Towards a translation policy in Singapore : illuminations by community translation & interpretation

• Main Author: Li, Xulin
• Other Authors: -
• Format: Thesis-Master by Coursework
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2021
• Subjects: Humanities::Linguistics
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/149568
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Community translation and interpretation (CTI) has invited growing interest in the market in recent years. It is an evolving field with vastly different needs specific to the realities of various countries. Being different from traditional mode of translation and interpretation, demanding a different set of skills, and fulfilling a vastly different set of objectives, CTI drawing from both traditional on-site practices and latest technology concepts proves to be a game changer in the language and translation industry. The present paper serves as a contribution to this evolving field and take a privy at the path ahead for Singapore. The aim of the paper is not confined to the translation discipline and market. It takes on a macro perspective of national competitiveness via formulation of a translation policy to grow the linguistic and translation assets of the nation. In surveying the demographic composition and trend, local linguistic resources and education, the paper proposes recommendations in pushing forward CTI as part of the strategy for growth. In particular, the paper highlighted the need to reverse the selective bilingualism approach and move towards multilingualism. A bolder contribution is proposing that the concept of CTI may, in the local and regional context, tap on the nation’s educational and technological capability to sprint towards a cross-boundary and crowdsourcing solution to facilitate policy compliance and society inclusivity of empowering minority language communities in the spirit of humanism.