Translation resources in not-for-profit contexts: A case for immediacy in humanitarian work

Abstract

Since Martin Kay first foresaw, some thirty years ago, the translator’s workstation (Kay, 1980), proposals for the integration of all machine aids and translation tools on a single platform have become closely associated with technical developments. In this regard, recent advances in ICT allow us to consider somewhat differently the ways in which information is handled and communication is established. Consequently, the concept of the translator’s workstation needs to be adapted to the new media designed for information processing and transmission. In this context, the translator’s workstation is best conceived of as a series of distributed tools and resources (e.g., glossaries, reference corpora, translation memories) that translators have access to through proprietary licences, through public data-sharing initiatives or through collaborative experiences among professionals. In not-for-profit contexts, where translation normally suffers from budget scarcity, the lack of such working tools and resources is so extreme that professionals are ultimately forced to create their own ad hoc materials, which usually remain undisclosed (Rico, 2010).