Teaching Methods and Tools in Professional Translation in Higher Education

Abstract

The main objective of this study is to show how translation is a necessary act in literary and cultural exchanges. In literary communication between readers of different cultures, translation is no longer only a process of interpretation where people understand each other although they speak different languages, but an act that requires prior knowledge of culture, literature, art, faith, customs, characteristics and the place of others in society. In this context, Albanian culture, literature and language are often prejudiced and not included in translation programs or in higher education programs that offer studies on Balkan languages, literature and cultures ; although, with difficulty, large university centers began to offer advanced studies in Albanology in the beginning of the 20th century. Geographically, the largest number of universities that opened their doors to Albanian culture belongs to Europe and, if the data from last year is counted, also to the United States of America, since the Albanian language was added to the foreign language programs at Harvard University. Compared to the first few decades of the 20th century, where Albanian centers were constantly under foreign rule and suffering the fallout of the Second World War, preventing the full promotion of Albanian literature and culture in Europe, Albanian literature is now well-represented in European languages, especially in the last three decades. After the change in the political situation, in the beginning of the 90s in Albania and at the end of the 90s in Kosovo, the doors were opened and the possibilities for the penetration of Albanian literature in Europe increased. Publishing houses, universities, but also freelance translators were committed to make it known to the European reader. In this paper, we present the experience of the greatest translators of Albanian literature in the last five decades. The results of our analysis were generated with qualitative and comparative methods by conducting open and semi-open interviews with these translators, naturally relying on translation theories.