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Together with the numbers of refugees rising globally, those seeking asylum have increased dramatically, as more countries grant temporary status to those awaiting determination of their refugee petitions. As asylum seekers, they dwell in legal liminality, having neither the civil rights or service access of citizens nor the rights of those officially recognized as refugees. In countries like Israel, where immigration policies indefinitely prolong such legal liminality, asylum seekers are afforded only "temporary collective protection" without entitlement to services. To the extent that aid is available, it is provided by an informal network of NGOs. Within this context, a semi-formal network of "mediators" has arisen from among asylum seekers. Having acquired the host country's language, they are employed by NGOs and volunteer in their own communities, providing not only language translation and interpretation assistance, but also intercultural translation. Using in-depth, semi-structured interviews of 14 mediators, this study explores the professional, communal and personal impacts on mediators of prolonged legal liminality. It shows how language can be a significant tool that can alter perceptions of civic status and challenge legal liminality. Formally leveraging the skill set of mediators by cooperating with and directly employing them in government offices, can help to stabilize an especially vulnerable and transient community, benefiting both the state and asylum seekers. • The number of asylum seekers globally has increased significantly. • In some countries, they experience prolonged legal liminality, with limited rights. • Informal language and cultural mediators bridge the community-state space in Israel. • Interviews with mediators in Israel explore the impacts of legal liminality. • Language alters the perception of civic status, challenging legal liminality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last two decades, audiovisual translation has come to be employed in an ever-widening range of contexts and media, an expansion which has been more or less reflected in research. Meanwhile, video game localization and the volunteer translation communities responsible for it have become popular research topics around the world. In Turkey, despite the existence of both volunteer communities and professional localization companies, academic studies on video game localization are scarce. To help fill this gap in the literature, the present study aims to explore the potential similarities and differences between community translation processes in volunteer and professional video game localization in Turkey. To this end, two group interviews were carried out: one with members of a volunteer video game localization community operating within the Steam Translation Server, the other with the representatives of a professional localization company in Istanbul, Turkey. The localization processes reported by the respondents were compared in the light of the typologies and processes of community translation presented in the literature. The findings from the interviews indicated that the video game localization processes followed by the two communities resembled one another in terms of management, participation, and closed community structure, but the volunteer community sometimes displayed more flexibility in these aspects and did not seem to set such strict standards. The findings thus suggest that theories of community translation need to take more account of both common and distinguishing features of online communities and offer new categorizations for blended community structures.

This article presents a critical review of translation theories advocated in the context of the Chinese language with a focus on their applicability to Community Translation (Taibi & Ozolins, 2016). Community Translation often aims to provide information crucially important to the basic human rights of linguistic minorities. Yet, Chinese translation theories have been largely developed for the translation of literary and religious texts, relying on literary critique of impressionistic and subjective ideas. Therefore, such an approach would not work in the field of Community Translation. A discussion of Community Translation in the context of the Chinese language could add a functional perspective, considerations of the pragmatic functions of both the Source and the Target texts and the perspectives of both the 'producers' and the end-users. Discussion in these aspects could help better investigate and evaluate a translated text that aims to help members of linguistically disadvantaged communities participate in the mainstream society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background Translation and cross cultural adaptation of patient reported outcome measures (PROMs) involves a step referred to as harmonisation, following forward and backward translation of the measure. This article proposes the introduction of methods not previously included in the process of harmonisation. The aim of the study was to introduce shared decision making (SDM) and the practice of community translation (CT) during the harmonisation of the Afrikaans for the Western Cape version of the Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand (DASH) questionnaire, a PROM that measures symptoms and activity and participation in persons with upper limb conditions. Methods A broader approach to harmonisation is proposed by incorporating CT and SDM in addition to existing methods toward harmonisation. Participants (n = 8) involved in the harmonisation meeting included the principal investigator, a linguistic expert, occupational therapists with knowledge of the target population, context and the DASH questionnaire and members of the target population with and without upper limb conditions. A partnership was formed with the participants (a principle of SDM) and the principles of non-parallel CT and the CT approach were applied during harmonisation. Employing CT principles ensures that the norm for the translation is set by the population the translation is intended for. Results Forward and backward translation of the DASH questionnaire presented a version of the measure in the target language for consideration during harmonisation. There were however a significant number of conceptually problematic items on the version presented at the meeting. Only seven items (7 of 30) remained unchanged. Conclusion SDM and CT was used during the harmonisation of the Afrikaans for the Western Cape DASH questionnaire. Both these practices could have relevance in the translation and cross-cultural adaptation of PROMs where the translation is intended for persons from low socio-economic backgrounds and low levels of education.

The project "Tradução, mediação linguística e disseminação de informações à comunidade" [Translation, linguistic mediation and diffusion of information to the community], developed at the Federal University of Pelotas (Brazil) in 2020 (from March to December), aimed at spreading accurate and reliable information during the covid-19 pandemic. A team of volunteers looked for texts with potential social impact and circulated them to keep the community informed and, in parallel, developed different skills. This study discusses how this community translation project contributed to the participants' linguistic education, drawing on a questionnaire sent out to participants. Results show different perceptions about the contributions of the project: improvement of reading and writing skills in Portuguese and also increased knowledge in other languages, besides the development of academic and/or informational literacies. Although linguistic education was not the main goal of the project, participants' perceptions suggest the effective contribution of translation to language learning and awareness of multilingualism, among other benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the translation of five child protection assessments and decisions from Finnish into English. Translators of such text have to make difficult decisions in relation to the linguistic resources of the end users, namely the child's parents or custodians, because it is impossible for the translator to assess their linguistic resources. Therefore, it is difficult to strike a balance between an accurate translation and a pragmatically felicitous translation. Besides, these texts are typically translated by community interpreters who have no formal training in translation. A total of 18 examples of translation problems related to terminology, nominalization, passive constructions, and speech representation were analyzed by mobilizing different linguistic theories related to each category. The results show that the target texts present several accommodation strategies aimed at rendering the translations more accessible. Thus, terms are explained or glossed, and terms, grammatical constructions, and complex forms of reported speech are simplified. More awareness-raising among different stakeholders is needed in order to produce translations that really empower migrant communities. Kirjoituksessa tarkastellaan lastensuojelun päätösten ja selvitysten kääntämistä suomesta englantiin. Tällaisten tekstien kääntäminen on haasteellista, sillä käännösten käyttäjät ovat hyvin harvoin syntyperäisiä englannin kielen puhujia. Käännöksen on siis säilytettävä lähtötekstin laillinen voima, mutta lisäksi käännöksen käyttäjän eli lapsen huoltajan on voitava ymmärtää käännös. Usein tekstejä kääntävät asioimistulkit, joilla ei ole kääntäjän koulutusta. Analysoitavaksi valittiin 18 käännösongelmaesimerkkiä, jotka edustavat terminologiaa, nominalisaatiota, passiivirakenteita ja referointia. Tulosten perusteella kääntäjät käyttävät useita sopeuttamiskeinoja, joilla he lisäävät käännösten saavutettavuutta. Keinoja ovat muun muassa kaksikielinen merkitseminen (glossaaminen), selittäminen, monimutkaisten rakenteiden yksinkertaistaminen ja kieliopillinen "luonnonmukaistaminen" eli prototyypillisen kategorian käyttäminen (esim. verbin käyttäminen substantiivin sijaan kerrottaessa tapahtumisesta tai tekemisestä). Ongelmien ratkaisemiseksi olisi tärkeää lisätä kielellistä tietämystä kaikkien lastensuojelutekstien kanssa tekemisessä olevien henkilöiden parissa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Occupational Therapists should use relevant patient reported outcome measures as part of providing evidence for occupational therapy intervention. Measures must be responsive, valid and reliable for use in all health sectors. An essential requirement is that the measure be available in the language of the populations it is intended for. As most measures are developed in the English language for use in English speaking countries, we put forward an opinion on the practice of community translation during the translation and cross-cultural adaption of patient reported outcome measures towards increased clinical utility in the public health sector of South Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Arts & Social Sciences (JASS) is the property of Sultan Qaboos University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This empirical study explores whether indigenous Zulu praise-poetry can inform the translation of biblical praise-psalms. Zulu youth (“poetry fans”) were invited to learn about Hebrew and Zulu poetics as well as the process of Bible translation. Then they made their own translations and performances of biblical praise-psalms, following the Literary-rhetorical approach of Ernst Wendland. The results show a strong Zulu imprint from the source to the receptor text, although the original message is retained along with some of the poetic features. The literary and rhetorical power of the Hebrew is transformed into images and thought patterns that come alive to the Zulu mind while still being acceptable (to them) in terms of biblical accuracy. The performances of the translated texts (using rap, song, or spoken poetry) utilise prosody to deliver the message, thus requiring some adjustment to the texts. The audience enters into the experience, impacting the performers. Thus, there are four “voices” apparent: those of the original author, the Zulu translator, the Zulu performer, and the audience. A rich texture of cultural beauty emerges as the Hebrew and Zulu horizons merge in a panorama of literary beauty and rhetorical power.

Translators and interpreters have been shown to play an important role in supporting the activities of NGOs involved in crisis communication scenarios. However, there is little evidence of whether standardized training materials or technological assistance are required by or would be beneficial to quickly recruited ‘citizen translators’ working in these environments. This article will present a study of the design, delivery, and preliminary evaluation of a set of training materials developed for use in a citizen translation project run by New Zealand Red Cross (NZRC) with the support of the EU H2020-funded International Network on Crisis Translation (INTERACT). The article describes the training materials and discusses the epistemological and didactic issues that were faced in their design and delivery. Findings from the article will be of interest to those seeking to understand citizen translation and issues involved in working with an NGO on translator training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unlike community interpreting, community translation engages with the members of the community both at individual and group levels. This duality of the process makes the identification of the community as a socio-cultural entity and of its individual members all the more important. There have been several attempts to define the concept of 'community' in different professional and academic contexts. Mindful of the difficulty of defining community, the paper proposes three methods that can help community translators in visualizing the characteristics of the intended audience and in making informed translation decisions. The three methods, derived from user-centred translation, are scrutinized using a case study based on a real-life National Health Service (NHS) text. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While community interpreting has attracted considerable attention in the last two decades, its counterpart, community translation, represents an under-researched area in Translation Studies (International Conference on Community Translation 2014, Call for papers). With a view to narrowing this gap, the article starts by analyzing the concept of "community translation", and then moves to that of translation policy. After situating translation policy within the concept of language planning and its categories (corpus, status and acquisition planning), the author then addresses a specific case study, that of translation policies and community translation in the U.S. at the federal and state levels, the latter of which focuses on California. While surveying and comparing translation policies at these two levels, the author also examines to what extent these policies, and the presence or absence of penalties for their noncompliance, lead to different degrees of regulation of community translation practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The translator as agent of empowerment: A case study In this article the focus is on the role of the translator as an agent of empowerment for linguistically marginalised communities; it also raises the practical issue of his/her role as an intermediary equipped with knowledge of the source and target cultures and their (non-)overlap. The community translation approach, which emerged from a socio-linguistic perspective, forms the basis for this point of departure. The aim of this approach is to give these communities access to the same information and services as the linguistical “elite”. In order to realise this, the translator uses discourse patterns and linguistic conventions of the target group. For this approach, the needs of the target audience in the translation process are of paramount importance. To illustrate the translator’s role as an agent of empowerment as well as an effective intermediary, this article’s focus is on translation strategies used in a pragmatic text.

Copyright of Compilation & Translation Review is the property of National Academy for Educational Research and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper reports on a research project that investigated the accessibility of health information and the consequent impact for translation into community languages. This is a critical aspect of the mediation of intercultural and interlingual communication in the domain of public health information and yet very little research has been undertaken to address such issues. The project was carried out in collaboration with the New South Wales Multicultural Health Communication Service (MHCS), which provides advice and services to state-based health professionals aiming to communicate with non-English speaking communities. The research employed a mixed-method and action research based approach involving two phases. The primary focus of this paper is to discuss major quantitative findings from the first pilot phase, which indicated that there is much room to improve the way in which health information is written in English for effective community-wide communication within a multilingual society.

Translation practice in the social media: an improved translation text for a virtual community? A method increasingly used to provide translation in the computer era is crowdsourcing. This practice is widely exercised in the open-source community and has become quite sophisticated. The "crowd" comes in various forms: customers, brand advocates, domain experts, passionate users and the "unwashed masses ". All of these take the form of multilingual communities whose translation work may be integrated with existing translation workflows. However, there are still many misconceptions and myths about the outcomes of crowdsourcing when applied to translation. Three major phenomena in harnessing the power of the crowd for translation purposes have been identified by Rebecca Ray and Nataly Kelly (2011). The first is community translation (or social translation) which is usually performed on voluntary basis by members of a group or by people with common interests. These groups are often cause-focused; interested in obtaining access to information in their own language; or simply people devoted to language. The second is collaborative technology and processes which allow a community to develop around a project and to work on the same content. Community members can verify and rectify one another's work as they go along. The term "collaborative translation" is also used to describe the work of professional translation teams working as a swarm -- where multiple translators interact with the same content simultaneously, using advanced translation memory tools. The third, crowdsourcing, opens up a translation project to teams comprising of any mix of volunteer translators, employees, contractors or language service providers. It leverages the power of the swarm to accomplish much more than a single translator or language service provider can do alone. These three methods have supported one another to such an extent that the boundaries between them have faded. However, this paper argues that crowdsourced translation for a virtual community expands on community translation as originally developed for educationally deprived communities, with specifically the linguistically deprived as target readers of translated texts. Multicultural societies, such as those in South Africa, where heterogeneous target audiences require translation, use community translation as a vehicle for effective communication (Lesch 2004; 1999). Otherwise a translation will only be a symbolic gesture, empty of value, and thus not communicating the message intended. This article argues that a functional approach ensures that translations are meaningful acts, and that this approach may serve as a translation paradigm for multilingual countries and global virtual institutions. Different readers and listeners must be addressed in writing (and in speaking) at a level that they can understand. In the multicultural context found in many countries, a plain language approach to translation for communication purposes entails that those who produce texts must consider plain language for effective communication. At the same time it should be borne in mind that there are various degrees of plainness. The communicator and translator can achieve a relative plainness, for instance, a plainer language that is more adequate in the eyes and ears of the audience than the legalese Afrikaans version. In terms of communication it represents an improvement of the original source text language. The concept of plain language is dynamic and varies according to the target audience. Translators can adopt one of two approaches. They either think of a text in terms of plain language before translating, or they transfer a text into plain language during the translation process. The latter approach deals with rephrasing and adaptation as part of the construction of target texts. I am of the opinion that this is the better way to ensure effective intercultural communication across power gaps in a heterogeneous country, and that this also applies to the generic reader on the internet. It goes without saying that this translation strategy is useful for effective understanding of the target text when communicating a message to widely heterogeneous audiences, including some with limited educational backgrounds, and for effective communication across a wide cultural spectrum and power gaps. Consequently, this article draws on norms that have been developed for the community translation practice prior to the evolution of a virtual internet community, and were designed for target readers with a limited educational background. The article raises the question of, and initiates debate on whether the proposed norms are also relevant for translation via crowdsourcing. The underlying principle for these norms is using accessible language in crowdsourced and community translation on the internet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Translation practice in the social media: an improved translation text for a virtual community? A method increasingly used to provide translation in the computer era is crowdsourcing. This practice is widely exercised in the open-source community and has become quite sophisticated. The "crowd" comes in various forms: customers, brand advocates, domain experts, passionate users and the "unwashed masses". All of these take the form of multilingual communities whose translation work may be integrated with existing translation workflows. However, there are still many misconceptions and myths about the outcomes of crowdsourcing when applied to translation. Three major phenomena in harnessing the power of the crowd for translation purposes have been identified by Rebecca Ray and Nataly Kelly (2011). The first is community translation (or social translation) which is usually performed on voluntary basis by members of a group or by people with common interests. These groups are often cause-focused; interested in obtaining access to information in their own language; or simply people devoted to language. The second is collaborative technology and processes which allow a community to develop around a project and to work on the same content. Community members can verify and rectify one another's work as they go along. The term "collaborative translation" is also used to describe the work of professional translation teams working as a swarm - where multiple translators interact with the same content simultaneously, using advanced translation memory tools. The third, crowdsourcing, opens up a translation project to teams comprising of any mix of volunteer translators, employees, contractors or language service providers. It leverages the power of the swarm to accomplish much more than a single translator or language service provider can do alone. These three methods have supported one another to such an extent that the boundaries between them have faded. However, this paper argues that crowdsourced translation for a virtual community expands on community translation as originally developed for educationally deprived communities, with specifically the linguistically deprived as target readers of translated texts. Multicultural societies, such as those in South Africa, where heterogeneous target audiences require translation, use community translation as a vehicle for effective communication (Lesch 2004; 1999). Otherwise a translation will only be a symbolic gesture, empty of value, and thus not communicating the message intended. This article argues that a functional approach ensures that translations are meaningful acts, and that this approach may serve as a translation paradigm for multilingual countries and global virtual institutions. Different readers and listeners must be addressed in writing (and in speaking) at a level that they can understand. In the multicultural context found in many countries, a plain language approach to translation for communication purposes entails that those who produce texts must consider plain language for effective communication. At the same time it should be borne in mind that there are various degrees of plainness. The communicator and translator can achieve a relative plainness, for instance, a plainer language that is more adequate in the eyes and ears of the audience than the legalese Afrikaans version. In terms of communication it represents an improvement of the original source text language. The concept of plain language is dynamic and varies according to the target audience. Translators can adopt one of two approaches. They either think of a text in terms of plain language before translating, or they transfer a text into plain language during the translation process. The latter approach deals with rephrasing and adaptation as part of the construction of target texts. I am of the opinion that this is the better way to ensure effective intercultural communication across power gaps in a heterogeneous country, and that this also applies to the generic reader on the internet. It goes without saying that this translation strategy is useful for effective understanding of the target text when communicating a message to widely heterogeneous audiences, including some with limited educational backgrounds, and for effective communication across a wide cultural spectrum and power gaps. Consequently, this article draws on norms that have been developed for the community translation practice prior to the evolution of a virtual internet community, and were designed for target readers with a limited educational background. The article raises the question of, and initiates debate on whether the proposed norms are also relevant for translation via crowdsourcing. The underlying principle for these norms is using accessible language in crowdsourced and community translation on the internet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Community interpreting and translation enable public service providers and users to communicate in situations where they do not share the same language. These professions are essential for social equity and egalitarian access to legal, health, education and other services. Many countries with significant numbers of migrants or autochthonous language minorities have developed more or less satisfactory services and standards in this burgeoning subfield of translation and interpreting. Instances can be identified of countries that have made significant progress (e.g., Australia, Canada and Sweden) as well as of those which started only recently (e.g., Spain and Italy). In Arab countries, however, one can hardly find a reference to this subfield of translation studies, although situations requiring such interpreting and translation services are numerous. This paper describes and raises awareness of the status quo of community interpreting and translation in the Arab World. Three examples are focused on: Morocco as a country with a national language minority, the United Arab Emirates, as an affluent country hosting migrants, and Saudi Arabia, a country with a special religious position which hosts millions of pilgrims every year. The paper also includes recommendations based on migration and pilgrimage statistics and the experiences of the pioneering countries above. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to describe a sample of community translation: the web site Lyrics Translate. com, which offers translation for lyrics. Community translation consists of the translation of a large volume of content due to the collaboration of a group of amateur translators in Internet and it is characterized by the lack of a professional who guarantees the quality of the final product. The power and reach of amateur translation is surprising. The willingness of translators to work on a project without direct financial compensation is a widespread reality. Translators are motivated by recognition from the community, a sense of accomplishment that comes from improving as a translator and from enjoyment of the material they're translating. Using French translations into Spanish language from the web site Lyrics Translate.com, we analyze their performance and the way in which users accomplish the task of translation. With this purpose, we will address some questions such as who are the translators, why they do that, the working languages and, specially, the quality of the translated material. Little attention has been paid to this newborn phenomenon of web sites offering translations carried out by amateur translators. However, these virtual communities around translation are widely spread in the cyberspace and, what is more, these new translating practices have already become a challenge for the future of translation professional work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Classic translation memory (TM) revolutionised technical translation in the 1990s. ‘Enhanced’ TM will revolutionise most types of translation this decade. The massive memory databases collected over 20 years can now be accessed from TM tools for exact and fuzzy matches. Sub-segmental information (terminology and phraseology) can also be gained from them via manual or automated concordancing. Stripped of metadata and formatting information, they have made possible the swift development of statistical machine translation (MT), which can be integrated with TM to provide matches where the memories themselves cannot. At the same time, cloud computing facilitates the adoption of web-based MT (and of web-based TM and translation management systems). Postediting, previously limited to a narrow section of the industry, becomes mainstream. The Read/Write Web demands (and allows for) a new model of translation, with dynamic, user-generated content not well suited to the conventional translation-editing-proofreading model. The web browser seems to drive those who want to make technical translation a profession into either semi-skilled workers enduring quasi sweatshop conditions, or else into the highly-skilled language engineer who helps make the decisions on which tool or process those translators will use for which task. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This special issue highlights the unique role that social and behavioral science has to play at the forefront of genomics. Through the introduction of papers comprising this special issue, we outline priority research areas at the nexus of genomics and the social and behavioral sciences. These include: Discovery science; clinical and community translation, and equity, including engagement and inclusion of diverse populations in genomic science. We advocate for genomic discovery that considers social context, neural, cognitive, and behavioral endophenotypes, and that is grounded in social and behavioral science research and theory. Further, the social and behavioral sciences should play a leadership role in identifying best practices for effective clinical and community translation of genomic discoveries. Finally, inclusive research that engages diverse populations is necessary for genomic discovery and translation to benefit all. We also highlight ways that genomics can be a fruitful testbed for the development and refinement of social and behavioral science theory. Indeed, an expanded ecological lens that runs from genomes to society will be required to fully understand human behavior. Image 1 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Individuals with prediabetes can lower their diabetes risk by participating in the National Diabetes Prevention Program (National DPP), an evidence-based, group lifestyle change program that is taught by a certified lifestyle coach. To date, studies have not explicitly compared National DPP implementation across multiple settings (i.e., types of organizations) to understand comparative setting advantages or challenges to engaging priority groups. The purpose of this study was to gain an in-depth understanding of: (a) the variation in National DPP implementation across clinic, community-based, and digital settings and (b) associated facilitators and barriers. The study focused on three core implementation domains: recruitment, retention, and data reporting. This study used a descriptive, qualitative approach to identify current practices, facilitators, and barriers to National DPP implementation by conducting semistructured key informant interviews in spring 2018 with 12 organizations delivering the National DPP in Los Angeles County. There was a general commonality between in-person settings (clinics and community-based), while the experiences of digital providers were relatively distinct. Recruitment and retention were widely described by all settings as labor- and time-intensive, while data reporting was seen as relatively less burdensome. All respondents reported using multiple recruitment strategies. Lifestyle coaches were seen as key to retention, and they spent substantial time engaging with participants outside of class, which often was not accounted for in program costs. Data reporting was easier for organizations that invested in sophisticated data management systems and had staff with sufficient data experience. This study advances knowledge around the translation of the National DPP in diverse settings in the nation's largest county and highlights opportunities for targeted, setting-specific support., (© Society of Behavioral Medicine 2020. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Background: Translation and cross cultural adaptation of patient reported outcome measures (PROMs) involves a step referred to as harmonisation, following forward and backward translation of the measure. This article proposes the introduction of methods not previously included in the process of harmonisation. The aim of the study was to introduce shared decision making (SDM) and the practice of community translation (CT) during the harmonisation of the Afrikaans for the Western Cape version of the Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand (DASH) questionnaire, a PROM that measures symptoms and activity and participation in persons with upper limb conditions. Methods: A broader approach to harmonisation is proposed by incorporating CT and SDM in addition to existing methods toward harmonisation. Participants (n = 8) involved in the harmonisation meeting included the principal investigator, a linguistic expert, occupational therapists with knowledge of the target population, context and the DASH questionnaire and members of the target population with and without upper limb conditions. A partnership was formed with the participants (a principle of SDM) and the principles of non-parallel CT and the CT approach were applied during harmonisation. Employing CT principles ensures that the norm for the translation is set by the population the translation is intended for. Results: Forward and backward translation of the DASH questionnaire presented a version of the measure in the target language for consideration during harmonisation. There were however a significant number of conceptually problematic items on the version presented at the meeting. Only seven items (7 of 30) remained unchanged. Conclusion: SDM and CT was used during the harmonisation of the Afrikaans for the Western Cape DASH questionnaire. Both these practices could have relevance in the translation and cross-cultural adaptation of PROMs where the translation is intended for persons from low socio-economic backgrounds and low levels of education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]