Translating and interpreting in the Metaverse: potential opportunities and challenges

Abstract

The concept of the Metaverse has started to be studied by scholars from different disciplines after the evolution of the idea of building a virtual 3D universe reflecting the real world in digital platforms. Since the impacts of such a digital universe will be enormous, it is beneficial to understand the main motives for developing such a system, the basic features of the Metaverse, its operational steps, and its possible impacts on different disciplines. When the literature is analyzed to find resources about the Metaverse, it has been seen that there are only a limited number of studies in the literature since the Metaverse is a relatively new concept in the sense that we know it today. The relationship between the Metaverse and the profession of translation and interpreting is one of the latest issues; therefore, only a few studies have been found in the literature associating somehow the Metaverse with translation, and the scope of these studies is quite limited. Therefore, the present study is innovative research elaborating on the potential advantages and disadvantages of the Metaverse in the field of translation and interpreting by referring to the studies in the literature. After a detailed analysis of the data and comprehensive interpretation of possible impacts of the Metaverse on the profession, it has been concluded that the Metaverse offers many advantages for translators, interpreters, and educators. It is also noted that such a digital environment fully integrated into people’s lives may result in social, mental, and physical problems.