Social Geography Discussions www.soc-geogr-discuss.net 1816-1499 1816-1502 5 1 2009 10.5194/sgd-5-51-2009 http://www.soc-geogr-discuss.net/5/51/2009/ http://www.soc-geogr-discuss.net/5/51/2009/sgd-5-51-2009.html http://www.soc-geogr-discuss.net/5/51/2009/sgd-5-51-2009.pdf 51 70 2009-03-04 More than just translation: challenges and opportunities in intercultural and multilingual research L. G. Crane l.crane@sheffield.ac.uk M. B. Lombard E. M. Tenz Dept. of Geography, Univ. of Sheffield, c/o ICoSS, 219 Portobello Road, Sheffield, S1 4DP, UK Dept. of Town and Regional Planning, Univ. of Sheffield, Winter Street, Sheffield, S3 7ND, UK Aspects of intercultural and multilingual research are receiving increasing attention from the academic community in human geography and the wider social sciences. Current debates in this area highlight concerns around linguistic hegemony, but this article argues that intercultural research presents opportunities as well as challenges. The three authors here found common ground based on their first-hand experience of the complexities of doing research in intercultural settings and working in "multilingual constellations". In this article, they seek to address some practical issues of dealing with multilingual research, with reflections on using a translator, interviewing in a second language and communicating academic terms. Within this context, it is argued that the key to a better understanding is to unpack and unravel the complexities of such research settings, with translation as one particular aspect of this rather than a dominant frame of reference. Here, cross-cutting themes of language, communication and representation, which it is argued are similarly significant in intercultural research, are also explored. 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