Last Thursday my co-director invited me to sit in on her MA class in revision and proofreading at the Department of Translation, Université Laval. There were no lectures. Instead, students led five extracurricular research activities on how revision and proofreading are actually practised in the job market.
Students doing the fieldwork
Students had carried out telephone or on-site interviews with translators and revisers working in translation agencies and companies across Quebec and Canada. It was an innovative move on the part of the faculty. I thoroughly enjoyed the three hours I spent interacting with the students and exchanging the kind of knowledge that is crucial to their development and to building a 'self-concept' as translators (Kiraly, 1995, 2000). There were about eleven students, all mature, some married with children, and all taking their studies in translation and revision seriously.
Why it matters
As a researcher, practitioner and educator, I saw how powerful an extracurricular activity can be for an aspiring translator, especially one so closely tied to the professional world. Pedagogically, it unlocks students' potential and sustains the confidence they need to persevere, complete their course and reach significant learning and performance outcomes. Once in the market, they become ambassadors for a discipline that suffers from an identity crisis and needs new leaders and voices to regain its respect and status.
What this means for the Arab world
We need practices like this in the Arab world. Our social, political and economic contexts are different, but I am confident there is a way to do it with BA or MA translation students. We must review how we train future translators, learn from other practices, and work out how they can be made to fit our own socio-economic and institutional context. The focus must always be on identifying and understanding who our students are and how they learn. Get that formula right, and we can help them achieve durable, significant learning not only during their studies but well beyond them.
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