The Interpreter and Translator Trainer
Volume 6, Number 1, 2012
Now available to online subscribers
https://www.stjerome.co.uk/tsa/issue/2414/
Contents
Public Translation Studies in the Classroom
Pages 1-20
Author: Kaisa Koskinen
This article describes a case study where students of an MA-level research methods course were invited to engage in a participatory learning experience in the spirit of critical pedagogy. During the course, the matrix originally designed by Michael Burawoy to describe the four fields of sociology (professional, critical, policy and public sociology) was presented and adapted to translation studies. The notion of public translation studies was then used to enhance the students’ awareness of the dialogic possibilities of research to engage with different publics. This engagement was put into practice in a small-scale assignment designed both to introduce fieldwork methods and to bring the students’ lived experiences into the classroom for discussion and debate. The framework of critical pedagogy and public translation studies was found to offer many opportunities to resist the marketization and commodification forces currently shaping contemporary university education. It also offered an empowering opportunity to create a more democratic and dialogic learning environment.
Keywords: Ethics, Reflexivity, Research methodology, Critical pedagogy, Public translation studies, Participatory learning
A Simplified Multi-model Approach to Preparatory Training in Consecutive Interpreting
Pages 21-43
Author: Robert Neal Baxter
With the onset of the new Bologna framework, preparatory training is set to become the backbone of undergraduate interpreter teaching. Based on over fifteen years of teaching experience, this paper offers an overview of the approach used for basic training in consecutive interpreting, designed to provide a solid grounding for would-be interpreters before moving on to more advanced, professional-standard training. Bringing together what are sometimes seen as contradictory theoretical models, used here as purely pedagogical tools, rather than focusing on recall and translation, the approach described focuses on a simplified two-step model geared to active listening and production, underpinned by the concept of the rational management of finite cognitive resources (effort) within the framework of the minimax strategy. The paper also introduces and discusses the advantages of the key concepts of knowledge mobilization (in the processing stage) and the principle of simplicity (in the production stage).
Keywords: Efforts model, Minimax strategy, Preparatory training, Mobilizing knowledge, Principle of simplicity
Text Corpora in Translator Training. A Case Study of the Use of Comparable Corpora in Classroom Teaching
Pages 45-70
Authors: Anne Lise Laursen and Ismael Arinas Pellon
Specialized translation programmes are traditionally expected to transform trainees into linguistic experts in terms of specialized languages and semi-experts in terms of specialized domains such as economics, technology and law. This type of education aims to teach trainees how to manage a host of encyclopaedic and linguistic data adequately for professional translation purposes within a relatively short period of time. A practical approach to this challenge requires teaching specific processes that can be applied systematically to new contexts. This paper demonstrates how comparable text corpora and concordance software can be used as an efficient and versatile tool for classroom training within the syllabus of specialized translation between Spanish and Danish. In concurrent classroom sessions consisting of software introduction and translation training, trainees acquire the relevant basic software skills related to the concordance program as well as the ability to analyze a set of comparable corpora within a specific genre, in this case the genre of annual reports. The analysis they undertake teaches them how to identify differences in stylistic features between Spanish and Danish, and how to base their own translation choices on corpus data.
Keywords: Translation teaching, Genre, Comparable corpora, Lsp translation, Concordance programs, Annual reports
The Influence of Ideological Orientation on Target Language Text Production. An Analysis of Summaries and Translations of Third-Year Students
Pages 71-90
Authors: Marija Zlatnar Moe and Nina Grahek Kriznar
Source language texts often reflect ideological positions and are imbued with tacit assumptions, beliefs and value systems collectively held by social groups in the source culture. The translator interprets the source text ideology according to his or her own ideological orientation. Consciously or otherwise, he or she makes ideological choices in the process of reading, translating or summarizing. This study tested the influence of the target culture’s and the translator’s personal ideology on third-year students’ summary and translation of an English language text about a potentially sensitive topic. Although the influence of ideology was less conspicuous than in a previous study of first-year students, it was nevertheless evident in the ways in which the text was summarized and translated – primarily on the lexical, but also on the syntactic level. The critical points in the text, where the influence of ideological orientation was strongest, were those that were either technically difficult or related to the translator’s personal experience. The findings suggest that translation training should raise awareness of the influence of ideological orientation on translators’ choices.
Keywords: Ideology, Comprehension, Summarizing, Interpretation, Reading literacy
FEATURE ARTICLE
Respeaking in Translator Training Curricula. Present and Future Prospects
Pages: 91-112
Author: Pablo Romero Fresco
Training in respeaking as a method to produce live subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing was originally designed and developed by the audiovisual industry. In recent years, however, academia has played a leading role in the expansion of respeaking through a growing range of specialized training courses run by European institutions. This article places respeaking within the wider context of audiovisual translation, outlining the most distinctive features of this form of audiovisual transfer and examining the main professional competences that respeaking companies demand. It then gauges the impact of early pedagogical proposals for respeaker training (Arumí and Romero 2008). Drawing on the author’s involvement in respeaking modules taught at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, University of Roehampton and Universidade de Vigo, the article addresses a number questions pertaining to the role that respeaking plays within the wider translator and interpreter training scene; the feasibility of teaching respeaking online and/or to multilingual groups; the interface between respeaker, interpreter and subtitler training; students’ views on the relative difficulty of respeaking vis-à-vis other forms of linguistic mediation; and the role of applied student-led research in respeaking courses.
Keywords: Interpreting, Subtitling, Respeaking, Online training, Respeaker training, On-campus training
REVIEWS
Claudia V. Angelelli and Holly E. Jacobson (eds). Testing and Assessment in Translation and Interpreting Studies: A Call for Dialogue between Research and Practice
Pages: 113-117
Reviewed by Daryl R. Hague
Reviewed by Daryl R. Hague
Łukasz Bogucki (ed.). Teaching Translation and Interpreting: Challenges and Practices
Pages: 117-121
Reviewed by Michal Borodo
Pages: 117-121
Reviewed by Michal Borodo
Catherine Chabasse. Gibt es eine Begabung für das Simultandolmetschen? Erstellung eines Dolmetscheignungstests (Are Simultaneous Interpreters Born or Bred? Creating an Aptitude Test for Interpreters)
Pages: 126-131
Reviewed by Agnieszka Chmiel
Pages: 126-131
Reviewed by Agnieszka Chmiel
Maria Piotrowska. Proces decyzyjny tłumacza. Podstawy metodologii nauczania przekładu pisemnego(The Translator’s Decision-making Process: Towards a Methodology of Teaching Translation)
Pages: 131-135
Reviewed by Lukasz Bogucki
