Edited by Cornelia Zwischenberger (University of Vienna, Austria) and Alexa Alfer (University of Westminster, UK), contracted with Frank & Timme, Berlin.
Translaboration, as an essentially ‘blended concept” (Fauconnier & Turner 2002), responds to the confluence of ‘translation’ and ‘collaboration’ that is increasingly widespread not only in Translation Studies but also in a range of neighbouring disciplines. Translaboration’s central aim is to bring ‘translation’ and ‘collaboration’, as well as the often highly heterogeneous practices associated with these two notions, into dialogue with one another. This edited volume builds on exchanges first aired at our successful ‘Living Translation as Translaboration’ panel at the 2019 ESTconference at the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa and will focus on the ‘translation as collaboration’ vector of the translaboration concept (cf. Alfer & Zwischenberger 2020; Zwischenberger 2020).
In Translation Studies, we can broadly distinguish two main research strands when it comes to collaborative translation: the historical perspective (e.g. Jansen & Wegener 2013; Cordingley & Frigau Manning 2017; Brown 2018) on the one hand, and the emerging field of ‘online collaborative translation’ (e.g. O’Hagan 2009; Kageura et al. 2011; Massidda 2015; Jiménez-Crespo 2017) on the other. While the former largely refers to analogue translaborations, the latter examines the interactive possibilities offered by platforms associated with Web 2.0 (O’Reilly & Battelle 2009) and has a distinctive digital framing. Where analogue collaborative translation forms the focus of attention, the aim, particularly from a historical perspective, is usually to prove translation’s inherently collaborative nature and to show that the act of translation has never been anything but collaborative. This line of argument is often pursued in conjunction with approaches from ‘genetic criticism’ (Deppman et al. 2004) and has helped establish a range of ‘Genetic Translation Studies’ projects (Cordingley & Montini 2015) that focus on the many texts and hands involved in the genesis of a translation. Research on collaborative translation in the digital sphere, meanwhile, focusses on the various forms of ‘online collaborative translation’ such as translation crowdsourcing and other non-solicited and self-managed online collaborative translation activities that include, for example, Wikipedia translation or the various forms of online collaborative fan translation such as fansubbing or translation hacking (O’Hagan 2009). Conducted largely via online platforms and often supported by machine translation tools, online collaborative translation is frequently executed by non-professional translators interacting with one another in virtual spaces. The fact that these translation phenomena, and the collaborations that give rise to them, fundamentally depend on digital technologies and virtual worlds is, notably, reflected in the routine conceptual privileging of the digital in the research that makes online collaborative translation its central object.
From a translaborative perspective, the prevalent analogue/digital binary that tends to dominate discussions of collaborative translation, and both intersects with and indeed accentuates other binaries such as professional/non-professional, paid/voluntary, production/ consumption etc., is not entirely helpful. With its emphasis on conceptual blending and confluent practices, translaboration offers an alternative perspective on a range of questions, which contributors to this volume will be invited to explore:
How does the analogue vs. digital framing impact on our conceptions of collaborative translation? What are the consequences of such framings for the various actors, but in particular for the translators involved? How do these framings influence concept(s) of translation as such, and thus affect disciplinary practices in Translation Studies? Does the analogue vs. digital framing entail ethical consequences given that translational collaborations in the digital world, where work often remains largely anonymous and mostly unpaid, can be exploitative? Or is the opposite the case and voluntary translators are empowered by acting in the digital space? And how should we map and interrogate power relations, struggles and hierarchies in analogue vs. digital translational collaborations, neither of which occur in a social vacuum? Who has the power to convene, or indeed to contravene, translaborations in these two worlds?
Extended deadline for proposals: 15 January 2021
For more information, click here
An Online Symposium
Friday 9th of July 2021
followed by Q&A with guest of honour Kate Briggs
Organiser: Dr. Delphine Grass This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..uk
The translation memoir can be defined as a reflexive writing practice on the personal and political intersection between identity and translation. Recent years have seen a boom in the publications of translation memoirs, with authors in the genre encompassing translators such as Kate Briggs (2017), Mireille Gansel (2012), Corinna Gepner (2019), Gregory Rabassa (2005) and Jennifer Croft (2019). These have engaged critical-creative reflections on the affective, political and transcultural work of translating literary texts, questioning the literary conventions which separate reading and writing, writing and translation. The translation memoir has also participated in a wider postmodern philosophical shift in the rethinking of identity and autobiography [Karpinsky 2012], engaging a form of authorial self-retrieval from within the dominant identity discourses of authorship, nationality, gender and the self. By highlighting the fluidity of national and cultural identities, translation memoirs investigate otherness from the perspective of translation, interrogating the limits of national and gender identity through the practice of rewriting the text and the self in other languages. The practice of translation as memoir, which can be found in such works as Anne Carson’s Nox for example, but also in the creative critical practice of Clive Scott, often engages a wider reflection on the relationship between translation and memory, translation and the survival of the text. What sets the translation memoir apart from other memoirs? What translation theories, what forms of literary criticism have paved the way for the boom in translation-memoir writing we are witnessing today?
Participants are invited to give papers which explore any aspect of the translation memoir as a creative and philosophical investigation of the self through translation, but also on the practice of translation as memoir. Critical-creative investigations of the subject are also welcome. As well as analysing the translation memoir as a form of self-authorization of the translator as writer, participants are invited to reflect more widely on the impact of the translation memoir on the fields of translation studies, philosophy and life writing. What unauthorized identities are being mediated by translation metaphors in the translation memoir? What new ways of thinking about identity can emerge from rethinking the self in relation to translation?
Participants in the conference will have the opportunity to publish their papers in a special issue of Life Writing on the translation memoir.
Please email your abstracts to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with ‘Translation Memoir Abstract’ as subject heading.
Deadline for abstract submission:
15th of January 2021
For more information, click here
Confirmed Keynote Speakers:
Emeritus Professor Clive Scott, FBA (UEA)
Professor Kathryn Batchelor (UCL)
While we hope to hold this conference as a face-to-face event , Breaking Down The Walls of Babel may need to be held virtually due to the Covid-19 pandemic. We will keep you updated as developments take place.
Translation Studies is a comparatively young scholarly discipline, often formally dated back to James Holmes 1972 essay “The Name and Nature of Translation Studies”, and the place and role of translation in the university, particularly in the English-speaking world, is a matter of ongoing debate and negotiation. Is translation part of the Modern Languages curriculum? Or does translation belong to Applied Linguistics or Literary Studies? Is it merely a vocational pathway or can it also be a mode of thought within the humanities? Why are so many departments sceptical towards it? The difficult position of translation in academia seems somehow related to its interdisciplinary nature.
Translation theory and practice are in fact inherently concerned with different fields of enquiry (literature, linguistics, modern languages, politics, cultural studies, anthropology, philosophy). Not only is translation inherently multifaceted, it also seems to occupy a special position in relation to other fields. The humanities in general, the social sciences (including law and philosophy), media studies, and the natural sciences all necessarily engage with and communicate through translation, even if they do not always do this explicitly. Translation is also embedded in art and, in the context of globalization, increasingly encountered in everyday life. Interestingly, French translation theorist Antoine Berman wrote about the particular status of translation in relation to his own academic context at the Collège international de philosophie in Paris, but what he had to say is much more widely applicable:
"Of all the programmes at the Collège international de philosophie, the ‘translation’ programme has a particular status. This particular status resides first of all in the fact that all of the other programmes […], irrespective of theme, are concerned with translation: wherever and whenever we look, our intellectual work encounters the ‘problem’ of the translation of certain texts. But the importance of translation for the Collège is more genuinely located in the fact that these various epistemologies or enquiries all encounter the question of translation (whether these are epistemologies that take an institutional form like philosophy, psychoanalysis, the sciences, law, literature and literary criticism, or the intersciences that exist only within the Collège)"[1]
While the interdisciplinary nature of translation and its necessary importance in other fields may potentially lead to an enriching dialogue between different areas of study, lamentably there is often a lack of communication between different fields of enquiry. Scholars and practitioners engaged with translation are often isolated in and by their areas of research and communication is often hindered by institutional structures. The aim of this conference is to offer a space where translation can take centre stage, and to further a dialogue between disciplines that engage with translation which may lead to the reciprocal enrichment of Translation Studies and other fields.
[1] Berman, Antoine. 2018. The Age of Translation: A Commentary on Walter Benjamin’s “The Task of the Translator”. Translated by Chantal Wright. New York: Routledge, p. 19.
Deadline for submissions: 8 January 2021
For more information, click here
Parallèles publishes high-quality original research in translation and interpreting, as well as other forms of multilingual and multimodal communication. The journal is double-blind peer reviewed, open access and operates under a continuous publication model. Parallèles is a multilingual journal. It welcomes contributions in English, French, German, Spanish and Italian. The journal is published bi-annually – in April and October – and alternates between thematic and non-thematic issues. Special issue proposals are examined once a year.
Deadline for submitting a special issue proposal (issue 35:1, 2023) is April 1, 2021
For more information, click here
The School of Modern Languages and Cultures at the University of Warwick encourages outstanding postdoctoral scholars to apply to The Leverhulme Trust’s Early Career Fellowships scheme, for Fellowships starting in the 2021/22 academic year.
The three-year Fellowship contributes 100% of the Fellow’s salary in the first year, and thereafter 50% of the salary, with the balance being paid by the University. Appointments at the University of Warwick are dependent on the award of the Fellowship.
About Warwick SMLC
Members of Warwick’s SMLC (covering French Studies, German Studies, Hispanic Studies, Italian Studies, as well as Translation and Transcultural Studies) have recognized research strengths across a wide chronological period, including the late Middle Ages, Renaissance, and Enlightenment. The School strongly promotes innovative research in several interdisciplinary fields such as film history and aesthetics, postcolonial and transnational studies, translation studies, war, trauma and memory studies, and representations of disability, gender, sexuality, and cultural identity. It raises issues of linguistic, cultural, regional, national, and ethnic diversity in Europe, Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, and North, Central and South America, explores the significance and impact of many different types of aesthetic expression and conceptualization, philosophical, political and cultural thinking, and pays particular attention to the reception and reshaping of philosophical, intellectual, or literary traditions, cultural hybridity and transnationalization, encounters and translations between cultures, literal and intellectual mobility, and reconceptualizations of art. In particular, staff working in Translation and Transcultural Studies have expertise in a wide range of research areas, including cultural translation and transculturalism, memory and transcultural studies, literary translation, sociolinguistics, self-translation in multilingual contexts, gender and feminist translation studies, sociology of translation, and history of publishing. For staff profiles and an outline of specific research interests, see our staff research interests page.
The host institution provides an environment supporting the career development of a research fellow seeking a permanent academic position in the UK. Warwick’s SMLC is in an ideal position to do so, as it has strong expertise and experience in hosting and nurturing research fellows. The SMLC currently hosts around 10 postdoctoral research fellows, funded by bodies such as the Leverhulme Trust, AHRC, ERC, MHRA and Marie Curie schemes. It also includes a community of around 27 doctoral students.
How to Apply
SMLC will carry out an internal selection stage to identify the candidates that it wishes to put forward. We strongly advise potential candidates to make initial contact with the relevant contact in the School of Modern Languages and Cultures. Suitably qualified candidates should therefore send their initial expressions of interest to the relevant sectional Director of Research as soon as possible:
For the internal selection round run by the Faculty of Arts, prospective applicants will need to submit a finalised Expression of Interest containing the following information to Jeremy Ahearne (see email above) by 12 noon on Thursday 10 December 2020:
Eligibility
Candidates should consult the guidance on the Leverhulme Trust’s website prior to submitting an Expression of Interest.In particular, they should note that applicants must:
The University will support successful candidates in the development of full applications, the deadline for which is 25 February 2021.
Please note that in our experience, early contact with the School is key to developing a competitive application.
For more information, click here
33rd Conference of the Canadian Association for Translation Studies in collaboration with ESIT, Université Sorbonne Nouvelle – Paris 3 (France)
Keynote speaker: Maria Tymoczko, University of Massachusetts Amherst
In political science, subversion is generally negatively connotated, because it implies a form of destruction. From the Latin subversion, or to “overturn, overthrow” (Mahoney, 2002–2019) and ruin, subversion is the “process of trying to destroy the authority of a political, religious, etc. system by attacking it secretly or indirectly” (Oxford, 2019) and “[t]he undermining of the power and authority of an established system or institution” (Oxford, n.d.), by encouraging citizens to question the existing order in the aim of overthrowing it. The Termium record for the term classifies it under the fields of “psychological warfare” and “political theories and doctrines,” and its definition provided by NATO is similar to the one we just saw: “Action or a coordinated set of actions of any nature intended to weaken the military, economic or political strength of an established authority by undermining the morale, loyalty or reliability of its members.” (Termium, 2015) in the ultimate aim of destroying it. These definitions include the words “destroy,” “attacking,” “undermining” and “weaken,” which all suggest some degree of violence. To sum up, subversion generally aims to undermine and destabilize the established, more often than not political or religious, order by insidiously demoralizing citizens, who will then overturn or destroy it.
However, subversion can also play a positive role through the healthy questioning of the values of a socio-political or religious system. For example, subversively translated poems were produced by early 19th century Decembrists, who wished to renew the Tsarist system in place. Certain poems illustrated the injustices of the system, while others promoted a liberal constitution (Baer 2010). The Russian translators of these poems were not neutral; they were actively engaged in a fight that called upon their resourceful creativity. Their subversive translations opened up alternative avenues to the dominant system and instigated a revolution in the way people thought. This more positive understanding of the term as a catalyst for positive change is that one that tends to have currency in translation studies research that focuses on the relation between translation and power.
The issue of subversion has been broached in studies that examine relations between translation and power (see, for example, Tymoczko et Gentzler, 2002), and in those that examine the links between translation and resistance (see, for example, Tymoczko, 2010). Moreover, in 2013, the University of Porto organized a conference on the theme of version and subversion in literature (“Version, Subversion: translation, the canon and its discontents”), and, in 1991, literary translator Suzanne Jill Levine published The Subversive Scribe, in which she explores her collaboration with revolutionary Latin American writers who confront the sexual 2 and cultural taboos of their respective cultures, by treating translation as a creative act that is a form of “(sub) version” (Levine, 1984, p. 84). Nevertheless, the theme has not yet been the object of focussed, yet broad, and in-depth discussion. In fact, translation studies research that touches on subversion is not limited to politics and literature, but rather includes more generally any discipline that involves culture (Alvarez et Vidal, 1996) and that requires creativity. Research findings tend to share the view that one cannot understand translation without taking into account the subjectivity of translators and their translations, and that translations can be manipulated with a subversive aim in view (see, for example, Lefevere, 1992).
In contradiction with the myth of the neutral, submissive and docile translator, translating subjects, like all humans, are imprinted with a subjectivity that is inscribed in their history and culture (Fournier-Guillemette, 2011). Researchers have studied subversive translation in the former Soviet Union or in Fascist Italy (Delisle, 2003), in Victorian Great Britain (Merkle, 2010; O’Sullivan, 2010), in Latin America (Bastin, Echeverri and Campo, 2010) and in the French classical era (Ballard and D’hulst, 1996), to name but a few examples. The interest of TS in subversion has thus been manifest at least since the beginning of the 1990s and has taken numerous forms. The time is now ripe to undertake a comprehensive reflection on the place of subversion in translation and interpreting, and the relationship that translators and interpreters have with the subversive practices of their profession.
Below we suggest several lines of enquiry to guide critical discussion; however, the list is not intended to be exhaustive.
Translation studies (TS) approach centered on:
the product (translation, interpreted discourse; case studies of negative and positive subversion);
the process of subversion (including manipulation); subversive measures;
the agent (translating subject, including interpreters, multilingual writers-translators);
norms (translator/interpreter positioning in relation to norms, whether they be linguistic or institutional; relationship between subversion and transgression).
Interdisciplinary TS approaches, considered from the perspective of:
politics and policy;
social psychology;
ideology;
creativity (e.g. literary, semiotic)
Critical approaches, looking at in particular:
the relationship between activism and subversion;
the relationship between resistance and subversion;
definitions and limits of the concept subversion and its derivative forms (subversif/ve);
translator and interpreter neutrality.
Deadline for proposals: 15 January 2021
For more information, click here
The School of Modern Languages at the University of Bristol seeks to appoint a Lecturer (Grade J, Level B) in Chinese translation and interpreting. The role is in the first instance for a fixed term of 8 months from February to September 2021. This is a 0.15 Full Time Equivalent position on Pathway 3 (primary responsibility for teaching, rather than research).
The successful candidate will supervise dissertations and contribute to two taught units on the MA in Chinese-English Translation, ‘Introduction to Specialised Translation’ and ‘Liaison Interpreting for Business’. The successful candidate’s contribution will focus on translation and interpreting from English into Chinese, including marking and marking moderation. The teaching and supervision will include both online and campus-based activities in a blended learning environment.
We welcome applications from candidates with a range of experience in translation and translation teaching. You should have a degree in translation, languages, or other relevant discipline; experience with UK higher education; professional translation experience; and native or near-native language abilities in Mandarin Chinese and English. Candidates should have the right to work in the UK.
The role descriptor for Lecturer (Grade J, Level B, Pathway 3) can be found here.
The appointment start date is 1 February 2021 or as soon as possible thereafter.
Deadline for applications: 14 December 2020
For more information, click here
The Department of Language Studies at the University of Toronto Scarborough invites applications for a full-time tenure stream position in the area of English and Chinese Translation (machine or human). The appointment will be at the rank of Assistant Professor, with an expected start date of July 1, 2021, or shortly thereafter.
Applicants must have earned a PhD degree in English and Chinese Translation or a related area by the time of appointment, or shortly thereafter, with a demonstrated record of excellence in research and teaching. We seek candidates whose research and teaching interests complement and enhance our existing departmental strengths.
The successful candidate will be expected to pursue innovative and independent research at the highest international level and to establish an outstanding, competitive, and externally funded research program. They also will become a member of the Tri-campus graduate department best suited to their area of scholarly focus, and will teach and supervise graduate students in that department.
Candidates must provide evidence of research excellence as demonstrated by a record of publications in top-ranked and field relevant journals or forthcoming publications meeting high international standards, the submitted research statement, presentations at significant conferences, awards and accolades, and strong endorsements from referees of high standing.
Evidence of excellence in teaching will be provided through teaching accomplishments, the teaching dossier including a teaching statement, sample course materials, and teaching evaluations submitted as part of the application, as well as strong letters of reference. Candidates must also show evidence of a commitment to equity, diversity, inclusion, and the promotion of a respectful and collegial learning and working environment demonstrated through the application materials.
Salary will be commensurate with qualifications and experience.
All qualified candidates are invited to apply online by clicking the link below. Applicants must submit a cover letter, a curriculum vitae, a research statement outlining current and future research interests, a recent writing sample, and a teaching dossier to include a teaching statement, sample course materials, and teaching evaluations.
Equity and diversity are essential to academic excellence. We seek candidates who value diversity and whose research, teaching and service bear out our commitment to equity. Candidates are therefore asked to submit a 1-2 page statement of contributions to equity and diversity, which might cover topics such as (but not limited to): research or teaching that incorporates a focus on underrepresented communities, the development of inclusive pedagogies, or the mentoring of students from underrepresented groups.
Applicants must also provide the name and contact information of three references. The University of Toronto’s recruiting tool will automatically solicit and collect letters of references from each once an application is submitted. Applicants however remain responsible for ensuring that references submit letters (on letterhead, dated and signed) by the closing date.
Submission guidelines can be found at http://uoft.me/how-to-apply. We recommend combining attached documents into one or two files in PDF/MS Word format. If you have any questions about this position, please contact Professor Juvénal Ndayiragije at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
All application materials, including reference letters, must be received by December 21, 2020.
All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply; however, Canadians and permanent residents will be given priority.
Diversity Statement
The University of Toronto is strongly committed to diversity within its community and especially welcomes applications from racialized persons / persons of colour, women, Indigenous / Aboriginal People of North America, persons with disabilities, LGBTQ persons, and others who may contribute to the further diversification of ideas.
As part of your application, you will be asked to complete a brief Diversity Survey. This survey is voluntary. Any information directly related to you is confidential and cannot be accessed by search committees or human resources staff. Results will be aggregated for institutional planning purposes. For more information, please see http://uoft.me/UP.
Accessibility Statement
The University strives to be an equitable and inclusive community, and proactively seeks to increase diversity among its community members. Our values regarding equity and diversity are linked with our unwavering commitment to excellence in the pursuit of our academic mission.
The University is committed to the principles of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA). As such, we strive to make our recruitment, assessment and selection processes as accessible as possible and provide accommodations as required for applicants with disabilities.
If you require any accommodations at any point during the application and hiring process, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Deadline for applications: 21 December 2020
For more information, click here
Edited by Cornelia Zwischenberger (University of Vienna, Austria) and Alexa Alfer (University of Westminster, UK), contracted with Frank & Timme, Berlin
Translaboration, as an essentially ‘blended concept” (Fauconnier & Turner 2002), responds to the confluence of ‘translation’ and ‘collaboration’ that is increasingly widespread not only in Translation Studies but also in a range of neighbouring disciplines. Translaboration’s central aim is to bring ‘translation’ and ‘collaboration’, as well as the often highly heterogeneous practices associated with these two notions, into dialogue with one another. This edited volume builds on exchanges first aired at our successful ‘Living Translation as Translaboration’ panel at the 2019 EST-conference at the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa and will focus on the ‘translation as collaboration’ vector of the translaboration concept (cf. Alfer & Zwischenberger 2020; Zwischenberger 2020).
Deadline for proposals: 15th of December 2020
For more information, click here
2nd Call for Papers
(Deadline for abstract submission extended to 15 December 2020)
The Second HKBU International Conference on Interpreting will now be held in mixed modes on 8-9 April 2021. It will take place on the campus of Hong Kong Baptist University and online via Zoom Webinar.
Following on the great success of the conference on “History of Interpreting” in 2017, we will dedicate this second conference to the theme of “Cognitive Approaches” in interpreting.
This broad theme will allow us to take stock of the multifaceted research conducted from this perspective, present the state of the art, and pave the way for future research adopting cognitive approaches.
We also recognize the increasing convergence of research on both spoken language interpreting and signed language interpreting and will attempt to connect the two fields under the common theme of this conference. As keynote speakers for this year’s conference, we will have two of the most highly regarded scholars who study spoken language interpreting and signed language interpreting taking cognitive approaches.
We welcome oral presentations and posters on both basic and applied research that fit the sub-themes of the conference or that are related to the conference theme in a broader sense.
Sub-themes:
For more information, click here
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