Translation and Interpreting as Socially Situated Activities

Research Prospects and Challenges

Colloquium Abstract The growing pervasiveness of translation and interpreting in all domains of private and public life has heightened the need for a better understanding of their social relevance. Against the backdrop of the increasing dominance of English as a lingua franca worldwide, translation and interpreting have become central to promoting cultural and linguistic diversity in the Information Society as well as in the development and broadcast of multilingual content in global media networks and the audiovisual marketplace. Translation and interpreting have also become the linchpin of organizational stability across a wide range of settings, from supranational organizations to judicial and healthcare services at community level, as they maximize the opportunities for countries representing small linguistic constituencies or individuals unable to speak the language of their host community to participate in the processes and practices of the relevant public institutions. This colloquium aims to explore the crucial role that translation and interpreting play in facilitating the continued functioning of cosmopolitan and participatory postmodern societies and examine the translators’ and interpreters’ role in upholding or undermining the construction of mainstream public discourses as a tool for the inclusion and exclusion of individuals from various forms of increasingly fluid social groupings. Speakers Catherine Baker, University of Southampton (UK) 'What if I die tomorrow? At least I earned some money': Employment, Risk and the Situation of Locally-employed Interpreters in Bosnia-Herzegovina This paper examines how interpreters employed in peacekeeping and peace-building were positioned in the wartime and post-war economy of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Interpreters working for multinational forces had to negotiate an anxious trade-off between potential short-term prosperity and the long-term insecurity of working for an international mission that could be curtailed at short notice. Ji-Hae Kang, Ajou University (Suwon, Republic of Korea) Voices in the Text and the Construction of Multiple Identities in Institutional Translation This paper investigates how locally translated editions of international magazines recontextualize original texts by foregrounding, blending or silencing voices. Focusing on how the authoritative voice of the media institution positions articles in translated magazines, the speaker argues that different, even conflicting, institutional identities emerge at the level of the individual article. Moira Inghilleri, University College London (UK) Interpreting the Limits of Duty: Ethics and the Interpreted Encounter Interpreting practice has traditionally stressed compliance with principles of impartiality that leave interpreters unprepared to resolve the clashes occurring in the moral and social space of human interactions. This paper will consider alternative ethical models that may better serve interpreters to help establish mutually-effective dialogue across a range of contexts. Brian Mossop, York University School of Translation & Canadian Government Translation Bureau, Toronto (Canada) Technology and Conflict in the Translator’s Workplace The advent of Translation Memory technology is setting the stage for workplace conflict over who will control its use: translators or their employers? This presentation explores whether translators will engage in purpose-driven writing suited to the communicative situation at hand or cobble together chunks of ready-made bits of language from old translations. Luis Pérez-González, University of Manchester (UK) Translation as a Co-creational Practice in the Global Media Industries: Affective Mediation vs Committed Intervention The participation of consumers in the process of making, translating and circulating media content has grown exponentially. This paper explores the modes of agency and mediation that are being constituted through such co-creational practices and the impact that the blurring of the boundaries between media production and consumption has on the social perception of translation. Bogusia Temple University of Central Lancashire, Preston (UK) One Size Fits All? Working with Interpreters to Access Services This paper calls into question the establishment of a de-contextualized hierarchy of the most appropriate interpreters and suggests that whether an interpreter is seen to promote inclusion or function as an obstacle to successful communication depends on knowledge of, access to, and views about the roles of different kinds of interpreters.