Book publication – The Human Translator in the 2020s

Edited by Gary Massey, Elsa Huertas-Barros and David Katan, this new collective work asks “Has the language industry of the 21st century been racing ahead of the translation profession and leaving translators behind? Or are translators adapting to new sociotechnical realities and societal demands, and if so, how?”

The chapters in this volume seek to shed light on the profiles and position of human translators in the current decade. Continue reading

Book publication – Technology is Not Neutral: A Short Guide to Technology Ethics

Publisher’s synopsis: Technology Is Not Neutral: A Short Guide to Technology Ethics addresses one of today’s most pressing problems: how to create and use tools and technologies to maximize benefits and minimize harms?

Drawing on the author’s experience as a technologist, political risk analyst and historian, the book offers a practical and cross-disciplinary approach that will inspire anyone creating, investing in or regulating technology, and it will empower all readers to better hold technology to account. Continue reading

Book publication – Institutional Translator Training

Excellent news – the book Institutional Translator Training has just been published by Routledge, in open access format.

This collection surveys the translator training landscape in international organizations on a global scale, offering a state-of-the-art view on institutional translator training research and practical takeaways for stakeholders.

This book will be key reading for scholars in translation studies, particularly those interested in institutional translation and translator training, as well as active professionals. Continue reading

Book publication – The Handbook of Linguistic Human Rights

“A groundbreaking new work that sheds light on case studies of linguistic human rights around the world, raising much-needed awareness of the struggles of many peoples and communities.”

The first book of its kind, the Handbook of Linguistic Human Rights presents a diverse range of theoretically grounded studies of linguistic human rights, exemplifying what linguistic justice is and how it might be achieved. Through explorations of ways in which linguistic human rights are understood in both national and international contexts, this innovative volume demonstrates how linguistic human rights are supported or violated on all continents, with a particular focus on the marginalized languages of minorities and Indigenous peoples, in industrialized countries and the Global South. Continue reading

Book – Handbook on Legal Languages

A Handbook on Legal Languages and the Quest for Linguistic Equality in South Africa and Beyond is an interdisciplinary publication located in the discipline of forensic linguistics/ language and law. This handbook includes varying comparative African and global case studies on the use of language(s) in courtroom discourse and higher education institutions: Kenya; Morocco; Nigeria; Australia; Belgium; Canada; and India. Continue reading

Book publication – Shaping EU Law the British Way

Last week saw the publication of Shaping EU Law the British Way: UK Advocates General at the Court of Justice of the European Union, a significant part of which looks at the opinions of a great champion of translators and translation – Eleanor Sharpston.

In this book, leading scholars of EU law, judges, and practitioners unpack the judicial reasoning offered by the UK Advocates General in over forty cases at the Court of Justice, which have influenced the shape of EU law. The authors place the Opinions in the wider context of the EU legal order, and mix praise with critique in order to determine the true contribution of the UK Advocates General, before hearing the concluding reflections by the UK Advocates General themselves. Continue reading

Book publication – État des lieux de la traductologie dans le monde

I’ve been waiting for the publication of this tome for ages. And here it finally is!

Résumé: L’ouvrage aborde les aspects essentiels de la traductologie dans de nombreux pays d’Europe, d’Asie, du Moyen-Orient et du Maghreb, d’Amérique du nord, d’Amérique du sud et d’Océanie, que ce soit sur le plan de l’histoire, de la théorie, de l’enseignement ou de la pratique de la traduction.

Nombre de pages: 850 Continue reading

Book publication – Interdisciplinary Comparative Law

Just before the summer saw the publication of ‘Interdisciplinary Comparative Law: Rubbing Shoulders with the Neighbours or Standing Alone in a Crowd‘ by Jaakko Husa.

In particular, Chapter 3 addresses the significance of language for comparative law by asking what is comparative law’s relation to other disciplines that study language? The chapter focuses on legal translation but also discusses, more generally, comparative legal linguistics and its relation to the comparative study of law.

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Book publication – Traité de juritraductologie

“Dans cet ouvrage, Sylvie Monjean-Decaudin met au jour une grille de lecture et pose les bases d’une véritable théorisation de la juritraductologie, qu’elle définit comme un nouveau champ d’étude interdisciplinaire à la confluence du droit, des langues et de la traduction, puisant ses racines dans les sciences juridiques et dans les sciences du langage. Bien que la traduction juridique ait des ramifications historiques lointaines, ce n’est que dans les années 1990 que la juritraductologie prend véritablement son essor.

Face au phénomène de mondialisation et à partir du constat de la vulnérabilité linguistique des personnes, l’auteure montre à quel point la question de la langue du droit est liée à l’accès à la justice. Au-delà des enjeux de traduction dans les instances supranationales et européennes, les États plurilingues et pluri-juridiques doivent également faire face à des défis spécifiques liés à la formulation plurilingue de leur législation.” Continue reading

Publication – ‘Machine translation : driven by humans, powered by technology’

The Directorate-General for Translation (European Parliament) has recently published a compilation of six contributions from its biennial internal conference, entitled “The Many Faces of Translation – Machine translation: driven by humans, powered by technology“.

“The theme of the 2021 conference was ‘Machine Translation: driven by humans, powered by technology’. Over the course of the two days, we explored how humans and machines can work together efficiently. One aspect was particularly important to us: the ethical aspects of artificial intelligence (AI). There is no doubt that AI has already become a key technology. The European Union needs to keep up with progress in this field. However, cutting-edge technology is not an end in itself. While AI should be part of our toolbox, humans must always be front and centre.”

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