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Part of
Field Research on Translation and Interpreting
Edited by Regina Rogl, Daniela Schlager and Hanna Risku
[Benjamins Translation Library 165] 2025
► pp. 36–54

Chapter 1
Translating at work

Identifying and contextualizing paraprofessional translatoriality in organizations

ORCID logo | Tampere University
This chapter is a proposal for a research agenda that focuses on a particular context of translation work: everyday management of multilinguality in organizations by people who have been employed in another capacity but end up engaging in translatorial actions to move organizational agendas forward and get their work done. The agenda builds on work already done in translation studies and is developed in collaboration with scholars in international business and management and organization studies. As this widespread and contextually embedded practice is only becoming identified and studied, the chapter argues for embedded approaches that focus on extended fieldwork, and offers ideas for creative and exploratory methods to enrich data collection and to invite participants to collaborate and co-research this phenomenon.
Keywords: paraprofessional translation, translatoriality, translatorial linguistic ethnography, fieldwork methods, contextualization, workplace studies
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Paraprofessional translation
  • 3.Translatoriality
  • 4.Introducing translatorial linguistic ethnography
  • 5.Doing translatorial linguistic ethnography
    • 5.1Identifying paraprofessional translation
    • 5.2Creative and exploratory practices
  • 6.Conclusions
  • Note
  • References
This content is being prepared for publication; it may be subject to changes.
References (58)
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