"IN MY JOB as a translator, I often get asked about English titles and I noticed early that we were lacking a Swedish-English glossary list of the titles at the University. Also, several English translations used were dubious," says Anna Lawrence, convener and secretary of the Language Council and translator at the Communications Office.
Industrious collaborations between the Language Council, the Human Resources Office, the Faculty Office of Medicine and national university translators resulted in a revised Swedish-English list on Aurora containing the job titles and role names that are known at Umeå University.
In January 2020, the revised English titles will be adopted in the staff directory, other systems and in the appointments procedure.
THE REVISIONS affecting the biggest number of people are biträdande universitetslektor now translated assistant professor, and universitetslektor now translated associate professor. The translation for docent is now docent in line with the recommendation by UHR, the Swedish Council for Higher Education.
"I've received questions about the new translation of docent, and I'm aware that everyone doesn't agree. However, what we want to point out is that a docent is not an appointment, but rather an academic title. For that reason, it is unfortunate to confuse the title with associate professor. Nevertheless, it is always reasonable to adapt your title depending on the context. Communicate so that your recipients understand, in other words. But on our web pages, docent is the English title," says Anna Lawrence.
THE OTHER RATHER extensive work achieved in the Language Council over the course of the year is a revision of the Language Policy. The Language Policy describes the University's common language guidelines based upon aspects such as plain language, the role of Swedish, bilingualism and linguistic diversity.
The Language Policy is the all-embracing document to be used to create a common vision for language usage and promote successful communication.
"By producing a new Language Policy, we wanted to emphasise the importance of language as a quality mark in the University's aspiration to be a leading and attractive higher education institution," says Heidi Hansson, chairperson of the Language Council.
"It's common belief that plain language doesn't apply to research dominated by specialist terminology. But a 'refined, plain and comprehensible language' should rather be seen as a quality enhancer that makes research more widely accessible. At the same time, no one suggests abolishing terminology, but researchers must choose how to communicate depending on who they're communicating with," she continues.
With the Language Policy, the Language Council aims to raise awareness of the importance of language and the laws we must follow, safeguard Swedish as a scientific language, and promote internationalisation.
TEXT: Anna Lawrence & Heidi Hansson
CHANGE YOUR TITLE
If your title has been revised, don't forget to change the following:
• Your email signature
• Your short and long presentation on umu.se
• Your English CV
• Information containing your title with external parties
• Your business card (when your current ones run out)
225 JOB TITLES, ROLES and other academic titles are included in the List of titles at Umeå University. You can find the Language Policy and the List of titles on Aurora.
This text was published in Aktum no 2 2019.