The Importance Of Translation In The Fight Against Climate Change

The whole world understands the importance of fighting climate change, as its effect impacts every country, citizen and creature. Indeed, 2019 was the second warmest year ever recorded, while 2010 to 2019 was the hottest decade, demonstrating that global warming is only getting worse. This has caused governments around the world to take a stand and wake up to the reality of climate change, putting in measures to prevent further damage, and where possible, reverse the impact that has already been caused. In 2015, many nations signed the Paris Agreement, aiming to keep the global temperature rise to below two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels this century. In addition to this, the UN’s secretary-general Antonio Guterres asked leaders to establish concrete plans on how they plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 45 per cent over the next ten years and to net-zero emissions by 2050. Fighting climate change is clearly on everyone’s minds and agendas, so what does translation have to do with it? As every country is affected by climate change, it is the responsibility of the entire world to limit its impact. Therefore, communication between nations is essential to discuss ideas, strategies, and goals and commit to responses to tackle the problem. Interpretation services are crucial in ensuring leaders are reading from the same book when it comes to climate change targets and plans, so each nation takes the same responsibility for reducing damage as each other. According to the UN: “Climate change is affecting every country in the world. It is disrupting national economies and affecting lives and livelihoods, especially for the most vulnerable.” It went on to say it is not just people that climate change is affecting, adding: “Weather patterns are changing, sea levels are rising, and weather events are becoming more extreme.” Therefore, countries around the world are mutually affected by the impact, with some natural disasters hitting more than one nation at a time. Therefore, translation breaks down communication barriers for there to be a universal language, with everyone engaged in talking to, and helping, each other. The role of language also plays a massive part in how active citizens, governments and businesses are in fighting climate change, depending on how it is portrayed and spoken about in the media and by politicians. This is why translation services are crucial to ensure the same message is being portrayed throughout the world, so nobody is being left in the dark or confused about the urgency of the issue. It is also essential to ensure the world’s eco-linguistics match up, meaning critically analysing language from the perspective of protecting the environment. Euro Trad explains: “In the case of [using eco-linguistics on a global scale], attention is focused on identifying the ideologies that shape our relationship with our environment within certain socio-political contexts.” People need to interpret language to be able to understand the impact on the environment first and foremost. For instance, by understanding how a government’s consumerism can be harmful to the environment. Being able to translate different languages fluently means there is more transparency to what each government is saying, and it becomes harder for negative language associated with the environment to continue, helping to support climate change behaviours across the world.

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