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As expert intercultural communicators, translators constantly face the challenges of comprehending and producing language that is stylistically appropriate in various communicative contexts. To scale these challenges, they must acquire advanced levels of sociolinguistic competence. Although sociolinguistic competence is considered an essential component of translation competence, to date no study has investigated how sociolinguistic competence, in the form of sensitivity to grammatical (in)formality, develops in translation trainees. Using style-based grammaticality judgement tasks, we collected data from 21 Dutch-speaking undergraduate trainees over a three-year period. We asked participants to revise sentences for style and investigated their accommodative competence in L2 English. We looked at participants' ability to accommodate language to social context through style-shifting, mapping how they detected and/or corrected (in)appropriateness in formal contexts. Our results show that trainees' overall accommodative competence initially improves, but subsequently stagnates. In the final year of testing, they barely score 50%. Receptive and productive sensitivity to grammatical (in)appropriateness follow similar developments, with trainees consistently performing better for receptive than for productive sensitivity. Our findings highlight the need to design effective sociolinguistically responsive (foreign-language) instruction in translation training to further develop sensitivity to grammatical (in)formality and to heighten sociolinguistic awareness and the controlled use of stylistic variation.

This research examines how consumers value, over time, their possessions in the domestic space. We focus on the large amount of clothing kept in the household, given the critical issues of sustainability that are raised by this practice. Using in-depth interviews and wardrobe ethnography, we unpack the role of rituals in consumers' valuation of these possessions. The findings show that some possessions become dormant due to various failures in rituals. Dormant possessions are those pending revalorisation, which may be carried out by consumers themselves or through their use of services, specifically those related to circular economy. We identify and theorise reinvestment rituals, a new form of rituals that allow for revalorisation and extension of the life of a possession. This research highlights the value dynamics at play in the consumer – possession relationship and has implications for a strong sustainability approach on the part of consumers, managers, and policymakers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Depuis le début des années 2000, des expérimentations dont l’objectif est de développer de nouveaux modèles économiques (économie circulaire, écologie industrielle et territoriale, économie de la fonctionnalité…) s’organisent autour de pratiques collectives engagées autour et vers de nouvelles formes de durabilité. Ces initiatives émanent de partenaires privés ou de territoires. Malgré leur grande hétérogénéité, ces nouveaux modèles économiques ont en commun une hybridation de projets entrepreneuriaux et territoriaux qui portent potentiellement en germe une évolution radicale de la création de richesse à travers un processus innovant d’action collective. Ce travail se propose, à partir d’une grille de lecture de l’action collective, d’en décrypter les processus et d’en analyser les ressorts et les résultats potentiels en termes de ce que nous nommons durabilité territoriale. Nous montrons, à partir de trois cas d’entreprise, les processus et formes d’action collectives ainsi que les limites à la mise en place des modèles à une échelle plus large.

Translation proper is rarely the sole activity of professional translators, who regularly function also as revisers and/or post-editors. Various models of and studies into translation competence (TC), translation revision competence (TRC) and post-editing competence (PEC) exist. However, a fundamental question remains unanswered: how similar – or different – are TC, TRC and PEC? Before this question can be answered, a methodological issue must be addressed: how do we measure TRC and PEC? Using existing literature, we propose seven instruments to measure TRC and PEC. Our aim is to determine whether the instruments are exchangeable, that is, result in similar measures of the underlying variable. We conducted a small-scale study with translation trainees, who performed L1 Dutch–L2 French TR and PE tasks. The measuring instruments generated TRC scores that were significantly different and therefore not exchangeable. In contrast, PEC scores were not always significantly different. In conclusion, with measuring instruments for TRC and PEC being generally not exchangeable, it is imperative that researchers not only report on measuring instruments thoroughly in research in general, but also use measuring instruments designed according to the same principles when they investigate differences and similarities between TRC, PEC, and even TC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

HIV may be directly responsible for the decrease in the number of blood cells that occurs during HIV infection. This was demonstrated by a study in which HIV patients who took highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) had greater numbers of blood cells within six months of beginning treatment.