Translation awareness in communicating COVID-19 information to speakers of non-official languages in Finland and Estonia

Abstract

This chapter explores translation (un)awareness in organisations communicating health information to speakers of non-official languages in Finland and Estonia during the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on interviews with communication specialists from public, private, and non-governmental organisations, this chapter examines how the interviewees’ and their organisations’ translation awareness affected their multilingual communication efforts, comparing findings from the two countries. In the analysis, translation awareness is approached as the actors’ perception, recognition, understanding, appreciation, and critical assessment of translation and translation-related phenomena, discussed under three interrelated themes: the perceived need for translation, the organisation and management of translation, and the effects of translation. While the findings reveal a growing understanding of the importance of timely, accurate and culturally acceptable translations for creating trust in public health communication, they also point to instances of low awareness of, for example, the role of translation quality, highlighting the need for more institutional understanding of, among others, the role of delineation between professional and paraprofessional translation and critical assessment of organisations’ translation procurement practices.