“The language of Europe is translation”

Abstract

Umberto Eco’s statement “the language of Europe is translation” suggests that translation is one of the main assets of daily communication in Europe. While such a statement undoubtedly is a stand against national—or, in many instances, nationalistic—language cultures, it also raises a series of questions which can be discussed within a re-formulation of EST’s aims and scope: Which ‘Europe’ is meant here? What sort of translation concept underpins this statement? In which way do migration movements shape today’s translation landscapes? What are the control mechanisms behind the phenomenon of translation understood in Eco’s sense? This paper discusses the limits of Europeanness and its potentially transgressive nature against the backdrop of EST’s founding moment in Vienna and the city’s central shaping force in pluricultural issues in the Habsburg Monarchy. It argues that translation has the task of breaking the deadlock of identitarian differences and the political practices based on them. So, what is the impact of these reflections for future activities in EST?