Calls for papers

The European Association for Machine Translation (EAMT) invites everyone interested in machine translation, and translation-related tools and resources ― developers, researchers, users, translation and localization professionals and managers ― to participate in this conference. If you envisage an information world in which language barriers become less visible to the information consumer, submit a paper on the topic that drives you and your work. Driven by the state of the art, the research community will demonstrate their cutting-edge research and results, and professional MT users in the language industry will provide insight into successful MT implementation in business scenarios. Translation studies scholars and translation practitioners are also invited to share their first-hand MT experience, which will be addressed during a special track. Deadline for submissions: 6 March 2020 For more information, click here

Decolonising university curricula has made international headlines in recent years. From the Rhodes Must Fall movement, to campaigns within universities to diversify reading lists, university departments have integrated new teaching practices that seek to both acknowledge and challenge the legacies of colonialism. Some UK universities have begun to recognise how they profited from the slave trade and have made (not uncontroversial) plans for restorative justice. Given its intrinsic relationship with the history of colonialism and its aftermath, Modern Languages – and the multilingualism upon which it relies – has been at the centre of debates about reforming research practices across universities. Scholars such as Alison Phipps, and research funded by the AHRC ‘Translating Cultures’ theme, have led the way in deploying creative and self-reflexive methods to acknowledge the uneven power relations that are implicit in the way we teach and learn languages.  While research agendas in the field have begun to embrace change, it is far less clear how the Modern Languages teaching landscape has been transformed in recent years. If scholars have questioned how imperial and colonial forms of knowledge-making impact upon their research, what opportunities and challenges have arisen when integrating de-colonial research into materials and methodologies for teaching?  The aim of this conference is to explore, examine and disseminate practices from within university language departments, sharing ideas about existing knowledge and practices of attempts to decolonize Modern Languages curricula in the UK and beyond.  Deadline for submissions: 31 January Please submit a title, 200-word abstract and short bio to joseph.ford@sas.ac.uk 

This year, the main focus of the conference is “Translation Studies in the Era of Digital Humanities”. We hope that the conference will bring together researchers and translators, academia and students, practitioners in language services and technologies and language policy makers and will become a forum for promoting dynamic and constructive debate, networking and research cooperation. The fourth international scientific conference “Meaning in Translation: Illusion of Precision” is aimed at exploring themes from the theoretical and practical perspectives covering a wide scope of topics: Terminology standardization and harmonization; Pragmatic, semantic and grammatical aspects of meaning in translation; Translation of sacred, legal, poetic, promotional and scientific and technical texts. Deadline for submissions: 31 January 2020 For more information, click here

Terminology as a research discipline has yet to achieve a well-grounded position among other disciplines. Nonetheless, the number of specialists dealing with it is constantly rising. Among them, besides terminologists sensu stricto, are theorists and educators of translation, researchers interested in language, translators etc. Moreover, tools used in terminological research are very diverse. We would like to open a multidisciplinary and a multilingual discussion on whether we can – and we should – talk about boundaries of and in terminology. Deadline for abstracts: 31 Jan 2020 For more information, click here

Following the 1st International Conference on Intersemiotic Translation, held in November 2017 at the University of Cyprus, this conference aims to address the theoretical and practical challenges that the shift away from the logocentric to increasingly intersemiotic, intermedial and transmedial culture poses for the relevant fields, which are consequently forced to reexamine their concepts, methods as well as objects of study. Concurrently with the developments that have led many disciplines (translation studies, adaptation studies, intermediality studies, semiotics, among others) to look at processes and products that cross media borders, we have also witnessed the appearance of a plethora of concepts describing such phenomena: from rewritings and refractions to intermedial translations, adaptations and appropriations to remediations, transmediations, transformations, transcreations, and (medial) transgressions, to name but a few. All these terms acknowledge the radical transformations that can occur when texts produce offshoots that transgress the borders of the language, genre, medium or platform of the original text. Recognizing that all terms have their different backgrounds and sometimes conflicting usages, this conference has chosen as one of its key terms the notion of ‘transmedia’ – not necessarily in any one of its specialised senses as used, for instance, by Henry Jenkins in the context of transmedia storytelling or by Peeter Torop and Maarja Ojamaa, who regard transmediality as the complex interrelations between texts in the mental space of culture – but rather as an umbrella term. We foreground ‘transmedia’– with its prefix trans- meaning ‘across’, ‘beyond’, ‘through’ – as a marker to highlight the ubiquitous processes and phenomena of media crossovers that share some common features (such as fictional world, character, plot). It is our understanding that with such high concentration of transmedial practices and concepts currently underway in culture and in academia, the time is ripe to see this as a general ‘turn’ not to be ignored. Although related to the ‘technological turn’ of the 2000s in translation studies as described by Michael Cronin, the ‘transmedial turn’ goes beyond the technological one: while the latter is defined by the changes in technology, the term ‘transmediality’ foregrounds a major operational logic of culture that has become especially explicit in this era of new media developments. At the same time, the notion of transmediality can shed light and contribute to the study of the respective practices of the past prior to the more recent technological changes. The aim of this conference is to look at the various transmedial practices historically and in comparison with the changes that have taken place during the last decades as a result of an explosive surge in intermedial and transmedial practices. The discussion will seek to investigate potential ways to account for these changes theoretically and map the implications they might have on the level of practice. The conference intends to bring together scholars from various disciplines, which over the recent years have moved extensively beyond their traditional borders in terms of both their study objects and their approaches. We hope that such a joint effort will offer valuable insights to the conceptualisations of transmedial practices across different cultural contexts at different points in time and bridge theoretical as well as methodological gaps. We would like to open up the discussion on the following: - The movement of texts across different times and different media: from intertextuality to intermediality, from intermediality to transmediality;  - The analysis and mapping of transmedial processes and products; - Transmedial practices in translation and adaptation history; - Theoretical models and methods to account for transmedial phenomena across disciplines; - The potential to find common ground on terminology in media-centred discourses across disciplines; - The concepts of ‘translation’ and ‘adaptation’ revisited in the framework of transmediality; - Translators, adaptors, refractors: the network of agents involved in the production of transmedia; - Transmedial entanglements of literature, theatre, film etc. and their influence on the conceptualisation and practice of translation and adaptation; - Changes in the distinction between professional/non-professional and individual/ collective in transmedial practices; - Power relations and ethics in transmedial practices.   1 March 2020: Deadline for presentation proposals For more information, click here

Editors: Evangelos Kourdis and Susan Petrilli It is our belief that the broadening of the notion of text has largely come about thanks to contributions from semiotic studies, according to a movement that has brought translation studies closer to semiotics. The relevancy of general sign studies to translation theory and practice has helped translation studies to move away from the verbo-centric dogmatism of the sixties and seventies when only systems ruled by double articulation were recognized the dignity of language (Eco, 1976). As Torop (2014) argues, “text is what we understand in culture and it is through the text that we understand something of culture”. Thanks to our primary modelling system or language (“language as modelling” which conditions communication and translation through the great multiplicity of different verbal and nonverbal “languages” with which human beings enter into contact with each other, signify, interpret, and respond to each other), understanding in culture occurs through texts of the semiotic order, verbal and nonverbal texts, multimodal texts, in the unending chain of responses among texts, engendered in the relation among speakers and listeners, readers and writers. Texts are created, interpreted and re-created in dialogic relations among participants in communication. Their sense and meaning is modeled, developed and amplified through the processes of transmutation ensuing from and at once promoting the cultural spaces of encounter. Torop (2014) argues that the text is located in a wide intersemiotic space, and that the analysis of a text demands investigation of its creation, construction, and reception: the text is a process in intersemiotic space. If we accept Marais’ (2018) argument that all socio-cultural phenomena have a translation dimension, it is difficult to disagree with Gentzler’s (2001) observation that translation theory can quickly enmesh the researcher in the entire intersemiotic network of language and culture, one touching on all disciplines and discourses. Nor could it be otherwise if we consider that the material of language and culture is sign material and that the sign as such is in translation. This means to say that to be this sign here the sign must be other, to be this text here the text must be other. The signifying specificity of a text develops in translational processes among signs and interpretants, utterers and listeners, writers and readers, across semiosic spheres and disciplines, across intersemiotic, or transemiotic spaces in the signifying universe, verbal and nonverbal. The notion of text has evolved significantly thanks to contributions not only from the Tartu-Moscow School of Semiotics but also from the French School, with important implications for the question of translatability, a fundamental property and specific characteristic of all semiotic systems – as stated, the “sign is in translation”. It ensues that translatability subtends the semantic process (Greimas & Courtés 1993), and with Charles Morris (1938) interpreted by Ferruccio Rossi-Landi (1954, 1975, 1992), we know that meaning not only concerns the semantic dimension of semiosis, but also the syntactical and the pragmatic dimensions. With reference to interlingual translation, as Petrilli (2003) claims, translatability indicates an open relation between a text in the original and its translation. In this volume of Punctum, we will investigate this open relation. Deadline for abstracts: 15 December 2019 For more information, click here

Dongguk University Translation Studies Research Institute is launching peer-reviewed journal TransLinguaTech which focuses on translation, language and relevant technologies.The rapid development of machine translation and other language technologies presents fundamental challenges to researchers and practitioners in translation, calling for reconsideration of various aspects of translation such as its definition, agent, object and method. However, there are few platforms dedicated to the issues brought about by the challenge. TransLinguaTech aims at providing a venue dedicated to such discussion, welcoming manuscripts on translation, language and relevant technologies. Deadline for submissions: 15 Jan 2020 For more information, click here

Current Trends in Translation Teaching and Learning E (CTTL E) is a double-blind refereed open access journal that explores a variety of issues related to translation teaching and learning. We seek qualitative and quantitative research articles that are relevant to this subject. The publication is indexed in the ESCI of the Web of Science and is available via EBSCO and is free online via our website. The length of papers should be around 2500 to 6000 words.  The deadline for submission of articles is March 1, 2020. For more information, click here

AUC/School of Continuing Education is proud to launch the 2nd Localization, Translation and Interpreting Conference under the theme: "Going Global: Business, Community and Education" to be held in AUC Tahrir Campus, April 1st and 2nd, 2020.  The topics of the conference this year are: Translation and Interpretation in global contexts Instruction and practice of Translation and Interpretation How can talents gear up for the market? How can businesses provide services globally? The conference invites contributions from professionals and academics to engage in discussions reflecting on market requirements, efficient professional training, and the role collaboration between business and academia could play to bring new solutions and address them. Deadline for submissions: December 31 2019 For more information, click here

The emerging area of field and workplace research in translation studies focuses on research on translation and interpreting in the very places where they occur, i.e. embedded in specific temporal, spatial and organisational environments. The International Conference on Field Research on Translation and Interpreting (FIRE-TI) seeks to bring together researchers who study translation and interpreting (T&I) practices, processes or networks in situ using a variety of different (inter)disciplinary approaches, e.g. from sociological, cognitive, anthropological or ergonomic perspectives. The primary objective of the conference is to create a common reflection space for T&I field and workplace research where experts can share insights into the diversity and complexity of translation and interpreting practices. In doing so, it also seeks to bring to the fore those particular aspects that are hard to reconstruct through product analyses or in a laboratory setting. The conference will provide a forum for researchers with an interest in the situational embeddedness of translation and interpreting processes to present and discuss their approaches, methods and insights. The contributions will discuss what kinds of concepts and theoretical approaches are needed to describe the investigated practices. What difference does the situatedness and embeddedness of translation and interpreting make for our descriptions of practices, processes and networks? What shapes the dynamics of the T&I fields and language industry today and how does this challenge the current conceptual boundaries in translation studies? How do new organisational forms influence practices and practitioners? How do working professionals and language industry stakeholders but also non-professional and amateur interpreters and translators perceive their situation and activities? Deadline for submissions: 12 July 2020 For more information, click here

The International Conference Translation, Inclusivity, and Educational Settings (TIES) will be held in Italy at the University of Naples “L’Orientale” on 27-28-29 February 2020. It aims to bring together academics, researchers, and scholars to exchange information and share experiences and research results about all aspects concerning translation, inclusivity, and educational settings in our contemporary world. The major goal of the TIES Conference is to connect and tie the world of translation to the multifaceted realities of today’s global and globalized uses of English. The contemporary relevance of English has turned it into the natural lingua franca in a vast range of contexts, both formal (e.g., business, education, science, politics, commerce, diplomacy) and informal (e.g., social networks, popular culture, blogs). It is through this lens in particular that we view the notion of inclusivity: it encompasses the multifarious realities and iterations of English(es) today. Translation and editing are implicated in these changes and demand proper investigations, and the TIES Conference intends to provide a platform for this line of research. Presenters are encouraged to identify those mediating, remediating, and intermediating connections among these key notions that allow users to comply, successfully and efficaciously, with translating needs for global communication today. Deadline for abstracts: 20 December 2019 For more information, click here

CLINA: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Translation, Interpreting and Intercultural Communication. Translating and Interpreting between Chinese and Spanish in the Contemporary World. Research, Training, Professional Practice. Following in the footsteps of recent issues published by the Journal, which have focused on translation and interpreting contexts that have so far received less attention from academia, this special issue will be devoted to examining the ins and outs of translation and interpreting involving Chinese and Spanish. The aim is to offer new insights into the state-of-the-art in the threefold dimension of research, training and professional practice. Both Chinese and Spanish are undoubtedly amongst the most widely spoken languages in the world. According to the latest report by the Cervantes Institute (2019) on the role of Spanish at a global level, these languages occupy the first and second place, respectively, in the classification of languages as determined by the number of native speakers, and the second and third place, behind English, according to the total number of speakers. On the other hand, as the Elcano Report on Spain-China relations (2018) also highlights, concurrent with the significant development experienced in their national contexts, in recent decades there has been a remarkable intensification of bilateral relations between China, Spain and the rest of the Spanish-speaking countries, as well as an increasing interest in learning the Chinese language and discovering Chinese culture in Spanish-speaking contexts and vice versa. In spite of this, the volume of research devoted to studying translation between these languages in various specialised fields, to identifying the specific difficulties faced today by those who carry out translation and intercultural mediation tasks involving these languages in different professional contexts, and to reflecting on the challenges faced both by practising translators and by those who have the responsibility of training future professionals can still be described as scant. In this context, this special issue of the journal Clina aims to serve as a platform for disseminating studies that will deepen our knowledge of the realities and challenges of the practice and teaching of translation between these two intrinsically “poly-” or “pluricentric” languages (Quesada Pacheco 2008; Rovira Esteva 2010: 271; Amorós-Negre and Prieto de los Mozos 2017) which, from “super-central” positions, interact within a system whose “hyper-central” position is indisputably occupied by English (Moreno Fernández 2015: 5). For that purpose, the concepts and approaches offered by contemporary theories of translation and other related disciplines and developed by researchers located both in the vast geography of the Spanish-speaking world on both sides of the Atlantic and on the Asian continent will be particularly useful. In addition to broadening our perspectives regarding the complex linguistic dynamics of contemporary globalisation and the processes of identity construction that take place in intercultural exchanges between the Chinese and Hispanic cultural spheres, the volume will also aim to fine-tune, enrich and diversify the theoretical-methodological basis of Translation Studies. Indeed, as more and more critical voices have been raised against certain research biases, including Eurocentrism, which may limit the development of our discipline (Tymozcko 2009; van Doorslaer and Flynn 2013), the calls to broaden the understanding of the phenomenon of translation through a greater integration of the plurality of visions, conceptions and translatological traditions that coexist around the globe have also recently gained strength. Deadline for submissions: 1 March 2020 Expected date of publication: June 2020 For more information, click here