Professor Mona Baker, founder and former Director of the Centre for Translation and Intercultural Studies at the University of Manchester, UK, is a leading scholar in translation and intercultural studies. Her work explores the ethical, cultural, and social dimensions of translation, highlighting its role in connecting communities worldwide. In light of her participation in the 8th IATIS Conference, she shares her insights on translation, intercultural understanding, and sustainability.
How has the role of translation evolved in today’s globalised and digitally interconnected world, and why is it particularly important for sustaining cultural identity and knowledge exchange?
Translation has always played a central role in connecting cultures and enabling the exchange of knowledge and skills. Historically, the emphasis in studying this role was on literary and sacred text, with very little work done on (or indeed records available for the study of) various forms of non-literary translation and interpreting. Today, technological developments are allowing us to access and study many different types and contexts of translation, from social media translation to subtitling, legal interpreting, news translation, sign language interpreting, and many other settings where the role that translation plays in sustaining cultural identity and knowledge exchange is increasingly revealed in all its complexity. One important area in which digital technology has significantly strengthened the role of translation in sustaining cultural identity is the revitalisation of indigenous languages such as Tamazight and Mehri. The work done by translators in this area is key to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals’ commitment to ‘leave no one behind’. On the whole, globalisation and increased interconnectedness have established translation and interpreting more firmly in public consciousness than ever before.
How do translation and intercultural studies work together to foster mutual understanding and ethical engagement between cultures?
Research in translation studies and other fields in recent years has taught us that translation exceeds the traditional definition of rendering a fully articulated text from one language into an equivalent text in another language. Translation takes place in numerous contexts and assumes a multitude of forms, which means that the boundary between translation and other areas such as intercultural communication is now understood to be very fluid. At any rate, translation (however defined) is capable of playing a transformative role in reconfiguring social and political relations, by articulating new forms of knowledge based on the responsible confrontation of diverse cultural experiences. This is not necessarily the role it always plays in practice; I have tried in my own work to also highlight the fact that in certain programmes of translation, such as that of the Middle East Media Research Institute, translation is deployed to undermine mutual understanding and peace. We need to be aware of this double role of translation in order to further ethical engagement between cultures.
With the rapid rise of AI and machine translation, what are the opportunities and challenges for human translators in ensuring that translation remains nuanced, culturally sensitive, and ethically responsible?
This is a very timely question and one that many of us continue to grapple with. AI and machine translation are fast developing terrains that have already received considerable attention from both the profession and the research community, especially in the past year or so. Studies of translators’ responses to the rise of generative AI suggest that they do not trust this technology and have concerns about how their data is appropriated and used to undercut their livelihood, rendering the entire profession unsustainable in future. Some have therefore argued that this is not progress but “epistemic laundering”, an unethical development that undermines skills only human translators possess and renders them (human translators, but not an AI programme) accountable for the choices they make. These skills are critical thinking and moral judgement. There is also concern over the fact that AI tools have been developed in the Global North and trained on data rife with biases about societies in the Global South (Splitter 2025, for Global Voices). On the other hand, there is no denying that some of this developing technology can be extremely useful to translators and interpreters, provided it is used judiciously and ethically. What is needed are more realistic (less hype-driven) and more ethical AI programmes that are developed to achieve “empowerment and justice” rather than to engage in “extraction and exploitation”. Thaura is one such programme. Developed by “two Syrian engineers on a mission to democratise AI and challenge tech apartheid”, it offers an ethical and responsible alternative to programmes such as ChatGPT and Deepseek and I believe should be supported by translators.
Since the conference theme emphasises “sustainable translation”, what is your perspective on what sustainability means in translation and intercultural studies?
Sustainability can mean different things in relation to translation. A sustainable translation may be defined as one that causes the least environmental damage, for instance. Understood thus, AI- and AI-supported translation are unsustainable, given the immense environmental cost accrued by the development and maintenance of AI systems (see Boêri and Baker 2025). On the other hand, sustainable translation may be defined as one that can withstand the passage of time, that continues to be relevant and usable for the longest time possible, requiring minimal or no updating. In that sense, canonical translations such as the King James Bible, Seamus Heaney’s 1999 English translation of Beowulf, or Khalil Mutran’s Arabic translations of Shakespeare’s plays are sustainable, whereas translations of computer manuals or patient leaflets are much less sustainable given the constant need to update them. The question of what constitutes sustainable translation and in what sense of sustainability is one that remains largely unresearched and deserves to be given much more attention in future.
How can universities and institutions best prepare students and early-career researchers to engage with translation and intercultural studies in ways that are socially impactful, globally aware, and culturally responsible?
As in all areas of university-level education, translators and interpreters must first and foremost be trained to think critically about the activities they engage in and their wider role in society. This is why I have always advocated the inclusion of ethics in all translation and interpreting curricula, and why I devoted a whole chapter to this topic in the second and subsequent editions of In Other Words: A Coursebook on Translation. In educating the next generation of professional translators and interpreters, it is simply not realistic or meaningful to focus only on the existing needs and prejudices of prospective clients and ignore the ethical and social responsibilities of translators and interpreters as citizens who actively participate in shaping all aspects of the environment in which we live.
This is the first time the IATIS Conference has been held in the Arab world. In your opinion, what is the significance of hosting such a global event in Oman, and how can it contribute to the wider development of translation and intercultural scholarship in the region?
I was delighted when Oman was confirmed as the venue for the 8th IATIS conference. Oman is a beautiful country, renowned for the hospitality of its people – more so than any Arab country in my view. Holding the conference in Oman rather than any of its Arab neighbours casts the whole of the Arab World in very good light. And indeed colleagues who attended the conference were hugely impressed by the region, its culture and its people. At the same time, I believe holding the conference in Oman has given a boost to the research community in Sultan Qaboos University and other higher education institutions in the region, and has provided an excellent opportunity for them to network with international participants and establish what I hope will be long term, mutually supportive relationships in the field.