Translation as problematic discourse in organizations

Abstract

Translation as an organizational activity is critical to the effective functioning of many institutions and is becoming ever more commonplace as our society grows increasingly multilingual and culturally diverse. This study examines translation in terms of its influence on organizational members' sensemaking and consequent social and task functions of the institution. An integrated theory of translation provides a foundation for identifying three major categories of problematics involving translation in workplaces: inaccuracies, losses of common sociocultural contexts, and changes to power relationships. Data from a hotel business meeting in which an executive's discourse in English were simultaneously translated into Spanish is analyzed to illustrate the problematics and to derive guidelines for organizations with multilingual workforces.