IEEE Proof IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION, VOL. 53, NO. 4, DECEMBER 2010 1 Learning Localization through Trans-Atlantic Collaboration: Bridging the Gap between Professions Tutorial —Feature by BIRTHE MOUSTEN ,BRUCE MAYLATH ,SONIA VANDEPITTE , AND JOHN HUMBLEY Abstract—In light of what has taken place since their presentation at the IEEE International Professional Communication Conference in 2005, the authors describe additional requirements and merits of matching technical writing students in the US with translation students in Europe in a collaborative assignment. Where the original article dealt with how to set up and organize the collaboration, this tutorial delves into the pedagogical challenges and the process dynamics involved in such an exchange, including mediation, power, and teamwork issues. Index Terms—Editing, exchange, localization, negotiation, power, translation standards. Collaborative projects are natural in trade and industry workplaces where the increased use of digital media for quick and efficient communication is possible. The resulting increased cooperation between multinational partners is vital for expediency and success. Email as a medium is an increasingly prevalent way of furthering collaboration, allowing the employees to create a more hands-on approach to shaping texts for users of other languages and cultures. In education, the media can be employed to set up collaborative partnerships. Research on international collaborative projects in higher education is, however, rather scarce. When we started our project in 2000, only one article was available on a similar project: Duell and Gregory describe the two phases of the interaction between an English-language class in Tokyo International University, Japan, and a branch campus in Salem, Oregon, US, via the web [1]. Duell and Gregory’s main purpose in the project was for students to learn how to use new electronic tools. In the meantime, Okubo and Kumahata have reported on their international educational collaboration between Baylor University and Tokyo Institute of Polytechnics [2]. Students taking Japanese and Manuscript received March 05, 2009; revised July 28, 2009; accepted February 08, 2010. B. Mousten is with the Aarhus School of Business, Aarhus University, Aarhus DK-8210, Denmark (email: bmo@asb.dk). B. Maylath is with North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND 58108-6050 USA (email: bruce.maylath@ndsu.edu). S. Vandepitte is with Translation Studies, University College Ghent, Ghent B-9000, Belgium (email: sonia.vandepitte@hogent. be). J. Humbley is with Université Paris 7-Denis Diderot, Paris 75205, France (email: humbley@eila.univ-paris-diderot.fr). IEEE 10.1109/TPC.2010.2077481 students learning English communicated with each other via web-based video and text chat sessions. The authors conclude that learning a foreign culture definitely improved with communication methods that used online technologies. In our Trans-Atlantic Project, however, the universities are not related to each other through any formal agreements, written or otherwise. Instead, relationships are established between individual instructors. Longstanding partners include instructors at Aarhus University’s School of Business (Denmark), University College Ghent (Belgium), University of Paris 7-Denis Diderot (France), and University of Wisconsin-Stout (US). New partners have joined the network, namely from the University of Trieste (Italy), North Dakota State University (US), and, for one brief year, the University of Graz (Karl-Franzens-Universität, Austria). The project’s genesis, structure, and aims are enumerated in Humbley et al. [3] and vary considerably according to the wishes of the participating institutions. There and in other publications we have described the project’s history and organic development as a grassroots network and delineated the project’s ground rules, their practical nature, the theoretical framework behind the partnerships, and the logistics behind their operations [3]–[5]. Generally, students are expected to have already mastered the necessary computer skills and proficiency in language skills. The project differs from most other exercises in that students are put into a semi-lifelike situation: Technical students learn how to relate to prospective translators of their work, and translation students have contact with the writers of their source texts, who also act as their clients. Thus, students become aware of 0361-1434/$26.00 © 2010 IEEE