Connecting Multilingual Communities: Exploring Translation in the Charity Sector from the South West (UK)

Context: This project will focus research activity on the intersection of Translation Studies and the Charity Sector. It builds on growing research in this field by engaging with charitable organisations at a regional level to explore their perceptions and practices of translation and interpreting. The South West is the geographic focus for research because of observable activity carried out in this area by the volunteer group Charity Translators. The South West-based non-profit association Charity Translators will be a key non-HEI community partner. This project is driven by experiences gained by the student who has interacted with 60+ charities and nearly 500 language volunteers across the UK and beyond. These insights suggest that charitable organisations are experiencing a language problems at a local level, with preliminary data indicating a significant cost barrier in accessing language services, as well as a significant knowledge-gap around working with translation and interpreting. This research answers the need for place-based research to co-create knowledge and resources aimed at improving accessibility and awareness of translation and interpreting within the charity sector in the South West region.

Aims and objectives: The research aims to answer the following key research questions:
How are smaller charities experiencing multilingualism and how are they responding to the need for translation and interpreting at local level? Which practices are they adopting for multilingual communication?
How do contributors from charitable organisations perceive translation and interpreting? What knowledge gaps can be identified around working with translation and interpreting in the charity sector and how can they be bridged?

This project builds on the work of large AHRC-funded projects such as 'The Listening Zones of NGOs', which carried out research with international development charities (Footitt et al., 2018). This project contributes to the existing knowledge base by working with smaller charitable organisations with a clear geographical footprint in the UK.

Potential applications and benefits: The thesis will adopt collaborative methods from Participatory Action Research (PAR) literature (e.g. activities such as the Problem Tree, Socratic Wheel and Sabotage) and will gather data on the perceptions and practices of translation among charitable organisations in the South West and Wales. It will invite contributors from charities working in areas such as poverty relief, community development and social welfare in the South West to take part in focus groups, using participatory methods to create a space for knowledge-exchange, exploring barriers or problems and identifying solutions or opportunities. The research will aim to co-create content for resources that will benefit organisations in the charity sector. The project has built in opportunities for follow-up activities. In addition to the thesis, project outputs will include making publicly available any suitable resources and case studies developed as part of the project.