Linguistic inclusion in international NGOs: Multilingual challenges and informal translators

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A webinar with Dr Wine Tesseur (Dublin City University), organised by the Transnational Cultural and Visual Studies research theme at the School of Modern Languages.

Find out more about the School of Modern Language’s research themes.

Abstract
International NGOs (INGOs) value principles of equity and inclusion in their work with local communities as well as internally in their organisations. This is illustrated by the Core Humanitarian Standard, which aims to improve the quality and effectiveness of aid assistance and includes as one of its principles: ‘Staff are supported to do their job effectively and are treated fairly and equitably’.  This talk will draw on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in the headquarters of an INGO that mostly uses English as a default lingua franca to argue two key points. Firstly, I will argue that language diversity among staff poses challenges to INGOs that aim to ensure equity among staff, especially in terms of access to information, training, and career advancement. Secondly, my data shows that some multilingual aid workers play a key role in ensuring smooth communication between headquarters and country offices by spending a considerable amount of time on translating documents and interpreting for colleagues, even though this is not part of their job descriptions. The talk will explore how these informal translators and interpreters view their role. To conclude, I will argue that INGOs should better recognise and support this hidden language work, as it makes an important contribution to their work and their values.

Biography
Dr Wine Tesseur is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie and Irish Research Council postdoctoral Fellow at Dublin City UNIVERSITY. She holds a CAROLINE fellowship to work with the NGO GOAL on her project 'Translation as Empowerment: Translation as a contributor to human rights in the Global South'. Previously, she was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Reading on the AHRC-funded project ‘The Listening Zones of NGOs: Languages and cultural knowledge in development programmes’ (2015–18) led by Professor Hilary Footitt (University of Reading). Her doctoral work dealt with translation policies and practices in Amnesty International (Aston University, 2015).

Simultaneous Translation
The event will be delivered in the medium of English. You are welcome to ask questions in the medium of Welsh during the Q&A session. If you intend to do this, please contact mlang-events@cardiff.ac.uk by Wednesday 3 February to request simultaneous translation. Please note that 10% or more of those planning to attend will need to request this provision in order for it to be sourced and will be subject to resource availability.

Registration
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Recording of Event
Please note this event will be recorded.