Globalisation as the compression of time and space necessarily leads to more contacts between people, cultures and linguistic communities, resulting on the one hand in homogenisation tendencies, on the other hand in increased efforts to adapt products, messages, services and content to local situations. Localisation emerged as a new service and changed translation (see 1, 2 and 3). Translation is textbound localisation. My specific interests lie in the translation of websites (see list of publications as well as my teaching on website translation).
On the basis of my PHD work (Dissertation) I developed an interest also in the translation of legal texts and its contextual constraints which are especially relevant in multilingual societies. An overview over the problems of legal translation is offered in the anthology "Übersetzen von Rechtstexten" (Translation of Legal Texts). My course on Legal Translation Fachsprache Recht gives an introduction into the concepts and constraints of legal translation in the language pair Italian and German.
Policy is the art of making decisions. In the area of translation such a policy is the sum of all the decisions taken in the past, in the present and all the decisions to be taken in the future, within a multilingual society, a company or an NGO. A translation policy is concerned with the causes and effects of such decisions as well as with the strategic importance for society, organisations and institutions (see Sprach- oder Kulturgrenzen? Übersetzen für Regional- und Minderheitensprachen and Towards a Digital Translation Policy). Translation policy and its impact on regional or minority languages is at the center of my latest book publication Translation Policy for Regional- or Minority Languages.
The support of modern technology is vital for all areas mentioned above. This is why I do courses on translation technology where I try to give an overview over modern approaches to computer aided translation principles and software tools which support the translation process. The rapid development of ever faster hardware, worldwide networking and modern software programming are contributing to deep social and cultural changes in the world. One of the results of a networked and cooperative world is free software: please see my collection of free software for translators, or my Linux desktop system for translators (see tuxtrans.uibk.ac.at. You will find our experiences so far and further information in the volume on Translation and Openness.
As an inter- and transdisciplinary research area, Terminology comprises the General Theory of Terminology (according to Eugen Wüster) as well as various, subject field specific Special Theories of Terminology. As such Terminology is obviously of great practical relevance for the optimisation of LSP-communication, both intralingual and interlingual. For an example of research regarding a Special Theory of Terminology see my dissertation thesis (abstract, cfr. list of publications). The proceedings of the TKE '99 Conference which I edited collects a series of papers on the state of the art in terminology research.
My research work is also reflected in the courses I hold.
Terminography is the focus of many students at our department who write terminology theses in different disciplines (see supervised theses). Many of these glossaries are available online as terminology lists (see glossary list) which are directly usable within OmegaT. Some terminographical collections have also been published as books (e.g. the Wellness Glossary or the Glossary on Alpine Economy.
Specialist communication encompasses LSP as well as terminology and translation. As such it is of vital importance for multilingual and transcultural contacts between experts (see "Legal Translation", "Fachübersetzen", "Fachlichkeit im Web", "Fachliche Translation", "Multilingual Legal Communication"). The EU financed project "Terminologie Österreich-Italien in Recht und Wirtschaft" (Terminology Italy-Austria in Law and Economy) targeted the need for crosscultural legal terminology (see Project Report, TermLeg and TermLeg 2).