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to the idea of respect for linguistic diversity and multilingualism, but these
instruments must be really followed by practical achievements. And we know
that we are nowhere near being able to give all individuals the opportunity to
develop freely in their own language.
Since the beginning of the millennium, and in a surprising turnaround after
decades of linguistic hegemony, language has become more present in both
political and commercial issues. The main languages of communication that are
official languages alongside English in international forums (French, Spanish,
Russian, Chinese and Arabic at the United Nations; 22 other languages in
the European Union; Portuguese, French, Arabic and Swahili in the African
Union; French, Spanish and Portuguese in the organizations on the American
continent, etc.) demand respect for balance in the way they are treated.
Other languages which are not official (Portuguese at the United Nations,
regional languages in the European Union, Guarani in South America, etc.)
demand the right to be official too, and many initiatives (Council of Europe,
Linguapax, UNESCO, etc.) are giving an increasingly significant role to
languages that do not have an official national or regional status.
Given the absence of international conventions concerning language, however,
given the lack of reliable indicators on its impact on global development, given
the probable death of almost half the world’s languages, given the (still too
high) level of injustice owing to the fact of speaking an unrecognized or a
marginalized language, a large number of measures are called for in the field of
indicators, policies and promotion, without forgetting the legal instruments.
With such a wide-ranging debate, I shall emphasize only what the World
Network for Linguistic Diversity MAAYA can propose in terms of promoting
and enhancing (sometimes re-enhancing) languages, in particular in cyberspace.
Although it is true to say that scarcely one individual in three today has access
to the Internet, we can see constant movement towards the universal spread
of the phenomenon. We also know that cyberspace and related technologies
are tending to gradually replace our old ways of communicating, expressing
ourselves, transmitting information and sharing knowledge. If languages
cannot ensure the circulation of this information, knowledge or dialogue, they
are in danger of losing value in the eyes of their speakers, since migration and
urbanization and universal access generate confrontations between languages
in which only those which are held in high esteem by their speakers can survive.
Accordingly, MAAYA endeavours to inform those who can take decisions about
policies to vitalize or revitalize languages of the full implications of cyberspace.
MAAYA’s meetings like the World Congress on Specialized Translation
(Havana, 2008), the Bamako International Forum on Multilingualism
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