Professional Translator Training Research Articles

CONTENT STRATEGIES OF TRANSLATORS’ TRAINING IN COLLEGES

Translators training programs have been or are going to be introduced in some colleges at the level of professional junior bachelor, which can be explained by the increased demand for such specialists in different fields. The article studies the case of Viacheslav Chornovil Halytskyi Professional College which was among the first institutions that developed and introduced the professional junior bachelor program of translator training. The article identifies the peculiarities of professional translator training in colleges, grounds the most effective strategies of educational program and syllabus design; determines effective methods of professional translator training in colleges.
 Three different design strategies are usually determined in modern literature – forward design, central design, and backward design. Forward design means developing a program/curriculum starting with content, then moving to process, and then to outcomes. Central design focuses first on the process and classroom methodology and then deals with content and outcomes. Backward design starts from outcomes and then determines content and process.
 The analysis of professional translator training in colleges enabled the conclusions that backward design seems to be the most appropriate for education program development; forward and backward designs can be recommended for syllabus development; Content and Language Integrated Learning with reasonable use of authentic scenarios, activities and immersion in professional situations proved its effectiveness.

Crowdsourcing Used in Higher Education: An Empirical Study on a Sustainable Translation Teaching Mode Based on Crowdsourced Translation

The language service industry needs more qualified translators. The training of qualified translators needs innovation of translation teaching mode. The combination of crowdsourcing and translation teaching can realize the innovation of translation teaching mode. This study developed an empirical study in which such quantitative and qualitative methods are conducted as classroom observation, case analysis, translation quality analysis, questionnaire survey, and email interviews. Participants in the study included university students registered in the English and Translation degrees in Chinese universities. Statistical analyses were carried out with IBM Statistical Package for Social Sciences (IBM SPSS 26). Validation of the survey instruments, descriptive statistics, and group comparisons were all accomplished. The results demonstrate that the integration of crowdsourcing with translation teaching worked well. The mode has positive significance for exploring learner autonomy, stimulating students’ motivation, improving students’ translation ability, and training qualified translators. The mode is of sustainable value, with the development of AI-driven machine translation technology, and the innovation of translation teaching mode is significant for professional translator training. This mode of translation teaching based on crowdsourcing has a certain reference value for the cultivation of high-quality language service talents and the construction of a new mode of personnel training in the language service industry.

Research on Professional Translation Ethics Teaching

Since China has put forward the strategy of "Chinese Culture Going Global", the translation industry has developed fast. National colleges have also accelerated the training of professional translators, but the teaching of translation professional ethics is rare, which is essential and has greatly affected professional quality of translators. The author intends to introduce teaching modes of professional translation ethics in terms of the teaching content and methods by referring to Professional Translation Ethics and Code of Conduct. The paper points out that it is necessary to conduct professional ethics teaching systematically, and that training professional translators should attach equal importance to professional ethics and professional abilities.

The role of automated evaluation techniques in online professional translator training.

The rapid technologisation of translation has influenced the translation industry’s direction towards machine translation, post-editing, subtitling services and video content translation. Besides, the pandemic situation associated with COVID-19 has rapidly increased the transfer of business and education to the virtual world. This situation has motivated us not only to look for new approaches to online translator training, which requires a different method than learning foreign languages but in particular to look for new approaches to assess translator performance within online educational environments. Translation quality assessment is a key task, as the concept of quality is closely linked to the concept of optimization. Automatic metrics are very good indicators of quality, but they do not provide sufficient and detailed linguistic information about translations or post-edited machine translations. However, using their residuals, we can identify the segments with the largest distances between the post-edited machine translations and machine translations, which allow us to focus on a more detailed textual analysis of suspicious segments. We introduce a unique online teaching and learning system, which is specifically “tailored” for online translators’ training and subsequently we focus on a new approach to assess translators’ competences using evaluation techniques—the metrics of automatic evaluation and their residuals. We show that the residuals of the metrics of accuracy (BLEU_n) and error rate (PER, WER, TER, CDER, and HTER) for machine translation post-editing are valid for translator assessment. Using the residuals of the metrics of accuracy and error rate, we can identify errors in post-editing (critical, major, and minor) and subsequently utilize them in more detailed linguistic analysis.

Análise dos manuais chineses de tradução português – chinês com base nas considerações de Nord sobre as competências de tradução

In applying her Model for Translation-oriented Text Analysis in the training of professional translators, Nord (2006, p. 155) postulates that the focus should be on developing transfer competence [“translation competence” in the narrower sense (Nord, 2006, p. 161)]. However, according to Nord (2006, p. 161), in translation classes, besides the consolidation of transfer competence, four other competencies (linguistic, cultural, factual, and technical) can also be enhanced. As an essential part of translation classes, translation textbooks play an indispensable role; by analyzing them, we can learn how these competencies are developed in classes. In the present work, we will examine three Chinese translation textbooks from Portuguese to Chinese and vice versa, based on Nord's considerations regarding the five translation competencies (transfer competence, linguistic competence, cultural competence, factual competence and technical competence). Through these analyses, we aim to understand how the consolidation of these five competencies is reflected in the structures and contents of the textbooks in question.

Integrating collaborative localization into professional translator training

Non-professional translation (NPT) has attracted increasing attention in translation studies in recent years. As a consequence, translator training needs to take NPT into account in the translation curriculum. In this article I report the findings of an exploratory study conducted to implement and evaluate an online collaborative localization project as an example of NPT. Drawing on quantitative and qualitative methods, the findings show that the trainees had a positive attitude towards NPT practices and were highly satisfied with the inclusion of NPT in the localization curriculum.

СУЧАСНІ ТЕНДЕНЦІЇ У ПРОФЕСІЙНІЙ ПІДГОТОВЦІ МАЙБУТНІХ ПЕРЕКЛАДАЧІВ

The objective of this paper is to study the current trends in professional translator training within masters of art in translation study programs of world leading universities. The analysis of study programs represented on the web-sites of Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst, European Master’s in Translation, Keystone MASTERSTUDIES, MastersPortal, Postgrad is aimed at finding out the important and successful features in the context of teaching translation in the educational domain to studentsphilologists. Aspects and practices of translator training organization and implementation are studied. The analysis results reveal that preparation of professional translators is distinguished by a strong emphasis on practical translation work and is delivered through a combination of practice classes, workshops, translation project management practices, translation internship in close cooperation of universities with translation service providers, clients, organizations for professional translators, partner universities from the countries whose language is studied within the MA program, translation-related software providers. Practice classes and workshops are taught by staff who are professional translators, editors, reviewers, proofreaders, translation managers. Translation project management is realized in the mode of a simulated translation company staffed and run by students and authentic translation projects preparation and delivering. These project methods are an integrated part of the curriculum that earns credit points. Translation internship is arranged in translation agencies home and abroad, under the guidance of freelancers, in international organizations such as the European Parliament, the United Nations, translation departments of governmental and non-governmental institutions, media, cultural funds, museums, art galleries, local businesses and authorities. Affiliate membership of organizations for language practitioners provides students with useful contacts for building career, as well as interview coaching. Academic editions of translation tools familiarize them with terminology databases, translation memory software, computerassisted translation systems. Aspects and practices of MA in translation training under consideration are important from the point of view of translation pedagogy and have a great potential for being incorporated into the process of teaching translation of texts on education issues to students-philologists as they are aimed at increasing employability of graduates in the domain of translation.

Use of translation and plurilingual practices in language learning

Abstract Here we will present a pedagogical framework for the implementation of an Integrated Plurilingual Approach (IPA) to language learning that has emerged from research and observation of best practices in primary, secondary, and higher education. Researchers, teachers, and students collaborated in three interconnected projects (2012–2015; 2015–2019) whose main aims were to help teachers and learners move towards acknowledging and explicitly connecting their linguistic repertoires to reframe their current classroom practices and engage in new ones. This implied a reformulation of their pedagogical practices, including the use of translation to acquire interlinguistic, intercultural and mediation skills in contexts other than professional translator training (TOLC). Two instruments resulted: one to help the teachers transform their perceptions and, so, their performance, regarding the plurilingual paradigm, a four-phase collaborative reflective cycle; and another to guide their instructional design, the five-dimensional instructional framework (IPA-5DIF). Some classroom examples will be presented here, with special reference to a high-complexity secondary school context (118 students, 4 teachers).

Engaging citizen translators in disasters

Abstract Crisis situations, including disasters, require urgent decisions, often without sufficient resources, including decisions about translating and interpreting. We argue that using citizen translators (i.e., translators without professional translator training) in such contexts can be ethically justified when their preparation incorporates virtue ethics. Translation potentially improves access to crucial safety information, and delivering such information is critical. We acknowledge several ethical challenges with citizen translation based on our experience in humanitarian contexts, relevant literature, and discussions with stakeholders engaged with our research consortium. Recourse to citizen translators has limitations, but we advance mitigation measures through training to address the ethical challenges of providing translation services to linguistically diverse groups in crisis. We propose virtue ethics as a framework for citizen translators to develop ethical decision-making skills and virtues. We suggest virtue ethics training to prepare citizen translators for ethical challenges in the field.

Художественные переводы и их роль в диалоге литератур народов России на современном этапе развития

Introduction. In recent years, literary translations from languages of Russia’s peoples are becoming rarer and rarer. Without mutual exchanges of spiritual and artistic values minority literatures have every chance to lose their viability. Rationale. The issue uder consideration remains understudied – despite its actual social significance. The goal of the work is to analyze the current situation related to publications of translated works by writers representing peoples of the Russian Federation, to identify causes of their sharp decline, attempts to determine the potential consequences of the latter and somewhat possible solutions of the problem. The work uses the comparative, historical, cultural, and statistical methods. Results. Throughout the last decade, non-Russian literary publications — in Russia’s minority languages — constitute only 2 % of the whole of fiction publications, and published works translated from the same languages hardly constitute a tenth or a thousandth of one percent. The situation is basically caused by the lack of proper interest of state agencies towards literatures and training of professional translators specializing in languages of Russia’s peoples, by the loss of ties between regional writers and the political center, etc. The decrease in publications of translated works significantly reduces their role in the communication of national cultures of our country.

A study on professional translator training methods reflecting market demands

A study on professional translator training methods reflecting market demands

Welcoming Chinese investors in Indonesia: improving the competency of professional Indonesian-Mandarin translator

The study discusses the importance of improving the competency of Indonesian-Mandarin translators to increase economic relations between Indonesia and China. As China’s investment in Indonesia expands in various industry sectors, the need for qualified translators escalates. However, the situation described that Indonesia lacks competent and qualified translators in Mandarin. The study adopts the qualitative approach. Technically, the study utilizes a variety of secondary data consisting of documents, books, publications, and website to collect data based on the needs of qualified translators and how to improve their competency. In addition, primary data collection involves industry and translation service providers, from high schools, vocational schools, colleges, and Chinese language courses through interviews. In this respect, the study contributes to the development of the Mandarin Chinese translator competency through professional translator training programs. The competencies developed include Mandarin language skills in a variety of contexts or themes such as business, industry, accounting, taxation, law, and socio-political issues. The findings of this research indicate the significance to complement the lack of knowledge and skills that are not acquired during the college. Importantly, the authors propose a professional interpreter training model to meet the demand of Chinese investors in Indonesia eventually.

Specialised Dictionaries of Economics and Translation

This article describes the “Dictionary of Economics” in terms of the Function Theory of Lexicography. It defends the thesis that such information tools must be designed for assisting specific users to solve the specific needs they have in a translation situation. In particular, I will focus on the solutions offered for individualising data retrieval, which will in turn eliminate the so-called information stress or information death produced when users retrieve so much data that they cannot cope with it. This process is illustrated in two recent online dictionaries, the Diccionario Inglés-Español de Contabilidad: Traducción (Fuertes-Olivera et al. 2012a) and the Diccionario Inglés-Español de Contabilidad: Traducción de Frases y Expresiones (Fuertes-Olivera et al. 2012b). They are especially suitable when translating English accounting texts into Spanish. These two dictionaries are considered high quality 21st Century dictionaries, e.g., as candidates for assisting in the training of professional translators within the field of Economics, one of the topics discussed in this Special Issue of Hermes.

La traducción especializada en la historia de la traducción y de la revista <em>Meta</em>

Este artículo propone una aproximación a la traducción especializada desde fuera del campo mismo, concretamente desde la historia de la traducción y la edición científica, campos de trabajo de los autores. Cuatro aspectos principales se abordan: el lugar de la traducción especializada en los fundamentos de la Traductología, en la formación profesional, en la historia de la traducción y finalmente en las revistas de Traductología. Se revisa primero el concepto de traducción especializada con relación a los otros tipos de traducción. Luego, se sitúa la traducción especializada en el marco de la formación profesional de los traductores, así como en el de la investigación, con un estudio de caso. El tercer aspecto se refiere al tema de la traducción especializada en la historia de la traducción. Finalmente, se aborda la presencia de la traducción especializada en las revistas del campo y, en particular, en la revista Meta.

Поэтапное формирование навыков перевода культурно-маркированных языковых средств в процессе профессиональной подготовки переводчиков

Поэтапное формирование навыков перевода культурно-маркированных языковых средств в процессе профессиональной подготовки переводчиков

Das translationsdidaktische Potenzial von Patentschriften: Anregungen zur Realisierung projektbasierter Komponenten in der Ausbildung von Fachübersetzern

This article aims to demonstrate the didactic potential of patent specifications for the training of technical translators. The focus is on specific sub-competencies which can be honed through the translation of patent documents, including communicative competence, domain competence as well as tools and research competence. Since the linguistic features of patent specifications offer an ideal framework for the didactic use of translation memory systems, this article also provides specific suggestions for developing tool-assisted project events. For some years now education researchers have been urging the use of realistic translation projects as part of professional translator training, but all too often this founders on practical obstacles encountered in university teaching. A further aim of this article therefore is to close a long-standing gap between the theory and practice of translator training.

Translating EU Texts in the English BA Programme: Exploring Teachers’ Views and Practices

Recent research into using translation as a communicative and functional activity in foreign language learning and teaching has pointed out a wide range of benefits for advanced language learners. The research reported in this paper involved teachers teaching translation in the EU-specialisation module integrated into the English bachelor’s degree programme in Hungary. The survey set out to explore teachers’ instructional practices as well as their views and experiences regarding translation. Results indicate that translation in this pedagogical setting is used not merely as a tool to develop language competence and other generic skills, but is regarded as a useful skill in its own right. Translation teachers seem to hold a competence-based view of translation and favour a process-based, functional-textual approach in their teaching practice, which are essential principles in professional translator training. Teachers also emphasise the role of having first-hand translation experience along with a sound theoretical knowledge, which calls for closer collaboration between professional translator trainers and language teachers teaching translation in modern foreign language degree programmes. An important methodological implication of the study is that the investigation of communicative translation teaching outside professional settings can benefit from an interdisciplinary perspective.

A method for automatic detection and manual localization of content-based translation errors and shifts

Abstract In this paper, we describe a method for automatic detection and manual localization of four compositional translation errors and shifts between automatically aligned segments in source and target languages. The automatic detection of errors and shifts is based on a content word precision algorithm which measures the equality of information content between source and target segments. The manual localization of errors and shifts within the segments is based on the compositionality principle. The method allows for the detection and localization of two potential errors; omission and addition, as well as two translation shifts required to avoid a translation error such as over-translation (when a correct translation results in more content words than in the source segment) and under-translation (when a correct translation results in less content words than in the source segment). Because of manual localization within bilingual pairs of segments, the method is not intended for automatic error detection but for human-assisted revision of translations. The analysis, described with the method and the algorithm is applied to real translation examples culled from a state-of-the-art translation corpus sampled for various translation errors. The algorithm and the localization method have implications for the development of more content-oriented natural language processing as well as for the training of professional translators; they can also be useful for formal and systematic description of content-based translation errors.

Rozwijanie kompetencji pozyskiwania informacji w dydaktyce przekładu na przykładzie pracy ze słownikami i tekstami paralelnymi

Information mining competence is one of the six professional competences of translators worked out by a group of experts appointed in 2007 by the Directorate- General for Translation (DGT) of the European Commission within the project of creating the European Master’s in Translation (EMT) network. The six skills are as follows: translation service provision competence, language competence, intercultural competence, information mining competence, thematic competence and technological competence (mastery of tools). Information mining competence is understood as an ability to search for information with a critical attitude to various information sources. The reason why professional translators need this skill today more than ever is because of efficient time management, because of the mass of information and a wide range of source types from which information can be gathered (dictionaries, glossaries, thesauri, parallel texts, encyclopedias, CAT tools and other electronic media, etc.). The need was recognized also by the European Committee for Standards which in 2006 released the specification EN 15038 that defines translation quality and normalizes procedures and translation processes for delivering language services. There are six competences in the specification which translators should at least have, namely, translating competence, linguistic and textual competence in the source language and the target language, research competence and information acquisition and processing, cultural competence and technical competence. However, developing information mining competence remains in the background of teaching translation or is completely omitted as a simple and obvious skill. Translation practice shows that the ability to effectively search for information with a critical attitude to various information sources should be an absolutely necessary component in the training of professional translators. That is why the present paper focuses on developing information mining competence and suggests some examples of exercises how to use dictionaries and parallel texts effectively and how to extract and process relevant information for translation tasks.

Rozwijanie kompetencji pozyskiwania informacji w dydaktyce przekładu na przykładzie pracy ze słownikami i tekstami paralelnymi

Information mining competence is one of the six professional competences of translators worked out by a group of experts appointed in 2007 by the Directorate- General for Translation (DGT) of the European Commission within the project of creating the European Master’s in Translation (EMT) network. The six skills are as follows: translation service provision competence, language competence, intercultural competence, information mining competence, thematic competence and technological competence (mastery of tools). Information mining competence is understood as an ability to search for information with a critical attitude to various information sources. The reason why professional translators need this skill today more than ever is because of efficient time management, because of the mass of information and a wide range of source types from which information can be gathered (dictionaries, glossaries, thesauri, parallel texts, encyclopedias, CAT tools and other electronic media, etc.). The need was recognized also by the European Committee for Standards which in 2006 released the specification EN 15038 that defines translation quality and normalizes procedures and translation processes for delivering language services. There are six competences in the specification which translators should at least have, namely, translating competence, linguistic and textual competence in the source language and the target language, research competence and information acquisition and processing, cultural competence and technical competence. However, developing information mining competence remains in the background of teaching translation or is completely omitted as a simple and obvious skill. Translation practice shows that the ability to effectively search for information with a critical attitude to various information sources should be an absolutely necessary component in the training of professional translators. That is why the present paper focuses on developing information mining competence and suggests some examples of exercises how to use dictionaries and parallel texts effectively and how to extract and process relevant information for translation tasks.