The term translation policy has become problematic for the field of
Translation Studies because it has meant so many things to so many authors
that it threatens to lose some of its efficacy (see Meylaerts 2011a, 163–166). In light of this, the
concept of translation policy should be developed so that it will be broad
enough to account for diverse phenomena in different places with multiple
agents, while retaining specific parameters that make the concept
methodologically useful. This article will consider insights from
Translation Studies and from other fields, especially from the field of
Language Policy, in order to develop such a concept of translation policy.
To illustrate how the understanding of translation policy that will be
proposed may be used in a descriptive paradigm, the article will present
translation policy in Scotland’s local government as a case study.
When Holmes ([1972] 2000) proposed his map describing the field of Translation Studies (TS), he included a small branch called translation policy. Since then, despite it being omitted in some illustrations of the map (Chesterman 2009, 14), translation policy has surfaced from time to time in the work of different scholars (e.g., Krouglov 1997; Diaz Fouces 2002), and it even has an insightful entry in the second volume of the Handbook of Translation Studies
(Meylaerts 2011a). So the study of translation policy, even if not central to TS, has been a part of the field for some time. Scholars who wish to engage in the study of translation policy, however, may face conceptual challenges when trying to determine the exact nature of the phenomenon they are attempting to study. Perhaps this is to be expected when two notoriously fuzzy concepts like ‘policy’ and ‘translation’ are brought together, but the difficulty is nonetheless real, as attested by Meylaerts (2011a, 163).
References
Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities
2002 “La planificació de la mediació lingüística [The planning of linguistic mediation].” In Traducció i dinàmica sociolingüística [Translation and sociolinguistic dynamics], ed. by Oscar Diaz Fouces, Marta García González, and Joan Costa Carreras, 85–110. Barcelona: Llibres de l’índex.
Dunbar, Robert
2001 “Minority Language Rights Regimes: An Analytical Framework, Scotland, and Emerging European Norms.” In Linguistic Politics: Language Policies for Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, and Scotland, ed. by John M. Kirk, and Dónall P. Ó Baoill, 231–254. Belfast: Cló Ollscoil na Banríona.
Dunbar, Robert
2003a “The Ratification by the United Kingdom of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.” Mercator Working Papers 10. Barcelona: CIEMEN.
Dunbar, Robert
2003b “Legislating for Language: Facing the Challenges in Scotland and Wales.” In Language and Law in Northern Ireland, ed. by Dónall Ó Riagáin, 138–163. Belfast: Queen’s University.
Dunbar, Robert
2004 “Language Legislation and Language Rights in the United Kingdom.” In European Yearbook of Minority Issues vol. 2 (2002–2003), 95–126. Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers.
Dunbar, Robert
2006a “Gaelic in Scotland: The Legal and Institutional Framework.” In Revitalising Gaelic in Scotland: Policy, Planning and Public Discourse, ed. by Wilson McLeod, 1–23. Edinburgh: Dunedin Academic Press.
Dunbar, Robert
2006b “Is There a Duty to Legislate for Linguistic Minorities?” Journal of Law and Society 33: 181–198.
Edwards, Viv
2008 “New Minority Languages in the United Kingdom.” In Multilingual Europe: Facts and Policies, ed. by Guus Extra, and Durk Gorter, 253–270. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Extra, Guus, and Durk Gorter
2008 “The Constellation of Languages in Europe: An Inclusive Approach.” In Multilingual Europe: Facts and Policies, ed. by Guus Extra, and Durk Gorter, 3–60. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Gilbert, Andrea
2003 “Ulster-Scots in Education in Northern Ireland: The History of the Language.” In Language and Law in Northern Ireland, ed. by Dónall Ó Riagáin, 78–87. Belfast: Queen’s University.
2013 “Translating for Linguistic Minorities in Northern Ireland: A Look at Translation Policy in the Judiciary, Healthcare, and Local Government.” Current Issues in Language Planning 14 (3): 1–16.
Halverson, Sandra
1999 “Conceptual Work and the ‘Translation’ Concept.” Target 11(1): 1–31.
Holmes, James S.
(1972) 2000 “The Name and Nature of Translation Studies.” In The Translation Studies Reader, ed. by Lawrence Venuti, 172–185. London: Routledge.
Jenkins, Richard
2007 “The Meaning of Policy / Policy as Meaning.” In Policy Reconsidered: Meanings, Politics, and Practices, ed. by Susan M. Hodgson, and Zoë Irving, 21–36. Bristol: The Policy Press.
Jernudd, Björn, and Jiří Nekvapil
2012 “History of the Field: A Sketch.” In The Cambridge Handbook of Language Policy, ed. by Bernard Spolsky, 16–36. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Krouglov, Alexander
1997 “Translation Policy in Post-communist Societies.” ASEES 11 (1/2): 34–45.
Mac Giolla Chríost, Diarmait
2012 “The Welsh Language: Devolution and International Relations.” Georgetown Journal of International Affairs 13 (1): 15–21.
MacKinnon, Kenneth
2006 “The Western Isles Language Plan: Gaelic to English Language Shift 1972–2001.” In Revitalising Gaelic in Scotland: Policy, Planning and Public Discourse, ed. by Wilson McLeod, 49–71. Edinburgh: Dunedin Academic Press.
McGugal, Irene
2001 “Scots in the Twenty-first Century.” In Linguistic Politics: Language Policies for Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, and Scotland, ed. by John M. Kirk, and Dónall P. Ó Baoill, 29–35. Belfast: Cló Ollscoil na Banríona.
Meylaerts, Reine
2011a “Translation Policy.” In Handbook of Translation Studies, vol. 2, ed. by Yves Gambier, and Luc van Doorslaer, 163–168. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Meylaerts, Reine
2011b “Translational Justice in a Multilingual World.” Meta 56 (4): 743–757.
Millar, Robert Mccoll
2006 “ ‘Burying Alive’: Unfocussed Governmental Language Policy and Scots.” Language Policy 5: 63–86.
2009 “ ‘Top-down’ or ‘Bottom-up’?: Language Policies in Public Service Interpreting in the Republic of Ireland, Scotland, and Spain.” In Interpreting and Translating in Public Service Settings: Policy, Practice, Pedagogy, ed. by Raquel de Pedro Ricoy, Isabelle A. Perez, and Christine W. L. Wilson, 33–51. Manchester: St. Jerome.
Phillipson, Robert
2003English-Only Europe? Challenging Language Policy. London: Routledge.
2006 “Methodological Perspectives in Language Policy: An Overview.” In An Introduction to Language Policy: Theory and Practice, ed. by Thomas Ricento, 129–134. Oxford: Blackwell.
Russell, Michael
2001 “Language and Politics in Scotland.” In Linguistic Politics: Language Policies for Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, and Scotland, ed. by John M. Kirk, and Dónall P. Ó Baoill, 23–28. Belfast: Cló Ollscoil na Banríona.
Schiffman, Harold
1996Linguistic Culture and Language Policy. London: Routledge.
Schiffman, Harold
2006 “Language Policy and Linguistic Culture.” In An Introduction to Language Policy: Theory and Practice, ed. by Thomas Ricento, 111–125. Oxford: Blackwell.
Scottish Translation, Interpreting and Communication Forum
2004Language Policy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Spolsky, Bernard
2009Language Management. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Spolsky, Bernard
2012 “What is Language Policy?” In The Cambridge Handbook of Language Policy, ed. by Bernard Spolsky, 3–15. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Tipton, Rebecca
2012 “Public Service Interpreting and the Politics of Entitlement for New Entrants to the United Kingdom.” Journal of Language and Politics 11 (2): 185–206.
