Category Archives: Translation Policies

by monzo

Switzerland’s multilingual language policy and the role of translation

Marina Gil Aranda

Without a doubt, the coexistence of two or more languages within a territory is a sign of cultural richness. Languages embody cultures and therefore considering their representation in a given system becomes essential in order to ensure the protection of a country’s cultural heritage. An example of this multilingual phenomenon is the Swiss Confederation, a federated republic of 26 cantons with four official languages: German, French, Italian and Romansh.
This paper aims to describe and analyse the Swiss multilingual language policy and the role of translation in this context. Firstly, we will focus on the treatment given to the four languages in the Swiss legal system and how this is reflected when drafting legislative texts. Secondly, we will discuss the role of translation as a backbone of the Swiss multilingual language policy and, consequently, the work carried out in this context by the linguistic services of the Federal Chancellery. Thirdly, we will consider the place of English as a language of intra-systemic communication. To this end, we have employed a descriptive qualitative methodology based on a study of the applicable regulations.

Keywords: linguistic policies, translation, Switzerland, plurilingualism.

by monzo

Política de traducció a la Comunitat Valenciana: 2011-2022

David ar Rouz

L’any 2011 vaig entrevistar traductors i traductores de les institucions públiques de cinc comunitats autònomes de l’Estat espanyol, entre les quals la Comunitat Valenciana, per a determinar el valor de la traducció en una Europa multilingüe (ar Rouz, 2012). Les respostes donaven una imatge de la política de traducció efectiva d’aquestes institucions amb, sobre tot, un nombre de funcionaris dedicats específicament a tasques de traducció. Amb aquesta investigació s’havia posat de manifest com aquesta política de suport a la traducció tenia com a benefici el respecte dels drets lingüístics dels ciutadans, a més d’afavorir l’economia, la coneixença, la distinció social i geopolítica, la democràcia i la pau.
Què ha passat deu anys després? S’ha mantingut la mateixa política de traducció en les institucions públiques de la Comunitat Valenciana? Com han afectat les retallades econòmiques? En aquest treball faré una comparativa de les dades inicials amb les dades actuals, en concret en aspectes com el nombre de traductors, el volum de traduccions, les eines utilitzades, l’organització dels serveis. La presentació dels resultats s’acompanyarà d’una reflexió sobre si el dret a la llengua que dona la traducció en l’àmbit institucional es tradueix en un ús efectiu, i provaré de respondre a les preguntes següents: es pot saber i mesurar què en fan els ciutadans, consulten les traduccions en valencià? La traducció institucional respon a les necessitats dels ciutadans o és sobre tot simbòlica (García de Toro, 2009)? Le Nevez (2013: 90) afirmava que caldria anar més enllà dels paradigmes del dret a la llengua o del canvi de llengua. Segons les respostes o la falta de respostes, proposarem possibles accions de millora de les polítiques de traducció.

Bibliografia:
Ar Rouz David (2012). Les enjeux de la traduction dans une Europe plurilingue. Tesi de doctorat supervisada per Jean Peeters. Lorient : Université Bretagne-Sud.
García de Tora Cristina (2009). La traducción entre lenguas en contacto: catalán y español. Berlin: Peter Lang.
Le Nevez Adam (2013). «The social practice of Breton: an epistemological challenge», en Michael Hornsby & Dick Vigers, International Journal of the Sociology of Language. Special Issue. Breton: the Postvernacular Challenge. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton, 2013. p. 87-102.

Paraules clau: traducció, política de traducció, àmbit institucional.

by monzo

Digital Marginalisation of Migrants in Spain through the Implementation of Translation Policy: How to Use a Remedy to Create a Problem 

Elena Ruiz-Cortés

Digitally mediated communication in the public sector has changed how citizens and authorities communicate. Within this digital context, it has been identified that language problems may be an underlying cause of social exclusion for migrant groups (see Khorshed & Imran 2015: 347), which seems to indicate that the lack of language proficiency in the host country’s language may give rise to new forms of digital divides in migratory contexts. Here we contend that, for migrants with language barriers, access to key digital services within the public sector can be fostered by translation provision, which may be used as a tool to digitally empower them. Thus, in this paper the digital empowerment (Mäkinen 2006) of migrant communities is explored, assessing to what extent the implementation of translation policy empowers migrants’ digital communication with the host country’ authorities within the public services (our goal). We will focus on a case study, the translation policy implemented in the digital communication between the Spanish ministry for Migration and migrants in the case of two immigration procedures (EU migrants/ investors).

This is an exploratory analysis  framed  within  Descriptive  Translation  Studies  (Toury 2012),  in which  the collection of our data will be organised via the methodological  concept  of “domain” (González 2016). Our initial findings suggest that the translation policy implemented by this Spanish Ministry results in diametrically opposed levels of migrants’ digital empowerment in our case study. Specifically, they show that the implementation of translation policy within the digital context not only impacts how citizens’ exercise their right to reside in another country, but it also seems to disguise elaborate forms of digital marginalisation (Mäkinen 2006: 383) based on linguistic grounds. This is so since, ultimately, when the inability to communicate in the dominant language prevents citizens from accessing digital (and non-digital) services that others readily access, exclusion takes place. Thus, arguably, even if translation policy should be used as a tool to digitally empower all migrants within the public services, here it seems to be used as a tool to empower only some of them; the most powerful migrant communities.

Keywords: translation policy, digital empowerment, E-government, immigration procedures, Spain.

Elena Ruiz-Cortés holds a Translation and Interpreting BA degree, an MA in Immigration Law and an MA in Professional Translation specialising in Legal Translation. In July 2020 she was awarded a PhD in Translation at the University of Granada (Spain), which focuses on Public Service Translation. Elena is Fellow of the Advanced HE of the UK, she is a researcher of the AVANTI Research Group and she is an official sworn translator and interpreter of English-Spanish. She has taught several undergraduate programs at Ulster University (UK), at the University of Malaga (Spain) and at the University of Granada, where she currently teaches. Her main research interests lie in the fields of Public Service Translation, Legal Translation, Migration and Translator Training. Elena has published several international papers on the fields above.
by monzo

El olvidado papel de los servicios de traducción en el proceso de integración de los migrantes en España

Elena Ruiz-Cortés

En esta comunicación exploramos el papel que juegan los servicios de traducción en el proceso de integración  de la población inmigrante en España. Apoyándonos en la “sociolingüística de la migración” (Paredes 2020), analizamos el papel de los servicios de traducción en “una situación de contacto” (ibid.) (obligatoria) al inicio del movimiento migratorio: el contacto (presencial y digital) entre la Administración española y los migrantes europeos durante el proceso de obtención de la documentación que acredita su residencia legal. Para ello, nos serviremos del modelo piramidal de integración sociolingüística del inmigrante propuesto por Moreno (2009: 133). En el modelo el autor sostiene que la integración sociolingüística es un proceso gradual de cuatro niveles vinculados a distintas experiencias de los inmigrantes en el país de acogida: la integración de supervivencia (nivel 0), la integración laboral o escolar (nivel 1), la integración social (nivel 2) y la integración identitaria (nivel 3) (ver ibid.: 146-148). Esto supone que la situación de contacto analizada se ubica en la integración de supervivencia (nivel 0), y por tanto tiene unos indicadores sociales concretos —ser uno de los primeros contactos del inmigrante con la sociedad de acogida en el que intenta cubrir sus necesidades básicas— e indicadores lingüísticos y comunicativos —“un limitado dominio de las habilidades lingüísticas y comunicativas, así como […] la limitada identificación de las pautas sociales y culturales” (Paredes 2020: 51)—.En suma, basándonos en el modelo mencionado y empleando una metodología traductológica descriptiva (Toury 2012), analizaremos las políticas de traducción implementadas en este caso con vistas a determinar si este uso favorece o no la integración de supervivencia de la población inmigrante involucrada.

Bibliografía
Moreno Fernández, F. (2009). Integración sociolingüística en contextos de inmigración: marco epistemológico para su estudio en España. Lengua y migración, 1(1), 121–156.
Paredes García, F.(2020). Un modelo para el análisis de la integración sociolingüística de la población migrante: fundamentos, dimensiones e instrumentos. Lengua y migración, 12(1), 39–81.
Toury, G. (2012). Descriptive Translation Studies – and beyond. Ámsterdam: John Benjamins.

Palabras clave: integración sociolingüística, migración, traducción.

by monzo

Vaccination trust as a test of translation policies. Inter-city comparisons

Panel Chair: Anthony Pym

Participants: Kadija Bouyzourn, Rachel Macreadie, Shuxia Zhou, Arturo Gándara

Public vaccination information in times of a pandemic presents perhaps the purest test of public trust: the receiver trusts the message or does not, and trust is physically manifested in the act of vaccination. In 2020 and 2021, in many cities around the world, trust in vaccine information was reported as being lower in culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities than among L1 speakers of official languages, and in some cases this was reported as being partly due to distrust in mediation by translators and interpreters.
This panel will present an initial comparison of vaccination communication in four cities that have significant CALD populations: Brussels, Melbourne, Shanghai, and Barcelona. We will compare the legal frameworks, the language policies, the translation policies that may or may not ensue from the language policies, the translation practices undertaken to ensure cross-lingual understanding of the vaccination information, and the relative success of the communication in terms of behavior-change communication in selected target communities in each city.
Of particular interest is the variable role of community organizations and healthcare institutions as mediators of messages, alongside and occasionally instead of certified translators and interpreters. In some instances, there are indications that such volunteer mediators may have been considered more trustworthy than the official translators and interpreters, and that this greater trust correlates with higher levels of vaccination in the communities concerned.
If such a relation can be attested as more than an isolated phenomenon, it should provoke a rethinking of sole dependence on certified translators and interpreters as the efficient instruments of language and translation policies in relation to CALD communities. This in turn may reflect on the institutional levels at which language and translation policies should become direct causes of decisions about which languages to translate into and who should be entrusted with the translation.  
Since these are the initial reports laying the groundwork of a four-year project led by KU Leuven and the University of Melbourne, we do not intend to advance any definitive conclusions. We will, however, use our initial fieldwork and policy analysis to explore several informed hypotheses about which factors are key to the success of this kind of behavior-change communication, and about what kinds of translation policies are most likely to lead to trust-building among CALD communities in superdiverse cities.

Keywords: translation policy, COVID, vaccination, trust, CALD communities.

by monzo

Translation and Ideology in Online Global Jihadi Activism – Pro-Jihadi Arabic Translations of DAESH Electronic English Magazine Dabiq

Mennatallah Mansy

The paper tackles the role of translation in online jihadi propaganda, which is primarily used as a means of disseminating the ideology of jihadis across the globe and recruiting new members. Translation is part and parcel of the global jihadi activism, establishing a niche in the research area covering the link between translation and ideology in contemporary conflicts. The paper investigates the re-exportation and re-construction of global jihadi radical ideas on Islam by means of translational ideologically driven interventions. The case study selected (DAESH-affiliated Dabiq Magazine, originally produced in English) is of great significance in voicing DAESH’s —the latest ferocious face of global jihad— positions and views on various events, personalities, religious sects and sharīʿa-related matters. The launching of the English magazine coincided with DAESH’s declaration of the Islamic Caliphate in 2014; thus the magazine carries substantial content loaded with DAESH ideological stances. The paper inspects an individual pro-jihadi online activist endeavor to translate and familiarize Dabiq issues into Arabic: namely AZIZ8178 blog (https://aziz8178.wordpress.com/). It attempts to answer a main research question: How does the interventionalist ideological dimension manifest in AZIZ8178 jihadi translation of Dabiq English magazine into Arabic? A descriptive qualitative study is undertaken deploying analytical tools derived from two main theoretical frameworks in translation studies: the socio-narrative theory and activist translation communities. The paper starts with an overview on global online jihadi activism and translation being part of e-jihad. Background information on the source text (Dabiq English magazine) is also given in terms of its producer, authors or editors (if any disclosed), targeted audience, themes and contents, in addition to its language and style. Then, the paper examines the interventionist translation strategies deployed by AZIZ8178 on both textual and paratextual levels, manipulating the features of the Arabic mediated narratives, compared to the narratives of the original.

Keywords: Jihadi translation, ideology, narrative, DAESH, Dabiq, online activism.

Mennatallah Mansy. MA holder (Faculty of Arts, Cairo University) and researcher in translation studies with demonstrated professional experience in translation, editing and copywriting. My main area of academic interest is the relation between translation and ideology.
My scholarly research examins jihadi and counter-jihadi translation practices in the digital space within the theoretical frameworks of activist translation communities and the socio-narrative theory.
My MA thesis explored jihadi translation communities in the digital space and the role of translation in the jihadi online propaganda. I also participated in workshops organized and led by Germany-based ZMO center (2018-2021) presenting my developing research on the use of activist translation/subtitling in cases of uncertainty as a means to spread alternative knowledge. Moreover, I participated in “NIS/MIDA Summer School 2021 Spoken images of/in Islam” from 5th to 9th of July 2021, where I made a presentation on “Narratives on Islam in Jihadist vs. Counter-Jihadist Translations.”
by monzo

Inclusive Responses to Language Violence

Panel Chair: Edith Muleiro

How can translators, interpreters, and language activists develop sustainable models to meet the needs of people who need language services, especially in humanitarian and crisis contexts?

How can the profession include people who don’t have access to higher education, certification, and traditional paths of professional development?

What degree of exclusivity is appropriate in a discipline whose raison d’être is linguistic inclusion?

Although at least 4.5 billion people around the world speak two or more languages, the Translators Association of China estimates that only 640,000 of them work as translators. Translation is one of the fastest-growing industries. Yet many people who would make phenomenal translators and interpreters face administrative, educational, and resource barriers which bar them from doing so.

At the same time, for many refugees, asylum seekers and other linguistically vulnerable people it can be next to impossible to access appropriate translation services. Even within more common language pairs like Spanish<>English, the lack of recognition of linguistic diversity and comprehensive training often leads to faulty translation. And these risks are especially great for less dominant languages like certain Indigenous and endangered languages.

These administrative barriers combined with a lack of appropriate translation services for linguistically vulnerable people mean that the massive demand for humanitarian translation services goes unmet.

And the stakes are life and death.

Drawing on their research and professional experiences, the panelists will consider the state of humanitarian translation in several contexts, including Argentina, Spain, and the United States. They will reflect on language violence and exclusion in each of these contexts, highlighting the devastating consequences of that exclusion. Without language services, people cannot access resources, information, and life-saving protections.

Panelists will then discuss frameworks for developing inclusive responses to that violence, considering how pro bono interpretation, alternative paths to certification, and community-led solutions can help meet the need for interpreters and translators. Participants will highlight the importance of quality control and training and discuss how to balance those concerns with the need for maximum inclusion. Finally, participants will reflect on their own initiatives to equip more translators outside of traditional pathways and share lessons learned in those contexts.

Panelists

Edith Muleiro is the Social Services Coordinator at Kifkif, a non-profit organization that promotes the rights of migrant and refugee LGBTI+ people in Spain. She has a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Texas at Austin and is studying forced migration at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Her undergraduate thesis investigated systemic issues with access to interpreters in immigration courts in the United States. She has experience interpreting between English, Spanish, and Arabic.

Romina Galloso Sabat is the Spanish Team Lead at Respond Crisis Translation. Respond is a collective of language activists providing compassionate, effective, and trauma-informed interpretation and translation services for migrants, refugees, and anyone experiencing language barriers. Romina focuses on language quality management, as well as in the design, development, and implementation of education and training programs for translators and interpreters. She is studying translation and interpretation at the Universidad de Belgrano in Argentina. She was the recipient of the 2021 Pro Bono Week Award for the American Bar Association Commission on Immigration, in recognition of the language services she provided to the South Texas Asylum Representation Project (ProBAR).

Katie Becker has worked for several years in pro bono immigrant legal services in North Carolina. At the University of North Carolina School of Law, she trained and managed a team of volunteer interpreters who assisted clients and student-attorneys with asylum cases. She has a bachelor’s degree from Duke University and a master’s from Queen’s University Belfast. She was the recipient of the Hillary Rodham Clinton Award for Peace and Reconciliation from Queen’s University Belfast. Her research focuses on linguistic violence against Indigenous-language speakers seeking asylum in the United States.

[1] https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20160811-the-amazing-benefits-of-being-bilingual
[2] https://www.translatemedia.com/careers/how-to-become-a-translator/the-translation-industry/ 
[3] https://www.bls.gov/ooh/media-and-communication/interpreters-and-translators.htm