Fifth International Conference on Non-Professional
Interpreting and Translation
Department of Communication Science
University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands
June 24 - June 26, 2020
NPIT5 provides an opportunity for researchers and practitioners within the field of interpreting and translation studies to share recent and relevant work within this discipline and related to the activities of nonprofessional and translators. It builds on discussions initiated at the first four international conferences on Non-Professional Interpreting and Translation held in Bologna/Forli (2012), Mainz/ Germersheim (2014), Zurich (2016), and Stellenbosch (2018).
Theme: Bridging diverse worlds: expanding roles and contexts of non-professional interpreters and translators
Keynote speakers
Call for papers
Due to increased globalization and migration waves, the research field of nonprofessional interpreting and translation studies has gained in prominence and acknowledgement in recent years. Nonetheless, to receive the recognition it
deserves within the field of interpreting and translation studies, the critical and expanding role of non-professional interpreters and translators within increasingly complex and diverse contexts, needs continued attention from academia and practice. Pushing definitional and theoretical boundaries of interpreting and translation, it is a dynamic and still under-researched field that does not necessarily conforms to norms guiding professional multilingual communicative practices, though in many settings and contexts non-professional interpreting and translation is, in fact, more common in bridging diverse cultural and linguistic worlds, than professional interpreting and translation.
By bringing together researchers from various disciplines and practitioners from diverse settings, NPIT5 aims to provide a forum for researchers and practitioners within this field to share and discuss recent and relevant work within this discipline and related to the activities of non-professional interpreters and translators.
Furthermore, this forum serves to expand the theoretical, methodological, ethical and disciplinary approaches related to this form of linguistic and cultural mediation. It builds on discussions initiated at the first four international conferences on Non- Professional Interpreting and Translation held in Bologna/Forlì(2012), Mainz/Germersheim (2014), Zurich (2016), and Stellenbosch (2018).
The Fifth International Conference on Non-Professional Interpreting and Translation (NPIT5) Organizing Committee invites proposals for presentations on any theoretical, empirical, ethical and/or methodological aspect of research related to the general theme of the conference. For all proposals the official conference language will be English. Three categories of proposals will be considered: (i) individual presentations, (ii) panels, and (iii) posters.
Topics may include, but are not limited to:
• Ad hoc translation/interpreting
• Adult/child language and cultural brokering
• Community translation and interpreting
• Family interpreting
• Machine translation/multilingual tools/online communication and information technologies
• Natural/native translation/interpreting
• Non-professional church/religious interpreting and/or translation
• Non-professional media interpreting and/or translation (fansubbing, fandubbing, fanfiction, news, talk-shows, the web, etc.)
• Non-professional sign language interpreting
• Stakeholder perspectives on non-professional interpreters and translators
• Training of non-professional interpreters and translators
• Non-professional interpreting and/or translation in the field of war/conflicts, NGOs, asylum seeking, health care, community and social care, legal and police
Submissions for individual presentations and panels have to be send to npit5conference@outlook.com
Submission dates and deadlines
Deadline submission individual presentations/panels/posters: 15 September 2019
Author notification: 1 December 2019
Deadline author registration: 1 April 2020
Conference website: www.npit5.com
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/
