Pixar’s ‘Inside Out’ Shows a Little Localization Goes a Long Way | Rubric

Pixar’s ‘Inside Out’ Shows a Little Localization Goes a Long Way | Rubric

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Alignment in SDL Trados Studio 2014 SP1

An overview of the alignment feature in Studio 2014 SP1 – how to turn old translations into usable translation memory. Good material for a CAT tools class.

Translation Survey! We request your help! please devote 15 min of yoru team to fill up the survey.

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How Do We Perceive Translation in the Arab World? A Research Questionnaire

How is translation understood in the Arab region, and how are translators perceived? A short questionnaire is gathering views for a research project, and your opinion counts.

Original post: How do we perceive translation and translators in the Arab world? (Research questionnaire)

Please take 15 minutes to complete the questionnaire at the link below. It is part of a research project on the notion of translation in the Arab region, and the results will feed into a chapter of the World Atlas of Translation (Benjamins). When you have finished, please press the 'Done' or 'Submit' button. Your opinion is highly valuable.

The link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/tarjama

Many thanks for your cooperation. For any questions, please contact us:

• Fouad El Karnichi: fouadelkarnichi@gmail.com
• Salah Basalamah: salah.basalamah@uottawa.ca

Translation practices in Morocco ( historial view)

http://www.alalam.ma/def.asp?codelangue=23&id_info=50918&date_ar=2010-7-30

Translation in Language Teaching Is Not Translator Education

"Translation in language teaching has by no means the objective of educating translators; rather, it is an activity which might stimulate the cognitive potential of an adult or adolescent learner and is thus supposed to complement other activities, not to replace them." (Little et al., 2009, p. 2)

This quotation captures an ongoing issue in the orientation of many translation programmes I informally reviewed during my doctoral work. The stated objective of most translation programmes at Gulf universities is to prepare graduates for the translation market. Yet a language-oriented paradigm still reigns over the translatorial, mediation-oriented knowledge and competencies that future language mediators, translators and interpreters, will need when they enter the real world.

Translation Is a Discipline, Not a Language Exercise

Developing cognitive abilities is only one chunk of the complex set of skills, knowledge and abilities professional translators deploy, and which we should prepare our students to deploy. Translation is a disciplinary area of knowledge that has developed tremendously over the last three decades. The knowledge universe of translation as a phenomenon should be made clear to students at both undergraduate and postgraduate level: they should be introduced to the main constructs and concepts in the field and how they interrelate, and to their socio-economic and professional relevance.

Our survey taught us that the concept of translation needs to be re-examined among administrators, students and faculty alike in the region. Housing translation programmes in language faculties should be handled carefully; programme orientation and objectives must be rethought and not confused with the disciplinary boundaries of linguistics or literary studies. A thin, but complementary, disciplinary boundary needs to be drawn. As Durieux (2010) puts it, translation is about translations and translators; language studies is about the study of language.

What Programmes Need

Clarity about where we orient our programmes, and qualified human resources who can deliver praxis-oriented instruction, knowledge and skills, is a hurdle we must overcome. Wasting students' time on decontextualised knowledge, instead of profession-oriented skills and abilities that go beyond the cognitive and the linguistic, costs these programmes their socio-economic relevance.

We adopt a comprehensive, integrated approach to translator education in which all of the above elements are taken into account, in varying degrees, with the focus on the translatorial, mediation-oriented knowledge universe. A design-based model of instruction, centred on facilitating learning environments rather than transmitting knowledge, is ideal. Discipline-specific didactics and pedagogies should take precedence over the one-size-fits-all model higher education has promoted for so long. Lecturing is not the only way to enhance adult learning and transformation; there are active pedagogies that can empower students and instigate significant learning experiences.

Qualitative Analysis of Interview Data: A Step-by-Step Guide

A step-by-step guide to analysing qualitative interview data – I found it useful during my own PhD fieldwork, and I recommend it to research students.

Faking MURSI'S speech by the translator

التلفزيون الإيراني يحرّف عمداً خطاب الرئيس محمد مرسي

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mq6d9BjKXeM

Translating as Risk Management

A talk on translating as risk management – the idea that translators constantly weigh which risks to take and which to avoid, which is a productive way to teach decision-making.

Interpreting for Television

A look at interpreting for television – a demanding specialisation that deserves more attention in interpreter training.

It has been a while !

Yes! It has been a while since I did not place any of my reflections in this Blog. Well! There has been a delay because I was so busy with my on-going doctoral work. Doing my studies at the faculty of education instead of Arts and Letters (Department of translation or linguistics), is challenging. Folks in the Education unit stress heavily on  the methodology and didactic elements and there is no way you can escape that. This has been a privilege for me, though. At least I gained something crucial I can transfer to the domain of translation studies in general, particularly applied translation studies (training, quality and technology). I have finished my seminars now and am preparing to deposit my research project, soon after (around summer) I will be doing my Data Collection, then analysis and then depositing my doctoral thesis.

Last year, while in Oman, I managed to network with key colleagues operating in the translation programs in many universities in the country. I am pleased that they showed interest in the project and were ready to collaborate. This year, however, I am heading to Qatar and see if I can give more scope to my data. The problem is that the teaching of translation at a university level in Qatar  can be seen only in two institutions and at various levels (1- Qatar University: minor in translation; 2- TII: Postgraduate (MA) level). So, Qatar has a different type of practice and context. Still, this could be interesting in the sense that it will allow me to cover the teachings and curricular practices in either one country or two. It seems that Qatar has a young experience in translator training and education; but, despite that, we can see that the only fully accredited postgraduate program in translation in the region is in Qatar (The Translation and Interpreting Institute), which is very interesting. 

Uwe Muegge: Cloud-Based Translation Memory Tools Are Changing the Way Translators Work

Uwe Muegge on how cloud-based translation memory tools are reshaping translators' workflows – and, by implication, what we should be teaching.

'Cloud-based translation memory tools are changing the way translators work' by Uwe Muegge

Translation Trends for 2015

A short forecast of translation industry trends for 2015 – interesting to revisit now to see which predictions held.

The lone translator no more

The lone translator no more

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ترجمة الأفلام بدون برامج – Subtitling Films Without Software

An Arabic tutorial on subtitling a film yourself without specialist software – a low-barrier way to introduce students to audiovisual translation.

شرح كيفية ترجمة الأفلام أو أي مقطع فيديو بدون برامج – How to Subtitle Any Video Without Software

A second Arabic tutorial on subtitling films or any video clip without software – a companion to the previous post.

دورة في الترجمة للصحفيين الرياضيين بقطر

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Carlos Teixeira: Doctoral Defence

The recorded doctoral defence of Carlos Teixeira – worth watching for research students who want to see what a translation studies viva looks like.

Two Experiments in Translator Training: Case Studies and Project Work

Training and educating translators differently means innovating in course design, course development and classroom interventions, whether face-to-face or online. Here are two experiences from my own teaching, in two very different settings and modes: an online synchronous course for practising translators, and a face-to-face course for undergraduates in Oman.

Experience 1: Case Studies in a Synchronous Online Course

In 2012 I took a challenging step: teaching and facilitating an online synchronous course on one aspect of 21st-century professional translation practice, cloud sourcing. It was the first time I had taught such content in Arabic, and a real challenge in terms of concepts and terminology, since the metalanguage for this content is still emerging and far from stable. That is true even in countries with a long tradition of translator training, let alone the Arab context, where university translation teaching is still, in many places, a new tradition with much work to do in pedagogy and in the discipline at large.

I divided my intervention into two phases. First, an online PowerPoint lecture, delivered through a virtual interface so that students could see the slides, in three major components. At the end of each component I paused for questions, which students asked via the chat box or the audio-visual channel. Then I moved to the practical part, using case studies tied to the theoretical content: for instance, a client–translator or project manager–vendor negotiation over tasks, technical issues and pricing. I looked for cases that matched the skills and concepts I wanted students to appropriate and interact with.

The participants were already practising freelancers, and some owned their own agencies, which made the second part of the course very rich. I drew on educational constructs to guide me: learning styles, learning strategies for adults (andragogy) and studies in psycho-education (motivation). Professionally, all of us, myself included, benefited from the experiences and practices described by participants living in Australia, the USA, Europe and the Arab world. Each participant resolved the problem, or proposed a solution, according to the local practices of his or her country. This intercultural dimension enriched our global understanding of the profession.

One more design choice: the lecture was in Arabic, while the practical part was in English. Many participants have Arabic as a passive language: they understand it well, but not at the oral level. As adult learners of various nationalities, meeting for the first time and online, I judged it better to let them work in the language in which they could express themselves at ease.

Experience 2: Project-Based Learning in Oman

The second innovation was in a face-to-face classroom. In 2013 I taught translation and interpreting (community interpreting) to female undergraduates at an Omani university. I had four courses: modern theories of translation, Arabic–English practical translation, introduction to interpreting, and business translation.

For the practical English–Arabic course, taken by final-year students, I decided to apply Kiraly's project-based approach. When I spent nearly an hour explaining what project-based work is, many students felt uncomfortable: the practice was new to them and very different from the traditional (collective and pastoral) methods they were used to in year 3, for example. I went ahead for two reasons. Class size: there were 22 students, and it would have been difficult with the 30 or 35 I had in other classes. And maturity: as final-year students, their level of maturity and language mastery helped, in a way, to make the approach work.

The Process

It took me a while to work out what activities would motivate students and make them see the relevance to their future careers. So I checked, and checked again. I found that the university's HR department published its employee manual in English only. No Arabic version. Strange, isn't it? I visited the HR manager and explained the initiative. She liked it, naturally: a free Arabic manual is not a bad deal. But I defended my students by proposing an officially stamped certificate of recognition they could add to their portfolios and CVs. She agreed.

The following week I told the students how they would be compensated. They were buzzing. They liked it even more when I said the activity would count as formative assessment. I told them I would note observations during every class session of the four-week project, on each candidate and each group: how each member put in effort and committed herself to the project, and the dynamics of each group.

I divided the class into seven groups of three. Each student took on the roles of terminologist, translator and reviser, and students checked their colleagues' performance (peer assessment). To my surprise, this provoked a range of negative attitudes. Some did not like having their translations criticised (a very important cultural variable for my ongoing research). Some who did not want to complain in front of their colleagues came to my office to do so. In the next class I explained further how they should adjust their attitudes: this was a project, and they were collaborating for one purpose, to hand it in at its best, on time, and get paid for it (the certificate). It was a first step toward the professional dimension of the activity, a transition phase, and such reactions are part of it.

What the Students Said

At the end of the project I gave them a survey with one question: describe your experience. No names, ten minutes, and I left the room. Reading the replies at home, I was struck by the change this activity had produced, especially in their attitudes and in how they conceive of translation: as a profession, not as an exercise to improve their L2 competence, which has been, and still is, the tradition in this context. I take this to be what Kiraly (1995, 2000) calls the development of the self-concept. Two students expressed dissatisfaction: translation was not what I had shown them, they said; they had enrolled to improve their language and become language teachers after graduation.

Takeaway

These are two true experiences I wanted to share with my community, in the hope that colleagues will engage in more innovative initiatives of their own. But such innovations must be backed by insights from the educational sciences: concepts from higher education pedagogy and curriculum studies.

Part 1 of Increasing Literacy Across the Curriculum Through Mobile Learning

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