Pattberg in Iran: Empire, Language and Imperialism

Pattberg in Iran: Empire, Language and Imperialism

ZAHEDAN, IRAN – When Saint Jerome translated the Bible from Hebrew into Latin he linguistically ended the Hebrew world order; and because he translated parts from the Septuagint as well he also made the Greek language tradition redundant. What Saint Jerome did to the Hebrew and Greek tradition, Martin Luther did to the Latin one. Luther translated the Roman Bible into the German vernacular and paved the way for the German Empire. The story of English is similar. Persian language was once replaced by Arabic, then re-surged again. Language and empire seem like a pair of shoes. In this 21st century, what does language and empire tell us about China? Can China really surpass the United States as a superpower without replacing English with the Chinese? Or will the world experience a “renaissance” of the Chinese language? [Dec 3, 2012]

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