Guest editors
Félix do Carmo, Dorothy Kenny and Mary Nurminen

Overview
Any contemporary investigation of advances in translation must surely take into account the rise
of machine translation (MT), acknowledging improvements in its quality and the many worthy
causes it can serve (Nurminen and Koponen 2020). But irenic engagement with the technology
does not have to be uncritical, and alongside a growing number of empirical investigations of
translation workflows that use MT, translation studies scholars have also begun to interrogate its
ethical basis (Kenny, Moorkens and do Carmo 2020). Some such studies (e.g. do Carmo 2020)
touch upon the very definition of translation, its relationship to post-editing, and the material
consequences for professional translators of industry’s sometimes self-serving construal of these
activities. But there are still only rare explorations of how we in translation studies, by embracing
MT, are changing our own understanding of translation. And studies that reflect on how, by
integrating MT into translation studies, we may be reconfiguring our field of inquiry, are even
rarer.

Against this backdrop, this special issue aims to (re-)examine the field of translation studies and its
object of inquiry, in a context in which translation could be conceived of as taking many forms,
including forms that culminate in readers accessing raw machine outputs. We also wish to
generate debate on the effects of the full integration of MT, and related activities such as postediting, into translation studies as a multidiscipline, and to invite reflection on whether
incorporating MT represents an advance for the discipline or an impoverishment (if we think MT
constitutes a reduction of translation to automatable transfer). Ultimately, we seek to pose a
question that goes to the heart of the discipline: could MT be the straw that breaks translation
studies’ back, under the weight of the ongoing import of knowledge from outside, or could MT be
a golden opportunity for translation studies to reveal the value of the knowledge it has already
constructed and continues to construct on its object of study?

Deadline for abstracts: 30 November 2022

For more information, click here

The 13th International Conference on Historical Lexicography and Lexicology will be held
on 27th-29th September 2023 at the University of Salerno/Fisciano, Italy (Università degli
Studi di Salerno), and will be hosted by Rita Calabrese and Rossella Latorraca.
Submissions are invited for oral presentations on the theme “Lexical variation and change
across cultures, time, and space”, as well as on any topic of historical lexicology and
lexicography.

Contributions should focus on results from completed as well as ongoing research, with an
emphasis on current approaches, methods, and perspectives, whether descriptive,
theoretical, or corpus-based/applied.
CONFERENCE AIMS:
 to create a space for the discussion of new and ongoing research and projects on
lexical variation and lexicography in synchronic and diachronic contexts of global
movement and language contact
 to encourage interactions between researchers with different research perspectives
and methodologies
Keynote speeches will be presented by leading scholars in historical linguistics,
lexicography and lexicology as well as translation studies.

Deadline for abstracts: 14 January 2023

For more information, click here

Translang: Moving beyond languages

TRANSLANG is a journal of Translation and Languages founded in 2002 at the University of Oran. The published works in the journal were more directed to German with a clear orientation towards translation, under the direction of Djamel Eddine Lachachi. 

From 2010 onwards, TRANSLANG becomes multidisciplinary and more languages are present: English, Arabic, French, Spanish, Russian and the work is balanced between translation and languages. In 2015, the management was taken over by Ghania Ouahmiche and TRANSLANG is edited by the University of Oran 2. The editor-in-chief worked on its indexing through new orientations, with a greater emphasis on translation studies. In 2020, Translang is indexed, its staff is characterised by the international dimension which gives the journal more credibility. In 2022, Translang is updated and specialised in translation studies, as part of the High Quality Research (HQR) framework. The themes addressed today are particularly related to the reflection on translation as a process, especially the translation of specialised texts (technical, literary, artistic), on the interpreting process (simultaneous, consecutive, community), on the cognitive aspects of translation, history of translation, didactics and pedagogy, translatology, and terminology, etc.

For more information, click here

Deadline for abstracts: 23 October 2022

The theme of the conference is Corpus Linguistics in the Digital Era: Genres, registers and domains. Most studies based on or derived from corpora, implicitly or explicitly, deal with the notion of genre, and other concepts such as those of register and domain. In Corpus Linguistics, the importance of these concepts has been repeatedly highlighted in studies by Douglas Biber and other linguists working in the field of Corpus Linguistics. This is the reason why the theme selected for the conference is Corpus Linguistics in the digital era, with especial reference to the analysis of genres, registers and domains. The conference will also cater for other themes such as the analysis of genres, registers and domains in Applied Linguistics and statistical analyses. These themes will be dealt with in different round tables taken place during the academic event.

For more information, click here

Deadline for applications: 31 December 2022

The Department of Languages and Cultures at Lancaster University seeks to appoint a Lecturer in French or Francophone Studies for a January 2023 start. The post will require teaching and convenorship in core and specialist undergraduate courses in Modern French or Francophone Studies as well as engaging in comparative modules, postgraduate teaching and supervising research students. This post is research-active, which will involve the development of a personal research programme in an aspect of Modern French or Francophone Studies or comparative studies with French or Francophone Studies as a central aspect and the seeking of research funding, leading to publications in key international peer-reviewed academic journals and to other appropriate forms of research output. Academic administrative activities within the Department and engagement in our research culture are also part of this role.

The Department of Languages and Cultures is committed to understanding individual and cultural phenomena in both their individual language context and their global connection. Accordingly, our research spans Europe, Africa, China and North & South America and we deliver both specialist and comparative courses. The Department’s research profile covers literature, film, translation, digital culture, popular culture, the practice of everyday life, language pedagogy and sociolinguistics. DeLC is a welcoming, vibrant and successful department with all our major languages placed in the Top 5 in The Complete University Guide 2023.

For more information, click here

Closing date for applications: 17 October 2022

The National University of Ireland Galway is recruiting a full-time, fixed term Postdoctoral Researcher for the project Multilingual Island: Sites of Translation and Encounter (MISTE). The project takes a ‘shared island’ approach to create an in-depth understanding of intercultural encounters in Ireland through the lens of language and translation, comparing settings in Galway and Belfast. The position is funded under the North-South Research Programme. The successful candidate will be expected to start on 1 January 2023.

Project Description

This project will measure multilingual practices to investigate the role of translation in bringing together migrants/refugees and local communities; and to explore the creative potential of translation to raise awareness of cultural diversity in Ireland. The project compares approaches to language and migrant/refugee integration in different sites with a view to informing policy and best practice.

Deadline for applications: 7 October 2022

For more information, click here

The Department of Modern Languages and Literatures at John Jay College-CUNY seeks an instructor at the rank of Lecturer with experience teaching Spanish for heritage learners. Experience in teaching translation and interpreting is a plus. The position of Lecturer is tenure-bearing through what is called a “certificate of continuous employment” (CCE) after the sixth annual reappointment.

The appointed faculty member will perform teaching and related faculty functions in their area(s) of expertise. Coordinate language courses. Share responsibility for departmental and College committee work and other duties as assigned by the chair. The hiring committee is especially interested in applicants who contribute to the diversity mission of the college through their leadership, community service, research, and/or lived experiences.

For more information, click here

Closing date: 1 December

Taking the AHRC-funded Experiential Translation Network (www.experientialtranslation.net)
as a departure point in its focus on intersemiotic translation (Campbell and Vidal 2019), this
edited volume aims to explore the nature of translation in contemporary society and asks
what role experiential translation can play in addressing the ‘untranslatable residue that
reveals unbridgeable cultural differences’ (Kramsch and Zhu 2020:10). Where cultural
translation aims to ‘make untranslatable experiences translatable across cultural
boundaries’ (ibid:9), experiential translation aims to make experiences translatable across
the linguistic and sensory boundaries and media that together serve to generate, maintain
or challenge cultural hegemonies. In a conflicted world we ask how experiential translation
can contribute to growing calls to employ ‘different strategies … to resist traditional
perceptions of translation and the translator’ (Bhanot and Tiang 2022:11). Whether
favouring opacity or porosity, the translator’s subject position in relation to the ‘original’ is
transformed by the role of experimentation, creativity and play where, as Lee (2022)
explains in his book Translation as Experimentation: ‘Instead of discarding … idiosyncrasies
and epiphanies as irrelevant to the work of translation, a ludic perspective embraces them
and actively considers how they can be co-opted to add value to the original work in
unexpected ways’ (Lee 2022: 46). At the same time the notion of (‘original’) text as world
comprising not just words but all modalities of communication including the human beings
that produce them and the natural and technological environment within which humans
operate explodes the outward turn in translation studies (Vidal Claramonte 2022) to
encompass translation as a transdisciplinary, pluriversal phenomenon. Experiential
translation embraces the visibility of the translator and eschews semiotic erasures imposed
by the norms and expectations of source and target cultures. As such it aims to undo
acquired knowledge and give voice not only to the sensory and affective, but to endow
nature with the status of ‘text’ (Taivalkoski-Shilov and Poncharal 2020). Experiential
translation views translation as a holistic, co-creative process of discovery and renewal in a
dynamic ecological context where Western anthropocentric discourse is displaced by a
pluriverse of local and global, analogue and digital, (dis)embodied voices.
The Experiential Transaltion Network (ETN) Conference and Exhibition (2022) brought
together artists, curators, scholars and educators to experiment, produce works and
interrogate the notion and implications of Performative and Experiential Translation:
Meaning-Making through Language, Art and Media. Presentations and exhibits explored
modes of meaning-making, community engagement and intercultural communication
through multimodal translation including video, dance, painting, print-making, immersive
installations, sound art, film and photography.
Following an expression of interest from a major academic publisher for an edited volume
as part of a series on new perspectives in translation, the present cfp seeks to build on the
findings and questions that arose from this event.

For more information, click here

Deadline for proposals: 1 Nov 2022

Call for proposals for thematic issues for review by the journal’s editorial board

Guest editors may submit proposals for thematic issues to the journal’s editorial board. To do so, please send your proposal to Dr Isabelle Robert, using the journal’s general e-mail address (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).

To be considered, proposals must include the following five elements:

• guest editors’ names and affiliations;
• guest editors’ track records in the suggested research domain(s) (e.g., proof of achievements, credentials, expertise);
• a title and a brief presentation of the proposed topic (500–1000 words), consisting of a general description of the theme, followed by more specific research topics;
• a working reference list in APA format (7th edition) and
• a motivation (max. 500 words) explaining why the proposed topic is innovative, relevant for Translation Studies and feasible considering the scope of an annual publication.

Proposal reviews for thematic issues

The editorial board will draw up a shortlist of proposals by initially examining proposals based on their originality, international thematic relevance, innovativeness and (non)redundancy with former thematic issues. For an overview of former issues, please consult the following URLs:

• https://lans-tts.uantwerpen.be/index.php/LANS-TTS/issue/archive
• https://lans-tts.uantwerpen.be/index.php/LANS-TTS/announcement

Proposals for thematic issues are discussed at the annual meeting of the editorial board, which generally takes place in November. The editorial board will take one of the following three decisions:

• accept the proposal without modifications;
• accept the proposal with suggestions for modifications (‘conditional acceptance’) and
• reject the proposal.

Deadline for proposals: 25 October 2022

For more information, click here

Leiden University is looking for an assistant professor to conduct research and teach undergraduate and graduate courses in Machine Translation in Leiden.

The lecturer will hold a position within the Leiden University Centre for Linguistics and teach courses as needed in the BA programme Linguistics, the MA programme Linguistics (specialization Computational Linguistics and specialization Translation), and the Minor programme Translation.

Key responsibilities

• Developing, teaching, and co-ordinating courses on Machine Translation and Computational Linguistics. The position will have a focus on adaptivity in machine translation: adaptivity to specific end-user groups (such as refugees or people with low-literacy), specific contexts (e.g. medical or legal translation, or creative and literary translation) or specific media (i.e. MT in audio-visual translation).
• Supervising student internships, and BA and (Res)MA theses in English;
• Playing an active role in recruiting students by contributing to open days, orientation and information sessions;
• Fulfilling administrative duties within the programme, the LUCL institute and/or the Faculty of Humanities;
• Conducting research based on an individual research plan within one of the research programmes of LUCL and presenting the results in the form of publications, conference presentations and other means to academic, professional/societal partners and wider audiences;
• Acquiring project funding at national, European and international levels;

Selection criteria

* You hold a PhD degree in Computational Linguistics, Machine Translation, or Artificial Intelligence;

* You are aware of current issues and viewpoints within the field of Machine Translation;

* You have a strong academic teaching record, both at the BA and MA level, as demonstrated by teaching evaluations;

* You are a committed and inspiring teacher, with an inclusive approach to education and the ability to engage a diverse community of BA and MA students;

* You have a research profile that fits within LUCL and a proven track record of research, as demonstrated by a list of peer-reviewed publications commensurate with career stage;

* You are a clear communicator and team player, enthusiastic to collaborate across disciplinary boundaries, in both teaching and research;

* You possess excellent language skills (preferably C1) in both English and at least one other language (preferably one of the languages taught in the BA and MA programmes of Leiden’s Faculty of Humanities, i.e. Dutch, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Turkish, Arabic)

Deadline for applications: 15 September 2022

For more information, click here