Monthly Archives: May 2012

Language Research

Posted on May 16, 2012 by Leigh Blount

The linguistic landscape of crisis zones The policy and practice of languages in conflict areas has become an issue of increasing interest to academic researchers, policymakers, and language practitioners over the past five years, an interest at least partially stimulated … Continue reading →

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Language Policy

Posted on May 16, 2012 by Leigh Blount

What has been much less evident in such research has been the existence of institutional markers, policies which recognise the key importance of languages and prepare in advance for the language dimensions of conflict. The general pattern emerging from case … Continue reading →

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The invisibility of language intermediaries

Posted on May 16, 2012 by Leigh Blount

The occlusion of non-military linguists, their apparent absence from policy-making for conflict, is in many ways related to a much more fundamental problem, a classic tendency to ignore the presence of language intermediaries altogether, to deny personal subjectivity to those … Continue reading →

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The place of translation/interpreting

Posted on May 16, 2012 by Leigh Blount

Among translation and interpreting scholars however there has been an increasing interest in the role of languages in conflict, and in particular in the part which translators and interpreters play in military situations (Apter, 2006; M. Baker, 2006; Dragovic-Drouet, 2007; … Continue reading →

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Sites of transnational conflict

Posted on May 16, 2012 by Leigh Blount

Whilst the setting for all this research, both the detailed case studies and the translation/interpreting scholarship, has largely been one of war and conflict, the fundamental points that are being made are arguably of high relevance to any study of … Continue reading →

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Language Practitioners

Posted on May 16, 2012 by Leigh Blount

Improving professional capacities Among language practitioners – those who work as professional interpreters or teach and train in this area – the problematics of interlingual communication in zones of crisis and war are of central and increasing concern.  One key … Continue reading →

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Safeguarding personnel

Posted on May 16, 2012 by Leigh Blount

The other major initiative has been one of public awareness raising and personnel protection. The International Association of Conference Interpreters (AIIC) has taken a leading role in publicizing the hitherto hidden plight of language intermediaries working in crisis zones. As Linda … Continue reading →

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References

Posted on May 15, 2012 by Leigh Blount

Apter, Emily. 2006. The Translation Zone. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Baker, Catherine. 2012a. ‘When Bosnia was a Commonwealth Country: British Forces and Their Interpreters in Republika Srpska, 1995-2007’. In Languages and the Military : Alliances, Occupation and Peace-Building, edited by … Continue reading →

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Contact us

Posted on May 11, 2012 by Leigh Blount

To get in touch please contact: Prof. Hillary Footitt University of Reading Email: h.a.foot@reading.ac.uk Telephone: +44 (0) 118 378 8126

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About the project

Posted on May 11, 2012 by Leigh Blount

Languages and international NGOs- addresses the issue of how research into languages and cultures can support the work of NGOs and aid agencies as they operate ‘on the ground’ in international conflict and crisis zones. It focuses on the language … Continue reading →

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