Guest editors: Jeffrey Killman and Christopher D. Mellinger, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
The ubiquity of technology and its often-touted benefits are sources of potential friction in legal and regulatory environments where translation and interpreting activities are carried out. Concerns have surrounded its ability to influence, constrain, or alter the implementation and quality of T&I work, thereby resulting in somewhat slower adoption rates in the field. Yet despite technological advances, this trepidation may persist, given the ever-expanding range of technologies at the disposal of legal parties and translators and interpreters who enable plurilingual encounters. Additionally, socioeconomic and policy factors complicate what is currently possible, with increasing attention paid to not only which tools are used, but how, when, and why.
It is now more important than ever to investigate the impact that these technologies have in legal translation and interpreting contexts across a range of variables, including productivity and quality metrics, ergonomic and physiological measures, as well as other indicators related to language access and rights, language policy, technology adoption and use, and more. Here, we broadly consider technologies that not only have been developed specifically to aid translation and interpreting professionals (such as machine translation, translator workbenches, glossary/terminology management tools, remote interpreting platforms) but also tools that have been adapted for use in these specific contexts (such as video conferencing or telephonic technologies, tablet computers, document and data repositories, audio equipment, corpora). The performance of the technologies can and should also be the subject of investigation, to understand how they are used by legal translators and interpreters, how they might be improved, or how their implementation might differ depending on contextual variables of their use. These performance indicators are of particular importance with respect to less-resourced and minority languages, since these languages are often counted among those within the long-tail of localization and have been secondary to development efforts, while simultaneously representing an area of increasing need to facilitate language access. Conversely, more still needs to be known about how the use of technologies in legal contexts affects the communicative environment in which they are employed, including the influence on how and to what extent various parties interact and where and when multilingual communication is possible with certain technologies. Even the means by which technologies are evaluated within legal and regulatory areas require critical reflection and study, not only in relation to majoritarian languages, but also when working with less-resourced languages and their intersection with language policy and planning.
This special issue seeks to bring together a broad range of studies related to the use of technologies in legal translation and interpreting domains. Such a topic has received limited treatment to date and is relevant in a wide variety of legal domains such as legal institutions, law enforcement, corrections, private law practice, immigration, asylum, or quasi-legal settings that occur in any sector that interacts with the law, such as social services or education.
For this special issue of Revista de Llengua i Dret, Journal of Language and Law, we welcome contributions from a variety of perspectives and disciplines, including but not limited to, translation and interpreting studies, applied linguistics, information and communication technologies, legal studies, and technology studies. The issue comprises both theoretical and data-driven empirical work, or a combination thereof. While by no means exhaustive, the list of topics below would be of particular interest:
Deadline for abstracts: 1 January 2021
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Call for Papers:Conference: Breaking Barriers in Creative Translation (BBCT).Venue: Mons, Belgium.Date: 18-20 Nov 2026.Themes and topics: Exploring fictional worldsApplication of new technologies to creative textsTransmedia analysesStylistic analysesAssessment of creativity in translation contextsRendering of humourRetranslationEthics and professional deontologyTranslation under constraintsCreativity and didacticsCognitive issues in creative translationKey dates: Submission: 07/09/2026Notification: 09/10/2026Registration: 01/11/2026Conference: 18-20/11/2026More details: https://bbct.sciencesconf.org/?lang=en
Call for Papers:Journal: Translation Studies, Special Issue, 21(2), 2028.Theme: "Translation as Post-Occupational Practice? How Non-Professional (Human and Algorithmic) Translators are Driving the New Value Economy".Guest-editors: Lynne Bowker and Luis Perez-Gonzalez.Key dates:31 October 2026: Submission of Abstracts15 December 2026: Decision on Abstracts30 April 2027: Submission Paper for Peer Review30 November 2027: Submission Final ManuscriptMay 2028: Publication DateMore info: https://cfp-translationstudies.my.canva.site/
Call for Papers:Conference: The International Conference Translating and Interpreting in the Era of Algorithms (TIERA).Date: October 9th-11th, 2026Organised by the Department of Foreign Languages, Translation and Interpreting and the MA Science of Translation of the Ionian University.Themes:Translation Technologies and Human AgencyThe Creative Translator and the Algorithmic TurnEthics, Justice, and Responsibility in the Age of AutomationInterpreting FuturesAudiovisual Translation and AccessibilityPedagogical Shifts in Translator and Interpreter EducationCultural Mediation and Posthuman TranslationLegal, Institutional, and Policy PerspectivesIntralingual TranslationTranslation CriticismSubmission Deadline: 20 June 2026.Read more: https://conferences.ionio.gr/tiera/en/about/
Call for Papers:Symposium: Multilingual Archives, New Perspectives: China and the Sinophone World at the End of the Cold WarOrganiser: ALTER research groupLocation: Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC), BarcelonaDate: Mid-May 2027Abstract Submission Deadline: 30 June 2026Limited travel subsidies may be available, with priority given to early-career participants with limited access to funding.More info: https://blogs.uoc.edu/alter/symposium-multilingual-archives-new-perspectives/
Call for Papers:Conference: International Writing Workshops in Jordan for Translation StudiesAbout:The conference programme is designed for early-career scholars with a strong commitment to publishing high-quality research in translation and interpreting who feel that additional training and support would help them achieve this goal. The aim is for all participants to have an article draft ready for submission to an international journal by April 2028.What’s included?Travel, accommodation and subsistence costs to attend the workshops are fully coveredVisiting researcher status at Queen’s University Belfast, July 2026 – April 2028. This provides free access to online library resources.Mentoring (August 2026-April 2028). Participants will have three mentoring meetings with either Professor Baker, Professor Harding or Dr Sadler to give individualised support and feedback over the course of the programme.Workshop 1 – Research design and planning (February 2027). Topics will include: what international journals in translation studies are looking for and how they assess submissions; the publication process; key issues in research design and methodology; emerging areas of research in translation and interpreting researchWorkshop 2 – Refining your work for submission and wider academic skills development (August 2027). Topics will include: refining drafts from ‘nearly finished’ to ‘finished’; performing and responding to peer review; applying for research grants and collaborating internationallyOnline symposium (March 2028) – participants will be invited to share their work in an online symposium to enable final refinement before submission and receive feedback on presentation skills.You may apply by completing and submitting the following form at https://lnkd.in/e8zdeibq by 17:00 GMT Saturday 20 June 2026.More details: https://www.monabaker.org/2026/05/13/call-for-participants-international-writing-workshops-in-jordan-for-translation-studies/
