The Queen's College Record 2023

Reports and College Activities
Credit: John Cairns
THE QUEEN’S TRANSLATION EXCHANGE
Dr Charlotte Ryland
Director of The Queen’s
Translation Exchange
From a visit by one of Japan’s leading authors to an
appearance on Czech national TV, this year the Translation
Exchange has continued to bring the world into Queen’s
and Queen’s into the world. We began the year by
welcoming Old Member Jack Franco (Philosophy and
French, 2018) to our team, who moved seamlessly from
graduating with First Class Honours in French & Philosophy
to joining the Translation Exchange [QTE] as Programme
Coordinator.
Having volunteered for QTE throughout his studies, Jack
has helped QTE to reach new audiences and more young
people than ever before.
“When I joined Queen’s as an undergraduate in 2018, I immediately
volunteered as a Translation Exchange Ambassador, keen to contribute to
ensuring that every state school student had, as I did, a rich and creative
experience of language-learning. I was convinced by QTE’s approach, and
even exported the model to the Marseille school in which I taught during my
year abroad. The progress we have made this year has only strengthened
my belief that access to a multilingual education is a social justice issue, and
that we at QTE are on the right tracks.”
Jack Franco (Philosophy and French, 2018)
Our reach has expanded in all three of our areas of engagement: outreach with
young people; public engagement in research; and advocacy for language-learning.
Creative Translation Ambassadors
We trained a lively cohort of student ambassadors from across the University, this
year with an impressive number of students with Home, Heritage, and Community
Languages. Raising the profile of all languages and breaking down language
hierarchies is key to our work, so the fact that our ambassadors represent such a
range of languages brings a really important dimension to our activities. We were also
pleased to expand our partnership with the College’s Schools Liaison and Outreach
work this year, with our ambassadors running workshops in the Shulman Auditorium
for groups visiting from Lewisham. Lauren Shields, the College’s Schools Liaison
Officer last year, noted how relevant and accessible the activity is:
“These sessions are beneficial for all students, not just those studying
languages. The ability to assimilate complex information and use cultural
48 The Queen’s College | College Record 2023