News

Learning Brief 'Translation in GOAL’s COVID-19 information campaigns'

As part of my work with GOAL, I led the production of a Learning Brief in spring 2020 describing the multilingual and multicultural work of GOAL colleagues in Honduras and Zimbabwe in their COVID-19 health information campaigns. The brief, titled 'Reaching millions through multilingual COVID-19 awareness messaging: A case study on the role of translation in GOAL’s information campaigns' can be accessed by clicking on the image on the right-hand side. A longer version will appear in an edited volume by Sharon O'Brien and Federico Federici on Crisis Translation in 2022.

I would like to thank my GOAL colleagues and fellow authors Isaac Chaipa, Enida Friel, Luigi Loddo, Sahady Mencia, and Thandolwenkosi Sibindi for sharing their experiences and for taking the time to provide feedback on the initial drafts. Thank you to Silvina Katz, who assisted with interpreting.

Photo: A mural with COVID-19 health messages in English and Shona, Mutare, Zimbabwe © GOAL

GOAL Learning Brief-COVID 19 and translation-final.pdf

List of language and translation support resources for NGO workers

As part of my collaboration with GOAL, I compiled a list with links to 101 support on languages and translation challenges that NGO staff are often faced with.

This list was a direct response to the survey on language skills that I conducted with GOAL. In their survey responses, staff shared what kind of language challenges they came across in their work, and what language support they would benefit from.

The list provides links to freely and easily accessible resources. These tools and resources are of course no substitute for in-depth professional linguistic training, but they address some of the basic linguistic, multilingual and translation support needs that NGO staff raised.

If you have resources you would like to add, please leave a comment with the details or send an e-mail to winetesseur(a)gmail.com . Feel free to suggest resources in any language and that are easily and freely accessible online.

This list is available on Google Docs via this link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1HwxwWGOunidZ0rjSD9H59lsYeXDCqMIKNCzPwlXaQIc/edit?usp=sharing

Using Machine Translation ethically and efficiently at work

In April 2021 I organised a virtual workshop for NGO workers on how to use Machine Translation ethically and efficiently at work. The event was a follow-up to the language survey that I ran in GOAL (see below), which found that a high number of staff were using Machine Translation at work.

The workshop was delivered by Professor Sharon O'Brien and Dr Patrick Cadwell (Dublin City University), who have conducted research on translation in crisis situations and drew on this experience for their presentation. The workshop was based on the course material already available on the Crisis Translation YouTube channel, which you can listen to here. The event covered a basic introduction to how Machine Translation (MT) technology works, how you could use it at work, and raised awareness of some of the ethical questions around the use of MT for day-to-day communication, such as potential gender bias and data breaches.

This event was part of the 'Languages for an Inclusive World' festival, which I organised with my colleague Dr Andrea Ciribuco (NUI Galway).

Presentation 'Linguistic inclusion in international NGOs: Multilingual challenges and informal translators' now on YouTube

On 10 February 2021 I gave a webinar for the School of Modern Languages (organised by the Transnational Cultural and Visual Studies research theme) about 'informal translators' in international NGOs, by which I mean multilingual staff who often use their language skills at work to translate or interpret. This work is often not part of staff's job descriptions, but is nevertheless vital to ensure good communication and successful collaboration. I drew on all of the research I have done over the past 10 years, including with Amnesty International, Oxfam GB, Save the Children UK, Tearfund and GOAL.




Presentation on survey results now on resources page

In October and November, I participated in two online conferences to share the results of the survey I conducted with GOAL on staff's language skills and needs. I presented at the DSAI conference (29 Oct 2020), where I could share our findings with people working in the NGO sector and with academics with an interest in development and humanitarian work. Just a few days after, on 3 Nov, I presented at the online 'Translating the Neighbourhood' conference, which was mostly attended by translation scholars. The presentation for this event was pre-recorded. I have shared the recording and the PDF of the slides on the resources page for anyone who missed it and wants to have a look.

2020-Conference presentation-Translating the Neighbourhood-Tesseur.pdf

It's finally out: Our research monograph on Languages and Development NGOs

It's been hard work and a long wait, but here it finally is: our monograph that shares the research findings from the 'Listening Zones' project! Written by Prof Hilary Footitt, Dr Angela Crack and myself, this book is an attempt at co-writing across and beyond the disciplinary boundaries of development studies, international relations, translation studies, intercultural studies, and listening studies. It wasn't easy, but it was worth it, we think.

The book includes chapters on UK-based NGOs' histories of 'listening' to project participants, donor listening (with a focus on DFID), NGOs' current listening practices and what role language and culture plays in them, translators and interpreters in development, and country case studies on Malawi, Kyrgyzstan and Peru. The two final chapters reflect on what we learned: about how the research drives forward the research agendas in our separate disciplines; and what we learned and can recommend as good practice to aid practitioners. We hope you enjoy the read!

Blog post on GOAL's language survey shared through the CHS Alliance

My recent blog post on 'Celebrating language skills', which describes the findings of the GOAL language survey, has been shared through the CHS Alliance's blog and mailing list. This is fantastic news, not only because it will increase the readership of the post, but also because it shows the interest of the NGO sector in the research project. The CHS Alliance is a global alliance of organisations committed to making aid work better for people. Its sharing of the blog post demonstrates its recognition of the important role that languages and translation play in delivering higher quality, more effective aid. DCU has also put the research in the spotlight by sharing the blog post on the Faculty of Humanities's research page.

Dr Enida Friel and Dr Wine Tesseur in the 'Languages and Sustainable Development' seminar series

Colleagues from the international research collaboration 'Bringing the outside in' have recently organised a webinar series that highlights the breadth of innovative language-based research related to sustainable development. Dr Enida Friel and myself kicked off the start of the series with a talk on their collaborative project between DCU and GOAL. You can watch a recording of the talk here.

'Translation as Empowerment' website now available in five languages

As part of their module 'Simulated Translation Bureau', DCU students in the MA in Translation Studies have translated the 'Translation as Empowerment' website into five languages: Chinese, French, Irish, Spanish and Russian. A big thank you to the students and to colleague Dr Joss Moorkens for their work!


'Translation as Empowerment' project presented at event on multilingual crisis translation

On Monday 11 November I presented my research project in collaboration with GOAL during a 1-day event on multilingual crisis translation at the European Commission in Madrid. The presentation was well received, with participants from Caritas Spain, Salud entre culturas and CEAR (Comisión Española de Ayuda al Refugiado) confirming the importance of the research to raise the profile of languages in humanitarian and development aid sector.

Blog post on the project

A blog post on my research for my colleagues in GOAL is now shared on the GOAL website here, explaining the background of the research.

Guest lecture at the Universidad de Alcalá

I gave a guest lecture to the MA students in Public Service Translation and Interpreting as well as in Conference Interpreting at the Universidad de Alcalá on Tuesday 11 November. The talk mostly dealt with institutional translation provided in Amnesty International, drawing on my doctoral research.

'Translation as Empowerment' project presented in Bangkok

On 26 September 2019 I presented my research project to a mix of NGO practitioners and academics working on development issues at the Inclusion, Mobility, and Multilingual Education Conference in Bangkok.