Tag: philosophy
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Dear Translators and Interpreters, You Are Not Alone!
Last week, I watched the drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office because I was looking for inspiration, strength and resilience. As I navigate my own efforts to complete my thesis on the injustices faced by public-service interpreters, I wanted to watch the story of people who persisted in questioning a system that seemed overwhelmingly…
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Who Is a Language Service Provider, and Who Are the Intermediaries?
One of the persistent sources of confusion in the translation and interpreting profession—and in Translation and Interpreting Studies—is the way we use the term language service provider (LSP). For years, the term has been used to describe commercial agencies and multinational companies that sit between clients and translators or interpreters. Yet this terminology deserves reconsideration.…
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Language Justice Reading List
The list includes articles I have written on the topics of equality and labour rights for interpreters and translators, including empirical research, policy analysis, and critical commentary. They are grouped by theme rather than method, and some contributions appear in multiple categories. The importance of justice and fairness extends beyond the translation industry. As economist…
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Three Simple Ways Translators Can Reclaim Agenda-Setting Power
Many translators and interpreters are facing growing challenges. Rates continue to fall, financial insecurity is intensifying, and stories of unfair treatment circulate widely across professional networks. Yet translators are often excluded from shaping the conversations about the profession. At conferences, within professional organisations, and in some academic and industry discussions, narratives that align closely with…
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The Contradictions of NRPSI: Why Its Current Approach Risks Failing Both Interpreters and the Public
At a time when interpreters face growing economic pressures and public services continue to rely heavily on outsourced interpreting arrangements, there is an urgent need to ask difficult but necessary questions about whether existing approaches are contributing to the crisis facing interpreters and service users. In this article, I argue that there are three main…
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After the BBC Investigation into Death, Bodily Harm, and Exploitation: What Translator Organisations’ Responses Reveal About Representation Failures in Public Service Interpreting
This article offers a chronological review of professional representation in UK public service interpreting over the past three years. It raises questions about whether professional organisations are adequately representing practitioners’ interests or have become increasingly aligned with commercial interests. In 2023, the BBC published an investigation linking interpreting failures in healthcare settings to cases of…
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Who Benefits When Professional and Commercial Interests Align—and Celebrate Together?
The Institute of Translation and Interpreting (ITI) reposted on their LinkedIn page a celebratory post by the Association of Translation Companies (ATC), the interest group representing translation companies, often referred to as language service providers (LSPs). The accompanying imagery places the logos of both organisations together, symbolically presenting them as partners in a shared journey…
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What Does the 2026 World Cup Have in Common with Court Interpreting?
At first glance, absolutely nothing. One is a global sporting event watched by billions. The other is an essential public service that helps ensure access to justice. Yet both are increasingly governed by the same principle: dynamic pricing. The 2026 FIFA World Cup has already generated headlines because of the extraordinary cost of tickets. Unlike…
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Educating End Clients About the Economic Conditions of the Translation Industry is Part of Change-Making: It Must Begin with Holding Professional Organisations Accountable
End clients—whether production companies, public institutions, agencies, or private service users—play a decisive role in shaping the economic conditions of translation and interpreting work. Through procurement choices, contracting models, and expectations around price and turnaround, they can influence how value and responsibility are distributed across translation supply chains. In this sense, end clients are not…
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We Must Acknowledge the Ethical and Political Tensions of Advising Translators to Move into “Adjacent Careers”
As part of my ongoing work on re-politicising translation labour and developing a theory of change for the UK translation and interpreting industry, I have argued that a more robust theory of change should evaluate whether commonly promoted “solutions” are evidence-based, ethically sound, and proportionate to the structural realities of the labour market. This article…
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Should university translation departments belong to the same club as interest groups
This critique reflects the author’s independent analysis and should not be understood as representing any institutional position. It is not connected to, commissioned by, or endorsed by the University at which the author is currently completing doctoral studies. My interest in this question arises from a broader concern about knowledge creation, academic independence, and the…
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