CIUTI Policy Statement

At a time when Eng­lish is the glob­al lin­gua fran­ca and tech­nol­o­gy claims to offer instant solu­tions to over­come lan­guage bar­ri­ers, it might be tempt­ing to believe that trans­la­tion and inter­pret­ing are fat­ed to dis­ap­pear and that trans­la­tors and inter­preters are endan­gered species. This is a mis­con­cep­tion: in an increas­ing­ly glob­alised and inclu­sive world, trans­la­tion, inter­pret­ing and relat­ed lan­guage pro­fes­sions are more essen­tial than ever.

Because of com­mu­ni­ca­tion. Not every­one speaks Eng­lish. Only prop­er­ly trained lan­guage pro­fes­sion­als can ensure error-free and risk-free com­mu­ni­ca­tion across lan­guages and cul­tures at a time when free­dom of move­ment and glob­al migra­tion have mul­ti­plied the oppor­tu­ni­ties and need for peo­ple with dif­fer­ent lin­guis­tic and cul­tur­al back­grounds to interact.

Because of the qual­i­ty of com­mu­ni­ca­tion. Lin­gua fran­cas have always exist­ed. But com­mu­ni­ca­tion in a lan­guage that is not one’s own moth­er tongue inevitably involves cer­tain lim­i­ta­tions and dif­fi­cul­ties of expres­sion and com­pre­hen­sion. Qual­i­fied trans­la­tors, inter­preters and relat­ed lan­guage pro­fes­sion­als are the only pos­si­ble solu­tion, as tech­nol­o­gy is unable to deal with the infi­nite­ly rich, com­plex and cul­tur­al­ly entrenched com­mu­ni­ca­tion between human indi­vid­u­als and communities.

Because of the dan­gers of mono­lin­gual­ism. The use of a sin­gle lan­guage in the pro­duc­tion and com­mu­ni­ca­tion of knowl­edge car­ries the risk of impos­ing a mono­cul­ture that does not reflect the epis­te­mo­log­i­cal diver­si­ty that mul­ti­lin­gual­ism embod­ies. In focussing on com­mer­cial­ly viable lan­guages, tech­nol­o­gy rein­forces lin­guis­tic mono­cul­tures, where­as the vari­ety of lan­guages rep­re­sent­ed by pro­fes­sion­al trans­la­tors and inter­preters averts such a risk.

Because of the imple­men­ta­tion and enjoy­ment of rights. Lan­guage can be an obsta­cle to full access to pub­lic ser­vices for those lack­ing pro­fi­cien­cy in the lan­guage of the coun­try that is host­ing them. This is par­tic­u­lar­ly impor­tant in sen­si­tive areas such as jus­tice and health­care. Qual­i­fied trans­la­tors and inter­preters are instru­men­tal in guar­an­tee­ing the pro­tec­tion of human rights enshrined in inter­na­tion­al law. More­over, pure­ly tech­no­log­i­cal solu­tions offered by pri­vate com­pa­nies stor­ing data for their own pur­pos­es are like­ly to pose addi­tion­al risks in terms of con­fi­den­tial­i­ty and privacy.

Safe­guard­ing the qual­i­ty of the lan­guage pro­fes­sions and the research-based train­ing pro­vid­ed by accred­it­ed insti­tu­tions is there­fore of para­mount importance.

Many things may change in the future, espe­cial­ly in terms of tech­no­log­i­cal devel­op­ment. But no mat­ter how great its impact, tech­nol­o­gy will nev­er be able to replace human added val­ue. There will always be a need for trans­la­tion and inter­pret­ing – and for the qual­i­fied indi­vid­u­als who are able to meet that need empath­i­cal­ly, cre­ative­ly, adap­tive­ly and ethically.

Know­ing lan­guages is a nec­es­sary but insuf­fi­cient con­di­tion for the prac­tice of trans­la­tion and inter­pret­ing – only prop­er­ly trained and qual­i­fied pro­fes­sion­als pos­sess the high­ly spe­cialised com­pe­tences and skills that such work demands. The social and eco­nom­ic impor­tance of trans­la­tion and inter­pret­ing makes it imper­a­tive that only com­pe­tent pro­fes­sion­als should be engaged in these activities.

Despite vary­ing local tra­di­tions, cir­cum­stances and require­ments, train­ing in trans­la­tion, inter­pret­ing and relat­ed lan­guage pro­fes­sions, at both under­grad­u­ate and post­grad­u­ate lev­els, is guid­ed by rig­or­ous stan­dards and ori­ent­ed on shared mod­els of com­pe­tence and research. It is in the deci­sive inter­est of edu­ca­tion author­i­ties to pro­mote and sup­port depart­ments and insti­tutes of trans­la­tion and inter­pret­ing, which pro­vide the essen­tial tech­ni­cal and cul­tur­al instru­ments to train all those able to meet such a spe­cif­ic soci­etal need. This applies just as much to the research that under­pins the train­ing and to the tech­nolo­gies that assist and sup­port trans­la­tors, inter­preters and lan­guage pro­fes­sion­als in their work.

Train­ing, research and ser­vice to soci­ety are the three key man­dates of uni­ver­si­ties the world over. Trans­la­tion and inter­pret­ing, two aca­d­e­m­ic dis­ci­plines shap­ing high-qual­i­ty pro­fes­sion­al prac­tice, are ide­al fields in which to per­form them.

Found­ed in 1960, CIUTI has devel­oped from a Euro­pean-based organ­i­sa­tion into a world­wide asso­ci­a­tion with more than 50 insti­tu­tion­al mem­bers in four con­ti­nents. Its mis­sion is to pro­mote qual­i­ty and excel­lence in train­ing and research in trans­la­tion, inter­pret­ing and relat­ed disciplines.