SPORT AND TRANSLATION: INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE

Thursday 29th and Friday 30th May 2014

University of Bristol, U.K.

Across the Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities, sport has become a
considerable object of academic interest in recent years. In June 2014, the
FIFA World Cup will be held in Brazil, for the first time since 1950. Two
years later the Olympic Games will be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Much
research has been carried out to locate these games within their global
social, cultural, political and economic histories, paying particular
attention to the role of visual cultures, mega-event organisation,
nationalism and even individual sportspeople in shaping the spectacle.

Very few studies have paid attention to the role of Translation as an
obstacle or opportunity in global sports history, politics or cultural
studies. But translation is an essential process in almost every sporting
encounter. During the Brazil World Cup in 2014, for example, how will the
rest of the world understand the games being played and the images being
displayed, viewed on their televisions, mobile devices, tracked online or
commented upon on their radios? Multiple translations, linguistic and
otherwise, will shape these processes. Furthermore, how will commentators,
interpreters, producers, journalists and academics translate Brazil for
foreign audiences? And how will footballers from across the world interpret
Brazil ­ and how will this affect their performances?

On the eve of the World Cup, this conference will draw together scholars for
an interdisciplinary conference to examine this new set of research
questions, across history and in the present day. Questions which might be
considered by conference participants include:

- How is sport translated across cultures, and how does this differ
today from in the past?

- Do multilingual players/teams compete more successfully away from
home than their monolingual counterparts?

- How have sporting ideologies been translated across cultures?

- Does sport transcend translation because of its hybrid nature and
its global origins in histories of migration?

- Are some sports untranslatable?

- How do art and visual media translate sport across linguistic
boundaries?

- How have radio and television translated sport across nations and
around the world?

- How have colonialism and colonial legacies shaped sporting
translation?

- Is there a Universal Language of Sport?

- What is the relationship between Twitter, sport and translation?

- Might the England team be more successful at Brazil 2014 if they
employed as many translators and interpreters as nutritionists and coaches?

We welcome paper proposals (maximum 500 words) from any discipline that aim
to uncover links between sport and translation. Please send to
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The principal language of the conference will be English. We welcome paper
proposals in English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese or
Russian. We may be able to offer some assistance with interpretation
depending on pending funding applications.

Deadline for Paper Proposals: 10 December 2013

Confirmation of Acceptance: 20 January 2014

The conference will bring to a close a year-long programme of events on
Sport and Translation at the University of Bristol, including workshops on
Sport and Interpreting, and Sports Writing and Translation, as well as work
with local Bristol schools and public engagement activities. Sport and
Translation was generously supported by a grant from the University Research

Strategy Fund.

Conference organising committee: Matthew Brown, Jonah Bury, John Foot, David
Goldblatt, Gloria Lanci, Mike O¹Mahony, Carol O¹Sullivan, David Perkins,
Aris Da Silva, Ana Suarez.