Translating English as a Lingua Franca: Insights from the NEW ABC Project

This paper examines translation strategies and challenges related to the translation of texts written in English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) in the context of Euro-project documents, specifically from English into Italian. Using a small corpus of texts from the NEW ABC project, a Horizon 2020 action research project, this study addresses two research questions: 1) What linguistic features of ELF pose challenges for translation? 2) How do these features influence translation strategies into Italian? The analysis draws on reflections and comments provided by Master’s students in Translation from the University of Bologna, who translated the ELF source texts as part of their curricular internship. Following an overview of ELF and its implications for Translation and Interpreting Studies (TIS) and Euro-project language practices, the paper presents the corpus of ELF texts translated into Italian, provides an analysis of the students’ comments, and identifies key challenges in translating ELF and Euro-project language. The findings highlight the complexities of dealing with linguistic variability and hybridity in ELF texts and offer insights for both translation students and practitioners.