Call for contributions

Proposals are invited for contributions to the new book series on Languages at War, which is published by Palgrave Macmillan and edited by Hilary Footitt (University of Reading, UK) and Michael Kelly (University of Southampton, UK).

The series is intended to bring together books which deal with the role of languages in situations of conflict, including war, civil war, occupation, peace-keeping, peace-enforcement and humanitarian action in crisis zones.

The editors are aware that in recent years, scholars from a wide range of disciplinary backgrounds have begun working on issues of languages and conflict. They may draw on approaches from history, politics, international relations, cultural studies, applied linguistics, sociolinguistics, translation studies and intercultural communication. This series seeks to bring together works which share a common point of focus in languages and conflict, but take different interdisciplinary approaches to understanding it.

The series aims to examine languages at war in three major contexts:
Languages and the military
-         Fighting together: language issues in international coalitions
-         Occupying and changing regimes
-         Intelligence and security
-         Training and preparation
Meeting the other in war and peace-making
-         Encounters between combatants
-         Civilians and the military
-         Displaced populations and refugees
-         Prisoners of War
-         Crisis management and support
Interpreting/translating in war
-         Role of interpreters in conflict mediation
-         Being an interpreter in war
-         Languages of interpretation
-         Professional and organisational issues

The series is concerned to explore specific conflict situations, across a wide range of times and places, and specific language-related roles and activities. It encourages the use of contemporary written and oral material, so that the voices of those involved in the wars, both military and civilian, are clearly heard within the texts.

The first volumes in the series will be:
Languages at War: Policies and Practices of Language Contacts in Conflict (edited by Hilary Footitt and Michael Kelly)
"War Talk": foreign languages and the British war effort in Europe, 1940-46 (Hilary Footitt and Simona Tobia)
Languages and the Military: Alliances, Occupation and Peace Building (edited by Hilary Footitt and Michael Kelly)

Colleagues who may wish to make proposals for inclusion in the series are invited to contact Hilary Footitt (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) or Michael Kelly (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.), enclosing a brief outline for preliminary consideration, before completing a full publisher's proposal. Full proposals will be subject to detailed external review.

Translation Group at Imperial College London

July 2012

Intensive Summer Course
in Audiovisual Translation

There are places available for the Intensive Summer Course in Audiovisual Translation being held by the Translation Group at Imperial College in July 2012. This is open to professionals as well as students.

Course Content: This intensive course provides a theoretical framework for translators and researchers in the area of AVT as well as hands-on training with audiovisual material taken from different authentic contexts.

Languages Offered: English into French, German, Italian, Polish or Spanish.

For more information, visit:
www.imperial.ac.uk/humanities/translationgroup/summertranslationcourses

To apply for a place, email Soledad Zarate: 
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Cities in Translation

Intersections of Language and Memory

Sherry Simon

Published 29th September 2011

204 pages

http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415471527/

Series: New Perspectives in Translation Studies

The debut title in the New Perspectives in Translation Studies series, Cities in Translation is both an engaging read for a wide-ranging audience and an important text in advancing theory and methodology in translation studies.

All cities are multilingual, but there are some where language relations have a special importance. These are cities where more than one historically rooted language community lays claim to the territory of the city. Illustrated with photos and maps, this book focuses on four such linguistically divided cities: Calcutta, Trieste, Barcelona, and Montreal.

Though living with the ever-present threat of conflict, these cities offer the possibility of creative interaction across competing languages and this book examines the dynamics of translation in its many forms. By focusing on a category of cities which has received little attention, this study contributes to our understanding of the kinds of language relations that sustain the diversity of urban life.

Paperback: 978-0-415-47152-7: $39.95  £24.99

Hardback: 978-0-415-47151-0: $145.00   £90.00

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Introduction. Turning up the Volume of Translation in the City

2. Nineteenth Century Calcutta: Renaissance City

3. Habsburg Trieste: Anxiety at the Border

4. Barcelona: The Cracked Mirrors of Self-translation.

5. Montreal’s Third Space

6. Language and Memory

LITERARY TRANSLATION IN PRACTICE
International Conference
10-11 May 2012
Università del Salento
Lecce, Italy
CALL FOR PAPERS

For the International Conference  "Literary Translation in Practice" professionals and scholars are invited to submit proposals for papers. Deadline is Thursday March 1st 2012. More than one paper cannot be submitted.

Papers, focusing on the particularity of literature as a text type  in translation, should be planned according to the following guidelines:

Paper Sessions
Paper sessions will be 90 minutes in length with each speaker allotted twenty minutes for presentation plus additional time for questions. Papers should focus on Italian-English or English-Italian literary translation in one of the following areas:
1. New insights into practical methodology
2. Critical analysis of published translations
3. Practical experience from the world of work
Abstract submission
Abstracts of 250 words in Italian or English should be sent by email, attached as a WORD document (.doc or .docx), to the following address:  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Official Languages
Italian, English

Important Dates
•        Deadline for the submission of proposals: 1 March 2012
•        Notification of acceptance of proposals: 20 March 2012

LITERARY TRANSLATION  IN PRACTICE
Conference Organizers: David Katan, Angela d'Egidio, Elisa Fina, Francesca Ventura
Undergraduate, graduate and PhD Programmes in  Translation Studies
10-11 May 2012

To unsubscribe from this list send a message with UNSUBSCRIBE ST. JEROME in the subject line to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Signed Language Interpreting
Preparation, Practice and Performance

Edited by Lorraine Leeson, Svenja Wurm and Myriam Vermeerbergen

ISBN 1-905763-33-6, £22.50 (inc. postage and packing)

Published December 2011, 166 pages

https://www.stjerome.co.uk/books/b/155/

Signed language interpreting continues to evolve as a field of research. Stages of professionalization, opportunities for education and the availability of research vary tremendously among different parts of the world. Overall there is continuing hunger for empirically founded, theoretically sound accounts of signed language interpreting to inform practice, pedagogy and the development of the profession.

This volume provides new insights into current aspects of preparation, practice and performance of signed language interpreting, drawing together contributions from three continents. Contributors single out specific aspects of relevance to the signed language interpreting profession. These include preparation of interpreters through training, crucial for the development of the profession, with emphasis on sound educational programmes that cover the needs of service users and the wide-ranging skills expected from practitioners. Resources, such as terminology databases, are vital tools for interpreters to prepare successfully for events. Practice oriented, empirical investigations of strategies of interpreters are paramount not only to increase theoretical understanding of interpreter performance, but to provide reference points for practitioners and students. Alongside tackling linguistic and pragmatic challenges, interpreters also face the challenge of dealing with broader issues, such as handling occupational stress, an aspect which has so far received little attention in the field. At the same time, fine-grained assessment mechanisms ensure the sustainability of quality of performance. These and other issues are covered by the eighteen contributors to this volume, ensuring that the collection will be essential reading for academics, students and practitioners.

Contents

Preface

Graham Turner

Hey Presto! Preparation, Practice and Performance in the World of Signed Language Interpreting and Translating

Lorraine Leeson, Svenja Wurm and Myriam Vermeerbergen

This paper introduces the volume by reflecting on the current state of research and training in the field of signed language interpreting and translating. While the discipline has been successful in maintaining a relevant relationship with the practice and profession, noticeable, for example, in the growing number of practisearchers and a traditional focus on vocationally-oriented training, there is still a need for producing rigorous empirical and theory driven research more consistently. Outlining the importance of adequate, research-informed training of interpreters, the authors argue that research should produce outcomes that (1) feed directly into teaching by describing the skills and strategies that interpreters need to develop, (2) provide technical tools to be used by interpreters or trainees, and/or (3) expand our understanding of interpreting practices, the role of the interpreter and the interpreting context. Setting the scene for the subsequent papers of the volume, this introductory chapter thus argues for a sustainable research basis that will eventually close the research-training-practice cycle.

Becoming the Ears, Eyes, Voice and Hands of Someone Else: Educating Generalist Interpreters in a Three-year Programme

Sonja Erlenkamp, Guri Amundsen, Sigrid S. Berge, Trine Grande, Odd Morten Mjøen, and Eli Raanes

This paper provides a brief introduction to various aspects of the educational model used in the interpreter education programme in Trondheim, Norway. The choice and development of the model is based on the need to integrate several different forms of communication used by three groups ? deaf, deafened, and deafblind people ? in a three-year bachelor programme. In answer to this challenge, the educational team chose to combine and further develop a socio-cultural model of language and communication with cognitive linguistic theories. The advantage of this model is that the basic understanding of communication and the analytic strategies used in the model are independent of the particular communication form and can thus be used as tools for the interpreter student?s training for all of the communication forms they need to acquire. Furthermore, the approach to each communication form needs to be consistent with the programme?s perspective on the interpreter?s role and function in the profession. Thus the programme has been designed as a holistic approach, where the various aspects of interpreting between different communication forms are understood through the same socio-cultural communication model. In this paper, the key concepts of this educational model will be presented and the advantages and challenges will be discussed.

The Prolibras Test as an Assessment of Brazilian Sign Language Interpreters Proficiency: A Critique

Maria Cristina Pires Pereira and Cátia de Azevedo Fronza

This paper focuses on the issue of testing language or translating and interpreting proficiency among Brazilian Sign Language interpreters, and specifically on the recently introduced Prolibras test, which is a standardized tool of assessment. The main purpose is to explore whether a single test of translation and interpreting proficiency is valid for both Brazilian Sign Language interpreters and teachers of Brazilian Sign Language (Libras). The authors also ask whether there is consistency (both theoretical and in practical terms) between the proficiencies assessed and their effective application. A number of features of Prolibras are analyzed and compared to the Sign Language Proficiency Interview, SLPI, (Caccamise and Newell 2007, 2011) applied in the United States, a typical language proficiency assessment. The results provide evidence that the Prolibras professional certification process demonstrates some features of a language test, but for several reasons (which are outlined in the article) it should not be considered a valid assessment of interpreting proficiency.

Types of Errors in the Learning of Spanish Sign Language as a Second Language: The Effect of Age and Experience

Isabel R. Rodriguez Ortiz

Previous studies have shown that people who learn a signed language earlier in life make fewer errors when trying to understand a signed message than people who are exposed to a signed language later. Typically, native signer errors are most frequently semantic in nature, while late signer errors tend to be phonological in nature. Semantic errors positively correlate with recall of a signed message, while phonological errors have a negative correlation. With a sample of 35 hearing persons who have a good command of Spanish Sign Language, this study sets out to explore whether hearing late signers behave similarly to deafened adults who learn a signed language as an L2 with respect to the type of errors they make during comprehension tasks. The paper also examines whether comprehension correlates with specific errors for hearing late learners of a signed language and if length of time using a signed language has any effect.

Being There: Role Shift in English to Auslan Interpreting

Della Goswell

This paper investigates the use of ?role shift? by interpreters working from spoken English into Australian Sign Language (Auslan). Role shift is a high-order linguistic skill which students typically find difficult to master. The study looks at possible source text (ST) motivations for its use by four skilled signed language interpreters in an English to Auslan interpreting task, with a view to later pedagogical application. Auslan target texts (TT) rendered by the interpreters were mapped against the English ST using ELAN annotation software. Salient features of the role shift generated by the participants are documented, including: incidence of role shift, native/non-native signer advantage, persona adopted, constructed action versus constructed dialogue, and length and intensity of role shift. Examination of ST segments which trigger role shift in the TT reveals that agent-focused active clause constructions in particular require little manipulation and most readily lead to role shift outcomes. Passive constructions, nominalizations and complex/higher register segments, however, are frequently re-structured into simpler active clauses, with role shift incorporated (or not). The data does not support a strict cause-effect relationship between any particular ST feature and the production of role shift in the TTs; rather, it points to the need for interpreters to recognize ready opportunities for inclusion of role shift, and/or to reconfigure the ST content and form, with role shift as a further layer of depiction.

Interpreting (Im)politeness Strategies in a Media Political Setting

Flora Savvalidou

This paper investigates the (im)politeness strategies employed by the candidates for the office of Prime Minister in a media political debate in Greece and their rendering in Greek Sign Language by the signed language interpreter. Drawing on the concept of face (Goffman 1967) and politeness theory (Brown and Levinson 1987), the study explores the interpreter?s strategies of omission, addition, substitution and paraphrasing (Leeson 2005) and how they potentially influence the target text and hence the deaf viewers? perception of the two candidates. Based on a small corpus (30 minutes of the 90-minute debate) the author provides preliminary qualitative evidence that the candidates? (im)politeness strategies can be undermined when mediated through an interpreter. The findings of the study suggest the need for raising interpreters? awareness of (im)politeness strategies and how these are used by both hearing and deaf participants in an interaction with the aim of preserving face.

Medical Signbank: A Cure-all for the Aches and Pains of Medical Signed Language Interpreting?

Jemina Napier, George Major and Lindsay Ferrara

Language, cultural and educational impediments in the effective use of signed language interpreters in medical and mental health service delivery have been identified by Australian researchers (Cornes and Napier 2005; Napier and Johnston 2005), but until 2008 no linguistic research had been carried out in Australia on signed language interpreter-mediated medical encounters. This paper described an Australian project that involves the development of an innovative web-based interactive multimedia dictionary and database of Auslan. It was designed to create an effective, accepted and shared signed language vocabulary for the discussion of medical and mental health issues by deaf clients and health professionals, mediated through Auslan interpreters. The conceptual framework was language planning and development within a small linguistic community of ?limited diffusion?. The technology enables the direct participation of interpreters, deaf people and medical practitioners in a project managed by linguists, signed language interpreters, and language service providers (the National Auslan Interpreter Booking and Payment Service, and the New South Wales Health Care Interpreting Service). The paper outlines the progress of the project, and specifically reports on findings from surveys and discussions conducted with interpreters about the strategies they use to deal with medical terms that have no Auslan equivalents, and their thoughts on challenges in medical interpreting.

A Magical Profession? Causes and Management of Occupational Stress in the Signed Language Interpreting Profession

Ali Hetherington

The absence of literature on occupational stress in the signed language interpreting profession implies that such stress is either absent from, unrecognized by, or indeed considered unproblematic by the profession. This study aims to counter this perception and uses interpretative phenomenological analysis to gain insight into the experience of occupational stress amongst a sample of signed language interpreters in the North West of England. The findings suggest two significant causes of occupational stress for signed language interpreters. Firstly, the expectation that the interpreter performs ?magic? contrasts greatly with the participants? own accounts of the complexity of their role and the responsibility they feel to ensure effective communication occurs. Secondly, interpreting can have considerable emotional and psychological impact on interpreters, exacerbated by working in isolation in the community without organizational support. Finally, this paper puts forward an argument for supervision as a beneficial means of on-going reflective practice and support for the signed language interpreting profession.

Notes on Contributors

Index

Re-Engendering Translation

Transcultural Practice, Gender/Sexuality and the Politics of Alterity

Edited by Christopher Larkosh

ISBN 1-905763-32-8, £25 (inc. postage and packing)

Published December 2011, 156 pages

https://www.stjerome.co.uk/books/b/154/

The Languages of Films
Dubbing, acquisition and methodology
14-15 September 2012
University of Pavia

CALL FOR PAPERS

This conference aims to offer an original contribution to research on audiovisual
translation and language learning from a descriptive and a methodological
perspective by focussing on the specificities of original and dubbed film dialogue.
The main themes which will be investigated during the conference include linguistic
aspects of original and dubbed film dialogue, the representation of conversation on
the screen and the role of original and dubbed audiovisual input in second/foreign
language acquisition.

More specifically, scholars and young researchers are invited to submit contributions
dealing with the following topics:
- linguistic profiles of original and dubbed film language: distinctive
sociolinguistic features, pragmatic preferences and conversational patterns;
- translation strategies in dubbing;
- communication modes in screen-to-face interactions and staging of multimodal
meanings;
- audiovisual speech and incidental second language acquisition;
- audiovisual speech and teaching strategies in the foreign language classroom;
- the role of dubbing in the acquisition of an L2;
- the interaction between spoken and visual dimensions of audiovisual input for
acquisitional purposes.

Empirical and experimental contributions to both linguistic descriptions of
audiovisual language and investigations on the role of spoken audiovisual input in
second language acquisition are especially welcome.

Abstract submission:
The official language of the conference is English. Participants are allotted 20-minute
slots to be followed by 10 minutes for discussion.
Abstracts of ca. 500 words (not including references) accompanied by a 100-150
word bionote should be submitted in either .doc or .pdf format to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Abstracts must be anonymous, but the body of the message should include the
following information:
Name of the author(s)
Affiliation
E-mail address
Title of presentation
Abstracts will be evaluated by the members of the scientific committee.

Important Dates:
Deadline for abstract submission: 1 March 2012
Notification of acceptance: 15 April 2012
Deadline for registration: 15 July 2012

Further conference details: Maicol Formentelli This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Tenure-track Assistant Professor of Translation Studies
Modern & Classical Languages

Kent State University
Kent Campus – Kent, Ohio, USA

Opportunity for a full-time, tenure track, assistant professor of Translation Studies specializing in empirical translation studies and cognitive science approaches to translation, to begin August 2012.  The successful candidate will support a translation studies program at the Masters and Doctoral level within the internationally recognized translation program (Institute for Applied Linguistics http://appling.kent.edu) of the Department of Modern & Classical Language Studies at Kent State University.

Qualifications: A Ph.D. is required as well as record of research in cognition and empirical methods and their application in translation related research.  Potential for securing extramural research funding highly desirable.  Experience in teaching graduate courses in empirical methods, translation and cognition, Spanish scientific, technical, and medical translation necessary.  Translation into Spanish desirable.

In addition to applying online, please submit by US Mail a letter of application, current vita, graduate transcriptions, and also three current and confidential letters of recommendation to:

Dr. Jennifer Larson, Chair
Department of Modern & Classical Language Studies
P.O. Box 5190
Kent, OH 44242-0001

For a complete description of this position and to apply online, visit our jobsite at http://jobs.kent.edu.  For more information, please contact Brian Baer at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

[Job #999472]

Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer