Local Practices of Translation

Project Title

Local Practices of Translation & Interpreting in a Globalized World

Funding Agency

The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK) and Slovenian Research Agency – ARRS.

Project Team

Participants from Türkiye:

Principal Investigator: Şule Demirkol Ertürk

Researchers:  Özlem Berk Albachten, Jonathan Ross

Participants from Slovenia:

Principal Investigator: Nike Kocijančič Pokorn

Researchers: Tamara Mikolič Južnič, Robert Grošelj, Tadej Pahor

Project Duration

1 February 2023 – 31 January 2025

Summary

The present project aims at exploring newly emerging research questions in the field of Translation and Interpreting Studies, with special attention to the role played by local practices of translation and interpreting in dealing with cultural and linguistic diversity within the context of ever-increasing globalization, digitization and online networking. Questions addressing the impact that the global Coronavirus pandemic has had on translation and interpreting practices in our two countries, such as heightening the need for remote interpreting, forcing museums to go online, and sparking sudden and major changes in translation and interpreting training practices will also be considered. This two-year project is mainly expected to improve academic collaboration and networking between the two institutions and lay the ground for an international collective volume or a special journal issue and a further joint EU project.

The project will specifically center on the increased need for community interpreting in dealing with the mass movement of populations on the one side, and the representation and “cultural translation” of societal diversity in local museums in Slovenia and Turkey on the other. International visits will help the research team to organize group meetings and roundtables to elaborate on the theoretical and practical aspects of these topics, exchange ideas, and make observations to serve as pilot study for further joint projects.

The project discussions will address state-of-the-art questions in the field of Translation and Interpreting Studies: What are the changing roles of translation & interpreting activities in our globalized societies, in dealing with increased cultural and linguistic diversity in small locales? What is the impact of mass migration, largely due to people fleeing war-zones, persecution and poverty on translation and interpreting practices? What theoretical concepts can be used to examine the representation of cultural and linguistic diversity in museums from a translational perspective? How have the expectations from translation & interpreting services changed in the last decades, and more recently due to the Coronavirus pandemic? What are the implications of the pandemic and the new technologies for the practice of translation & interpreting and for the training of translators & interpreters?

To address these questions, project members may rely on a variety of research methods like archival research on publicly available sources, observation in museums, literature surveys and critical discourse analysis. Preliminary findings will be shared in seminars and roundtables to be organized during international visits.

The project partners will strive to make two short-term visits to the partner institution, and organize yearly group meetings to share progress reports and exchange opinions.

Project partners will be expected to submit a paper proposal for an international collective volume or a special journal issue, and a paper with several identified topics for a further joint EU-funded project.