CALL FOR ABSTRACTS FOR A SPECIAL ISSUE (2027)

2026-05-24

Call for Abstracts

2026-25-05

New Voices in Translation Studies

Call for Contributions for

the Special Issue of New Voices in Translation Studies 2027 (Volume 32, Issue 3)

Translation & Paratranslation in the Digital Era

Introduction

New technologies arise every day, presenting unique and unexpected challenges. With many new products, the screen is the main focus of interest and interface for operation of and communication between devices and users. The expansion of multimodal digital communication questions traditional approaches to translation which have tended to foreground interlingual translation of the textual component, completely ignoring paratranslation and paratextuality as critical elements in the creation of the meaning (Yuste Frías & Ferreiro Vázquez, 2024). Paratextualities however can emerge in various formats.

 

For the purposes of the Special Issue of New Voices in Translation Studies, we thus define paratranslation broadly, including, for example, the translation of paratexts in conventional literary contexts, but also extending the scope of this definition to include emerging multimodal practices associated specifically with the digital era and Web.3.0 technologies. Indeed, we welcome contributions which themselves broaden and deepen our understanding of the concept of paratranslation in the contemporary world, in whichever ways that they manifest.

 

As there has been unprecedented diversification in in the tasks of multimodal translation, textual, paratextual and visual elements must be integrated in a cohesive way to create the intended meaning (Méndez González, 2020). Indeed, paratextuality and paratranslation in the broader sense offer much scope for creating meaning within multimodal communications. Such meaning-makings simultaneously generate the need for commensurate critical appraisal and interpretation of the processes involved. It is expected, for example, that professionals working in diverse spheres can appropriately deal with these new genres of texts, in order to satisfy consumer need in a more digital era  The training needed for professionals to respond to such needs requires sophisticated and adaptable theorisation of translation and paratranslation.

 

Early Career Researchers (ECR) are therefore warmly invited to submit their abstract for research articles on themes relating to translation and paratranslation in the digital era. Contributions dealing with accessibility; artificial intelligence; audiovisual translation and streaming platforms; digital marketing; literature; social networks; video games; virtual reality; webtoons or any other topic relevant to the new challenges and opportunities for translation, paratranslation and cultural adaptation in new media and for new consumers are all welcome.

 

New Voices in Translation Studies is committed to publishing the work of new researchers, that is, researchers who have so far only three or less published items to their name. Please contact the Guest Editors if you are unsure about your eligibility.

Book reviews of recently published academic works on paratranslation are very welcome.

Rationale

The tasks of translation and paratranslation for digital products are among the most relevant topics in academic research over the last decade. The concept and processes of localization, particularly with the rise of video games, have given rise to dynamic and creative industries which offer opportunities for translators and interpreters alike (González-Santamaría & Ferreiro Vázquez, 2023; Méndez González, 2022a). Paratranslation is however by no means restricted to the field of video games. Paratranslation is increasingly recognised as a process fundamental to working with the multimodality of using several semiotic codes (Tejera Botella & Méndez González, 2020). The non-digital aspects of paratranslation also still loom large.

The notion of paratranslation is thus not limited to the covers of a texts, digital or otherwise; it involves every aspect that surrounds, accompanies, and has an influence on the mediation of meaning, be it in the understanding or creation of a translated text (Batchelor, 2018; Schurster & Ferreiro-Vázquez, 2025; Yuste Frías & Ferreiro-Vázquez, 2025). Different studies have focused on different aspects of paratranslaton: a specific facet of a process (Khodorenko, 2025; Mejías Climent, 2022; Méndez González, 2022b) or the use of tools (Méndez González, 2022c; Calvo-Ferrer & Torres-Outón, 2023; Cuevas Montero and Policastro Ponce, 2025; Dumas, 2018; Hăisan, 2017; Kostopoulou, 2015). Other scholars analyse or utilise the concept of paratranslation in specific intercultural contexts (Abou Rached, 2021; Yuste Frías & Garrido Vilariño, 2022; Akdağ, 2021; Pellatt, 2015). The rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI), specifically Large Language Models (LLM) has given rise to language being configured as sets of data, with the risk of cross-language meaning-making potentially losing part of its meaning or broader context. In that respect, research on paratranslation can highlight paratextual elements of cross-languaging  that AI cannot adequately process (Schurster & Ferreiro-Vázquez, 2024).

This special issue aims to delve deeply into the role of translation and paratranslation in different communicative contexts and in different types of products of the digital era, in order to continue raising awareness about the relevance of paratranslation in the modern world.

List of Topic Areas

  1. Translation, paratranslation and interpreting in the digital era.
    1. Translation and paratranslation as key aspects of cultural adaptation of any product to make it appropriate for a new market.
    2. Paratranslation of multimodal products that communicate their message through the combination of texts, paratexts, visual elements and even sensitive channels (such as a controller in video games).
    3. The process of working with digital products that offer new types of experiences to consumers (video games, cinema, literature, virtual realities, etc.).
    4. Analysing paratextual elements as key parts of the creation and understanding of the meaning in the translation processes.
    5. Interpreting needs in the new digital era (interpreting via streaming, new types of conference and events, etc.)
  2. Tools, gamification and training of future translators and interpreters.
    1. New tools for using translation and paratranslation in the professional market.
    2. New educational tools and the use of gamification for the training of future professionals in translation, paratranslation and interpreting.

 

  1. Accessibility in digital entertainment.
    1. New approaches to accessibility: subtitling, sign language interpreting, audio description, new features of blind people, etc.
  2. Risks and challenges of artificial intelligence and machine translation.
    1. The impact of new tools and technologies in the market and in the process of translating and paratranslating any product.
    2. Ethical, cultural and social challenges created by the use of artificial intelligence in translation, as well as the risks of losing the meaning and trying to mechanize the translation process.
    3. The role of paratranslation when it comes to highlight the importance of context, cultural mediation, interpreting the meaning and the relevance of human input in the process of translating and paratranslating.
  3. Challenges facing non-digital translation, paratranslation and interpreting
    1. Translation and paratranslation playing a role in protecting literary heritages.
    2. Paratranslation of the materialities of cross-language works, which can be analogue, hybrd, spoken word, Sign Language, non-text based.
    3. The process of working with cross-language non-digital works with fragile materialities in a digital age.
    4. Paratranslation and interpreting needs in zones of conflict, including environmental damage.
    5. The role of paratranslation where digital use and/or digital literacy is limited.

 

Guest Editors

Ramón Méndez González, University of Vigo, Spain rmendez@uvigo.gal

Óscar Ferreiro Vázquez, University of Vigo, Spain oferreiro@uvigo.gal

Formats of Contributions

New Voices in Translation Studies provides an inclusive and supportive platform for emerging scholars, while maintaining high academic rigor and readability. Guided by its founding principles, the journal continues to bridge the gap between new and established researchers, encouraging innovative and well-grounded contributions across all areas of translation studies.

In line with this mission, the special issue welcomes a wide range of submissions that reflect the diversity of the field and its evolving practices. The accepted formats encompass full papers, book reviews, thesis abstracts and interviews that align with the topic areas listed above.

Submit your abstract and/or proposals of 500 words (excluding references) by 30 June 2026. Please include in the title of submission: Special Issue: Translation & Paratranslation in the Digital Era

Abstract Submission link: https://newvoices.arts.chula.ac.th/index.php/en/submission

 

 

 

References:

Abou Rached, R. (2021). Reading Iraqi women’s novels in English translation: Iraqi women’s stories. Routledge.

Akdağ, A. I. (2021). Paratranslation under constraint. RumeliDE Dil Journal of Language and Literature Studies, 24, 1260– 1271.

Batchelor, K. (2018). Translation and Paratexts. London/New York: Routledge.

Botella Tejera, C. & Méndez González, R. (2020). Una aproximación al intertexto videolúdico. [An approach to video-ludic intertext] El caso de Leisure Suit Larry: Reloaded. Hikma, 19 (1), 9-41.

 

Calvo-Ferrer, J.R. & Torres-Outón, S.M. (eds.) (2023). Tecnologías aplicadas a la traducción y al aprendizaje de lenguas.  [Technologies applied to translation and language learning] Granada: Comares.

 

Cuevas Montero, R. & Policastro Ponce, G. (eds.) (2025). Specialized Translation 4.0: From Text to AI. Berlin, Bruxelles, Chennai, Lausanne, New York, Oxford: Peter Lang.

Dumas, F. (2018). Le paratexte en devenir dans la traduction: Genèse et fonctions du paratexte traductif. [The Paratext in the Making in Translation: Genesis and Functions of the Translation Paratext.] Atelier de traduction, 30, 103– 118.

 

Ferreiro-Vázquez, Ó., Correia, A. & Araújo, S. (eds.) (2023). Technological Innovation Put to the Service of Language Learning, Translation and Interpreting: Insights from Academic and Professional Contexts. Berlin, Bruxelles, Chennai, Lausanne, New York, Oxford: Peter Lang.

 

González-Santamaría, P & Ferreiro-Vázquez, Ó. (2023). “Desarrollo profesional en el sector de la traducción y la interpretación relacionado con el ámbito de los videojuegos” [Professional development in the translation and interpreting sector related to the field of video games]. In S. Torres-Outón & R. Méndez González [eds], Realidades y desafíos de la tecnología aplicada a la traducción e interpretación [Realities and Challenges of Technology Applied to Translation and Interpreting], 13-26. Berlin, Bruxelles, Chennai, Lausanne, New York, Oxford: Peter Lang.

 

Hăisan, D. (2017). (Peri)Textuality and a Skyscraper of Footnotes: Alphonse Daudet’s La Doulou as Translated by Julian Barnes. Messages, Sages, and Ages, 4 (2), 46– 57.

 

Khodorenko, A. (2025). Visual Metaphor in Paratranslation of Literary Image. Alfred Nobel University Journal of Philology, 2, 430-457.

 

Kostopoulou, L. (2015). Translating culture-specific items in films: the case of interlingual and intersemiotic translation. Punctum. International journal of semiotics, 1 (2), 53– 67.

 

Mejías Climent, L. (2022). Una perspectiva diacrónica del doblaje en videojuegos: evolución de la práctica profesional [A diachronic perspective on dubbing in video games: evolution of professional practice]. Hermeneus: revista de la Facultad de Traducción e Interpretación de Soria, 24, 157-190.

Méndez González, R. (2019). Specialized Terminology in the Video Game Industry: Neologisms and their Translation. Vertimo Studijos, 12, 72-87.

 

Méndez González, R. (2020). “Localización de videojuegos, intertextualidad y transcreación: fundamentos básicos” [Video Game Localization, Intertextuality, and Transcreation: Core Basics]. In S. Martínez [ed.], Nuevas tendencias en Traducción e Interpretación: Enseñar, aprender e investigar en la Revolución Digital, 79-92. Granada: Editorial Comares.

 

Méndez González, R. (2022a). Perspectivas de la localización de videojuegos: complejidades y problemáticas traductológicas del siglo XXI [Perspectives on video game localization: complexities and translation problems of the 21st century]. Quaderns de Filologia: Estudis Lingüístics, 27, 153-170.

 

Méndez González, R. (2022b). La interpretación en el ámbito de los videojuegos [Interpreting in the field of video games]. Berlin, Bruxelles, Chennai, Lausanne, New York, Oxford: Peter Lang.

 

Méndez González, R. (2022c). Localización de videojuegos: herramientas formativas para nuevas prácticas traductivas y paratraductivas [Video game localization: Training tools for new translation and paratranslation practices]. Meta, 67(3), 558–574.

 

Pellatt, V. (2015). “The paratext of Chinese children’s rhymes and poetry”. In V. Pellatt, Sunflowers and Stars: The Ideological Role of Chinese Children’es Rhymes and Poems in The Twentieth Century, 149– 173. Berlin, Bruxelles, Chennai, Lausanne, New York, Oxford: Peter Lang.

 

Schurster, K., & Ferreiro-Vázquez, Ó. (2025). Traducción y paratraducción 4.0: análisis sobre la reificación en el mundo de la inteligencia artificial [Translation and paratranslation 4.0: analysis of reification in the world of artificial intelligence]. Cadernos de Tradução, 45, e102146. https://doi.org/10.5007/2175-7968.2025.e102146

 

Schurster, K., & Ferreiro-Vázquez, Ó. (2024). Traduction et paratraduction en tant que stratégies de résistance à la réification à l’ère de l’intelligence artificielle (IA) [Translation and Paratranslation as Strategies for Resisting Reification in the Age of Artificial Intelligence (IA)]. Studia Romanica Posnaniensia, 51(3), 101–114. https://doi.org/10.14746/strop.2024.51.3.8

 

Yuste Frías, J., & Ferreiro-Vázquez, Ó. (2025). Transtextualidad, transmedialidad y paratraducción [Transtextuality, transmediality and paratranslation]. Íkala, Revista de Lenguaje y Cultura, 30(2), 1–20. https://doi.org/10.17533/udea.ikala.358654

 

Yuste Frías, J. & Ferreiro Vázquez, Ó. (2024). Paratraducción: la noción clave para traducir la multimodalidad [Paratranslation: the key notion for translating multimodality]. ELUA: Estudios De Lingüística. Universidad De Alicante, (42), 177–191.

 

Yuste Frías, J. & Garrido Vilariño, X. M. (2022). Traducción & Paratraducción I: Líneas de investigación [Translation & Paratranslation I: Lines of research]. Berlin, Bruxelles, Chennai, Lausanne, New York, Oxford: Peter Lang.

 

Yuste Frías, J. (2025). The touristic paratranslation of the Mudéjar, MonTI, Special Issue 8, 569-607.

 

Timeline

Publication of Call for Abstracts: 25 May 2026

Deadline for receiving Abstracts: 30 June 2026

Invitation to contribute: 10 July 2026

Full paper submission: 30 November 2026]

Peer Review results (first round): 10 March 2027

Submission of revised articles: 31 May 2027

Publication: December 2027

 

*For more detailed information about the format of articles, please visit the author guidelines via the link: https://newvoices.arts.chula.ac.th/index.php/en/about/submissions#authorGuidelines