Page 11 - e-Expert Seminar Series: Training the Experts in Medical Translation

Training the Experts in Medical Translation
Part I: Focusing on Translation
Language as a Social Determinant of Health: How and Why to Teach Crisis Translation
Federico Federici (University College London, UK)
BIODATA
Federico M. Federici is a Professor of Intercultural Crisis Communication at the UCL Centre for Translation Studies (CenTraS), UK. He was a member of the European Master’s in Translation (EMT) Board (2009–2014). His research predominantly focuses on translators and interpreters as intercultural mediators and the study of translation in crises, but he has also worked on Italo Calvino and the translation of minority languages and dialects. His articles have been published in journals such as Translation Spaces, The Italianist, International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, and Disaster Prevention and Management. He edited a special issue of The Translator, entitled ‘Translating Hazards’ (2023), Language as a Social Determinant of Health (2022) and Mediating Emergencies and Conflicts (2016). He has also co-edited Translating Crises (2022) alongside Sharon O’Brien, Intercultural Crisis Communication (2019) with Christophe Declercq, and Eye Tracking and Multidisciplinary Studies on Translation (2018) with Callum Walker. He has co-authored reports on crisis communication policies, multilingual communication in the humanitarian sector, and government briefs.
ABSTRACT
This chapter reflects on teaching approaches adopted to introduce concepts connected with multilingual communication in crises to postgraduate students of translation and interpreting. Firstly, I examine the use of a participatory learning approach to define concepts that enable crisis and emergency risk communication. Secondly, I reflect on the difficulty of simulating time-pressure and emotional fatigue in safe learning settings. Thirdly, I consider how multilingual healthcare communication can be facilitated by translators and interpreters beyond their language competences, ensuring language does not remain an informal barrier to accessing health support and aid in emergencies.
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