In no other part of the world are as many translations brought to market as in Europe. The unique diversity of languages makes translation an important tool for cultural transfer. To mark Germany’s presidency of the Council of the EU, the showcase exhibition “Translation – From Babylon to DeepL. The Europe of Languages” will focus on this lively linguistic cultural transfer. It ranges from the myth of the Tower of Babel through to the promises of machine translation.

Europe’s linguistic diversity is the starting point of the showcase exhibition, which provides insight into the tools and working practices of the translation trade. The exhibition presents translation as the key to intercultural communication, asks questions about new, collective translation formats and takes a closer look at the future of translation by algorithms. At the same time, it provides insight into the work of translators – a profession that lies somewhere between art and craft.

Owing to digitalisation, the millennia-old art of translation is undergoing major changes. Whereas machine translation is regarded by some as a threat to a proud profession, others regard this technology as the realisation of a dream held by mankind for millennia: the notion of being able to communicate across all language barriers. The “KI Box” – a new, interactive installation – gives visitors a playful opportunity to familiarise themselves with how machine translation works. Visitors are invited to decide for themselves whether machine translation is a curse or a source of hope for universal communication – or whether it is ultimately merely a tool with which to build bridges between different languages.

The exhibition was planned as a part of the activities organised by the German National Library under the banner “Europe and us” to mark Germany’s presidency of the Council of the EU in 2020.

Expotizer

Tour with Shelly Kupferberg

As part of the conference “Translating Europe. Translation in Times of Digital Revolution” (4 November 2020, German National Library), moderator Shelly Kupferberg visited the exhibition and spoke with Museum Director Dr Stephanie Jacobs.

Note: The video says that the books of the Brothers Grimm are the most widely-translated books in the German language. But is that actually true of Philipp Winterberg's book “Bin ich klein?” (Am I small?”), which has been translated over 200 times.