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Translation and the Construction of Identity: Abstracts
Date: 12-14 August 2004
Venue: Sookmyung Women's University, Seoul, Korea
Monika Smith School of Asian and European Languages and
Cultures, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand This paper is concerned with the perceived gap
between the academic training of translators (i.e. in traditional language
courses) and the 'real-world' demands made of professional translators. It
is well known that good language graduates do not necessarily make good
translators. Even those students who have practiced text translation during
their language studies tend to approach translation as an exercise in
transferring lexical items of the ST from one language to another rather
than as an attempt to express concepts from the ST in the TL. This paper
suggests some reasons for this phenomenon and reports on a think-aloud study
with four graduate students of a German translation course, whose
performance is contrasted with the think-aloud protocols of two professional
translators. Differences between the students' and the professionals'
approaches are identified and discussed. Implications from the data suggest
that some areas of professional translation work, such as a very thorough
analysis of the ST, can and indeed need to be taught in standard language
courses, as they are likely to benefit language learners in general as much
as future translators in particular. Such professional issues as considering
the purpose of the translation, and other 'real-world' considerations can at
least be addressed in such courses but are likely to need additional
instruction either in special translators' training courses or in
internships with translation firms.
Panel 8: Teaching Translation - Global Challenges for the Twenty-First Century
How Can We Combine Traditional Language Teaching with the Training of
Professional Translators?
© IATIS 2003