The IATIS Comp@ss :: New Publications

Type of Publication: Journal issue
Author/Editor: Dorothy KELLY and Catherine WAY
Year of publication: 2007
Keywords:
Place of Publication & Publisher: Manchester: St Jerome
Publisher URL: http://www.stjerome.co.uk
ISBN/ISSN:
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Publication blurb: Competence-based Curriculum Design for Training Translators, pp 163-195

Amparo Hurtado Albir (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain)

This article situates the concept of translation competence and its acquisition in the context of recent competence-based approaches to teaching and learning in general in higher eductaion. It begins with the challenges posed by present-day curricula, the reform of university systems and corresponding changes in teaching requirements, in particular with reference to the European Higher Education Area. It then outlines the basic concepts of competence-based training, following Lasnier (2000), and proceeds to apply the concept specifically to translator training, building on the holistic and dynamic models of translation competence developed by the PACTE research group over recent years. The teaching and learning approach adopted is a translation task-based approach, organized in teaching units. Issues such as the establishment of objectives, task design, sequencing and assessment are all addressed. Finally, the entire approach is illustrated with a practical example. The course module chosen as an illustration is an introductory module to translation into students' A language or mother tongue, structured around six categories of competences, each with their own teaching and learning objectives and curricular content.

Learning Creative Writing by Translating Witty Ads, pp 197-222

Sara Laviosa (Università di Bari, Italy)

The aim of this paper is to present a student-centred methodology for teaching creative writing, which involves the presentation, examination, translation and writing of wordplay in English and Italian advertisements. The approach, design and procedures of the proposed method, as defined by Jack C. Richards and Theodore S. Rodgers (1986:28), draw on the insights of Paolo Balboni (1998), Sonia Colina (2002) and Maria González Davies (2004, 2005). After outlining the main theoretical underpinning of this study, the main features of the design and procedures implemented in the teaching of a four-credit module on inter-cultural mediation at undergraduate level are illustrated. Cross-linguistic analyses of a sample set of material consisting of English and Italian humorous ads, together with the production of original puns in the two languages and translations into and out of English, demonstrate the importance of the interaction between language and culture in creative copywriting and ad translation.

Using Systemic Functional Text Analysis for Translator Education: An Illustration with a Focus on Textual Meaning, pp 223-246

Mira Kim (Macquarie University, Australia)

This paper presents text analysis based on systemic functional linguistic (SFL) theory as a pedagogical tool for the teaching of translation. It is part of a follow-up study of the author's initial attempt to use text analysis to explain translation errors and issues found in students' translations in relation to meanings and categorize them into different kinds of meaning, namely experiential, logical, interpersonal and textual (Kim 2003 & forthcoming). In this paper, particular attention is paid to textual meaning, which has not been rigorously researched in translation studies (Baker 1992, House 1977/1997), by analyzing Themes in a set of texts, these being an English source text, two Korean texts translated by students, and a comparable text. Following the analysis, pedagogical effects of SFL-based text analysis are discussed, referring to students' learning journals as well as the results of a survey on students' experiences of applying the tool in learning translation. The quantitative data demonstrates that in general the students' experiences were positive. The qualitative data reveals the specific benefits and difficulties that they experienced.

Interpreting Quality as Perceived by Trainee Interpreters: Self-evaluation, pp 247-267

Magdalena Bartłomiejczyk (University of Silesia, Poland)

This paper discusses quality assessment of the performance of both professional and student interpreters working in various contexts, using a wide range of methods. It then focuses on self-evaluation by trainee simultaneous interpreters as examined in two empirical studies. The first project applied retrospective verbal protocols to investigate interpreting strategies used by 36 advanced student interpreters working in both directions between Polish (A) and English (B). The results concerning self-evaluation, which are presented here, were a by-product of this first study, but they gave rise to questions that are further explored in the second project. Eighteen subjects at the same stage of training were asked to interpret a text from English into Polish and to evaluate their performance, linking it to the strategic processing they had applied. The results suggest a significant trend towards negative assessment, combined with most attention being devoted to faithfulness to the original message and to completeness. Issues of presentation (including monotonous intonation, hesitant voice and long pauses), on the other hand, were hardly ever mentioned.

THE FEATURES SECTION (edited by Luis Pérez González)

The Impact of Information and Communication Technology on Interpreter Training: State-of-the-art and Future Prospects, pp 269-303

Annalisa Sandrelli and Jesús de Manuel Jerez (Università di Bologna, Italy and Universidad de Granada, Spain)

CAIT (Computer Assisted Interpreter Training) is a relatively new field of interpreting studies which began to develop in the mid 1990s. The impetus behind CAIT is an attempt to exploit the multimedia capabilities of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to enhance the teaching and learning of interpreting in various ways. The present feature article offers an overview of the three major approaches that have been developed within CAIT over its ten-year history. Integrative CAIT relies on digital speech banks or repositories to provide students with suitable materials for classroom use or self-study, with computers playing the twofold role of tutor and stimulus. Intelligent CAIT has flourished on the back of new dedicated authoring programs which enable interpreter trainers to easily create various types of exercises and provide trainees with tools to optimize the use of the available resources; in an environment where the computer plays the role of tool, intelligent CAIT applications incorporate new utilities to increase interaction between computer and users and to situate learning in more realistic contexts. The third approach, based on Virtual Learning Environments, seeks to exploit the opportunities offered by computer-mediated communication tools and make the teaching and learning of interpreting more immersive by applying aspects of simulation technology available in computer games. As the overview progresses, the reader is introduced to a number of state-of-the-art CAIT programs and applications.

BOOK REVIEWS (Review Editor: John Kearns)

Sara Laviosa: Linking Wor(l)ds: Lexis and Grammar for Translation (Dominic Stewart, Italy)

David B. Sawyer: Fundamental Aspects of Interpreter Education Curriculum and Assessment (Alessandro Zannirato, USA)

Dorothy Kelly: A Handbook for Translator Trainers: A Guide to Reflective Practice (Maria González Davies, Spain)

Malcolm Williams: Translation Quality Assessment: An Argumentation-Centred Approach (Lucie Brione, UK)

Lynne Bowker: Computer-aided Translation Technology: A Practical Introduction (Jody Byrne, UK)

THESIS ABSTRACTS

Interpretation: Types of Communicative Situations and Teaching [Interpretación: tipos de situación comunicativa y didáctica]
Agustín Darías Marrero, University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain

Magnifying Glasses Modifying Maps: Beginning the Development of Translation Competence in Basic Levels of Spanish as a Foreign Language [Colocar lupas, transcriar mapas. Iniciando o desenvolvimento da competência tradutória em nível básico de espanhol como língua estrangeira]
Heloísa Pezza Cintrão, University of São Paulo, Brazil

Genre Characteristics, Contextualization and Training Models in Public Service Interpreting. Identifying Grounds for Curricular Design [La Interpretación en los Servicios Públicos: Caracterización como género, contextualización y modelos de formación. Hacia unas bases para el diseño curricular]
María Isabel Abril Martí, University of Granada, Spain

The Translation Workshop: An Integrated Teaching Methodology for Translation Teaching at University [El Taller de Traducción: una metodología didáctica integradora para la enseñanza universitaria de la traducción]
Marcella La Rocca, University of Vic, Spain