A Joint CALM & Emily Anderson Centre for Translation Research and Practice Seminar:
Can translation technologies support a more multilingual scholarly communication eco-system?
by Lynne Bowker
November 26th, 2024, 4-5pm
AMB-G067 Training Room 3
Arts Millennium Building, University of Galway
In this third edition of the CALM seminars for this academic year and in collaboration with the Emily Anderson Centre for Translation Research and Practice, Professor Lynne Bowker (Université Laval, Canada) will address the role translation technologies can play in multilingual scholarly publishing. Researchers from any field are highly welcome.
Abstract: In recent decades, researchers in many disciplines have come under pressure to publish research results primarily or exclusively in English. However, a single-language publishing model excludes many voices from research conversations, as well as generating negative impacts for science and society. As organizations such as UNESCO and the Helsinki Initiative advocate for multilingual scholarly publishing, the momentum for a return to a more linguistically diverse scholarly communication ecosystem is beginning to gain traction. But multilingualism presents its own challenges: if we all contribute research in our own language, how will be able to find and engage with each other’s work? Translation has a long history of facilitating knowledge transmission, but the number of publications produced annually has risen by several orders of magnitude since the days of the House of Wisdom or the Toledo School. This presentation will explore the potential and the pitfalls of translation technologies for supporting a more multilingual scholarly communication landscape moving forward.
Bio: Lynne Bowker is Full Professor and Canada Research Chair in Translation, Technologies and Society at the Université Laval. She was previously a professor at the University of Ottawa. In 2020, she was elected to the Royal Society of Canada in recognition of her research in translation. Her research interests include machine translation literacy and the use of translation technologies within and beyond the language professions. She is the author of Machine Translation and Global Research (Emerald, 2019) and the open access work De-mystifying Translation (Routledge, 2023).