The rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) poses new challenges for language mediators. As machine translation systems are making great strides and many language services have come to be supported or partially automated by AI, the job market for human translators and interpreters is being redefined. However, humans remain indispensable to the language service industry – not only because they coordinate and correct machine output, but also because they continue to have the upper hand in certain areas of language mediation. There is widespread agreement that the benefits of human work are particularly evident in language services that require special creativity, which applies, for instance, to the transfer of pithy advertising slogans from one linguistic and cultural context to another, or to literary translation. At the same time, such language services are also gaining in importance overall, as witnessed, for example, by numerous publications on transcreation from recent years. Although AI is now also permanently transforming free speech production through applications such as ChatGPT, machines have so far lacked the contextual understanding that is required for high-quality transfers of nuanced and form-conscious texts between languages and cultures. For the time being, one shortcoming of machine translation is the fact that texts can only be grasped at the sentence level, not in their overall context. Nevertheless, AI-based applications are extremely useful tools for humans, even in highly sophisticated types of language mediation. In fact, in many creative industries specializing in language mediation and text design, the use of text creation software is already commonplace. Post-editing is booming and is increasingly finding its way into translation studies research and translator training.
The Department of Translation Studies at the University of Innsbruck takes these developments as a point of departure to reflect on potential tensions emerging between human and machine contributions to creative work in language mediation. On January 11 and 12, 2024, perspectives on the theory, practice or didactics of translation and interpreting are equally welcome to address questions that may include but are not limited to the following topics:
Please send your abstracts (no more than 300 words including title) for a 20-minute presentation in German or English by May 31, 2023, at the latest, to katharina.walter@uibk.ac.at and marco.agnetta@uibk.ac.at. Presentations can be held in person or online. A publication of the conference papers is planned.
We are looking forward to an exciting conference!
Call for PapersThis is a Call for papers to be submitted to the transLogos Translation Studies Journal, Vo. 9, Issue 1 (June 2026).This issue addresses a wide range of topics, including Translation Theory, Translation Criticism, History of Translation and Translation Studies, Applied Translation, Machine Translation, Computer Technologies in Translation, Translator Training, Technical Writing, as well as interdisciplinary issues in Translation Studies.You can submit your articles to translogos@diye.com.tr. Submission deadline: April 20, 2026.More details: https://dergipark.org.tr/en/pub/translogos/page/6185
Call for Papers:This is a Call to submit abstracts to a Special Issue of the Translation and Translanguaging in Multilingual Contexts journal on Making Multilingualism Visible: Visual Methods in Translanguaging and Translation Pedagogies.Editors: Vander Tavares, Ge Song, Liang Cao, and Angel M. Y. Lin.Topics:Visual and multimodal research methodsArts-based and participatory approachesMultilingual identities and repertoiresMultimodal and creative pedagogiesVisual ethnography and digital storytellingMethodological and ethical reflectionsSubmission deadline: May 15, 2026. More details: https://benjamins.com/series/ttmc/callforpapers.pdf
Call for Papers: This is a Call for a conference on 'Who is Responsible for the Archives? An Interdisciplinary Approach to Ethics in a Digital Age'Aston University in Birmingham, UK (and online).Friday 26 June 2026.Themes:Ethics as resilience and environmental sustainabilityEthics as a moral and philosophical issueEthics as a form of social justiceSubmission deadline: 13 April 2026 to AUACConference2026@aston.ac.ukMore information: https://padlet.com/dturner2_23/aston-university-archives-centre-auac-ugu5rgn68k5u52av/wish/Ae2Ravo86dYYQnz4
Call for Papers:This is a Call to submit papers to the 2nd International Conference on Field Research on Translation and Interpreting 2027 (FIRE-T1 2).Tampere University, 3–5 March 2027.Themes and topics:workplace communication, social and socio-technical interaction, coordination, and collaborationmultimodality in T&I practices, processes, and productsthe role of the body, (cognitive) artifacts, and cultural practices in T&I(changing) dynamics of contemporary workplaces; hybridisation of practices and tasks in workplace environments; paraprofessional T&I practicesempirical and conceptual contributions grounded in situated cognitive perspectives such as distributed, extended, embodied, enacted, embedded, and affective cognitionempirical and conceptual contributions grounded in sociological perspectives, e.g., affect and emotions in T&I, practice theory, professional roles and (self-)images, professionals’ agencyapplications and discussions of (micro-)ethnographic and/or ethnomethodological approaches (such as conversation/multimodal interaction analysis) in field research on T&Iinnovative and/or synergetic theoretical and methodological approaches and frameworksthe use of (new) technologies in T&I practicesSubmission deadline: 31 August 2026.More details: https://events.tuni.fi/fireti2027/call-for-papers/
Call for Papers:This is a Call for submitting papers to the 2nd EATPA Symposium on East Asian Translation Pedagogy.Venue and date: University of Toronto, 18-19 June 2027Themes: AI technology and translation pedagogy (navigating across the human-tech divide)Fiction and non-fiction texts in translator training (satisfying industry needs?)Inter-institutional collaboration in translation pedagogy (e.g.: COIL)Language proficiencies for translation classrooms (e.g. are minimum levels required?)Translation feedback & evaluation criteria (e.g. how do we and how should we grade?)Multilingual translation classrooms (a boon for collaborative translation practice?)Multimodal texts and translating beyond words (e.g.: art-spaces and heritage sites)Political ideology and translation pedagogy (e.g. polarisation in cross-linguistic settings)Theory and practice in translator training (e.g. how to effectively connect the two)Abstract submission deadline: 30 September 2026More details: https://easiantpa.leeds.ac.uk/2nd-eatpa-symposium-on-east-asian-translation-pedagogy/
