In this study a process was proposed for data handling during translating interview transcripts into a target language. This was by shown using an example of translated interview excerpts from Japanese into English. The main aim of this work is to reflect on intercultural professionalism, its implications and complexities viewed from an individual and how this feeds into biographical storytelling about intercultural learning. For this the case of a Japanese international university student and her intercultural learning was analysed.

In order to do my research, the following condition must be fulfilled; by using certain methods and objects it is expected to be possible to access certain linguistic, cultural and social items which might be otherwise normally excluded from the actual meaning of intercultural professionalisms and its functional usage.

In terms of finding and setting a subject for this study, I choose intercultural learning and foreign experience viewed by a Japanese international student and her situation in Germany. This choice was made in order to be able to include possibilities for often excluded implications of intercultural professionalism. I used the following considerations when setting the research subject: dealing with intercultural professionalism in the field of intercultural education, and educational and social qualitative research in the German-speaking countries. For the latter, the research tends to be directed towards school education (cf. Gogolin: 2018 et al.). In addition, even though social and educational qualitative methods are chosen to analyse and compare the relationship between intercultural professionalism, teaching and learning, from individual single case studies on intercultural learning it has been suggested that it would be better to analyse and compare reflections on intercultural learning from the teacher perspective. In the field of higher education research, there is also a tendency to examine intercultural professionalism gradually. Moreover, a similar tendency to the second problem is seen also in the field of higher education research (cf. Otten: 2006). Consequently, if this approach is maintained the meaning of intercultural professionalism would continue to be studied without considering the perspectives of international students, whose positions may be even more important for intercultural learning and further understanding of intercultural professionalism. Therefore, analysing and comparing intercultural learning from the perspective of international students is important.

In view of the collection of data as well as the combination and use of analysed data, I conducted biographical interviews with seven Japanese international students and two Japanese graduates in Germany in 2020 via Zoom. One interview with a Japanese international female student and the associated translated excerpts from Japanese into English are the objects to be analysed. To be able to analyse and compare my original and translated excerpts with each other, I combined the following two text analysis methods: The first one is documental and functional translation (a translation-oriented text analysis)  introduced by Christiane Nord and its addition. This method is suitable for collecting and documenting data linguistically. The second one is based on educational and social qualitative research related to the sociology of culture and knowledge. Especially, the narrative interview according to Arnd-Michael Nohl is suitable for my study; he firstly focuses on enabling case comparison, even for a single case, and its biographical process structure in order to reconstruct a structure of individuality reflectively. This is done before any analysis and comparisons of further abstract levels in a society are made.

It is expected that the combination of these two methods with a selected case would enable a comparative analyse to be made of the implications and complexities of intercultural professionalism, as viewed in terms of an individual and the biographical storytelling about intercultural learning.

The chosen interview material for this paper was originally in Japanese and therefore it was translated into English in order to be able to analyse and compare the original and translated excerpts. The main method used for conducting interviews was the narrative interview method (Nohl 2010). Documental translation (Nord: 2009 and 2010; Munday 2001/2008) was used for translating the material. By using the narrative method, it was necessary to examine the following two points: Firstly, in order to produce a text for interpretation, whether or how it is possible to translate and to document described forms of learning and their relationship in different institutions and cultures from Japanese into English. Second, in order to interpret intercultural learning for intercultural professionalism, how it is possible to reconstruct these different forms of learning from the narrative structure of the interviewee (including in the target language). These preconditions provided the necessity to reconsider reconstructing a process of intercultural learning in the research object. The interview started with narratives about her biography and its episodes (e.g., experiences inside and outside the schools in Japan before coming to Germany, experiences at a German language school, experiences at a German university etc.) to understand better the interviewed person and her present moment as a university student in Germany. The section encompassing the conflicts encountered whist learning her study subject as an international student in German was selected for analyse. This was chosen because it allows a comparison to be made between common and different points of learning, as viewed by the international student and its personal and cultural experiences. Subsequently, selected passages and words were translated into English, whereby I translated them according to two selected forms of documentary translation (word-for-word translation and exoticizing translation) and one from of instrumental translation for interpreting, as suggested by Nord (2010), in order to express and document certain linguistic, cultural and social items in the target text. Moreover, I added also latinized translation due to the character of Japanese. Afterwards, the original Japanese text and four translated texts were compared using the narrative interview method according to Nohl (2005). When reconstructing a learning process, it is also important to compare the passages on the learning relationship and certain linguistic, cultural and social items from the original text. This comparison makes it possible to better comprehend the precondition necessary for reconstructing a process of intercultural learning.

This study, involving the reconstruction of a process of learning and its reflexion through intercultural action orientations of the interviewee, can be understood in terms of intercultural learning. The knowledge gained is expected to lead to further reflexion about the process of intercultural teaching and intercultural professionalism. The results obtained in this study based on translation studies and social and educational qualitative research firstly emphasize the importance of analysing and comparing original and translated interview excerpts, and secondly highlight a possible trace point of intercultural learning from different forms of learning by an individual case and its specific context.

Berkenbusch, Gabriele (2009): Konversationsanalyse als methodischer Zugang zum interkulturellen Lernen – Bericht über ein extracurriculares Projekt zum forschenden Lernen. In Forum qualitative Sozialforschung 10 (1). Bohnsack, Ralf (2017): Praxeologische Wissenssoziologie. Opladen and Toronto: Barbara Budrich. Giesecke, Hermann (1987/2015): Pädagogik als Beruf. Grundformen pädagogischen Handelns. Revised Edition:12. Weinheim: Beltz Juventa. Gogolin, Ingrid; Georgi, Viola; Krüger-Potratz, Marianne; Lengyel, Drorit; Sandfuchs, Uwe (2018): Handbuch Interkulturelle Pädagogik. Bad Heilbrunn: Julius Klinkhardt. Loy, Christine (2018): Motivationstypen in der Bildungsmigration. Biografische Hintergründe. 1. Auflage 2018. Wiesbaden: Springer. Munday, Jeremy (2001/2008): Introducing Translation Studies. Edition: 2. London and New York: Routledge. Nohl, Arnd-Michael (2010): Narrative Interview and Documentary Interpretation. In Ralf Bohnsack, Nicolle Pfaff, Wivian Weller (Eds.): Qualitative Analysis and Documentary Method in International Educational Research. Opladen, Farmington Hills MI.: Barbara Budrich, pp. 195–217. Nord, Christiane (2009): Textanalyse und Übersetzen: theoretische Grundlagen, Methode und didaktische Anwendung einer übersetzungsrelevanten Textanalyse. revised edition: 4. Tübingen: Groos. Nord, Christiane (2010): Fertigkeit Übersetzen: Ein Kurs zum Übersetzenlehren und-lernen. Berlin: Bundesverband der Dolmetscher und Übersetzer. Otten, Matthias (2006): Interkulturelles Handeln in der globalisierten Hochschulbildung. Bielefeld: transcript. Poland, Blake D. (2008): Transcript. In Lisa M. Given (Ed.): The SAGE Encyclopedia of Qualitative Research Methods. 2 volumes. Thousand Oks, California: SAGE (1 & 2), pp. 882–885. Reichertz, Jo (2021): Limits of Interpretation or Interpretation at the Limits: Perspectives From Hermeneutics on the Re-Figuration of Space and Cross-Cultural Comparison. In Forum qualitative Sozialforschung 22 (2). Stolze, Radegundis (2003): Hermeneutik und Translation. Tübingen: Narr. Temple, Bogusia (2008): Translatability. In Lisa M. Given (Ed.): The SAGE Encyclopedia of Qualitative Research Methods. 2 volumes. Thousand Oks, California: SAGE (1 & 2), p. 890.