Multilingual communication in a researcher’s work

Preliminary results of a questionnaire survey

Authors

• Esa Penttilä University of Eastern Finland
• Juha Lång University of Eastern Finland
• Helka Riionheimo University of Eastern Finland
• Juho Suokas University of Eastern Finland
• Erja Vottonen University of Eastern Finland

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.61200/mikael.129276

Keywords:

multilingual communication, non-professional translation, questionnaire survey, research translatoriality, scientific translation

Abstract

This article presents the preliminary results of a questionnaire survey conducted at the University of Eastern Finland in the first half of 2020. The aim of the survey was to investigate the multiple ways in which multilingual communication and various translatorial activities are included in a researcher’s daily work in different disciplines. The phenomenon discussed in this text is called research translatoriality, where the term translatoriality emphasizes the fluid and versatile nature of translatorial practices that are present in research contexts, extend beyond translation proper, and are performed by various agents. The survey results emphasize the role of English as the dominant language of academic discourse, but the full variety of languages present in researchers’ work at UEF is much wider. Moreover, some kind of translation or interpreting seem to take place at all phases of the research process. Interestingly enough, most researchers do translating, interpreting or proofreading themselves, although many of them have no training for these tasks. Only a minority use the services of language professionals.