Guest editors:
Anna Marzà & Joaquim Dolz
Societies nowadays are multilingual, that is, composed of groups speaking different languages. From a social point of view, multilingualism is conceived as the set of language practices and varieties, with diverse economic and symbolic status, that coexist in a social and cultural context. Population movements, especially internal and international migration and tourism have amplified the coexistence of languages within the same territory. Hence multilingualism can be considered as a universal phenomenon that develops in various ways according to the situations, the status and the representations about the languages that coexist, and the language policies of the countries and institutions. In this context, the terms bilingual or plurilingual are used to describe individuals who know and practice more than one language, as well as educational systems that aim at the simultaneous development of several languages or a holistic treatment of the languages present in schools (Coste, Moore & Zarate [1997] 2009; Béacco & Byram 2007).
The distribution of linguistic resources both from a social point of view and in educational systems is not always fair (Leglisse 2017). This is manifested most notably in the so-called Global South, decolonized countries where people's epistemic rights are racially devalued (Mignolo 2009). Glottophobia and discrimination are more general phenomena and are present in various situations of linguistic minorisation around the world (Blanchet 2005; 2016; Monzó-Nebot & Jiménez-Salcedo 2017) and prompt an ethical and legal reflection on linguistic uses, in particular on their application in the educational field. It is for this purpose that we propose a thematic issue that revolves simultaneously around the following three areas:
Language rights and especially the rights of linguistic minorities have become an object of study (de Varennes 1996; Henrard 2000; Patrick & Freeland 2004; May (2001) 2012). Likewise, they have received attention from international institutions (Ramón i Mimó 1997), as in the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (Council of Europe 1992). The report presented by the UN special rapporteur on minority issues (Izsák-Ndiaye 2012) mentions nine concerns regarding the rights of linguistic minorities, three of which seem particularly relevant for this thematic issue: first, the recognition of minority languages and linguistic rights; second, the use of languages in public life; and finally, the position that languages occupy in education.
Educational systems. Faced with the challenge of unequal multilingualism, countries respond with language policies that can be very varied within the educational field. This special issue focuses on the proposals for linguistic organization within educational systems in different contexts. Comparative analyses on the application of the linguistic rights of minorities related to the specific sociolinguistic contexts are particularly relevant. Comparison allows different solutions to emerge as linked to particular situations, revealing the necessary adaptations to the phenomenon of minorisation and their relevance and effectiveness to specific contexts. We are specifically interested in bringing together research that analyses the impacts of the implementation of educational policies catering for the linguistic rights of minorities (Milian i Massana 1992; Kontra et al. 1999; Flors-Mas & Manterola 2021).
Practical experiences promoting minority languages in education present great diversity (Rispail 2017): immersion programs (Artigal 1997; Björklund, Mård-Miettinen & Savijärvi 2017), the incorporation of minority and heritage languages in the classrooms (Maynard, Armand & Brissaud 2020; Sales, Marzà i Ibàñez & Torralba 2023; Prasad & Bettney Heidt 2023), intercomprehension (Bonvino 2015; Carrasco Perea & de Carlo 2019), or mother tongue-based multilingual education (Tupas 2015), among others. Nowadays there is a didactic engineering trend towards the integrated treatment of languages focusing on minority languages, either present in the territories or brought by migration (Perregaux et al. 2003; Pascual 2006; Dolz & Idiazabal 2013; García Azkoaga & Idiazabal 2015; Candelier 2016). The analysis of educational experiences considers the particular teaching strategies, the type of interactions between languages and the dilemmas that occur in educational practices (de Pietro 2004; 2021). Didactic devices can delve into language attitudes and the learning of these languages to limit their minorisation or even to avoid their assimilation or disappearance (Cummins 2000; Candelier 2003; 2008).
Based on the three thematic areas described above, the following questions may guide the preparation of contributions for this special issue:
Deadline for abstracts: 15 May 2024
For more information, click here.
Guest editors:Anna Strowe (University of Manchester)Richard Mansell (University of Exeter)Helle V. Dam (Aarhus University)This special issue focuses on the normative expectations around translators, including norms around translator identity, as well as around hiring or selection processes and understandings of competence or expertise. By applying the concept of norms to the area of translators and translatorship, we hope to connect conversations about the multiple intersecting systems of values that underpin those norms, often silently, ranging from beliefs about education, language skill, and qualification, to understandings of professionalism, economics, and translation itself, while continuing to explore the dimensions and qualities of translator identity and presentation. The norms themselves are at the centre of the topic, along with the values from which they emerge and with which they engage, but as with investigation of other types of norms, they must be extrapolated from available forms of data, for example texts by and about translators, or trends in hiring or training.As scholarship in translation studies has broadened, first from linguistic approaches to cultural and sociological approaches, and then to a focus on the translator, we have increasingly come to understand that we must view translation as a socially-situated practice or set of practices, carried out by agents whose behaviour and choices are influenced by a variety of external as well as internal factors. A large part of the focus has been on using this perspective to better understand the choices that are made in translating – that is, the specific textual decisions made by translators – but interest has also grown significantly in questions that move beyond textual choices and comparative textual analysis. There are significant threads of scholarship for example on the cultural or structural aspects of non-professional translation and interpreting (e.g. Antonini et al. 2017; Pérez-González and Susam-Saraeva 2012), the relationships between translation and activism (e.g. Boéri 2024; Gould and Tahmasebian 2020; Tymoczko 2010), and the impact of emerging technologies and digital spaces on perceptions of translatorship (e.g. Zhang et al. 2024), among many others.Norms have long been a productive tool for translation studies, but existing articulations and uses have focused on the translational norms that we understand as governing micro- and macro-level translation choices. Meylaerts (2008) discusses individual translators and their identities and profiles in relation to the norms of translation and the profession, following Simeoni (1998) in connecting these to Bourdieu’s notion of habitus. However, behaviour around translator identities and characteristics, such as hiring or self-presentation, can also be examined in terms of norms. In a recent article, Strowe (2024) suggests considering translator selection as norm-driven could help us better recognize the values and decisions around translator recruitment and deconstruct assumptions around translator choice and identity.These norms are reflected in patterns in hiring trends, the translation industry, job advertisements, and translators’ websites or blogs, for example, but they also inform a variety of aspects of how translatorship is constructed. The self-image and presentation or representation of translators is informed by beliefs about what responsibilities, tasks, and capacities are involved in being a translator, areas that intersect both with culturally constructed notions of what constitutes and delimits translation itself (see Tymoczko 2007) and with what forms of social, cultural, and legal understandings we have about various agents’ forms of responsibility for texts (see Bantinaki 2020; Pym 2011).The special issue will collect both empirical studies that explore areas related to translator norms, and articles exploring either the theorization of translator norms or the methodological possibilities of this kind of work. Potential questions to explore include (but are not limited to) the following:How might we theorize norms around translator identity, self-presentation, hiring etc.?What kinds of translator norms can be identified within the LSP industry or in other contexts in which translation is done?What differences are there in translator norms across different contexts or domains, and how do these differences affect practices of translation?How can we understand projections of translator image as a form of representation of translator norm? • How are translator norms changing in the face of developments in digital technology?What kinds of research methods facilitate the exploration of translator norms?This is an open call, and the editors particularly welcome proposals from researchers whose workintersects with translator identity or self-presentation;looks at industry expectations around translators and hiring practices;seeks to describe and delimit the spaces of human agency and identity around translation amidst the growing presence of AI.Submission Abstracts of up to 300 words should be submitted by November 24 to Anna Strowe by email (anna.strowe@manchester.ac.uk). Once invited to do so by the editors, selected authors will be asked to submit an article of between 7000 and 8000 words, including references, through the journal’s online portal no later than May 30, 2026.A full schedule of dates plus the bibliography is available here: https://benjamins.com/series/ts/callforpapers.pdf
Life Writing and Translation Thursday 18 – Friday 19 June 2026 University of Geneva Abstract of no more than 250 words (bibliography excluded) in English or French are now invited and should be submitted to lifewritingtranslation@unige.ch by 16 November 2025. Notifications of acceptance will be distributed at the beginning of February 2026. Please find more information on abstracts on the Conference website: https://www.humanmovement.cam.ac.uk/events/translating-conflict-and-refuge-language-displacement-and-politics-representation
APTIS25 Online Conference at the UCL Centre for Translation Studies (3–4 November 2025) “Better together: how can industry and academia collaborate to empower future language professionals?” The UCL Centre for Translation Studies (CenTraS) is looking forward to hosting the APTIS25 online conference. The APTIS25 conference (“Better together: how can industry and academia collaborate to empower future language professionals?”) will take place on 3–4 November 2025 via Zoom Webinar. We encourage submissions from both academic and industry speakers. Please see our Call for Contributions as well as the Types of Contributions section to know more about the contributions that APTIS25 will be welcoming. If you would like to contribute to APTIS25 by presenting a talk or a roundtable, please visit the Submit a Proposal section, where you will find the link to send your abstract. Please kindly refer to the Key Dates to know more about submission and registration deadlines. https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/aptis25ucl
APTIS25 Online Conference at the UCL Centre for Translation Studies (3–4 November 2025)“Better together: how can industry and academia collaborate to empower future language professionals?”The UCL Centre for Translation Studies (CenTraS) is looking forward to hosting the APTIS25 online conference. The APTIS25 conference (“Better together: how can industry and academia collaborate to empower future language professionals?”) will take place on 3–4 November 2025 via Zoom Webinar.We encourage submissions from both academic and industry speakers. Please see our Call for Contributions as well as the Types of Contributions section to know more about the contributions that APTIS25 will be welcoming. If you would like to contribute to APTIS25 by presenting a talk or a roundtable, please visit the Submit a Proposal section, where you will find the link to send your abstract.Please kindly refer to the Key Dates to know more about submission and registration deadlines.https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/aptis25ucl
Hieronymus is the first Croatian journal dedicated exclusively to publishing research and professional articles in the field of translation studies and terminology. The journal has the following key goals: (1) to promote translation studies and terminology in Croatia and the broader region, where these two disciplines are not always recognized; and (2) to enhance local researchers’ visibility in the international translation studies community. For the Research Section of the journal, we welcome empirical studies with clear goals and well-defined methodology in any area of translation studies or terminology. In addition, papers presenting and discussing any area of professional translation or terminological practice are invited for the Professional section. Contributions by early career researchers (pre-Ph.D. or recently obtaining a Ph.D.) as well as young professionals are gladly accepted. In both sections of the journal, contributors from Croatia and the broader region are particularly welcome, in line with the journal’s mission outlined above. The preferred languages are English and Croatian. We accept submissions throughout the year, but for consideration in issue 12 (to be published in December 2025), submissions need to be sent by 30 March 2025 at the latest. Submissions will first be considered by the Editorial Team and, if they pass this initial screening, they will be forwarded for a double-blind peer review. Authors whose papers are accepted for publication must certify that their work has not been previously published. All papers are published in Open Access under the Creative Commons 4.0 open license. For information on citation style and formatting, please consult our Contributors page and Submission Guidelines. Please send your contributions to the following addresses: knikoli@ffzg.unizg.hr sveselic@ffzg.unizg.hr If you have any queries regarding this call, please do not hesitate to contact us
