Englishization and the Politics of Translation

Abstract

Purpose This article investigates the treatment of translation within the international business and management (IBM) literature in order to highlight colonialist assumptions inscribed in this treatment as a result of the hegemonic status of English. Design/methodology/approach This investigation takes the form of a systemic literature review to examine the treatment of translation in the IBM literature through a postcolonial lens Findings The findings demonstrate that despite growing interest in language in international business, matters of translation have received comparatively little attention. However, those articles which do address translation matters tend to do so in five key ways, including epistemological/methodological considerations, exploring translator agency, the investigations of the discursive void/conceptual fuzziness between languages, and approaches which discuss translation as social practice. Research limitations/implications Despite our critique of English language hegemony, our literature review is restricted to English-language journals, which we acknowledge as problematic and discuss within the article. Practical implications In exposing the limited treatment of translation within the literature, we provide a call to action for IBM scholars to be more explicit in their treatment of translation in order to ensure representation of cultural and linguistic Others, rather than providing domesticated accounts of multilingual research. Originality/value Although there have been other articles which have examined translation in the past, this article is the first to do so through a postcolonial lens, demonstrating from a linguistic perspective the colonialist assumptions which are still prevalent in IBM knowledge production as evidenced by the treatment of translation in the field.