(Re) Framing Multilingual Technical Communication with Indigenous Language Interpreters and Translators

ABSTRACT

Through an ethnographic study conducted with an Indigenous language rights organization, this article illustrates how translation and interpretation can be further considered in global technical communication research. By providing examples of how Indigenous language translators and interpreters approach their work, this article advocates for a reframing of multilingualism in technical communication through a deliberate attunement to the relationships between language, land, and positionality. The author argues that as technical communicators continue conducting research in multilingual contexts, researchers should acknowledge how translation and interpretation impact the results and methodologies of contemporary global research.

KEYWORDS:

• Multilingual technical communication
• globalization
• Indigenous methodologies
• translation
• interpretation
• community engagement

Acknowledgments

Muchas gracias a todo el equipo organizador y a los participantes de la Desconferencia Internacional de Intérpretes y Traductores de Lenguas Indígenas: Tomás López Sarabia, Edith Matias Juan, Abigail Castellanos García, Elena García Ortega, Gaby León Ortiz y todo el equipo de CEPIADET, Nora Rivera, Mónica Morales-Good, y Cristina Kleinert.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. As part of the rhetorical arguments that I make in this article about translation, I provide English translation to Spanish text, but in some cases, I include the Spanish text above the English translations for emphasis and representation. I translated all Spanish content into English for the purposes of this article.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Laura Gonzales

Laura Gonzales is an Assistant Professor of Digital Writing and Cultural Rhetorics in the Department of English at the University of Florida. Her research threads connections between translation, technical communication, and community engagement. Her monograph, Sites of Translation: What Multilingual Can Teach Us About Digital Writing and Rhetoric (University of Michigan Press, 2018), was awarded the 2020 Conference on College Composition Research Impact Award.