Edited by Gianluca Pontrandolfo, University of Trieste and Carla Quinci, University of Padua
Many myths and deep concerns surround neural machine translation (NMT) and the role specialised translators play in the age of artificial intelligence (AI). The scary idea of ‘human parity’, i.e. the belief that NMT can achieve human quality, sparks off heated debates about the implications of the recent outstanding technological advancement for the translation profession. The alleged threats posed by the results achieved by AI in combination with the gaps in the academic literature about the functioning of (N)MT and its influence on the translation process and product have caused widespread scepticism and mistrust, when not an a priori rejection of NMT. Scholars worldwide have attempted to debunk these myths by studying the actual advantages and disadvantages of using automation. For instance, do Carmo (2023) recently proposed the term “artificial translation” – rather than “machine translation” – to stress that MT does not perform a complete translation process, which would take into account not just the meaning of the source and the target sentences but also extratextual elements e.g. the voice of the author, the intended readers, the purpose of the target texts, which are crucial in any (legal) translation brief (Scott 2019: 81-102).
These concerns are particularly serious in the legal field, where the legal and ethical risks (Canfora & Ottmann 2020, Kenny, Moorkens & do Carmo 2020, Moorkens 2022) related to privacy and confidentiality, together with low risk tolerance and liability, contribute to that feeling of scepticism and mistrust. Thus, legal translation has generally been considered unsuitable for automation (Sánchez-Gijón & Kenny 2022, 85-86), especially due to its inherent challenges. While other specialised fields tend towards conceptual universality and univocity, legal notions and procedures are largely system-bound and historically rooted, which naturally reflects on individual legal languages and culture-bound legal references (cf. Biel 2022). This results in incongruities and asymmetries, which represent the typical challenges faced by legal translators (see Biel 2014, Pontrandolfo 2019). Another distinctive feature of this specialisation is the high variability of the texts and legal conditions that determine the role of translation itself in each communicative situation, i.e. its communicative priorities between or within legal systems, according to the conventions of specific branches of law and legal genres at the national and international levels (Cao 2007, Biel 2014, Biel et al. 2019, Prieto Ramos 2022). Legal translation involves negotiating not only between legal languages/discourses but also – and most importantly – between legal systems and legal genres (see Scott 2019: 31-55).
However, the evolution of AI and MT is changing the legal professional landscape, where the ‘triangle of MT’ (quality, price and speed) still plays a pivotal role. Legal translation service providers as well as law firms are increasingly betting on AI and NMT worldwide. Thanks to the growing quality of MT outputs and the development of custom engines (Martínez Domínguez et al. 2020), NMT and machine translation post-editing (MTPE) are now also used in the legal sector. The most recent version of the EMT Competence Framework “acknowledges that [it] represents a growing part of translation workflows, and that MT literacy and awareness of the possibilities and limitations of MT is an integral part of professional translation competence” (EMT Expert Group 2022, 7). Then, the question is not so much if machine translation and post-editing (PE) should be implemented in legal translator training but when, and how they are and will be used by professional translators (Quinci, forthcoming; Quinci & Pontrandolfo 2023).
Against this background, this Special Issue aims at mapping the new opportunities and risks related to fast technological advancement and the rapidly changing landscape of legal translation in training and professional settings by exploring a wide array of issues including, but not limited to, the following:
Deadline for submissions: 30 April 2024
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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/
