Rahaf Farag

Rahaf Farag studied translation studies, linguistics, and cultural studies at the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany. She earned her doctorate in intercultural communication and graduated with a dissertation on computer-aided conversation-analytic transcription of Arabic–German talk-in-interaction using data from interpreter-mediated encounters. Her passion for building bridges between languages and cultures, science and society, authorities and communities has guided her to various roles: as, among other things, a researcher interested in basic and application-oriented topics, a sworn translator, an interpreting practitioner and educator, an intercultural coach, a specialist for different aspects of multilingual communication in institutions, and a volunteer in social and educational settings. Since 2022, she has been working as a postdoctoral researcher in the project “Data Collection and Language Documentation” at the Leibniz Institute for the German Language. Being responsible for a participatory language lab (i.e. a communication and survey area) in the emerging “Forum Deutsche Sprache” (Eng. German Language Forum) she develops various formats to encourage citizens to contribute to linguistic research by “donating” their language and sharing their expertise, thus creating new means for bilateral knowledge. To experiment with low-threshold opportunities for exchange and transfer while combining translation, linguistic, and intercultural competence, she has accompanied and co-developed a citizen science project for children and adolescents from marginalised communities ("Die Sprach-Checker – So sprechen wir in der Neckarstadt"), guiding them to explore and (re)discover their own languages and the other languages used in their environment.