Museum of Languages (In-Person)

We are approaching a tipping point for language.

As machine translation makes communication effortless, we must ask what kind of understanding it delivers. Do ideas pass between us intact, or are they subtly thinned of voice, texture, and intent?

Will languages fade as translation becomes seamless, or proliferate into a world of local idiolects where machines mediate between ever more diverse forms of speech? Will we all speak one language, or each our own and how will we preserve the vast cultural treasury of those we already have?

The Museum of Languages imagines a living space for this uncertainty: a place to celebrate linguistic diversity, to question what may be lost or transformed, to help understand the future of language in the age of AI and to decide how we should respond to this challenge AI poses to languages, communication and meaning.

Anna Aslanyan is a journalist, translator and public service interpreter. She contributes to
the Times Literary Supplement, the Guardian and other UK-based publications. Her popular history of translation, , tells horizon-expanding tales of how translators altered the course of world events:

Would Hiroshima have been bombed if Japanese contained a phrase meaning 'no comment'? Is it alright for missionaries to replace the Bible's 'white as snow' with 'white as fungus' in places where snow never falls? Who, or what, is Kuzma's mother, and why was Nikita Khrushchev so threateningly obsessed with her (or it)?

The course of diplomacy rarely runs smooth; without an invisible army of translators and interpreters, it could hardly run at all. Join veteran translator Anna Aslanyan to explore hidden histories of cunning and ambition, heroism and incompetence. Meet the figures behind the notable events of history, from the Great Game to Brexit, and discover just how far a simple misunderstanding can go.

In addition to the keynote talk, the event will feature a packed agenda with talks on three topics:

Translation: what does translation mean in the age of AI; does AI help, or destroy, our attempt to translate, will it allow us to talk across languages or denude our communication of meaning!

Speakers:

• Christophe Fricker - Associate Professor in German and Translation, University of Bristol
• Giulia Occhini - Research Associate, Language Technology Lab, University of Cambridge
• Andy Way - Co-Founder, ADAPT Centre and Emeritus Professor in Computing, Dublin City University

Diversity: are we doomed to have just one language in the future, will AI accelerate language extinction, or could it do the opposite, allow us all to speak different languages at the cost of making language cultureless.

Speaker:

• Fiona Jordan - Professor of Anthropology, University of Bristol

Museums: how can we preserve or celebrate languages, what might a museum or gallery of languages look like; can we preserve a language through translation, what do the languages of the past mean now.

• Conor Houghton - Associate Professor in Computer Science, University of Bristol
• Geraldine Parsons - Professor of Medieval Irish Language and Literature, University of Glasgow
• Richard Cole - Senior Lecturer in Digital Futures, University of Bristol
• Paul Merchant - Associate Professor in Latin American Film and Visual Culture, University of Bristol
• Tim Owen – Esperanto Association of Great Britain

This is a public event. All welcome.

Conor Houghton - Associate Professor in Computer Science

Emmanouil Tranos - Professor of Quantitative Human Geography

Jim Evans - Research Partnerships and Engagement Associate

Please look at our Code of Conduct for all online and in-person events organised by the JGI.

This event is part of Bristol Data Week 2026, organised by the Jean Golding Institute taking please from Monday 1 June – Friday 5 June 2026. Bristol Data Week is a university-wide umbrella event bringing together academia, industry, community organisations, policy makers and the public to explore the power of data science and AI in addressing real-world challenges.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Bill Brown Design Suite, Queen's Building New Wing, Bristol, United Kingdom

Concerts, fests, parties, meetups - all the happenings, one place.

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