Abstract
The article compares the language and translation policies of the public administration
in two neighbouring multilingual areas, South Tyrol and Switzerland.We first
discuss the concept of institutional translation, before giving some historical and legal background
information on the two areas (especially for less known South Tyrol). Furthermore,
we explore the multilingual regime of their public administration, the translation policies,
and organisational units.We then introduce the exploratory study performed in 2017 in
South Tyrol to collect information relevant to the translation policies and practices in the
provincial administration. Finally, we compare the results of the exploratory study to the
Swiss approach concerning aspects such as translator training, texts typologies, translation
process, and tools/resources employed.We conclude by highlighting the lessons that the
South Tyrolean local administration might learn from the Swiss federal administration in
the domain of institutional translation.