Public Service Translation And Interpreting: A Way to Accessibility And Inclusion

By | March 14, 2022
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Edited by Carmen VALERO-GARCÉS (University of Alcalá, Spain) and Soňa HODÁKOVÁ (Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, Slovakia)

The UN 2030 Agenda, among its main objectives and goals, promotes sustainable, inclusive and equal development. Achieving this objective requires alliances between countries so that a spirit of solidarity and inclusion can grow, and where accessibility to all services must be guaranteed.  Accessibility is fundamental to inclusion becoming a reality: it is not only about being able to physically enter and remain in a building, but also about being able to access information, content, communications and curricula. 

In the present historical moment, under the pressure of globalization and technological revolution, we are living through the inevitable transformation or even disappearance of countless professions (Rifkin 2010) and the transformation of the educational sector. Instead of disappearing, new and existing barriers are growing in an eternal paradox: on the one hand, the possibility of remote access to millions of information sources and services in certain languages has increased, but on the other hand, accessibility to these resources in less widely spoken languages or for people with limited digital capacity is often a daunting challenge.   

We are at a crucial juncture, both in terms of the perception and equitable distribution of these changes and also in terms of dealing with their consequences. The significance of this crossroads, coupled with the centrality of communication, translation and interpretation, is intensified by an avalanche of automatic translation, speech recognition, different modes of audiovisual and multimedia recreation and reproduction, and the need for instant and apparently universal access to information, culture and leisure. It is also exacerbated by the profound asymmetries, misunderstandings and cracks in globalization, and the growing imposition of productivity as an absolute goal (Gisbert & Torres 2018). Meanwhile the concept of equal access and inclusion seems to be fragmented, democratized or relativized. This leads us to a rather myopic or restrictive view of the concept of accessibility. 

Issue 1/2022 is devoted to analysing the level of accessibility in the complex area of Public Service Interpreting and Translation (PSIT). 

Topics of interest might include, but are not restricted to: 

  • PSIT training: new developments and challenges
  • Remote interpreting in public service settings
  • Technologies in PSIT: dangers and possibilities
  • The instrumentalization of communication strategies to serve the interests of institutions
  • Accessibility as a requirement to guarantee equality and non-discrimination of people who do not share a language and culture
  • Accessibility scenarios: mobility, communication and information, goods and services.
  • Language management and language rights as an inherent part of fundamental human rights. 

We welcome full-paper submissions reflecting the abovementioned issues. All articles must be written in English and should not exceed 7,000 words. We also welcome reviews of publications related to the main topic of this issue.

Deadline for full-paper submissions: 7 May 2022

Your submission should be sent via the journal website after your registration at: https://www.bridge.ff.ukf.sk/

Please follow the journal stylesheet athttps://www.bridge.ff.ukf.sk/index.php/bridge/about/submissions

References:

Bustos Gisbert, José  & Torres del Rey, Jesús. 2018.  Los nuevos caminos de la Traducción. The New Paths of Translation. Prefacio. In: CLINA Vol. 4 (2), pp. 7-11. DOI: https://doi.org/10.14201/clina201842711

De Cotret, Francois R., Beaudoin-Julien, Andrée-Anne & Leanza, Yvan. 2020. Implementing and managing remote public service interpreting in response to COVID-19 and other challenges of globalization. In: Érudit, Meta. 65 (3). pp 618-642. DOI https://doi.org/10.7202/1077406ar

Rifkin, Jeremy. 2010. La civilización empática. La carrera hacia una conciencia global en un mundo en crisis. Barcelona: Paidos.

Valero-Garcés, Carmen & Martin Anne (eds.). 2008. Crossing Borders in Community Interpreting. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company. DOI https://doi.org/10.1075/btl.76

Valero-Garcés, Carmen. 2018. TISP y tecnología. Retos en la era digital. In: Valero-Garcés, Carmen (ed.). TISP y tecnología. Retos en la era digital. Alcalá de Henares: Servicio de Publicaciones de la Universidad de Alcalá.  pp. 1-12.