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Dr. Debbie Folaron, PhD

  • Professeure agrégée, Études françaises

Research areas: translation, technologies, digital world, minority and low-resource language translation, Romani, localization, humanitarian, community translation, Indigenous, multilingual

Contact information

Email:

debbie.folaron@concordia.ca

Websites:

ORCID ID
Translation Spaces
Centre for Oral History & Digital Storytelling
International Doctorate in Translation Studies [ID-TS]
Translation Romani

Biography

Academic Background

  • PhD (Comparative Literature; specialization: translation theory), Binghamton University, NY
  • MA (Comparative Literature; specialization: translation theory), Binghamton University, NY
  • Graduate Certificates in Translation (Literary French to English; Literary Spanish to English; Non-literary Spanish to English), Binghamton University, NY
  • Translator Diploma (Spanish to English; English to Spanish), Estudio Internacional Sampere, School of Translators & Interpreters, Madrid

Research Areas

  • Translation and localization technologies
  • Translation theories
  • Translation and digital world context
  • Translation and Romani context
  • Minority and low-resource language translation
  • Translation for humanitarian and NGO organizations
  • Translation practices (professional, academic, community)
  • Oral history, translation research ethics
  • Globalization and multilingualism
  • Migration and translation

Professional Experience

  • General Editor of academic journal Translation Spaces (John Benjamins Publishing)
  • Freelance translator (main working languages: French, Spanish, Italian to English)
  • Manager of Language and Technology, Eriksen Translations, Inc., New York City

Grants

External:
  • “En route, en marche: la traduction et l’espace de la représentation théâtrale Roma (« tsigane »)/Romani.” Fonds Québécois de recherche sur la société et la culture (FQRSC) 2007-2011.
Internal: 
  • “History Speaks: Do We Listen? Porrajmos and the Resurgence ofAnti-Gypsy Extremism” symposium event with Kleinmann Family Foundation.Concordia University. VPRGS Aid to Research Related Events (AARE). 2012
  • “Transadaptation, Technology and Nomadism” conference funding. Concordia University. 2007.
  • “Developing and Teaching Online Translation and Localization Courses.” Concordia University. General Research Fund (GRF). 2004.

Awards

"Distinguished Dissertation Award" (in Humanities & Fine Arts), Binghamton University, NY
"Most Promising Translator Award", Binghamton University, NY

Academic Experience

  • Associate Professor (full-time), Translation Studies, Département d'Études françaises, Concordia University
  • Adjunct Assistant Professor (part-time), Translation, Center for Foreign Languages and Translation, School of Continuing and Professional Studies, New York University
  • Associate Instructor (online), NYUonline, New York University
  • Adjunct Lecturer, French and Spanish, Romance Languages and Literatures Department, Binghamton University
  • Teacher of French and Spanish (grades 5-8), Public Magnet School "Follow-Through", Buffalo, NY
  • Teacher of English as a Second Language, Anglo-American Center, Seville, Spain

Selected Publications

Translation as epistemic leverage over multilingual Romani borders

[publisher review] Accepted for Negotiating Linguistic Plurality, edited by María Constanza Guzmán and Şehnaz Tahir Gürçağlar, to be published by McGill-Queen's University Press

Technology, technical translation and localization

[2020] Chapter 12, in Routledge Handbook of Translation and Technology, edited by Minako O’Hagan. Routledge Handbooks in Translation and Interpreting Studies Series. London and New York: Routledge

Digital World Communication and Translation

[2019] in SLOVO.RU: Baltic Accent, Vol. 10, No. 3. Kaliningrad: Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University Press. 9-27

Bute Droma-Many Roads: Romani Resilience and Translation in Contact with the World

[2019] Chapter 5, in At Translation’s Edge, edited by Nataša Ďurovičová, Patrice Petro, and Lorena Terando. New Brunswick, Camden, and Newark, New Jersey, and London: Rutgers University Press. 98-122

Challenging the Borders of Nation: Language and Translational Language Policy in the Plurilingual Romani Context

[2018] Chapter 11, in Minority Languages,National Languages, and Official Language Policies, edited by Gillian Lane-Mercier, Denise Merkle, and Jane Koustas, publisher McGill-Queen’s University Press. 279-314.

Circulation and Spread of Knowledge

[2018] in Part 2 “Mapping Knowledge”, in A History of Modern Translation Knowledge, edited by Lieven D’hulst and Yves Gambier. John Benjamins Publishing: Amsterdam and Philadelphia. 127-134

Technology

[2018] in Part 2 “Mapping Knowledge”, in A History of Modern Translation Knowledge, edited by Lieven D’hulst and Yves Gambier. John Benjamins Publishing: Amsterdam and /Philadelphia. 113-116

Interpreting Romani – A Canadian Overview

[2016/Autumn] in Circuit #132, magazine of the Ordre des traducteurs, terminologues et interprètes agréés du Québec [OTTIAQ]

Foreword/Preface

[2015] in Conducting Research in Translation Technologies, edited by Pilar Sánchez-Gijón, Bartolomé Mesa-Lao and Olga Torres-Hostench, Vol. 13 in Series “New Trends in Translation”, ed. Jorge Díaz Cintas. Peter Lang publishers: Oxford, Bern, Berlin, Bruxelles, 1-16

Introduction: Translation and minority, lesser-used and lesser-translated languages and cultures

[2015/July] in “Translation and minority, lesser-used and lesser-translated languages and cultures”, guest edited by Debbie Folaron, The Journal of Specialised Translation [JoSTrans], Issue 24, 16-27

PM-ing the Classroom – Project management and translator education

[2014/Autumn] in Circuit #124, magazine of the Ordre des traducteurs, terminologues et interprètes agréés du Québec [OTTIAQ]

Digitalizing Translation

[2012] in Translation Spaces.Vol. 1. Sept. 2012. 5-31

Tournant hybride-traductologique dans la mise en relation multi-identitaire plurilingue et pluriculturelle romani

[2011] in Hybridité discursive et culturelle, L’Harmattan, Espaces Discursifs Series, edited by Eija Suomela-Salmi and Yves Gambier: Paris. 201-229

Networking and Volunteer Translators

[2010] in Handbook of Translation Studies Vol. I, edited by Gambier, Yves and Luc van Doorslaer, John Benjamins Publishing, Amsterdam and Philadelphia. Published online and in print. 231-234.

Translation Tools

[2010] in Handbook of Translation Studies Vol. I, edited by Gambier, Yves and Luc van Doorslaer, John Benjamins Publishing, Amsterdam and Philadelphia. Published online and in print. 429-436.

Web and Translation

[2010] in Handbook of Translation Studies Vol. I, edited by Gambier, Yves and Luc van Doorslaer, John Benjamins Publishing, Amsterdam and Philadelphia. Published online and in print. 446-450.

Translator education in Cameroon

[2008/December] in Multilingual magazine, issue 100, 19 (8), 32-35

La localisation : un enjeu pour la mondialisation

[2007] Folaron, D.and Gambier, Y. in Hermès. 49. Special issue: Traduction et mondialisation, 37-44. Series published by CNRS Éditions, Centre national de la recherche scientifique, Paris, France

Introduction: Connecting Translation and Network Studies

[2007] Folaron, D. and Buzelin, H. in Meta. 52 (4). Special issue: La Traduction et les etudes de réseaux/Translation and Network Studies, 605-642

A Discipline Coming of Age in the Digital Age

[2006] in Perspectives on Localization, edited by Keiran J. Dunne, ATA Scholarly Monograph Series, XIII, John Benjamins Publishing: Amsterdam and Philadelphia, 195-219

Teaching activities

Courses Taught / Concordia University

  • Advanced Translation Seminar in Social Sciences and the Humanities
  • Web, Technologies, Traduction: Théories et Critiques [Web, technologies, translation: theories and critiques]
  • Théories de la traduction [Translation theories]
  • Gestion de projets [Project management]
  • Pratique de la localisation [Practice of localization]
  • Informatique et traduction [Computers and translation]
  • Traduction commerciale et juridique du français à l’anglais [Commercial and legal translation from French to English]
  • Courants contemporains en traductologie [Contemporary trends in Translation Studies]
  • Initiation à la traduction économique [Introduction to economic translation]
  • Traduction littéraire du français à l’anglais [Literary translation from French to English]
  • Advanced Literary Translation Seminar

Thesis Supervision and Co-supervision* / Concordia University

  • Professional translation practice and quality control 2020
  • "Playing With Culture: Reframing Video Game Localization Discourse and Issues of Censorship" 2019
  • "Agents in Translation: Bridging Gaps or Consolidating Stereotypes. The Case of the English and French Translations of Alaa Al-Aswany’s The Yacoubian Building" 2012
  • "Vietnamese/ness in translation: A Micro-Cosmopolitan Approach" 2008
  • Translation politics 2020
  • "Le jeu vidéo comme modèle de légitimation de la localisation" 2013
  • *"Golden Age Spain Wearing English Clothes: James Mabbe, Renaissance Translator of Spanish Prose Literature" 2010
  • *"Le syndrome de Sisyphe dans la recherche en technologies langagières au Canada" 2013
  • *Étude de la terminologie autochtone en anglais et en espagnol international
  • Community Interpreting 2020
  • "Les outils d’aide à la traduction comme pratique normative et la formation subséquente des traducteurs professionnels au Canada" 2018
  • "Sites Web municipaux dans un Canada bilingue :évaluation de la qualité de la traduction, de la localisation et de l’accessibilité" 2018
  • "Le Polonais contemporain en traduction" 2008
  • "Translating Plain Language: An inquiry into the nature and strategies for successful plain language translation" 2012
  • "Sadeq Hedayat traducteur de la Métamorphose de Kafka par le truchement d’A. Vialatte – Culture et traduction en Iran au XXe siècle" 2015
  • Translation and the Immigration Process for Refugees in Canada 2020
  • "The Role of Translation in Linguistic Standardisation across Inuit Nunangat (Le rôle de la traduction dans lastandardisation linguistique en Inuit Nunangat)" 2016
  • *"A Look at Bilingual Canadian Immigration Terminology" 2010
  • "Competence and Creativity in Translation: Multilingual Perspectives" 2015
  • Circus performance and translation

Courses Taught / New York University School of Continuing and Professional Studies

Onsite
  • Introduction to Spanish to English Translation
  • Introduction to French to English Translation
  • Build Your Translation Skills Spanish to English
  • English to Spanish Commercial Translation II
  • Introduction to Spanish Translation
Online
  • English to Spanish Commercial Translation II
  • Introduction to English to Spanish Translation
  • Introduction to Spanish to English Translation
  • Introduction to French to English Translation
  • French to English Translating Computer-Related Materials

Awards

"Faculty Award for Teaching Excellence" (Division of Arts, Science and Humanities), New York University, School of Continuing and Professional Studies - New York [2003]

Graduate Workshops Taught / Binghamton University Translation Research and Instruction Program

  • French Literary Translation
  • French Non-literary Translation
  • Spanish Literary Translation
  • Spanish Non-literary Translation
  • Italian Literary Translation
  • French Reading Proficiency
  • Spanish Reading Proficiency
  • Italian Reading Proficiency

Research activities

Awards

"New Scholar Research Award", Faculty of Arts & Science, Concordia University, Montréal [2006]

Conference Papers and Presentations

Digitalizing Translation

2019. EST [European Society for Translation Studies] Congress 2019 Living Translation, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa

From Literary Historiography to Translation Historiography: Grounds for Romani Translation History/Histories

2019. Romani Studies Conference [GLS], Vigdís Finnbogadóttir Institute of Foreign Languages,University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland  

Interpreting the Roll of the Linguistic Dice

[Keynote] 2017. Translation & Minority 2: Freedom and Difference/Traduction et Minorité 2: Liberté et Différence international conference, School of Translation and Interpretation, University of Ottawa 

Translating Romani Multilingualism

[Keynote] 2016. International conference Beyond linguistic plurality: The trajectories of multilingualism in translation, Boğaziçi University, Istanbul, Turkey.

Challenging Borders: Romani Language Rights and Policy

2016. International conference For and Against Models of Official Multiculturalism and Multilingualism, McGill University, Montréal, Québec.

Translation and Communication in the Digital World: Communication Matters!

[Keynote] 2015. Ordre des traducteurs, terminologies et interprètes agrees du Québec [OTTIAQ] annual conference Language Professionals and Technology: Stronger Together. Montréal, Québec.

Digitalizing translation / Translating the digital

[Keynote] 2015. 2e Journée étudiante en traduction et terminologie (JETT) Théorie et pratique :un mariage de raison ? Université de Montréal, Montréal, Québec.

Translation, multilingualism, Romani

2015. Session “Knowledge flows and epistemic justice” at Multilingualism and Translation Workshop, Centre for Research on Language and Culture Contact (CRLCC) and Research Group on Translation and Transcultural Contact (RGTTC), Glendon College, York University, Toronto,Ontario.

Translation Technologies for Romani Translation and Translation-assisted Romani Language Learning and Revitalization

2014. Panel “Translator Education and Training for Romani” with Hedina Sijerčić and Marija Aleksandrović. Third IATIS [International Association for Translation and Intercultural Studies] regional workshop conference organized by the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Novi Sad, Serbia

Framing Translation Culture through Romani Eyes

2014. Canadian Association for Translation Studies conference Territories, Memory, History. Saint-Catharines, Ontario

Translation in the Digital World

2013. "Disseminating Research" panel, World Social Science Forum 2013 –Social Transformations in the Digital Age / Transformations sociales et ère numérique Montréal, Québec

Crossing the bridge – between academia and professional work

2013. Panel "Research, Education, and Training",  LRC X8, the 18th Annual LRC [Localisation Research Centre] Internationalisation & Localisation Conference, University of Limerick, Ireland.

"Web theory & Translation”: Technologies, translation and social implications, in particular through the Web

[Guest lecturer, PhD Summer School] 2011.Escola d’Estiu de Doctorat: Traductologia, Estudis Interculturals i Àsia Oriental, Departament de Traducció i d’Interpretació, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain.

Website

Translation Romani

Translation Romani (launched in 2011) presents two worlds of knowledge, Romani and Translation, in relation to one another and to other languages and cultures of the world. It is localized into French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, German, Turkish, Hungarian, Czech and Romani. It is featured in the chapter “Translation and Human Rights” in the book Found in Translation: How Language Shapes Our Lives and Transforms the World by Nataly Kelly & Jost Zetzsche (published 2012) and on the FQRSC website
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