Let’s get back to our group of teenagers: imagine that you want to understand what they are saying and you ask them. If they accept, a process of translation will start.
The translation process is what it takes for people from different contexts to interact when they go out of their context. It takes extra effort to make up for the gap. It is a <strong> reformulation at the interface of different groups.
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Translation takes speakers… a spokesperson will be appointed or spontaneously takes the lead. They are going to talk in the name of their group. They are at the interface and give visibility to the group.
The spokesperson from the other group is going to do the same. When seeking new common ground, it is more accurate to see translation as a two-way process of negotiation. If it is intended, translation can also take the form of building a network by discussing, negotiating permanently, expanding the common ground… in doing that, the network is gaining power, legitimacy, it will be as strong as the quality of translation was.
Translation often needs to rely on something that frames the interaction. In professional settings, this framing can be materialised by a conference, an interdisciplinary project, a teacher-parent meeting... Anything that aims at creating circumstances for representatives of different groups to interact and create new common grounds.