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What about Translation? Beyond “Persianization” as the Language Policy in Iran

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Esmaeil Haddadian-Moghaddam and
Reine Meylaerts
Esmaeil Haddadian-Moghaddam
Affiliation:
KU Leuven University, Belgium
Reine Meylaerts
Affiliation:
Center for Translation Studies (CETRA) at the same university
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Abstract

Against the background of language policy research on Iran, and drawing on insights from recent scholarship on the role of translation in language policy, this article calls into question the claim that “Persianization” of non-Persian peoples is the main element of language policy in Iran. In so doing, the article examines closely the role of translation as enacted in two legal instruments: the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Law of Parliamentary Elections. The study illustrates that although official communication between Iranian authorities and citizens is a prototypical example of monolingualism and non-translation, voluntary translation happens between Persian and non-Persian speaking individuals, acting as a viable and cost-effective bottom-up alternative for the inclusion of non-Persian speaking peoples, far more effective than an impractical, top-down language policy reform implicitly found in the “Persianization” claim.

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Type
Articles
Information
Iranian Studies , Volume 48 , Issue 6 , November 2015, pp. 851 - 870
Copyright
Copyright © Association For Iranian Studies, Inc 2015

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Footnotes

The authors would like to thank G. González Núñez for his useful comments on an earlier draft of this article. This work was supported by a F+ grant from KU Leuven University in collaboration with a project named TIME (Translation Research Training: An Integrated and Intersectoral Model for Europe, FP7-PEOPLE-2010-ITN).

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