The Language Committee Annual Report for AGM 2016

Language_Committee01

Report sub­mit­ted by Stacey Brown (Octo­ber 2016)

Com­mit­tee Mem­bers: Stacey Brown (Chair), Jérôme Blais, Louise Campbell

The goal of the Lan­guage Com­mit­tee is to sup­port CNMN in main­tain­ing its com­mit­ment to bilin­gual­ism, by pro­mot­ing aware­ness of lan­guage issues, assist­ing from time to time with minor trans­la­tion needs and, every two years, ful­fill­ing var­i­ous kinds of lan­guage facil­i­ta­tion roles at our nation­al FORUMS (for a recent exam­ple, see FORUM 2016. Com­mit­tee mem­bers are invit­ed to reflect on ways in which we can facil­i­tate com­mu­ni­ca­tions in both offi­cial lan­guages and con­tin­ue build­ing a nation­al net­work that can real­ly “speak” to all our members.

Through the 2015–16 sea­son, we as a com­mit­tee have con­tin­ued to work behind the scenes for CNMN, respond­ing to small trans­la­tion requests as they arise and plan­ning for lan­guage facil­i­ta­tion at FORUM 2016. Thus, in Jan­u­ary 2016, Lan­guage Coor­di­na­tor Louise Camp­bell and com­mit­tee mem­bers pro­vid­ed all facets of lan­guage facil­i­ta­tion at FORUM 2016 in Ottawa, along with the par­tic­i­pa­tion of CNMN staff mem­bers and a sub­stan­tial team of vol­un­teer lan­guage facil­i­ta­tors. Thank you once again to every mem­ber of the lan­guage facil­i­ta­tion team for your involve­ment and your generosity.

This com­mit­tee is active­ly seek­ing mem­bers who might be inter­est­ed in par­tic­i­pat­ing in any of the above dis­cus­sions and activ­i­ties, and you don’t need to be on the Board to be a com­mit­tee mem­ber! We are also con­tin­u­ing to build a list of CNMN mem­bers who are will­ing to occa­sion­al­ly assist with some vol­un­teer trans­la­tion towards their moth­er tongue (Eng­lish, or French).

Why join the CNMN lan­guage com­mit­tee? Here is what one of our com­mit­tee mem­bers, Jérôme Blais, responds: “Bilin­gual­ism is impor­tant for Cana­di­an orga­ni­za­tions that aim at a being tru­ly nation­al, and CNMN has always tak­en this very seri­ous­ly. Despite lim­it­ed means, but with ded­i­cat­ed vol­un­teers, I believe we suc­ceed in this mis­sion and it makes me very proud. What I also like about this com­mit­tee is the dis­cus­sions it trig­gers. In order to find the right trans­la­tion for a giv­en text, we often need to reflect on its true mean­ing, which I find quite stimulating.”

Ques­tions? Think­ing about get­ting involved in the Lan­guage Com­mit­tee? We’d love to hear your ideas!

For more infor­ma­tion, please con­tact CNMN Admin­is­tra­tive Direc­tor Emi­ly Hall
admin@reseaumusiquesnouvelles.ca

Past bul­letin entries from this committee

The Lan­guage Com­mit­tee Report – June 2016 (n° 22)
The Lan­guage Com­mit­tee Report – Octo­ber 2015 (n° 21)
The Lan­guage Com­mit­tee Report – May 2015 (n° 20)

 

Direct link: The Lan­guage Com­mit­tee Annu­al Report – Octo­ber 2016
Return to full Bul­letin – Octo­ber 2016