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Translating Institutions outlines a framework for research on translation in institutional settings, using the Finnish translation unit at the European Commission as a case study. Because of their foundational multilingualism, the institutions of the European Union could be described as both translating and translated institutions. The European Commission alone employs nearly two thousand translators, and it is translators who draft the vast majority of outgoing EU messages. Translating Institutions sets out to explore the organizational role and professional identity of this group of cultural mediators, a group that has remained relatively invisible despite its size and central institutional role, and to use the analysis of this data to elaborate broader methodological and theoretical issues.


Translating Institutions adopts an ethnographic approach to explore the life and work of the translators at the centre of this study. In practice, this entails employing a number of different methods and interrogating various types of data. The three-level research design used covers the study of the institutional framework, the study of translators working in specific institutional settings, and the study of translated documents and their source texts. This is therefore a study of both texts and people in their institutional habitat. Given the methodological focus of the volume, the different methods and data are outlined in independent chapters: the institutional framework of translation (institutional ethnography), the physical location of the unit (observation), translators' own views of their role (focus group discussions), and a sociologically-oriented text analysis of a sample document (shifts analysis).


Translating Institutions constitutes a valuable contribution to the sociology of translation. It opens up new avenues for research and offers a detailed framework for the study of institutional translation.

Translating Institutions: An Ethnographic Study of EU Translation

1. Introduction





Net-weaving





The European Commission as a translated institution





Ethnography: a weaving method





Small is beautiful





Role of the researcher





The logic of both/and





Aims and structure of the book











PART I











2. Translating institutions and institutional translation





2.1. Institutions





2.2. Rules, norms, and beliefs





2.3. Institutional translation





2.4. Categories of translated institutions





Supra-national institutions





Multilingual and bilingual administration





Public services





2.5. Translating institutions and translator training in Finland











3. Ethnographic approach to institutional translation





3.1. How to research institutional translation?





3.2. Essentials of ethnography





3.3. Ethnography in translating institutions





3.4. Probing cultural relations





Operationalizing culture





Nexus approach to culture





3.5. Identifications





Split identities





Questioning identification





Textual identities





3.6. Who is who: Positioning myself





Reminiscences





Ethical considerations











PART II











4. Language work in the European Commission





4.1. Institutional Ethnography





4.2. Framework documents





Institutional multilingualism





Building Europe





Legal selves in a law-based administration: Staff Regulation





4.3. Translating in the European Commission





DGT





Mission





Material environment: JMO





The Finnish Unit





4.4. Living in Luxembourg





4.5. Conclusions











5. Institutional identifications





5.1. European identities





5.2. Provoking representations with the help of focus groups





Ethnography and focus groups





Focus groups in the translation unit





Mind map and questionnaire





Transcription and translation





Limits of focus groups





5.3. Translation unit as a nexus of relations





Officials and translators





Socialization to the organization





Socialization to the profession: the issue of educational background





Readers and readability





Transnational expatriates





5.4. The role of laughter





Laughing together





Laughing at ambiguities





5.5. Conclusion











6. Institutional text production





6.1. Social study of texts





Mapping the process





Focus on shifts





Focus on interpersonal shifts





6.2. Drafting process





Political redrafting (ORI-00 ORI-01)





Institutional redrafting (ORI-01 ORI-02)





Reframing the document (ORI-02 ORI-03)





Drafting process: summary





6.3. Translation process





Communicating in Finnish (independent reading of TRA-02)





Continued institutionalization (ORI-02 TRA-02)





Analysis of shifts vs. independent reading





Improved AND deteriorated version (ORI-03 TRA-03)





Translation process: summary





6.4. From shouldness to maybeness?





6.5. Conclusions: Us and them











7. Net results





7.1. Rules, norms and beliefs: the question of culture in institutional translation





7.2. Readability





7.3. Recognition





7.4. Towards reflexive practice