Translation at International Organizations

Abstract

<p>This chapter explores how the legal functions of international organizations condition the scope and properties of translation-mediated multilingualism as implemented in three representative settings: the European Union, the United Nations and the World Trade Organization. To this end, a multimethod interdisciplinary approach is applied encompassing various analyses of institutional text corpora, legal instruments, language policy documents and interviews with translation service managers. The data obtained provide evidence of the interconnection and variations of underlying legal, textual and linguistic hierarchies, together with pragmatic and political factors, as reflected in translation directionality, strategies and quality assurance, and in multilingual text interpretation. It is argued that these aspects serve to reveal the “depth” of institutional multilingualism beyond the “breadth” of language coverage.</p>

Assessing legal terminological variation in institutional translation

“…Around 90% of this workload is dealt with at UNOG and the Headquarters. Nine out of ten documents are originally drafted in English, thus confirming the prevalence of this language as a lingua franca at the UN (Cao and Zhao 2008;Prieto Ramos 2020). Translators deal with a wide range of subjects and textual genres.…”

Translating legal terminology and phraseology: between inter-systemic incongruity and multilingual harmonization

“…In the case of new concepts emerging from international relations, the process of terminology standardization is normally led by the language of negotiation and original texts (i.e., English in most instances) (e.g., Drohla, 2008;Prieto Ramos, 2020). In confronting the importation of such terms into various target languages, translators play a crucial role as agents of terminological innovation and harmonization, especially in areas where the institutions are considered authoritative references (Prieto Ramos & Morales Moreno, 2019).…”