The lexical obstacle: how to say the educational comparison between France and Japan?

Fourth session of the seminar Education, Childhood and Society in East Asia.
trois couvertures du même livre en trois langues différentes
Trois couvertures du même livre de M. Sandel en anglais, japonais et français. © Penguin, Hayakawa Shobô, Albin Michel‎

With:

Christian Galan (university professor, Toulouse-Jean Jaurès University, IFRAE)

"The lexical obstacle: how to say comparison in education between France and Japan?"

Comparative education has long been a key area of educational science. With international surveys such as TIMSS and PISA, it has become an important tool for justifying educational reforms. However, comparing different education systems raises many questions, not least about the relevance of comparing realities from different histories and contexts. While much research has focused on comparative methods and the analysis of results, one issue has received little attention to date: the lexical question. How can we produce comparative results when the words used to describe the elements involved in the comparison cover different realities beneath their apparent proximity? How, then, can we "say" the results of these comparisons with words that, from one language to another, do not say the same thing for their respective speakers? These questions, considered on the basis of the comparison between France and Japan, will be the focus of this talk.

Organizers: Christian Galan, Marine Déplechin