Research areas in translation

Audiovisual translation

Audiovisual translation mainly includes research into subtitling, dubbing and voice-over, but also other forms of audiovisual translation and media accessibility, e.g. audio description and subtitling for the deaf and hard of hearing. At TÖI, the main focus is on research into interlingual subtitling. Current projects include research into cultural references, metaphors, multilingualism, quality, style markers as meaning-making resources, machine translation and postediting.

Hanna Hagström

Lova Meister

Jan Pedersen

Cognitive aspects of translation

At TÖI, there has for a long time been a strong focus on empirical translation process research, with a number of studies using, e.g. think-aloud protocols. Today, cognitive aspects of translation are studied in a number of ways: focussing on social factors (collaboration etc.), in relation to the building of translation competence, and in experimental studies with professional translators.

Ulf Norberg

Sociology of translation

Sociology of translation is an umbrella term for research into the sociology of translation, translators and translating. In this area, research topics include translations as products on international markets (e.g. translation flows in world literature), the status and working conditions of translators (e.g. the professionalization process), as well as the synchronic and diachronic study of the different phases, practices and norms of the translational action (e.g. translation events and texts). The sociology of translation also studies the interactions, the relations and the networks of the agents and institutions involved in various translation processes.

Valérie Alfvén

Cecilia Alvstad

Elisabeth Bladh

Yvonne Lindqvist

Elin Svahn

Translation of children’s literature

Translation of children’s literature (a term covering children, adolescents and young adults) is clearly bound to a historical and sociological context and to strong educational and didactic expectations. For the past twenty years, the field of research in children's and young adult literature has grown rapidly and is today a fertile and active research field in many different domains, such as multimodal studies or translation studies sociology, covering for example studies on how cultural expectations and ideologies regarding childhood may challenge a translation or translation strategies but also studies on bibliomigration and reception of translations. At TÖI, research on translation of children's literature is conducted from a sociological perspective.

Valérie Alfvén

Translation as textual practice

Studies into how translated literary texts are marked by the linguistic and cultural norms of their time give insights into the principles, methods and strategies that translators follow, consciously or unconsciously. Manuals of literary translation theory and literal translation can also contribute towards a deeper understanding of translation practices.

Valérie Alfvén

Cecilia Alvstad

Elisabeth Bladh

Yvonne Lindqvist

Elin Svahn

Translator studies

In the branch of translation sociology commonly known as Translator Studies, the translator is the explicit and primary focus. This branch of research is relatively new and has developed over the last fifteen to twenty years. Studies focusing explicitly and primarily on the translator can be designed in numerous ways, using various methods and theories. At TÖI, research in Translator Studies includes studies on translators’ status perceptions, how translation students socialize into the translation profession, and individual translators' importance for the dissemination of Swedish literature abroad.

Giada Brighi

Elin Svahn