Public Accounts: Using Verbal Protocols to Investigate Community Translation

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Abstract
Verbal accounts of the translation process have in the past been used almost exclusively to shed light on language learning activities, focusing primarily on lexical search strategies in second language acquisition studies. This paper reports on the use of such accounts to identify broader strategies in the translation process and, more specifically, to assess what distinctive characteristics community translation for ethnic minority groups may have. Twelve community translators provided verbal accounts of their strategies while completing translations of a short leaflet from English into one of seven community languages. Their comments were invited on any issue which arose, but specifically on the way in which they dealt with the cultural terms relating to British society and institutions. Rather than rely on theoretical ground rules for translation, the translators adopted approaches wholly oriented to the needs of the particular community they knew best and served, and the translation model which emerges from their accounts is markedly socio-cultural. It aims not only to ensure efficient transfer of information across languages and cultures, but also to increase the autonomy of minority language communities within British society, inter alia by retention of some English terminology. It also highlights the need for ‘user education’ for those using translation services.

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