Call for Papers

Current:
CfP Vol. 6, no. 2 (2025): Interpreter as an active participant in communication - OPEN
---------------------------------

CfP Vol. 6, no. 2 (2025): Interpreter as an active participant in communication: between demands, ethics and competences

Edited by Soňa Hodáková (Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, Slovakia)

Despite the frequent conception of the interpreter as an impartial, neutral "tool" providing communication in case of language and cultural barriers (Müglová - Hodáková, 2024), which is also implied by many professional codes of ethics, research confirms that the interpreter is not "invisible" (Angelelli, 2004) and actively influences the communication process as well as its individual participants (Tribe & Raval, 2003). At the same time, the emotional impartiality of the interpreter is also often impossible (Harvey, 2003; Hetherington, 2012).

The extent of the mutual influence is of course dependent on objective and contextual factors such as the interpreting genre, setting or overall working conditions. However, the interpreters' subjective traits also play a role (Gile, 1995; Dean & Pollard, 2001; Bontempo & Napier, 2011), predicting, for example, their reaction to stress or their emotional regulation (Kurz, 2003; Schwenke, 2012).

This issue of the scientific journal Bridge aims to focus on the person of the interpreter and his/her agency in triadic communication between speaker and recipient. We welcome papers addressing primarily, but not exclusively:

the (in)visibility of the interpreter in communication;
ethical aspects of the interpreter's work in different settings;
occupational stress in different interpreting contexts;
the impact of emotions on the interpreter's performance and his/her own psychological experience;
the impact of the interpreter's performance on the primary participants in the communication;
reflection on ethical principles in interpreter education;
reflection on personality traits in interpreter education;
the demands on the interpreter and their (mis)correspondence with the competences acquired in training.

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 submission: 29 September 2025

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

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

References:

Angelelli, C. (2004). Revisiting the interpreter's role: A study of conference, court, and medical interpreters in Canada, Mexico, and the United States. John Benjamins Publishing.

Bontempo, K., & Napier, J. (2011). Evaluating emotional stability as a predictor of interpreter competence and aptitude for interpreting. Interpreting, 13(1), 85–105. https://doi.org/10.1075/intp.13.1.06bon

Dean, R. K., & Pollard, R. Q., Jr. (2001). The application of demand-control theory to sign language interpreting: Implications for stress and interpreter training. Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, 6(1), 1–14.

Gile, D. (1995). Basic concepts and models for interpreter and translator training. John Benjamins Publishing.

Harvey, M. A. (2003). Shielding yourself from the perils of empathy: The case of sign language interpreters. Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, 8, 207-213. https://doi.org/10.1093/deafed/eng004

Hetherington, A. (2012). Supervision and the interpreting profession: Support and accountability through reflective practice. International Journal of Interpreter Education, 4(1), Article 5. https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/ijie/vol4/iss1/5

Kurz, I. (2003). Physiological stress during simultaneous interpreting: A comparison of experts and novices. Interpreters Newsletter, 12, 1-17.

Müglová, D. & Hodáková, S. (2024). Tlmočenie vo sférach verejnej služby. Priebeh, priority, perspektívy [Interpreting in public service spheres. Process, priorities, perspectives]. UKF.

Tribe, R., & Raval, H. (2003). Working with interpreters in mental health. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315812342

Schwenke, T. (2012). Sign language interpreters and burnout. Journal of Interpretation, 20(1), Article 7. https://digitalcommons.unf.edu/joi/vol20/iss1/7

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

CfP Vol. 6, no. 1 (2025): Current Technologies in Translation - CLOSED

Edited by Marián Kabát (Comenius University in Bratislava)

The impact of artificial intelligence (AI) and emerging technologies on translation studies is undeniable. Recent developments in machine learning, neural networks, and natural language processing have made it possible to produce near-human quality translations under certain conditions, challenging the role of human expertise and prompting new research directions. These innovations invite fresh debates on fundamental issues such as accuracy, the negotiation of meaning, and the ways cultural context is preserved—or lost—in machine-generated outputs. They also bring ethical questions to the fore: How are biases embedded in algorithms affecting multilingual communication, and what role should transparency and fairness play in developing new AI-driven translation tools?

We particularly welcome interdisciplinary scholarship that situates AI-assisted translation within the broader social, cultural, and technological landscapes shaping our global society. Of interest are explorations of hybrid workflows combining human intelligence with AI efficiencies (Jiménez-Crespo, 2025), case studies of post-editing practices (Toral and Guerberof Arenas, 2022), discussions of user-friendly CAT (computer-assisted translation) interfaces, and explorations of the impact of AI on translation creativity (Chakrabarty et al., 2023). Research that draws upon fields such as computational linguistics, data ethics, digital humanities, or localization industry studies to examine AI’s place in translator training and professional practice is highly encouraged (Moreno García and Mangiron, 2024). We are also eager to feature critical perspectives on the ethical ramifications of automation in cross-cultural communication, and on the responsibilities of developers, and language professionals (Shneiderman, 2020).

Submissions may include original research articles, theoretical discussions, methodological innovations, or practice-oriented reports. Authors are encouraged to address questions such as:

how AI tools can be improved to handle linguistic and cultural nuances,
how they might affect the future of professional training,
and in what ways collaboration between humans and machines reshapes or might reshape the translation workflow.

Empirical inquiries examining the real-world performance of AI-supported systems, their adoption or resistance among translation professionals, and user experience design solutions are especially welcome.

We welcome original 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 submission: 1 April 2025

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

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

References:

Jiménez-Crespo, M. A. 2025. “Exploring professionaltranslators’ attitudes towardscontrol and autonomy in thehuman-centred AI era:quantitative results from asurvey study.” Revista Tradumàtica. Tecnologies de la Traducció 22(1): 276-301.

Toral, A. and Guerberof-Arenas, A. 2022. “Creativity in translation: Machine translation as a constraint for literary texts.” Translation Spaces 11(2): 184-212.

Chakrabarty, T. et al. 2023. Art or Artifi ce? Large Language Models and the False Promise of Creativity.

Moreno García, L. D. and Mangiron, C. 2024. “Exploring the potential of GPT-4 as an interactive transcreation assistant in game localisation: A case study on the translation of Pokémon names.” Perspectives, September 2024: 1-18.

Shneiderman, B. 2020. “Bridging the gap between ethics and practice: Guidelines for reliable, safe, and trustworthy human-centered AI systems.” ACM Transact. on Interactive Intelligent Systems 10(4): 26-31.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

CfP Vol. 5, no. 2 (2024): Rethinking Gender in Translation - CLOSED

Edited by Eva Spišiaková (Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra)

The topic of gender in all its varied forms accompanied Translation Studies already from its birth as an academic discipline in the 1980s and 1990s, both in the form of early works in feminist translations (Chamberlain 1988; Lotbinière-Harwood 1991; Simon 1996), and in research exploring translation through a queer lens (Harvey 2000; Keenaghan 1998; Mira 1999). Since then, gender became a well-established topic within Translation Studies with several collected volumes and special editions that not only consolidated the two fields, but also finally allowed for much-needed cross-pollination between feminist and queer themes (Baer and Kaindl 2017; Epstein and Gillett 2017; Flotow 2011; Larkosh 2011).

However, the half century that elapsed since these first theoretical encounters between translation and gender brought a number of new challenges for translators and interpreters as the role of gender in language use expands and transforms. The Me-Too movement irreversibly changed feminist discourse and how we talk about sexual violence by exposing issues such as victim-blaming, but also highlighted the harmful gendered stereotypes entrenched in languages and the need for a particularly mindful approach amongst translators and interpreters. The definition of queerness likewise expanded along its porous borders, as terms such as ‘genderqueer’, ‘asexuality’, ‘drag’ or ‘rainbow washing’ entered global parlance and need to be accommodated into new linguistic systems. The push for the recognition of transgender rights and the increasing visibility of nonbinary people have brought a number of linguistic quandaries, whether it is the question of how to translate singular ‘they’ and neopronouns into languages with a much stronger presence of grammatical gender (see e.g. Völkening 2022), or how to deal with the translation of nonbinary characters in literature and media, such as in the Booker Prize winner novel Girl, Woman-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------, Other (Evaristo 2019).

Gender-neutral language is also increasingly becoming a standard requirement in translations for corporations with a global reach, frequently imposed without clear guidelines on how to achieve these in languages that have gendered terms built into their grammatical systems. These are further complicated by the ubiquitous use of neural machine translation, which frequently reveals hidden biases assimilated by algorithms that replicate gendered stereotypes. The past years have also brought several discussions about representation, such as the heated discussion about Amanda Gorman’s poem The Hill We Climb (2021) and its Dutch translation (Kotze and Strowe 2021); these discussion poise questions about whether the identity and lived experience of the translator correlates with their expertise, but also about the ways gender categories and sexual orientations intersect with race, class, (dis)ability and other factors.

The proposed volume plans to explore these new iterations of gender in translation, with themes including but not limited to the following:

Feminist translations in the post-Me-Too era
Translating terminology associated with gender, feminism and queerness
Gender and gender-neutral language in specialized and technical translations
LGBTQ+ themes in translation and interpreting
Gender bias in interpreting, translation and machine translation
Translation of trans and non-binary characters in literature, videogames and audiovisual media
Gender-related trends in the publishing industry

Deadline for submission: 12 July 2024

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

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

----

References

Baer, Brian James, and Klaus Kaindl. 2017. Queering Translation, Translating the Queer: Theory, Practice, Activism. London: Routledge.

Chamberlain, Lori. 1988. “Gender and the Metaphorics of Translation.” Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 13(3): 454–72.

Epstein, B. J., and Robert Gillett. 2017. Queer in Translation. London: Routledge.

Evaristo, Bernardine. 2019. Girl, Woman, Other. London: Hamish Hamilton.

Flotow, Luise Von. 2011. Translating Women. Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press.

Gorman, Amanda. 2021. The Hill We Climb: An Inaugural Poem for the Country. New York: Viking Books.

Harvey, Keith. 2000. “Gay Community, Gay Identity and the Translated Text.” TTR : traduction, terminologie, rédaction 13(1): 137–65.

Keenaghan, Eric. 1998. “Jack Spicer’s Pricks and Cocksuckers.” The Translator 4(2): 273–94.

Kotze, Haidee, and Anna Strowe. 2021. “Response by Kotze and Strowe to ‘Representing Experiential Knowledge.’” Translation Studies 14(3): 350–54.

Larkosh, Christopher. 2011. Re-Engendering Translation: Transcultural Practice, Gender/Sexuality and the Politics of Alterity. Manchester: St. Jerome Publishing.

Lotbinière-Harwood, Susanne de. 1991. Re-Belle et Infidèle: La Traduction Comme Pratique de Réécriture Au Féminin [The Body Bilingual: Translation as a Re-Writing in the Feminine]. Montréal: Les Éditions du Remue-Ménage: MacIntosh.

Mira, Alberto. 1999. “Pushing the Limits of Faithfulness: A Case for Gay Translation.” In The Practices of Literary Translation: Constraints and Creativity, eds. Jean Boase-Beier and Michael Holman. Manchester: St Jerome Publishing, 109–23.

Simon, Sherry. 1996. Gender in Translation - Cultural Identity and the Politics of Transmission. London and New York: Routledge.

Völkening, Lena. 2022. Gendern: Warum Wir Die Flexibilität Des Sprachsystems Nutzen Sollten. Münster: Unrast.

Call for Papers

Information