Guidelines for English Translation

What?

The Communications Office, as part of the university’s unit for Professional Services, offers support to the university's employees with regard to the English language. All employees may contact the Communications Office (kommunikation@hb.se) for support with:

• translation from Swedish to English
• proofreading of texts in English
• support for language questions related to English, including professional development in higher education terminology, as well as pronunciation to a lesser extent

The Communications Office is responsible for translating and proofreading texts that the office itself has produced and considers need to be available in English to meet the needs of university employees and students, as well as other such texts identified by other departments at the University of Borås. Sometimes this can mean producing texts that are originally written in English.

The Communications Office is also responsible for regularly communicating guidelines, updates, what support is available, as well as the purpose of the university’s translation and proofreading work. The Communications Office is responsible for continuously updating the university’s web-based Swedish-English Lexicon containing the university's titles, organisational units, and functions if the department is notified of or involved in producing new or updated translations. The Communications Office is also responsible for the English writing guidelines that are to be followed in the university's English translations and communication in English. These resources are available on the Communications Office’s language webpages: https://www.hb.se/en/staff/for-my-work/communication/services-and-support/language/

Why?

The aim is to ensure common language use of high quality at the university as well as to create conditions for promoting an inclusive and international environment and communication at the University of Borås.

How?

The support is mainly offered by the Communication Office’s Language Specialist, who is also responsible for the majority of the university's internal translations and editing.

The Communications Office can also make use of procured translators and translation agencies. The same goes for proofreading/editing. If an external agency is used for translation, the Communications Office can coordinate this work and proofread the text.

The Communications Office, with the support of the responsible administrator for the translation in question, is responsible for ensuring that the translations that the Communications Office has been involved in are reviewed by experts/subject representatives when necessary, in order to assure the quality of translations that concern research and/or educational content.

Which texts need to be translated?

The various departments at the university are responsible for determining which texts are selected for translation based on the needs of their target audiences (e.g. employees, students, international networks). The Communications Office also works to identify and satisfy the need for English information on the university and the university's website.

The following areas are prioritised for translation, given that the main purpose of translation work is to promote an inclusive and international environment and communication at the University of Borås:

• security/safety, fairness and legal certainty, and transparency in the university's work and study environments
• information for doctoral students
• Human Resources
• communication about research
• educational courses and programmes
• general information about the university and its Faculties/offices

What is the cost?

Most texts are translated/proofread by the Communications Office free of charge. In some cases, however, internal billing or other costs may need to be paid for by the department ordering the translation. What can be translated free of charge is subject to change depending on resources at the Communications Office. The department requesting translation will receive information about any costs before the work begins.

Regular services (usually free of cost)

• What the Communications Office itself produces and considers should be available in English (e.g. news articles, websites, posters)
• Internal documents for employees (e.g. policy documents)
• Everyday information and documents/webpages needed in English to communicate with students and employees
• Marketing material/invitations (in the case of extensive texts, a cost may be charged; this will be discussed in advance)
• Advice on translation issues
• Professional development in university terminology and English pronunciation for university employees, to a lesser extent

Other services (may incur a cost)

• Curricula/syllabi and other teaching materials
• Scientific material (e.g. applications, reports, doctoral theses)
• Contracts between the Faculties and the outside world

Translation and proofreading by external agencies is associated with a cost borne by the department requesting the translation/proofreading.

British English should be used in general communication, job titles, and policy documents at the University of Borås. However, we are open to target audience-adapted communication and thus, for example, American English can be used when deemed necessary in specific matters, such as science communication.

Alternative translations of certain job titles and merit positions may be actively chosen by employees for use in, for example, business cards, when deemed appropriate. This is because American English dominates in research in many of our subjects. It applies to the following at present; there may be more in the future:

• Universitetslektor = Senior Lecturer /UK/ or Assistant Professor /US/
• Docent = Docent or Associate Professor /US/

When Swedish-language information and documents (e.g. webpages, programme syllabi, news articles, signs) are produced or updated, any need for corresponding information in English is to be considered, based on the goal of promoting an inclusive and international environment and communication at the University of Borås.

The university's employees may contact the Communications Office to get support in the obtaining a translation and thus the Communications Office can ensure the quality, accessibility, and consistency of translations with Communications Office's guidelines for the English language. Translations can also be adapted to the target audience in terms of form, content, etc. The same applies to texts written originally in English. Before a translation or update is to be done, it is important that the Swedish version of a text is finalised.

The Communications Office is responsible for providing support for translation and language editing as well as for the translation of selected texts that the Communications Office itself produces (e.g. news articles, websites, posters). See Point 1 for more information on the Communications Office's responsibilities when it comes to translation.

The relevant manager for the department that is responsible for the text is otherwise responsible for deciding whether an English translation needs to be produced or updated based on the needs of the target audience. It can be anything from programme syllabi to signs in a break room.

The relevant administrator is then responsible for liaising with Communications Office for support with translation. The administrator is also responsible for ensuring that preliminary translations are sent back to Communications Office after any review or comments from the department. That is so that the Communications Office can ensure that any changes are made in accordance with the Communication Office’s English writing guidelines. The relevant administrator is then responsible for ensuring that the finalised translation is made available and that relevant translated documents are sent to the archives at the Registrar’s Office.

HR has ultimate responsibility for the translation of job titles for employment positions but is to contact the Communications Office before a new translation is produced to ensure consistency. HR is responsible for sending decisions about new job titles to the Communications Office for inclusion in the university's Swedish-English glossary.

The registration number for formally decided documents is based on the case and not on the language, which means that a translated version is to be archived at the Registrar’s Office under the same registration number as the Swedish version.