Translation And Public Policy

This book brings together an ensemble of leading voices from the fields of economics, language policy, law, political philosophy, and translation studies. They come together to provide theoretical perspectives and practical case studies regarding a shared concern: translation policy. Their timely perspectives and case studies allow for the problematizing and exploration of translation policy, an area that is beginning to come to the attention of scholars. This book offers the first truly interdisciplinary approach to an area of study that is still in its infancy. It thus makes a timely and necessary contribution. As the 21st century marches on, authorities are more and more confronted with the reality of multilingual societies, and the monolingual state polices of yesteryear seem unable to satisfy increasing demands for more just societies. Precisely because of that, language policies of necessity must include choices about the use or non-use of translation at different levels. Thus, translation policy plays a prominent yet often unseen role in multilingual societies. This role is shaped by tensions and compromises that bear on the distribution of resources, choices about language, legal imperatives, and notions of justice. This book aims to inform scholars and policy makers alike regarding these issues.

Responding to increasing interest in the movement of policies between places, sites and settings, this timely book presents a critical alternative to approaches centred on ideas of policy transfer, dissemination or learning. Written by key people in the field, it argues that treating policy’s movement as an active process of ‘translation’, in which policies are interpreted, inflected and re-worked as they change location, is of critical importance for studying policy. The book provides an exciting and accessible analytical and methodological foundation for examining policy in this way and will be a valuable resource for those studying policy processes at both undergraduate and post-graduate levels. Mixing collectively written chapters with individual case studies of policies and practices, the book provides a powerful and productive introduction to rethinking policy studies through translation. It ends with a commitment to the possibilities of thinking and doing ‘policy otherwise’.

How are curriculum policies translated into opportunities to learn in the classroom? According to the Book presents findings from the largest cross-national study of textbooks carried out to date - the curriculum analysis of the 1995 Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). This study included a detailed, page-by-page, inventory of the mathematics and science content, pedagogy, and other characteristics collected from hundreds of textbooks in over forty countries. Drawing on these data, the authors investigate the rhetorical and pedagogical features of textbooks to understand how they promote and constrain educational opportunities. They investigate how textbooks are constructed and how they structure diverse elements into prescriptions for teaching practice. The authors break new ground in understanding textbooks in terms of different educational opportunities that they make possible. The book examines policy implications from these new understandings. In particular, conclusions are offered regarding the role of textbooks in curriculum-driven educational reform, in light of their role as promoters of qualitatively distinct educational opportunities.

This collection of new research on public service interpreting and translation (PSIT) focuses on ideology, ethics and policy development. It provides fresh perspectives on the challenges of developing translation and interpreting provision in service contexts and on the tensions between prescribed approaches to ethics and practitioner experience.

This edited volume documents the state of the art in research on translation policies in both legal and institutional settings. Offering case studies of past and present translation policies from all over the world, it allows for a compelling comparison of attitudes towards translation in varying contexts. It highlights the virtues of integrating different types of expertise in the study of translation policy: theoretical and applied, historical and modern, legal, institutional, and political. It effectively illustrates how a multidisciplinary perspective furthers our understanding of translation policies and unveils their intrinsic link with issues such as multilingualism, linguistic justice, minority rights, and citizenship. In this way, each contribution sheds new light on the role of translation in the everyday interaction between governments and multilingual populations.

Responding to the increasing interest in the movement of policies between places, sites and settings, this book presents a critical alternative to approaches centred on ideas of policy transfer, dissemination or learning. It argues that treating policy as an active process of 'translation', in which policies are interpreted, inflected and re-worked as they change location, is of critical importance for studying policy. The book provides an exciting and accessible analytical and methodological foundation for studying policy in this way.--Résumé de l'éditeur.

This work is the first book-length treatment on translation policy. Nearly everywhere in the world, populations are multilingual and mobile; consequently, language policies developed by the authorities must include choices about the use or non-use of translation. This book recognizes that these choices (or the absence thereof) become policies of their own in terms of translation. It builds upon the work of scholars in the fields of translation studies and language planning and policy in order to develop a new theoretical perspective on translation policy. In essence, the book proposes that translation policy can be understood as the management, practice, and beliefs surrounding the use of translation. The book deals with these issues under European and international law and then explores such management, practice, and beliefs in the UK, as a case study. Ultimately, the reader can find a fuller appreciation of both the importance and complexity of translation policy.