In this globalised and digitalised era, the translation and interpreting of political discourse has become an increasingly important area of research that presents a number of challenges. These include the sensitiveness of the subject matter involved, the interdisciplinary nature of the field, and the particular cognitive or pragmatic constraints that pertain in the political translation/interpreting process. Apart from its practical implications for political science and communication studies, research in this field helps us to further reflect on issues such as the voice of the translator or interpreter, translatorial intervention, and the ethical dimensions of political translation and interpreting.
This two-day conference, organised in association with Bandung: Journal of the Global South, serves as a platform for interdisciplinary exchange on the latest research in this area. The organisers welcome contributions addressing any aspect of the translation/interpreting of political discourse. Suggested themes include but are not restricted to:
The interface between translation/interpreting and political discourse: new trends and methods in research;The roles of translators/interpreters in translating and interpreting political discourse;Cognitive or pragmatic constraints in the translation/interpreting of political texts (such as policy speeches/statements, parliamentary debates, press conferences, media interviews with politicians or political talks/meetings on TV);Corpus-based study of political and policy speeches and their translation/interpreting: new tools and paradigms;Ethical issues in political translation and interpreting;The use of Critical Discourse Analysis and other tools for translation/interpreting discourse analysis;Frameworks and methods of corpora construction in the study of translated/interpreted political texts;Political censorship in the production and circulation of translated texts.
The conference will also feature two workshops related to the subthemes.
It is hoped that through this conference, participants can gain inspiration from scholars of different disciplines and build up platforms for future collaboration and discussion.
The language of the conference is English.
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
Jeremy MUNDAY (University of Leeds)
Sandra HALVERSON (Western Norway University of Applied Sciences)
TAN Zaixi (Shenzhen University / Beijing Foreign Studies University / Hong Kong Baptist University)
SUBMISSION OF ABSTRACTS
We welcome abstracts for paper and poster presentations.
Submissions must include the following information*:
name of author(s)affiliationemail addressabstract of 300 words3-5 keywordsshort bio within 100 words
*The data collected will be used for the conference and other directly related purpose(s) and will be retained for a period of 6 months or until the relevant use of the requested data has been completed, whichever is later.
Length of presentations: 30 minutes (20 minutes for presentation and 10 minutes for discussion)
All submissions, using Microsoft Word 2013 or above, are to be sent to tipd2019@hkbu.edu.hk by 15 December 2018. Successful applicants will be notified by email by 15 February 2019.
KEY DATES
Deadline for (paper and poster) abstract submission: 15 January 2019 (deadline extended)
Notification of acceptance/rejection: 15 February 2019
Conference dates: 19-20 June 2019
Submission of full paper for publication*: 20 July 2019
* We plan to publish selected papers (after peer review) in a special issue of Bandung: Journal of the Global South and/or an edited volume by Brill.
Further details: http://tran.hkbu.edu.hk/tipd2019/
Call for PapersSpecial Issue of The Translator and Interpreter Trainer (2028)Theme: (Re)Conceptualising User Agency in Audiovisual Translation Education.Editors: Jorge Díaz-Cintas, Lisi Liang, Hui Wang and Serenella Massidda. Topics may include:the (re)conceptualisation of “user agency” in the context of non-professional and/or fanbased AVT training;online users’ motivations for exerting agency in AI-powered AVT and its impact on the theory and practice of AVT training;online users’ creativity in specific domains of AVT, such as danmu subtitling, fansubbing/fandubbing, game localisation, access services, and voice synthesis technologies for media localisation and its impact on the theory and practice of AVT training;empirical studies focusing on the activation of user agency through verbal and/or nonverbal channels in online and offline AVT training, supported by robust research methods and with high potential for innovation in AVT pedagogy;the negotiation of agency between AI platform developers, users and educators in AVT training;the extent to which the exercise of user agency bridges or extends the boundaries between professional and non-professional, human and AI translation in AVT training;pedagogical, technological, and ethical implications of user agency for AVT training;the impact of AI-based AVT paradigm and user agency on the established translation training paradigm in AVTSubmission informationSubmission of proposals: 1 July 2026 (title and abstract of approx. 500 words, references included)Acceptance of submitted abstracts: 1 August 2026.Submission of full manuscripts: 1 February 2027 (up to 8,000 words, including references and notes).Acceptance of papers: October 2027Publication: Late Autumn/Winter 2028.More details: https://think.taylorandfrancis.com/special_issues/reconceptualising-user-agency-in-audiovisual-translation-education/
Call for Papers:Symposium: Translating Conflict: Language, Power, and the City.Location: Utrecht University — Languages in the City Series.Date: 22–23 April 2027Topics: Political and institutional translation: invisibility, neutrality, strategic mistranslation, asymmetrical communication.Conflict, post-conflict, humanitarian settings: diplomacy, peace negotiations, legal processes, ethics and positionality of translators, reconciliation.Resistance and public space: translation as activism, urban linguistic landscapes, social-media wars of meaning.Limits and exclusions: untranslatability, silencing, exclusion.Technology: AI-assisted translation in high-stakes settings.Exile and migration: translation, memory, and cultural continuity.Key dates:Submission deadline: 30/06/2026Notification: ~30/09/2026Symposium: 22–23 April 2027More details: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/activity-7451657930900361216-SP6Q?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAADAHFiwBi8jC4KbsaPPxHxBkCAx_UoukeoQ
Call for PapersEvent: the 16th International Symposium on Bilingualism.Place and date: University of Saskatchewan, Canada, June 14-18, 2027. Thems and topics:Bi-multilingual speech and communicationCognitive, neuro- and psycholinguisticsChild and adolescent bi-multilingual developmentAdult bi-multilingual developmentEducation and pedagogy HJHeritage, immigrant, regional and other minority languagesIndigenous languagesTranslation and InterpretingSociolinguistics and Sociology of languageSpeech-language pathology; Health CommunicationAbstract submission deadline: 1 October 2026. More details: https://conferences.usask.ca/isb16/
Call for Abstracts This is a call for an edited volume on 'Translators at Work in Periodicals: Agency, Mediation, and Cultural Power'. Edited by Ivana Hostová and Eva SpišiakováSuggested topics:• periodicals as infrastructures of literary, cultural, and intellectual mediation• translators, editors, reviewers, and other mediators shaping periodical cultures• translators’ multiple roles, including editing, curating, annotating, and framing• distributed, relational, or contested agency in periodical cultures• translator agency, editorial strategy, and activism• translation in peripheral, semi-peripheral, or politically unstable ecologies• periodicals as spaces of cultural resistance, ideological struggle, or symbolic negotiation• paratextual framing, editorial positioning, and the politics of selection• material and medial conditions of translation, including format, layout, page space, seriality, and multimodality• circulation of minoritized, marginalized, or non-canonical literatures• periodicals and the transfer of theory, philosophy, science, or political ideas• translation in periodicals and the making of national, regional, or transnational cultures• microhistorical or biographical studies of translators and editors• actor-network, social-network, bibliographic, or database-driven approaches• methodological reflections on blending close reading with large-scale or digitally assisted analysisDeadline for abstracts: 31 December 2026Deadline for full chapters: 31 July 2028Expected publication: 2029Full info: https://ktr.ff.ukf.sk/en/research/call-for-abstracts-translators-at-work-in-periodicals-agency-mediation-and-cultural-power/
Call for Papers:Conference: Global North and Global South Perspectives on Literature, Linguistics, and Translation.Organised by the Research Centre for Irish Studies (RCIS).Date: 7-8 June 2026. Main themes: Literature;Irish Studies;Linguistics;Translation, Power and Knowledge Circulation. Submission deadline: 30 April 2026More info: https://old.bue.edu.eg/global-north-and-global-south-perspectives-on-literature-linguistics-and-translation-conference-7-8-june-2026/
