CONFERENCE PROGRAMME TBD

KEYNOTE SPEECHES

Prof. dr. Brian James Baer

Kent State University (USA)

Queering the Cold War Canon, or Translation and the Making of a Queer World Literature

Although the 1950s in the US witnessed the so-called Lavender Scare, which saw the firing of thousands of individuals suspected of being homosexual from positions in the US government, a confluence of circumstances led the emergence of a queer World Literature, even before the Stonewall Riot of 1969, which galvanized the gay liberation movement. This paper addresses the circuitous path to canonization travelled by four literary works in translation: Jean Genet’s Our Lady of the Flowers, Yukio Mishima’s Confessions of a Mask, Pai Hsien-yung’s Crystal Boys, and José Lezama Lima’s Paradiso. The paper situates the process of canonization in the context of Cold War political rhetoric while also highlighting demonstrates the role of emerging queer networks of translators, editors, and publishers.

Prof. dr. Michael Cronin

Trinity College Dublin, the University of Dublin (Ireland)

Translation, Minority and AI

Translation is a major issue for minority or minoritised languages everywhere as translation is the main route by which ideas, texts, and forms of expression enter these languages from dominant world languages. A recurrent concern for minority languages has been the digital divide where digital resources are largely concentrated in major languages thus limiting the use of digital translation tools for minority languages. One of the promises of AI-assisted translation is that it will greatly facilitate the volume of translation into minority or lesser-used languages and thus facilitate their development and use. The lecture will ask whether this is necessarily a positive development and whether there may be a need to think more critically about how lesser translated languages engage with digital technologies. From an ecological and cultural standpoint, the promised efficiencies of AI in translation for minority languages may prove to be less beneficial than their corporate advocates would claim.

Prof. dr. Federico M. Federici

University College London (United Kingdom)

Crisis of Trust: Reaching Translation Consensus When Communicating Health Risks

When patients have limited English proficiency (LEP), they rely on others to access health information in the United Kingdom. Ideally, medical interpreters mediate these encounters in person, or remotely. However, time constraints, resourcing, and systemic issues have shown how family members or bilingual healthcare professionals also act as language brokers, including children. When these encounters pertain to deciding about life-altering cancer treatment, the use of interpreters and translated consent forms is recommended.

If LEP patients undergoing cancer treatment have limited access to information, this will impact clinical care and outcomes, exacerbating health inequalities, when patients have limited language proficiency and live in the most deprived. This paper reflects on the findings of the Translate Myeloma Project (2023–2026), which tested the impact of different translation modalities on comprehension of myeloma, a blood cancer, among Bengali- and Sylheti-speaking communities in London. The three-phase project focused on the impact of translation technologies and modalities on enabling understanding of health-risks among participants in Phases 1 and 2. In Phase 3, professional interpreters and oncologists worked with community organisations and LEP participants to co-design translated information in accessible formats.

The project’s findings led to some innovation in patient consent practices and on recommendations about the use of large language models and machine translation outputs in clinical settings. The talk will critically analyse the results in relation to health literacy and health equity and discuss the impact of the study on the participants and the engagement with community advocates.

Assoc. prof. / Researcher dr. Oleksandr Kalnychenko

Charkivo valstybinis V. Karazino vardo universitetas / Motiejaus Belo universitetas Banska Bistricoje (Ukraina / Slovakija)

Ideological Shifts and the Politics of Retranslation in Ukraine

This talk examines the ideological forces shaping retranslation practices in Ukraine across three key historical periods, revealing how translation has served both as a tool of control and a form of cultural resistance. The first wave emerged during 1933–1935, when the Soviet regime labeled non-Russian nationalism a threat to unity. A media-led campaign in Ukraine accused translators of “nationalistic sabotage,” prompting widespread revisions of political and literary texts to align with Russian linguistic norms and Soviet ideology. Retranslation became a mechanism of Russification, suppressing Ukrainian identity and centralizing cultural production.

The second wave followed the Khrushchev Thaw in the 1960s–early 1970s. Rehabilitated translators from the 1920s saw their works republished in updated forms, marking a deliberate act of cultural restoration. A prominent example is the 12-volume Collected Works of Jack London (1969–1972), which drew from an earlier 30-volume edition, reflecting renewed interest in pre-Soviet translation efforts.

Despite Ukraine’s independence in 1991, a third wave of retranslation did not immediately materialize. The 1990s saw a decline in Ukrainian-language translations, as publishers favored Russian-language editions for broader market appeal. A resurgence began after the Orange Revolution, driven by evolving translation norms and efforts to restore censored content.

Together, these waves highlight the complex interplay between language, ideology, and national identity in Ukraine. Retranslation has mirrored shifting political agendas, serving alternately as a means of domination and a pathway to reclaim cultural sovereignty.

Prof. dr. Raquel Lázaro Gutiérrez

FITISPos-UAH Group, University of Alcalá (Spain)

Public Service Interpreting and Technology: Challenges, Opportunities, and Controversies

Many public service interpreters started their careers as onsite bilateral interpreters who seldomly made use of technology for their assignments. However, technology advances in the last decades made telephone performance increasingly popular. Accepting remote assignments was something many public service interpreters were obliged to do, particularly after the COVID-19 pandemic. Nowadays, there are interpreters whose expertise in telephone assignments is higher than in onsite ones. Authors like Spinolo (2022: 7) point to the appearance of ‘video-mediated dialogue interpreting’ as an alternative (or complement) for telephone interpreting in service provision settings.

We could argue that interpretation is a highly technologized activity. However, there is certain reluctance about the use of technology amongst interpreters, particularly about remote interpreting technologies and in public service settings. The appearance of remote interpreting and the introduction of computer assisted interpreting (CAI) tools imply not only a change in the abilities interpreters need, but also a shift in working conditions. Machine translation, automatic speech recognition (ASR), term extraction, conversion, and so on, have gained popularity, not only for the preparation of assignments, but also for their delivery as these are now offered remotely from desktops instead as onsite. Still a challenge for public service interpreters, the use of technologies, such as artificial notepads, which combine note-taking applications with ASR, or other useful CAI tools for the management of numbers, terminology and other named entities is more than possible in a near future.

The technological turn in interpreting means not only a change in our professional culture. It also implies division between those who advocate for an increased use of technology and the ones who point at ethical and ergonomic challenges. Public service interpreters devote their careers to bridging communication gaps, reducing asymmetries and facilitating access to public services for usually underserved populations. This talk will bring reflection and discussion over the reasons behind the scarce adoption of technology by public service interpreters.

References:
Spinolo, N. 2022. Remote Interpreting. In ENTI (Encyclopedia of Translation & Interpreting). AIETI.

SPECIAL SESSION & DISCUSSION

Beyond Trust and Necessity: Translation and Interpreting Technologies in Conflict and Crisis Situations

In the framework of our conference, we invite an in-depth discussion about the role of technology in translation and interpretation practices in conflict and crisis situations. Looking beyond binary qualifications of translation/interpreting technology as trust-worthy or unreliable, necessary or insufficient, we hope to foster a collaborative approach to study its impact, focusing on two key areas: its effects on translation/interpreting process itself, and a broader influence of technology-mediated translation/interpretation on crisis and conflict resolution and post-crisis/conflict communities. 

The intended format is a series of 20 min presentations followed by the 30 min discussion. Presentations for this session will be selected based on their relevance to the topic by the Scientific Committee.

To apply, please, submit your abstract via conference abstract submission form.

Convener: Dr. Khetam Al Sharou (DCU, Ireland)

Khetam Al Sharou is a Researcher at Dublin City University, funded by the Irish Research Council, and Honorary Research Associate at Imperial College London. Her current research focuses on the use of Translation and Interpreting technologies in social media, and conflict and crisis situations, specifically examining risks related to information distortion. Positioned at the intersection of Translation Studies, Computer Science, and Natural Language Processing, her work contributes to both academic and industrial fields, addressing real-world translation challenges through innovation and applied research. Her recent publications include ‘Translation Technologies and Automation in Crisis Situations’ (with Mieke Vandenbroucke and Gert Vercauteren), and ‘Everyday Machine Translation: Across Digital and Physical Environments’ (with Lucas Nunes Vieira) in Routledge Handbook of Translation Technology and Society (2025), and ‘Changing Landscape of Translation and Interpreting: A Systematic Review of Technological Advancements and Their Impact on Translation and Interpreting Practice in Armed Conflicts’ in Routledge Handbook on Translating and Interpreting Conflict (2026).