Language Editions

Language Editions

It is our hope . . no. it is our firm intention, to find ways to make the Briefs available in other languages. And while the details as to how this is going to be accomplished are not as yet clear, the path already is.

The point of departure is that the Advisory/Briefs are aimed at informing above all local government and local sectors at the level of the city and its surrounding region. And while there are parts of the world in which English is the main working language, this is of course and in fact an absolute minority situation. Thus, if our goal is to inform and influence the key local actors, then we must find ways of doing this in ways that are efficient and can reach out to the largest number of people and groups in each case. This calls for different language editions.

Fortunately, given the nature of the Briefs (i.e., that they are short documents of exactly twenty pages each) this does not require a huge translation effort. Moreover, it is possible to create a compact supporting web site in each case, which in turn would require little more than an additional twenty pages or so of translation work. In all, this means we are talking about something on the order of one hundred pages a year. Not an insurmountable task.

But since the opportunity is there, and since our translation partners in each case are going to be groups that know the terrain in their country and language area well, this is going to open up opportunities for useful tailoring and selection of materials so that they can be more comprehensible and effective. It is our intention that this process of tailoring and adaptation will be handled through close team work between the several cooperating partners, and this can only strengthen the relevance and usefulness of that language version of the Briefs.

Thus far we have had preliminary conversations about eventual langue versions in French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish. But this is only a start.

There will also be opportunities for developing cooperative programs within each language group, so that the burden of the work can be shared and at the same time the outreach of the entre program can be extended.

For more on this we urge you to get in touch with us via the Contact link on the top menu of this page. Great idea!