Intervention is the rationale of grassroots movements and NGOs (non-governmental organisations) – or more recently and accurately, PVOs (private voluntary organisations) – and both grassroots movements and NGOs rely heavily on translation and interpreting in order to function, improve their effectiveness, network, and spread their influence. In their efforts to bring about global change the international NGOs are by definition bound up with translation – of documents as diverse as newsletters, minutes, reports, statutes, transcripts of speeches, accounting and financial results, press releases, posters and advertising, and web pages. Even local NGOs require translation in order to reach out to international organizations looking for local partners, and to donors who can fund services directly.

Yet little is known about the specificities of ‘NGO translation’. The proposed panel intends to raise several questions on the matter: How are the vast translation and interpreting needs of international NGOs met? What are the profiles of the translators and interpreters? What are the various institutional contexts? Do the strategies used differ from those in more conventional translation and interpreting tasks?

Specific issues which may generate particular interest include the following:

• The ‘agency’ of the translator/interpreter within the wider context of ‘citizenship’, ‘activism’, ‘global aid’, and ‘reform’.

• Translating/interpreting for major international humanitarian aid organisations.

• Volunteer non-professional translators/interpreters; professional translators/ interpreters volunteering.

• Differences between ‘resistance’, ‘activism’, ‘commitment’ and ‘volunteerism’ within the context of translation/interpreting.

• Intervening malgré eux – what happens when the translators’ attitudes towards translating are not that interventionist?

• Subject-matter related stress on translators/interpreters.

• Refusing to translate; avoiding translating; giving up translating.

• Translating/interpreting against one’s own formative state/school/religious upbringing. What happens when the loyalties have to be reconsidered?

• Translating web-based material within the context of grassroots movements.

• Translating literary works which have become part of global grassroots movements (e.g. Vagina Monologues).

• The possible effects of the ‘free’ use of the services of translators’/intrepreters’ on a profession which has traditionally suffered from underpayment.

LAST  IATIS CONFERENCE
Cape Town 2006

In July 2006, IATIS held its 2nd Conference at The University of the Western Cape, in Cape Town (South Africa). The Theme of the conference was Intervention in Translation, Interpreting and Intercultural Encounters.

Want to know more?

Visit the Cape Town 2006 site.

To see the photographs taken during the event, click here.

Read the conference closing address available here.
 

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