ABSTRACT
Researchers in multilingual research contexts often nd themselves acting as or through translators. These decisions about whether or how to use a translator inuence communicative practices in eldwork and shape the nal published research text. Yet the majority of these decisions are frequently taken on practical grounds to do with how eciently the data can be collected and disseminated, without much attention being paid to the translation process itself. Further, researchers and their translators can be inuenced by ethical concerns about their responsibilities within the research process, with both parties mediating and constructing meaning in dierent and possibly unrecognised ways. Researchers based in UK, US or Australian universities, for example, are likely to be bound by ethical principles, procedures and practices generated in those contexts, such as requiring individualised written consent. As has become apparent in previous chapters, such practices can inuence how researchers negotiate access and develop relationships with respondents in cultures other than their own.
