Translation Policies and Practices in European Art Museums

One aspect of globalisation has been a significant increase in international visitors to many museums around the world, challenging museums to cater for an increasingly diverse audience in more than one language. As observed by a number of scholars (Liao 2018, Cranmer 2016, Neather 2012), more research is needed on the role of translation practices in the museum context. Adopting an action research approach and drawing on qualitative interviews with translation-related staff from a range of European art museums as well as with translation service providers, this study sets out to investigate translation practices and policies in art museums. By adopting the perspective of museums, and their methods in commissioning, managing, and checking translations, the focus of this study is put on organisational and managerial aspects of translation, and the ways in which these contribute to the overall quality of their translations. How are translation projects handled? How are quality requirements communicated? How are multilingual communication strategies agreed upon? How is translator feedback handled? And which tools are employed to efficiently undertake these tasks? The objective of the research is twofold. On the one hand, it seeks to provide a descriptive analysis of existing translation practices in art museums. On the other hand, the study aims to propose potential enhancements in three key areas: project management, quality assurance and translation technology, within a quality model. The purpose of the model is to improve existing practices which lack systematicity and efficient collaboration. Translation practices in museums are addressed within a customer-based perspective of translation quality, referring to quality standards for translation ISO 17000 and ISO/TS 11669, thus implying a functionalist approach. In response to the needs and experiences of the interviewed museum staff, a set of guidelines is proposed as a useful instrument for museum professionals involved in translation-related tasks.