Greek and English linguistic identities in the EU

Abstract

Translated and original texts have been claimed to differ with respect to their linguistic make-up. Parallel versions of texts seem to reflect aspects of the identities represented by the respective languages. The study exploits this potential, in the EU context, with a view to raising awareness of linguistic and cultural differences between English and Greek. A descriptive approach to parallel English and Greek EU material reveals aspects of linguistic preference across languages, with reference to the five dimensions of cultural values in Hofstede and Hofstede’s model of cultural relativism (2005). Translation practice can provide evidence of the linguistic manifestation of socially preferred patterns of behavior which determine linguistic action. Aspects of linguistic preference traced in the EU English-Greek translation context are shown against a background of linguistic preference manifested in other genres. Raising awareness of identities across languages is expected to ultimately provide recommendations for quality improvement in the EU translation practice, or how to achieve near-native command in language acquisition, while foregrounding the significance of the experienced socio-cultural realities in the study of meaning making.