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This seminar examines two video-recorded interactions at a linguistically diverse company in Sweden, where employees engage in communication across Swedish, Ukrainian, English, and Russian. Methodologically, this research is based on sequential organization (Schegloff 2007), Ethnomethodological Conversation Analysis (EMCA; Garfinkel 1967; Goodwin & Heritage 1990), and the examination of embodied conduct in interaction (Goodwin et al. 2011; Mondada 2013). Using an EMCA-inspired analysis of socio-technical practices (Schatzki 2015), the study investigates the role of the Google Translate app in a manager-employee meeting, involving a native Swedish speaker and a native Ukrainian speaker. Subsequently, it analyzes a follow-up meeting facilitated by a Russian-speaking employee who interprets into English to ensure clarity and understanding. This study aims to uncover the nuances of professional and linguistic identities as they are emerged and re-constructed in a multilingual context. Insights into the intricate dynamics of employing digital translation tools alongside human interpreters to support understanding and collaboration in a corporate context will be shared.

References

Garfinkel, H. (1967). Studies in Ethnomethodology, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall.

Goodwin, C. & Heritage, J., (1990). "Conversation analysis", Annual Review of Anthropology, vol. 19, pp. 283–307.

Goodwin, C., (2011), "Contextures of Action", In: Embodied Interaction: Language and Body in the Material World (Jürgen Streeck, Charles Goodwin, Curtis LeBaron, eds.), New York, Cambridge University Press, pp. 182–193.

Mondada, L. (2013). Displaying, contesting and negotiating epistemic authority in social interaction: Descriptions and questions in guided visits. Discourse Studies, 15(5), 597–626.

Schatzki, T. (2015). Spaces of practices and of large social phenomena. EspaceTemps.net. Retrieved 2017-06-13.

Schegloff, E. A. (2007). Sequence Organization in Interaction: A Primer in Conversation Analysis, Volume 1, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Azar Raoufi Masouleh

About the Higher seminar in Translation Studies