معرفی
Simo K. Määttä is an Associate Professor of Translation Studies at the Department of Languages, University of Helsinki, and Head of the Translation Studies Research Community. He holds a title of Docent from the Faculty of Arts. His research focuses on language use in migration contexts, public service interpreting, legal interpreting, and hate speech analysis. He has held academic positions at multiple Finnish universities and has extensive experience as a freelance translator and interpreter in English, French, and Spanish.
Education: Ph.D. in French Linguistics from the University of California, Berkeley (2004). Previous academic roles include Senior Lecturer at the University of Helsinki (2014–2018), Senior Researcher at the University of Jyväskylä (2012–2014), and Lecturer positions at the University of Eastern Finland (2006–2012) and University of Tampere (2005–2006).
Research interests include the sociological and critical discourse analysis of language policies, interpreter-mediated communication, and the role of language in social inclusion/exclusion. Recent projects address multilingual crisis communication during the pandemic, hate speech in online environments, and the psychological impact of interpreting in high-stress contexts.
Publications span 82 works, with recent emphasis on interpreter training, translation policies, and the interplay of language and ideology. Notable awards include the Finnish Translators and Interpreters Association Silver Merit Award (2024). He leads projects like the EU-funded ARENAS initiative analyzing extremist narratives and the Kone Foundation-supported 'Translation, Migration, and Democracy' study.
Professional roles include Chair of the Board for the Register of Legal Interpreters in Finland and editorial contributions to journals like Mikael. Media engagements include podcast discussions on multilingualism and hate speech for Ranskaa Raakana and academic features in Yliopisto magazine.
