” “covexit,” and “shecession,” appeared for the first time, their meaning instantly clear. Through this new vocabulary, we became more able to adapt to change, to domesticate it in a sense, and to reduce our fears. Moving from the very beginning of the pandemic (the “Before Times”) and our early response to it through the peaks and troughs of the various waves in countries throughout the world, and ending with a contemplation of what the “After Times” might look like, this book takes us on a journey through the pandemic and illuminates both how this new language has unfolded and how it has changed the way we think about ourselves and each other.

We narrate everything. We construct the world around us by telling its stories, shaping the language we use to describe what is happening to us; language that is used and adapted in the media in response to moments of crisis. This language in turn shapes how we see the world. This is what we call 'worldmaking'. When we look for solutions to problems, we so often start by telling stories to each other in our communities, stories that set a crisis in context, relate it to our historical experience, help us to understand it in the context of our local communities and contrast those stories to dominant narratives. In this way, language becomes a physical and material force in our world, through which we construct our personal, local, transnational and spiritual identities. 'Worldmaking in the Time of COVID-19', the project that informs this book, was an early response to the experience of living through the COVID-19 pandemic - intended as a contribution to our collective understanding of the COVID-19 pandemic. Following comparison and analysis of over 1.1 million news articles from 117 countries in twelve different languages, this timely reflection follows the course of this investigation, with three main objectives: - to capture the languages of the early pandemic (January- April 2020); - to offer a transferable methodology for exploring world events in multiple languages; - and to share some of the key findings of researchers. Like all the volumes in the Language Acts and Worldmaking series, the overall aim is two-fold: to challenge widely-held views about language learning as a neutral instrument of globalisation and to innovate and transform language research, teaching and learning, together with Modern Languages as an academic discipline, by foregrounding its unique form of cognition and critical engagement. Specific aims are to: · propose new ways of bridging the gaps between those who teach and research languages and those who learn and use them in everyday contexts from the professional to the personal · put research into the hands of wider audiences · share a philosophy, policy and practice of language teaching and learning which turns research into action · provide the research, experience and data to enable informed debates on current issues and attitudes in language learning, teaching and research · share knowledge across and within all levels and experiences of language learning and teaching · showcase exciting new work that derives from different types of community activity and is of practical relevance to its audiences · disseminate new research in languages that engages with diverse communities of language practitioners.

This volume brings together contributions by international experts reflecting on Covid19-related neologisms and their lexicographic processing and representation. The papers analyze new words, new meanings of existing words, and new multiword units, where they come from, how they are transmitted (or differ) across languages, and how their use and meaning are reflected in dictionaries of all sorts. Recent trends in as many as ten languages are considered, including general and specialized language, monolingual as well as bilingual and printed as well as online dictionaries.

The present volume investigates the relevance of language teaching and learning in the contemporary job market, highlighting how language graduates can provide a substantial contribution to the multilingual needs of the UK. It also explores how the sudden spread of COVID-19 impacted on the acceleration of the online pedagogical shift which had already been foreseen by Jisc and developed at a higher speed than predicted. Ultimately, by looking into the forced online pivot, this volume furthers a reflection on how the ‘new normal’ is contributing to drive pedagogical innovation.

This collection of case studies is special for several reasons. Firstly, because of the geographical and institutional diversity of the authors, bringing together experiences of teaching under COVID-19 restrictions in the university language classroom from 18 countries and five continents. Secondly, the publication is interesting because of the variety of case studies that testify to different strategies and emphases in dealing with pandemic-related challenges. Finally, the case studies collected strikingly demonstrate the creative responses of language teachers in a variety of contexts to meet the challenges of the pandemic crisis (Dr Sabina Schaffner).

'Can we just get back to normal?' How often was this heard in 2020? Before long, life during a pandemic would be forgotten. 'Viral Vocabulary' reminds us creatively of life with COVID -19. The experience is described in the words and images of America-from A to Z. The authors tell of heroes and villains, good practices and bad. Scientific terms are explained and new COVID-19 terminology bantered about, is included. Life during the pandemic was confusing at best; we looked to leaders for wisdom and direction. Thought provoking quotes, past and present, speak to the concepts described. You'll find 'Viral Vocabulary' a pleasant reminder of a very rough time in American History.