Invisible Work with Languages: Workshop of Die Junge Akademie (Young Academy)

Invisible Work with Languages: Multilingualism and translation in science and art. Group Workshop of Die Junge Akademie

Die Junge Akademie offers outstanding scientists and artists the opportunity to exchange ideas and pursue interdisciplinary projects together. This requires places of retreat. From September 22 to 27, 2025, a group of eight members of the Junge Akademie met at Schloss Wiepersdorf to reflect on the role that language plays in academic and artistic practice.

During the day, the participants worked on their own writing projects in concentrated seclusion, and in the late afternoon they came together for short lectures and discussions on the topic of “Multilingualism and Translation in Science and Art.” Among other things, they discussed the language(s) of mathematics, the differences in writing styles in various disciplines, and the relationship between art performance and language.

The aim was to use joint reflection to make visible the language work that often remains invisible. The starting point was the observation that everyday scientific and artistic life is supported by countless translation movements: translations between everyday language and technical language, between creative ideas and verbal explanations, between first and second languages, between the language of the subject and the language of investigation, between German and English.

This language work usually takes place more or less bashfully behind closed doors: it is common to perceive accents and dialectal influences, grammatical errors, violations of idiomatic language usage, and difficulties in explaining things as deficits. But isn't there more to it than that? During their days at Schloss Wiepersdorf, the participants took a conscious look at their ongoing language work from a different perspective and explored how much potential for insight it holds.

For more information about Die Junge Akademie: www.diejungeakademie.de