Chapter 1. A naïve inquiry into translation between Aboriginal languages in pre-Invasion Australia

Abstract

Was there translation between Australian Aboriginal languages prior to the European Invasion dated from 1788? The evidence from archeological research and the accounts of early European settlers would suggest that there were no specialized translators as such between Aboriginal languages, no specific communicative solution that could be called translation in the post-Renaissance Western sense of the term, and no evidence of a dominant lingua franca that might have acted as an alternative communication solution. Instead, we find ample reference to polyglot speakers, to multilingual meeting places for trade, ceremony and dispute resolution, to multilingual narratives, and the use of local sign languages, smoke signals, bush tracks and message sticks, all of which could help in the performance of communication across language borders. Taken together, these practices suggest interlingual communication flows based not on conveying a message clearly or quickly, but on multilayered interlingual practices based on respect for the territorial embeddedness of languages and the active, informed interpretation of data. Unlike Western calls for ever more translations across ever more languages, Indigenous practices might enhance sustainability by teaching us to respect linguistic diversity, translate less, and think more.