Ethnographic approaches

Peter Flynn
Lessius University College
Table of contents

Ethnographic approaches to studying translation have been on the increase, especially in recent years. Translation Studies researchers have recognised the versatility of ethnography as an approach to and research method for exploring translation practices in the broadest sense, in such diverse areas as medical interpreting (Angelelli 2000), asylum seeker procedures (Inghilleri 2003), translation at the European Commission and Parliament (Koskinen 2008) and literary translation (Flynn 2007). Further, ethnography has been put forward as a viable approach to Translation Studies (Wolf 2002). Translation scholars have studied translation practices in classical and more recent ethnographies from a Translation Studies perspective (Sturge 1997, 2007; Bachmann Medick 2006).

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