Collaborative Translation: a model for inclusion
Monash-Warwick Alliance

TransCollaborate was formed in 2016 as part of a funded project for the Monash-Warwick Alliance. The original project pursued three research questions:

• Can collaborative translation provide a platform for academic collaboration and research?
• Can collaborative translation provide valuable English practice for ESL learners?
• Can collaborative translation support the integration of migrants into English-speaking communities?

In pursuing each of these questions, we developed the project through three streams: the literary translation context, the language learning context and the migrant experience context. Each of these three streams produced translations that have been collected in various publications.

Additionally, the Prato symposium, held in July 2017, allowed many of our colleagues to share their own ideas and experiences of collaborative translation. Several attendees at the symposium have contributed articles to our special journal issue on collaborative translation, appearing in 2019 in MTM: A Translation Journal.

TransCollaborate Incorporated

The work of the project continues under the banner of TransCollaborate Incorporated, a not-for-profit association formed in April 2018. TransCollaborate Incorporated will continue the work begun by Collaborative Translation: a Model for Inclusion on a local and international level.

Collaborative methodology

The model (below) was developed out of our early collaborative translation activities, and was ultimately adopted as the authoritative model for the project’s activities more generally. It remains the clearest distillation and embodiment of the aims of the Monash-Warwick project, and of TransCollaborate Incorporated.

Since this early approach, we have expanded to include other possible approaches to collaborative translation, particularly those that include larger teams. Our Prato workshops, for example, used small groups to work creatively on translations into multiple languages.

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