The Multilingual Museum

In the Multilingual Museum project, Manchester Museum partners with Multilingual Manchester to promote inclusion and accessibility and mobilise pride in the city's linguistic diversity.

The project solicits voluntary contributions from its online community in order to translate the narratives of Manchester Museum. Translations can provide easier access to content for those who prefer reading in a language other than English; but they can also offer a platform for a variety of audiences to engage actively with museum content, by using the translation process to contribute to the interpretation of that content.

The project is hosted online, although in-person events have supported the promotion of the project. The Multilingual Museum takes a participatory approach to translations, and contributors can submit translations in any language or dialect, as well as provide commentary on others. Submissions can be a close translation or a loose interpretation; experiences, observations and opinions relating to the objects are welcomed. 

The project is a collaboration between The University of Manchester, Manchester Museum and Multilingual Manchester. The project is led by Professor Yaron Matras.