Research

Contemporary and Historical Approaches to Multilingualism in the Industrial Sphere

Interdisciplinary international working group

The aim of this interdisciplinary project (website) is to generate new research-based knowledge about multilingualism in the industrial sector. By studying a variety of economic sectors, such as manufacturing (wood, metal) and mining (coal, ore) in different locations in Europe (e.g., Finland, the Greater Region SaarLorLux, and the Dutch-German border region), the project sheds light on the complex interplay of the linguistic and social effects of industry. From a linguistic point of view, industrial workplaces are particularly interesting because they are often a main driver of large-scale mobility and migration, and because industries tend to operate across national and linguistic borders. By combining theoretical and methodological approaches from translation studies, cultural studies/border studies, sociolinguistics and linguistic ethnography, the project brings together different perspectives that critically examine the ways in which multilingual resources have been used, managed and negotiated in interaction in industrial settings. An edited volume is being prepared.

Members (alphabetically listed): Daan Hovens, Paula Heikkinen, Leena Kolehmainen, Isis Luxenburger, Nantke Pecht, Maija Surakka & Andrea Wurm

Founded period:  1 January 2024–31 December 2025 – German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) | 03/2024 - 02/2026 Research Council of Finland

Language and culture contact in a business company

since 2019

Saarlor Coal Union existed between 1958 and 2001. Its purpose was to jointly commercialize coal from Saarland and Lorraine for German Saarbergwerke and French Houillères du Bassin de Lorraine. The archives of the company can be questioned regarding diverse aspects of linguistic and cultural contact within a trans-border trading society, maintaining two headquarters, one in Strasbourg, one in Saarbrücken. The statutes of the company unite French and German corporate legislation. The company's self-concept was decidedly binational and bilingual. The rich resources allow for the study of Saarlor's translation regime as well as for a modelling as border texture (see the working group Bordertextures of the UniGR-CBS).

Corpus project in translation evaluation

since 2009

Compilation of a multiple translation corpus of learners' translation including digitization, alignment and annotation (negative and positive evaluation, translation problems and their solutions).

Analyses of learners' translations, assessment of error schemes and translation solutions.

Diploma, BA and MA theses in the project.

More information on the project's website.

Multilingual Student Translation

since 2016

The project Multilingual Student Translation has been created in 2016 by Sylviane Granger and Marie-Aude Lefer (Université Catholique de Louvain-la-Neuve). Its aim is to compile a corpus of learner translations from foreign language teaching and translation degrees in numerous language combinations. The department LST at Saarland University is one of around 40 partners from universities mainly in Europe, but also in Brazil or China. The corpus is partly error annotated. Several workshops attended by many partners are the basis for the conception of the corpus and the annotation.

European Center for Expertise in Border Studies

2018–2022

I coordinated the sub-action IG Film (Industrial history through films) within action 5.2 Digital learning resources of Interreg Greater Region VA project UniGR Center for Border Studies – A European Center for Expertise in Border Studies. Geographers and historians from Nancy, Luxembourg and Liège were my collaborators in elaborating teaching resources based on films or film excerpts dealing with geographical, historical, technical, cultural and linguistic phenomena in the industrial history of the Greater Region. Student helpers assisted us in this endeavour. The result is an interactive map allowing acces to the learning units: https://cbs.uni-gr.eu/en/teaching/teaching-tools

Section: The film archives of the industrial history in the Greater Region

2017–2019

Collaboration with Saarländisches Filmbüro and Saarland's ministry for education and culture. Research and conceptualization of a film catalogue on the industrial history of the Greater Region (https://www.filmbuero-saar.de/filmdatenbank-industriekultur/).

Jointly organized colloquium/UdS seminar on the accessibility, conservation and utilisation of the audiovisual heritage (13–15 November 2017, Saarbrücken). Cooperation with media partners and media archives in the Greater Region and beyond. Film screenings in a Saarbrücken cinema.

A Glossary of realia

2009–2013

Website of ReGlo

Creation of a glossary in which instances of French and German realia are collected from original texts in the other language.

Diploma theses in the project.

Saarbrücken Cookbook Corpus

Showcase Nijmegen CLARIN-D M24

Early Modern cooking recipes that I had transcribed for my PhD have been made into an example for the use of historical text corpora in the Clarin-D centre in Saarbrücken. It serves to demonstrate problems and possible solutions in treating historical language (Amoia et al. 2013).

Saarbrücken Translation Bibliography

1999–2001

Project of the Chair of Romance Translation Studies (Prof. A. Gil)

Creation of a database containing published non-fictional romance source and German target texts.

My part was to research texts, create the database and type in relevant information on source and target texts.

At present, the database is hosted at Heidelberg University and curated by Prof. V. Atayan: https://hueb.iued.uni-heidelberg.de/en/