Translating the International Panel on climate change reports: standardisation of terminology in synthesis reports from 1990 to 2014. (4th March 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Biros, Camille; Rossi, Caroline; Talbot, Aurélien
• Is Part Of: Perspectives. Volume 29:Number 2(2021)
• Page Start: 231
• Page End: 244
• Publication Date: 2021-03-04
• Subjects: Institutional translation -- standardisation -- climate change terminology; Translating and interpreting -- Periodicals; 418.0205
• DOI: 10.1080/0907676X.2020.1800059
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0907-676X

Abstract

ABSTRACT: The International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) publishes referential reports on human-induced climate change and has an influential role on the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. We propose a diachronic analysis of the French translations of the five synthesis reports published by the IPCC so far, in the light of the role of this institution in an evolving climate change regime. Translations in institutional environments are characterised by the high level of consistency in the choice of terms, where prior translations become a reference for the ensuing translations. We consider how this affects translation choices in the IPCC reports, focusing particularly on the pair of terms 'vulnerability' and 'resilience', which have become essential to refer to natural and human systems affected by climate change. The diversity in translation practices observed for this pair of terms in the first IPCC reports, is progressively replaced by the adoption of a standardised literal translation that could carry an ideological framing of the issues at stake.