Institutional multilingualism is most often associated with large intergovernmental institutions
such as the European Union and the United Nations. Multilingualism in non-governmental
organisations (NGOs), however, has remained invisible to a large extent. Yet these
organisations have been identified as very powerful in world politics in the globalised 21st
century. Like international governmental organisations (IGOs), they operate across linguistic
and language borders. This raises the questions if NGOs actually use language and translation
in the same way as IGOs. This article examines Amnesty International as a case study and
explores what official multilingualism means for this organisation, how it is reflected in its
language policy, and how it is put into practice. By gaining insight into the particular case of
Amnesty International, this article aims to make a contribution to institutional translation
studies.
Item Type:
Article (Published)
Refereed:
Yes
Uncontrolled Keywords:
multilingualism; language policy; institutional translation; NGOs; official languages