IATIS Co-Vice Presidents Lead Workshop Attended by HRH Prince Hassan
The initiative, launched by the Middle East and North Africa Panel of the British Academy, then under the chairmanship of Professor Clive Holes of the University of Oxford, recognises that early-career scholars in the region tend to face problems in terms of knowledge of latest developments in the field and ability to follow the literature, and in terms of access to resources. Capacity building at this level aims to create an environment where Arab, Turkish and Iranian colleagues might be able to strengthen their research profile and publish in international outlets.
The Workshop was attended by delegates from Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine (both Gaza and the West Bank), Turkey and Yemen. Workshop presentations were delivered by IATIS co-Vice Presidents Professor Mona Baker of the University of Manchester and Dr Şebnem Susam-Sarajeva of the University of Edinburgh, as well as IATIS Member Professor Myriam Salama-Carr of the University of Salford. One of the highlights of the Workshop was a surprise visit by HRH Prince Hassan bin Talal, who gave a brief presentation in which he shared some of his thoughts on translation and intercultural dialogue with delegates, attended a number of presentations by workshop leaders and participated in the debate.
The International Association for Translation and Intercultural Studies (IATIS) and the Asociación Ibérica de Estudios de Traducción e Interpretación (AIETI) share common goals in developing research on translation and interpreting studies. These goals include: (a) to promote research on translation, interpreting and intercultural communication; (b) to provide a framework for the scholarly discussion of issues related to the education and professional development of translators and interpreters; (c) to encourage public awareness of research in Translation and Interpreting Studies. To foster closer cooperation between the two associations in these terms, IATIS and AIETI wish, through this protocol of understanding, to formalize institutional links between their associations.
Open Letter from IATIS to the European Science Foundation
In response to ERIH 2011 ratings of TS journals, IATIS has issued the following open letter to the European Science Foundation.
Click here to access the letter.
New Voices in Translation Studies - Issue 7 (2011)
IATIS is very proud to announce the publication of New Voices in Translation Studies - Issue 7.
Issue 7 consists of four articles and staggering twenty-four abstracts of recently submitted Ph.D. theses.
New Voices in Translation Studies is a refereed electronic journal co-sponsored by IATIS and the Centre for Translation and Textual Studies (CTTS) at Dublin City University. The aim of the journal is to disseminate high quality original work by new researchers in Translation Studies to a wide audience. Please format submissions according to the guidelines on our website and send to newvoices@dcu.ie.
Phrae Chittiphalangsri, Sue-Ann Harding, Dorothea Martens
Editors
August 2010: IATIS announces election to Executive Council. Nominations are now being sought for election candidates for the IATIS Executive Council. The deadline for nominations is 30th September 2010.
Read the procedure for nominations and elections here.
The nomination form can be downloaded here.
May 2011: IATIS is delighted to call for papers for its fourth conference, which will take place at Queen's University Belfast, Northern Ireland, from July 24th to 27th, 2012.
The conference theme, translation and the politics of recognition, embraces a wide range of topics within translation, interpreting and intercultural studies. Intending participants can submit abstracts to the general conference or to any one of the conference panels.
IATIS is delighted to announce the publication of Translation: Theory and Practice in Dialogue, the fourth volume in the IATIS-Continuum Series on Translation Studies (IATIS Yearbook 2009). This collection edited by Antoinette Fawcett, Karla L. Guadarrama García and Rebecca Hyde Parker includes contributions by Jean BOASE-BEIER, Elizabeth THORNTON, Lina FISHER, Christine CALFOGLOU, Clive SCOTT, Agnieszka PANTUCHOWICZ, Paulina Gąsior, Szu-Wen CINDY KUNG, Hiroko FURUKAWA, Kirsten MALMKJÆR.
IATIS Yearbooks are available to members free of charge. An electronic version is also available at the IATIS Intranet.
[Click here for more information on this new publication]
Message from the Director-General of UNESCO to the Inaugural Conference of IATIS
“Translation and the Construction of Identity” Sookmyung Women’s University, Seoul, 12 August 2004.
UNESCO is particularly happy that this conference is being held at this time, bringing together as it does in the Republic of Korea many researchers from different continents to mark the launch of the International Association for Translation and Intercultural Studies (IATIS).
Aware of the important role that translation plays in promoting the exchange of ideas between peoples, countries and cultures, UNESCO regards your field of research as an area of strategic importance in the task of constructing the defences of peace in the minds of men, which is a cornerstone of the Organization’s mandate.
Translators are vital for dialogue, being central figures in the process of exchange and cross-fertilization that is at the root of all civilization. They help to establish links between worlds separated by gulfs of incomprehension and misunderstanding.
In addition, translation is a tool and a medium for the freedom to express difference. As the adoption of the UNESCO Universal Declaration on cultural Diversity (2001) suggests, the expression of cultural and linguistic diversity is of great importance to UNESCO. Indeed, translation permits each and every one of us to use our language of preference – our mother tongue, for example, of which there are approximately 6000 in existence – without having to borrow a lingua franca with which we may not be very familiar. In this sense, translation leads to understanding without reducing variety of expression. It accordingly expresses the variety and nuances of linguistic and, hence, of cultural diversity. We believe that, by promoting translation, we can better serve the cause of cultural diversity and dialogue between cultures as keys to peace between peoples. The role of mediation played by translation is all the more effective in an age of globalization, when the local and global are moving closer together and, in certain situations, merging. We are witnessing, on the one hand, an undeniable rise in the value of all languages because of their uniqueness while, on the other hand, we see a steadily growing need to communicate beyond linguistic and territorial frontiers. The two requirements can coexist peacefully thanks to translation which, in this situation, becomes a unique means of expressing the local and the global, a tool for promoting openness and a common ground for the specific and the universal to meet.
At the same time as it promotes freedom of expression and tolerance of diversity, UNESCO also recognizes the need for dialogue, for which it has been developing different programmes for several decades – like the universal translation bibliography known as the “Index Translationum”, the Collection of Representative Works and the Clearing House for Literary Translation. These programmes are designed to facilitate the diffusion of information on translation and the translation of representative works of literature that overcome the material and spiritual barriers which separate us all. The Organization also supports multilingualism in cyberspace and education systems. UNESCO, therefore, looks to your Association, which it wholeheartedly welcomes, for active support and cooperation in terms of thought, the exchange of ideas and research. Networks of this type and meetings such as today’s help us to better understand actual situations and anticipate future trends. They also help us to focus our attention on priorities and objectives.
It is therefore with considerable hope and interest that I send greetings to all those present at your meeting. I wish the International Association for Translation and Intercultural Studies a long and fruitful existence working in collaboration with UNESCO.
Koïchiro Matsuura
Let me briefly introduce myself: I am one of the founding members of IATIS, and I have served on the Executive Council from its inception. Following my studies in Germany and Canada, I have been involved in research and teaching in the fields of translation studies, intercultural communication, politeness and globalized discourse for the past forty years. My two abiding concerns have been to bridge the gap between linguistic and cultural studies from a broadly interdisciplinary stance, and to place our discipline on a sound and recognized research basis.Together with our two Vice-Presidents, Mona Baker and Sebnem Susam-Sarajeva, and other members of the Executive Council, I will work hard over the next four years to ensure that IATIS continues to act as a truly international organization that represents all its members and the discipline at large. Since its inception, as many of you will know, IATIS has been committed to narrowing the divide between members from different parts of the world through instituting policies of differential membership fees, strategic placing of conference venues, ensuring the distribution and availability of both printed and on-line versions of the IATIS yearbooks, and extending membership across all countries and regions. Over the next four years, I hope to work with you to initiate other measures to alleviate difficulties in accessing mainstream research results. These might include organizing workshops and symposia in areas of the world where such events are not normally held.Over the past six years of its existence IATIS has certainly fulfilled its objective of providing a meeting point for scholars of translation and interpreting across the world. IATIS has also begun to establish ways of offering all translation scholars easier access to resources and knowledge which those in well-endowed contexts are already taking for granted. In our highly successful and truly international conferences in Seoul, Cape Town and Melbourne we witnessed a steady increase in membership, and today IATIS has established itself as an open, vibrant and committed global association. We can be proud to say that IATIS continues to deliver on its promise of providing a link between new and established members in the field, through initiatives such as New Voices in Translation Studies.As IATIS continues to develop and widen its membership base, I am confident that we will all work hard to maintain the spirit of solidarity that has made it such an energetic and effective association.Sincerely,Juliane House
