Guest editors:

Anna Marzà & Joaquim Dolz

Societies nowadays are multilingual, that is, composed of groups speaking different languages. From a social point of view, multilingualism is conceived as the set of language practices and varieties, with diverse economic and symbolic status, that coexist in a social and cultural context. Population movements, especially internal and international migration and tourism have amplified the coexistence of languages within the same territory. Hence multilingualism can be considered as a universal phenomenon that develops in various ways according to the situations, the status and the representations about the languages that coexist, and the language policies of the countries and institutions. In this context, the terms bilingual or plurilingual are used to describe individuals who know and practice more than one language, as well as educational systems that aim at the simultaneous development of several languages or a holistic treatment of the languages present in schools (Coste, Moore & Zarate [1997] 2009; Béacco & Byram 2007).

The distribution of linguistic resources both from a social point of view and in educational systems is not always fair (Leglisse 2017). This is manifested most notably in the so-called Global South, decolonized countries where people's epistemic rights are racially devalued (Mignolo 2009). Glottophobia and discrimination are more general phenomena and are present in various situations of linguistic minorisation around the world (Blanchet 2005; 2016; Monzó-Nebot & Jiménez-Salcedo 2017) and prompt an ethical and legal reflection on linguistic uses, in particular on their application in the educational field. It is for this purpose that we propose a thematic issue that revolves simultaneously around the following three areas:

• the linguistic rights of linguistic minorities,
• their implementation in educational systems,
• the pedagogical and didactic innovations that characterize them.

Language rights and especially the rights of linguistic minorities have become an object of study (de Varennes 1996; Henrard 2000; Patrick & Freeland 2004; May (2001) 2012). Likewise, they have received attention from international institutions (Ramón i Mimó 1997), as in the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (Council of Europe 1992). The report presented by the UN special rapporteur on minority issues (Izsák-Ndiaye 2012) mentions nine concerns regarding the rights of linguistic minorities, three of which seem particularly relevant for this thematic issue: first, the recognition of minority languages and linguistic rights; second, the use of languages in public life; and finally, the position that languages occupy in education.

Educational systems. Faced with the challenge of unequal multilingualism, countries respond with language policies that can be very varied within the educational field. This special issue focuses on the proposals for linguistic organization within educational systems in different contexts. Comparative analyses on the application of the linguistic rights of minorities related to the specific sociolinguistic contexts are particularly relevant. Comparison allows different solutions to emerge as linked to particular situations, revealing the necessary adaptations to the phenomenon of minorisation and their relevance and effectiveness to specific contexts. We are specifically interested in bringing together research that analyses the impacts of the implementation of educational policies catering for the linguistic rights of minorities (Milian i Massana 1992; Kontra et al. 1999; Flors-Mas & Manterola 2021).

Practical experiences promoting minority languages in education present great diversity (Rispail 2017): immersion programs (Artigal 1997; Björklund, Mård-Miettinen & Savijärvi 2017), the incorporation of minority and heritage languages in the classrooms (Maynard, Armand & Brissaud 2020; Sales, Marzà i Ibàñez & Torralba 2023; Prasad & Bettney Heidt 2023), intercomprehension (Bonvino 2015; Carrasco Perea & de Carlo 2019), or mother tongue-based multilingual education (Tupas 2015), among others. Nowadays there is a didactic engineering trend towards the integrated treatment of languages focusing on minority languages, either present in the territories or brought by migration (Perregaux et al. 2003; Pascual 2006; Dolz & Idiazabal 2013; García Azkoaga & Idiazabal 2015; Candelier 2016). The analysis of educational experiences considers the particular teaching strategies, the type of interactions between languages and the dilemmas that occur in educational practices (de Pietro 2004; 2021). Didactic devices can delve into language attitudes and the learning of these languages to limit their minorisation or even to avoid their assimilation or disappearance (Cummins 2000; Candelier 2003; 2008).

Based on the three thematic areas described above, the following questions may guide the preparation of contributions for this special issue:

1. What are the fundamental language rights related to education?

• How has the history of language rights influenced multilingual education?
• What linguistic minorisation and discrimination phenomena can be found in the different sociolinguistic contexts?
• How do contexts (population movements, historical events, current legislation) affect children's language rights?

2. How are linguistic rights applied in educational systems?

• How do educational systems, educational policies, and curriculum designs in different countries or contexts deal with the language rights of minorities?
• How are language policies in education assessed?
• What is the impact of educational measures on linguistic rights?

3. What are the current experiences and dilemmas of educational practices based on language rights?

• What educational innovations foster the development of positive BAK (beliefs, assumptions, and knowledge) systems about language justice at school?
• What are the characteristics of the didactic engineering devices that favour the treatment of minority languages?
• How does the work on language rights impact language learning?

Deadline for abstracts: 15 May 2024

For more information, click here.

Applications are invited for the Powys Roberts Postdoctoral Fellowship in Modern Languages at St Hugh’s College, Oxford.

The Fellowship is open to those working in the following fields, in any period:

• French and/or Francophone literatures and cultures;
• German, Austrian or Swiss literatures and cultures;
• Italian literatures and cultures.

A comparative or interdisciplinary approach to work in these fields is also welcomed. The Fellow will be a member of the Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages and of an appropriate Sub-Faculty in the University of Oxford. They will be expected to undertake some teaching for the College.

Deadline for applications: 8 April 2024

For more information, click here.

Applications are sought for a full-time Postdoctoral Research Associate to work with Dr Edmond Smith, conducting research for the ERC-selected, UKRI-funded project “Institutional Transformation and the Entangled Commercial Cultures of International Trade, 1450-1750” (INTRECCI). The project is based in the Department of History at The University of Manchester.

The successful applicant will hold a PhD in the field of early modern, global, or economic history, or in another relevant field, with expertise in the history of Portugal’s trade and empire. They will have working fluency in Portuguese and experience working with Portuguese-language primary sources, as well as excellent communication skills in English.

Under the overall project’s framework, the PDRA will contribute to both the comparative study of globalisation in specific regions and the connected analysis of institutional exchange between them. This will include fieldwork in archives and libraries away from The University of Manchester, as well as cataloguing and developing a shared project repository of material at The University of Manchester. The PDRA will co-organise events, write and co-author publications, and contribute to other collaborative activities.

The post is available for 3 years (36 months), to commence on 1 September 2024, or as soon as possible thereafter.

Deadline for applications: 10 April 2024

For more information, click here.

Relational Forms IX

Sustainable Objects?: Books, Screens and Creative Transit
in the Cultures of the English Language

an international conference hosted by the
Faculty of Arts and Humanities, University of Porto, Portugal
and organised by CETAPS
 

This conference focuses on the endurance of cultural items (works of literature, themes, symbols and motifs, myths, historical figures, etc.) through a range of transformations, with an emphasis on the technologies that enable and sustain various exchanges and relays: from manuscript to print, from codex to digital and audiobook, the mutualities of words and images, the dynamics proper to adaptation, translation, and transmediation.

As indicated by the number in its title, this is the ninth in a series of academic events that reflect the ongoing concerns of the eponymous research group (Relational Forms), based at CETAPS (the Centre for English, Translation and Anglo-Portuguese Studies). The group’s rationale and remit entail that our conferences centrally address the cultures of Ireland and Britain – but we warmly welcome contributions bearing on other literary and artistic cultures.

Every year, the Relational Forms conference takes its cue from a memorable event or development. This year, our commemorative prompter is the 550th anniversary of the first printed book in English – the History of Troy, a translation from the French published by William Caxton in Bruges in 1474. Rather than a main object of our conference, this landmark in the history of print culture is invoked to inspire reflections on the manifold transits (across media, languages, national borders, and historical periods) that texts undergo, and on which their survival as living and meaningful items of culture depend.

Deadline for submission of abstracts: 11 June 2024

For more information, click here.
 

Special Issue Editor(s)

Maya de Wit, Sabine Fries and Irene Strasly

Training signed language interpreters and translators

Training of signed language interpreters began already in the 1920s in Russia. Nowadays, interpreters in signed languages are generally trained to work in community settings as all-round interpreters in dialogue interpreting. Throughout the last decades we see an increase in the number of signed language interpreter training programs. However, dedicated academic training in translation, rather than interpretation, of signed languages is rare. The urgent need for qualified signed language translations was highlighted during the Covid-19 pandemic, as accessible health care information for signers became crucial. Like the translation of written languages, translation into signed languages requires specific competences, which are different from those required for interpreting. Nevertheless, so far, relatively little has been documented regarding best practices in signed language translation, its essential competences, and best practices on how to train signed language interpreters.

The professionalization of the interpreting profession during the last decades has transformed previous ad hoc training into current three- or four-year bachelor university level programs. Students are generally trained to become interpreters between their national sign language and the national spoken language. However, other than with the training of spoken language interpreters, most students entering such programs do not know the national sign language. Consequently, a substantial part of the curriculum is dedicated to signed language acquisition. Additionally, critical discourses in the field, for instance, on power mechanisms in the relationship between future interpreters and their clients, should constitute an integral part of the training in the form of reflective practices. Overall, designing a curriculum to train signed language interpreters based on user demands as well as best practices, has been a continuous discussion among educators, researchers, and practitioners.

A pressing issue in the education of signed language translators and interpreters is the continuous inaccessibility of the existing programs. The programs were originally designed for hearing signed language interpreters to work between their spoken and signed language. Inaccessibility persists for deaf individuals in certain countries due to the barriers in accessing tertiary education. In summary, very few of the programs have made the changes to meet the current demand in the field and allow for the joint training of deaf and hearing signed language interpreters. Yet there are compelling reasons to reconsider the feasibility of such joint training programs.

The evolution of technology gives opportunities to develop innovative training methods, both for hearing and deaf professionals who work as signed language interpreters/translators, such as distance-mode teaching. The increase in the number of remote events has also increased the demand for interpreters and translators who provide their services from a distance. Distance interpreting asks additional demands from the interpreter/translator, and these demands include cognitive skills as well as technological savviness. These relatively new forms of service have not been extensively researched and are not incorporated in the training of interpreters and translators.

In this special issue we seek to present evidence-based practices that could provide further guidance in the training of signed language interpreters and translators. We welcome contributions that describe actual professional as well as teaching practices in an attempt to understand where we are at in terms of training and where we are going.

Themes that may be addressed include (but are not restricted to) the following:

• training deaf translators and/or deaf interpreters (such as curriculum design, teaching methods to mixed deaf-hearing classes or to deaf-only classes)
• incorporating ethical dimensions in training signed language interpreters and translators (how the subject of ethics is approached in class; how the use of technology is discussed with students; and how the discourses on power dynamics and mechanisms are integrated in the teaching)
• use and impact of technology in training signed language interpreters and translators (for example, synchronous and asynchronous ways of teaching through online platforms)
• innovative applications in training the collected best practices in AI tools and technological innovations for interpreting and translation
• training of trainers: educating practitioners in becoming a trainer or mentor
• collaborative practices: how to manage and ensure stakeholder representation in sign language interpreting and translating programs

Deadline for submission of abstracts: 20 June 2024

For more information, click here.

Editors: Sharon Black and Emília Perez

Recent advances in media accessibility education

In recent times media accessibility (MA) has been gaining ground internationally, and is now a necessary requirement and a “proactive principle” (Greco 2016, 21) for the fulfilment of the human right of all citizens to have full and equal access to and enjoyment of audiovisual products. This requirement is covered by international and European legislation. Films, TV programmes, live events and museums are being made more accessible to audiences, and a variety of accessibility services are increasingly being offered, which include but are by no means limited to audio description, live subtitling, intralingual theatre captions, sign language interpreting, audio guides, easy read materials, touch tours and tactile exhibitions. Moreover, accessibility services are being accessed using a range of different devices, screens and technologies. There has been a concomitant development of professional roles in the field, including those of the audio describer, live subtitler and accessibility manager, and the demand for trained professionals in these areas will no doubt continue to grow into the future.

However, just as much remains to be done to make the media, arts and culture accessible to all, continued efforts are needed to fill the existing gaps in MA education and research in this area. A growing number of university programmes at undergraduate and postgraduate levels now offer modules focusing on MA, and master’s degrees in accessibility have been launched, but progress is slow and universities seem to have “a lower commitment to MA training” (Valdez et al. 2023) as they still largely only offer MA training within broader AVT modules and courses. Moreover, training for end users of MA services and tools is lacking, which contributes to the digital exclusion experienced by deaf, disabled and neurodivergent users. Considerable advances have been made towards filling these gaps by European projects over the last decade, such as ACT, ADLAB PRO, ILSA, DA4YOU, EASIT and ATHENA, to name but a few. While such projects have made valuable progress in terms of providing training courses, materials and profiles defining the skills and competences of media access professionals, more work is needed to better understand how these skills and competences can be learned and developed.

Greater scholarly attention has been paid thus far to training in AD and live SDH through respeaking than to other modes of MA, such as the emerging topic of Easy Read content, and research on the didactics of MA is scant and fragmented, and typically addresses one accessibility service only. Moreover, scholars have highlighted a notable paucity of studies investigating topics such as assessment, and creativity in MA training. They also highlight issues such as the need for a more global scope beyond Eurocentric perspectives to bring more diversity to MA research, to include end users as collaborative partners, for more effective use of multimedia as teaching materials and of cutting-edge technologies in translator training.

For this special issue, we especially welcome studies focusing on the aforementioned issues, as well as on other new developments in media accessibility training practices, pedagogical principles and methodologies, as well as challenges and lessons learned. We also welcome proposals from outside of the field of Translation and Interpreting Studies, studies that adopt user-centred, participatory approaches, and research that aims to have a social impact on communities. The topics suggested below may apply to various training scenarios (e.g., higher education, training outside academia, training for content creators, live event organisers, etc.).

Themes that may be addressed include (but are not restricted to) the following:

• current practices in translator and interpreter training for media accessibility (training methodologies, technological advancements, training platforms)
• cross-disciplinary collaboration in media accessibility training, and partnerships with non-academic organisations
• user centred approaches and participatory media accessibility training and research,
• inclusive learning environments and methods in media accessibility contexts,
• quality and evaluation in media accessibility training,
• training the media accessibility trainers (profiles, requirements and continuous learning).

Deadline for submission of abstracts: 15 July 2024

For more information, click here.

The Department of Translation sets out to provide an education in bilingual and cross-cultural studies which nourishes graduates with competence in Chinese and English as well as a capacity to think critically and independently while adapting to a wide range of careers. The appointee will be required to teach courses in some of the following areas: Computer-aided Translation, Media Translation, Translating Culture, Bilingual Communication in Popular Culture, Chinese-to-English Translation, Methodology in Translation and Interpreting Research. Appointees are expected to have excellent command of Chinese and English, and experience in teaching Translation (both theory and practice) or Interpreting will be an advantage. Further information on the Department and its programmes and activities can be found on the Department’s website: http://www.LN.edu.hk/tran/. 

General Requirements 

Candidates should have a PhD degree in Translation studies or related discipline. Candidates should also have relevant teaching experience in universities and a good research record in publication and competitive grants acquisition. 

Lingnan University is fully committed to the pursuit of excellence in both teaching and research. The appointee should demonstrate commitment to teaching and research excellence, and will be expected to apply for external competitive research grants, publish in reputable international journals in the field and contribute to the department’s post-graduate degree programmes. Candidates are required to provide information on their research records and evidence of quality teaching. Administrative experience will be an advantage. 

Deadline for applications: 4 May 2024

For more information, click here.

Edited by Gianluca Pontrandolfo, University of Trieste and Carla Quinci, University of Padua

Many myths and deep concerns surround neural machine translation (NMT) and the role specialised translators play in the age of artificial intelligence (AI). The scary idea of ‘human parity’, i.e. the belief that NMT can achieve human quality, sparks off heated debates about the implications of the recent outstanding technological advancement for the translation profession. The alleged threats posed by the results achieved by AI in combination with the gaps in the academic literature about the functioning of (N)MT and its influence on the translation process and product have caused widespread scepticism and mistrust, when not an a priori rejection of NMT. Scholars worldwide have attempted to debunk these myths by studying the actual advantages and disadvantages of using automation. For instance, do Carmo (2023) recently proposed the term “artificial translation” – rather than “machine translation” – to stress that MT does not perform a complete translation process, which would take into account not just the meaning of the source and the target sentences but also extratextual elements e.g. the voice of the author, the intended readers, the purpose of the target texts, which are crucial in any (legal) translation brief (Scott 2019: 81-102).

These concerns are particularly serious in the legal field, where the legal and ethical risks (Canfora & Ottmann 2020, Kenny, Moorkens & do Carmo 2020, Moorkens 2022) related to privacy and confidentiality, together with low risk tolerance and liability, contribute to that feeling of scepticism and mistrust. Thus, legal translation has generally been considered unsuitable for automation (Sánchez-Gijón & Kenny 2022, 85-86), especially due to its inherent challenges. While other specialised fields tend towards conceptual universality and univocity, legal notions and procedures are largely system-bound and historically rooted, which naturally reflects on individual legal languages and culture-bound legal references (cf. Biel 2022). This results in incongruities and asymmetries, which represent the typical challenges faced by legal translators (see Biel 2014, Pontrandolfo 2019). Another distinctive feature of this specialisation is the high variability of the texts and legal conditions that determine the role of translation itself in each communicative situation, i.e. its communicative priorities between or within legal systems, according to the conventions of specific branches of law and legal genres at the national and international levels (Cao 2007, Biel 2014, Biel et al. 2019, Prieto Ramos 2022). Legal translation involves negotiating not only between legal languages/discourses but also – and most importantly – between legal systems and legal genres (see Scott 2019: 31-55).

However, the evolution of AI and MT is changing the legal professional landscape, where the ‘triangle of MT’ (quality, price and speed) still plays a pivotal role. Legal translation service providers as well as law firms are increasingly betting on AI and NMT worldwide. Thanks to the growing quality of MT outputs and the development of custom engines (Martínez Domínguez et al. 2020), NMT and machine translation post-editing (MTPE) are now also used in the legal sector. The most recent version of the EMT Competence Framework “acknowledges that [it] represents a growing part of translation workflows, and that MT literacy and awareness of the possibilities and limitations of MT is an integral part of professional translation competence” (EMT Expert Group 2022, 7). Then, the question is not so much if machine translation and post-editing (PE) should be implemented in legal translator training but when, and how they are and will be used by professional translators (Quinci, forthcoming; Quinci & Pontrandolfo 2023).

Against this background, this Special Issue aims at mapping the new opportunities and risks related to fast technological advancement and the rapidly changing landscape of legal translation in training and professional settings by exploring a wide array of issues including, but not limited to, the following:

• Implications of translation modality (human translation, post-editing, etc.) on the translation process
• Quality evaluation of AI/MT/MTPE outputs in the legal field
• Effects of MT, MTPE and/or AI on the translation product from end-users’ perspective
• MT/AI performance across legal genres and languages
• Implementation and implications of AI and MT in legal translator training and/or the professional practice
• Impact of AI/MT/MTPE on legal translators’ creativity
• Training of MT engines for legal translation purposes
• Legal Machine Translationese and Post-editese
• Ethics & legal MT/AI
• Potential, drawbacks, development, applications and assessment of Large Language Models in legal translation
• Gender bias in legal MT/AI

Deadline for submissions: 30 April 2024

For more information, click here.

YOUR TASKS

• At least 50% of your assignment will be spent on academic research in preparation of a doctoral dissertation. The subject matter corresponds to one of the following research groups of the
• Department of Translation, Interpreting and Communication: multilingual and intercultural communication or foreign language acquisition and language didactics (https://research.flw.ugent.be/multiples); translation and interpretation sciences (https://research.flw.ugent.be/eqtis; https://research.flw.ugent.be/trace); terminology and/or language technology (https://research.flw.ugent.be/lt3).
• You will assist in the teaching activities at the department, specifically the courses foreign language, translation or interpreting skills (Spanish and Dutch or English for translation/interpreting).
• You will coach individual students (e.g. coach self-study, supervise bachelor papers).
• You will participate in didactic projects.
• You will assist in the internal and external services of the department.
• If you meet the formal criteria, you must submit a PhD application to the FWO during the first term.

For more information, click here.

Deadline for applications: 5 March 2024

The University of Antwerp is a dynamic, forward-thinking, European university. We offer an innovative academic education to more than 20000 students, conduct pioneering scientific research and play an important service-providing role in society. We are one of the largest, most international and most innovative employers in the region. With more than 6000 employees from 100 different countries, we are helping to build tomorrow's world every day. Through top scientific research, we push back boundaries and set a course for the future – a future that you can help to shape.

The Department of Applied Linguistics, Translation and Interpreting Studies in the Faculty of Arts has the following part-time (80 %) vacancy: junior or senior professor in the field of Interpreting Studies (French-Dutch).

Position

You will contribute to the University of Antwerp’s three core tasks: education (40 %), research (40 %) and services (20 %). Your role will also include organisational and managerial aspects.

Deadline for applications: 26 February

For more information, click here.