“Facts of Code-switching in Translations during Interpretation.”

In linguistics, code-switching refers to the simultaneous and syntactically and phonologically appropriate use of more than one language. It is fairly common to hear multilingual people use elements of the different languages that they speak when conversing with others that speak the same languages. This mix may occur almost unconsciously in people who have a limited mastery of these languages, and more consciously in the case of people who are proficient in both languages and who use the word that best reflects what they wish to express for each idea.

Different types of switching: Inter-sentencial switching occurs outside the sentence or clause level. Example: Grandpa called. O que aconteceu? Intra-sentencial switching occurs inside of the sentence or clause level. Example: I had a hard time parking o meu carro esta manhã. Tag-switching is the change in a tag phrase, word, or both, from language B to language A. Example: He’s like that, tu sabes. Intra-word switching occurs within a word itself. Example: Traducierst du das mal bitte? In this case, the Spanish verb to translate (traducir) is used, but is conjugated according to German rules.

Given that code-switching occurs informally and unsystematically, its manifestations are practically unlimited, but we will cite some examples: Spanglish: is the morphosyntactic and semantic fusion of Spanish with US English. Spanglish is mainly used in the Latino communities of the US, but is also spreading to other communities in Latin America. Portuñol: is the fusion between Portuguese and Spanish that occurs among speakers of some linguistic border zones between these languages (borders between Brazil and Spanish-speaking countries, as well as the one between Spain and Portugal). Portuglish or Porglish: It refers to any unsystematic combination of words from both Portuguese and English languages. It is used in regions where the two languages come in contact or are used interchangeably. The “language” is mostly a creation of Portuguese speakers incorporating and mixing words from English into their language rather than translate them to Portuguese. Places where ‘Porglish’ is spoken include the former Portuguese colonies of Angola, Mozambique, Guine Bissau, Macau in China, East Timor, as well as Goa, Daman and Diu in India. ‘Porglish’ is also spoken among English-speaking expats and tourists in both Portugal and Brazil, as well as Portuguese speakers in other parts of the world. Examples: Bootar or butar: to boot, for instance a computer (used instead of the Portuguese “iniciar”); Apontamento: appointment (proper Portuguese words are “horário or encontro”); Escanear or scanear: to scan (proper Portuguese: “varrer, or examiner”); Attachar or atachar: to attach (proper Portuguese: anexar”); Chattear: to chat (proper Portuguese: “conversar” or “bater papo”). Note: The Portuguese word “chatear” (with one “t”) means to annoy or to nag someone. Belgrano-Deutsch: is the fusion between German and the Spanish spoken in the neighborhood of Belgrano in the city of Buenos Aires, where a great number of German immigrants settled. Llanito: is the fusion between British English and Andalusian Spanish laced with Genoese, Hebrew, Maltese, Portuguese and Marocco spoken in Gibraltar. Whistling or bird language: Just to test humanity imagination, in a remote mountainous Turkish village residents communicate through whistling which can be heard miles away. The practice dates back some 500 years. The language contains more than 250 unique words. There are only about 10,000 people who can translate these whistling sounds in real words and it is taught to kids in local schools. In 2017, UNESCO moved to protect the dying tradition recognizing it as Intangible Cultural Heritage. Fanakalo or Fanagalo is a bridging European-African language of communication in multilingual and multinational settings on South African mines. Fanakalo is ‘the correct spelling in Zulu or Xhosa orthography’. Fanakalo as a pidgin language (grammatically simplified means of communication) in the mining industry and it is spread across Southern Africa. Workers come from different areas within South Africa such as (Xhosa, Sotho, Tswana, Ndebele, Zulu), as well as other African countries (for example Lesotho, Swaziland, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi). Fanakalo is utilized as a contact language in the mines between people originating from different countries in Southern Africa, and between foremen and workers. This language is therefore the most effective instrument of communication within ‘a multilingual setting’.