Sonja Pöllabauer, Katia Iacono, Harald Pasch, Maria Bernadette Zwischenberger, Anna Sourdille
{"title":"“If we’re lucky, we recognise potential.” A study of admission criteria and entrance screening practices in public service interpreter training","authors":"Sonja Pöllabauer, Katia Iacono, Harald Pasch, Maria Bernadette Zwischenberger, Anna Sourdille","doi":"10.1080/1750399x.2023.2278318","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1750399x.2023.2278318","url":null,"abstract":"The growing demand for language mediation across different domains of public service interpreting (PSI) poses a challenge for policymakers, stakeholders (institutional representatives, clients), and traditional interpreter education institutions. Alongside university-based interpreter education, different training formats have emerged internationally to meet the increased need for training. Based on a systematic review of extra-university training formats in Austria, this contribution presents the results of a qualitative follow-up study drawing upon data from semi-structured interviews with providers. The aim was to investigate whether entrance assessment procedures are employed by course providers when selecting course participants, and, if so, which they are and what motives lie behind providers’ decisions for particular admission procedures. Our study shows that while there is considerable commitment to offering customer-tailored courses to heterogeneous groups of trainees, the training formats differ and there seems to be little communication among providers regarding the establishment and adequacy of different formats for student selection.","PeriodicalId":45693,"journal":{"name":"Interpreter and Translator Trainer","volume":" 12","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135242816","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Type, level and function of in-text comments in written feedback on specialised translations: an exploratory study","authors":"Gemma Andújar Moreno, Maria Dolors Cañada Pujols","doi":"10.1080/1750399x.2023.2272465","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1750399x.2023.2272465","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACTFeedback can be conceived as a scaffolding strategy aimed at knowledge construction and self-regulation. Despite its pedagogical value in fostering learning processes, empirical studies on feedback in translation pedagogy are scarce. In this paper, we focus on the written corrective feedback provided by lecturers in specialised student-written translations. A corpus of 379 specific in-text comments was analysed in terms of the type of feedback, the level of the translation on which it impacted and its pragmatic function. The results show the prevalence of task-focused feedback, in-text comments on specialised terminology and a mainly corrective function of feedback, concerned with rectifying errors in the student’s translation. The feedback emerging from the results can be described as a unidirectional teacher-to-student model of communication, which does not correspond to the conception of dialogic and student-centred feedback advocated in the most current literature on this topic at university level.KEYWORDS: Feedbackin-text commentstranslation teachingsworn translation AcknowledgmentsThe authors would like to thank the lecturers who kindly contributed to this research, as well as the reviewers and the editor, whose insights have helped to improve this study.Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1. This and all subsequent extracts from our corpus have been translated from Spanish and Catalan.2. To preserve their anonymity, the lecturers are identified by a number. The names of students appearing in quotations are pseudonyms.3. When categorisation was complex because there were ‘combined’ comments to express different ideas, the two researchers contrasted the options and chose the function they considered dominant depending on the context.Additional informationFundingThis work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation under grant PID2020-113236GB-I00 (RetroTrad: Formative feedback in translation teaching and learning).","PeriodicalId":45693,"journal":{"name":"Interpreter and Translator Trainer","volume":"54 7","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136067525","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Becoming an official translator of the Spanish state: a critical analysis of the entrance examinations for the Translation and Interpreting Service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs","authors":"Pilar Ordóñez-López","doi":"10.1080/1750399x.2023.2267872","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1750399x.2023.2267872","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACTWhilst most translators and interpreters work in the private sector, a career in national institutions as a civil servant can be an appealing professional path for would-be translators and interpreters. However, students are often unaware of career options for translators and interpreters in government institutions. This article starts with a brief outline of the Translation and Interpreting Service of the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, before going on to analyse the four most recent entrance examinations. The lack of prior research and the limited information and resources available for prospective candidates call for clarification of the selection procedure for these positions. A thorough, critical analysis provides useful insights into the selection process that allows successful candidates to pursue a career as a translator or interpreter in Spanish government institutions. The results show that the examination process is highly demanding, owing to the limited number of advertised positions and the complexity and number of the exams. Furthermore, the analysis reveals some deficiencies regarding the range of skills assessed in these examinations. Ultimately, this study can be understood as a starting point for a more extensive, comparative analysis of the examination process for official translator/interpreter positions in national and supranational institutions worldwide.KEYWORDS: Translation and Interpreting Service, Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairslegal and institutional translationentrance examinationstranslators and interpreters in public institutions Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1. For a detailed historical overview of the Translation and Interpreting Service of the MAUC, see Cáceres Würsig (Citation2004)2. According to the Official State Gazette, no positions were advertised between 2009 and 2012.3. Italics are used to show the illustrated linguistic aspects in the examples included.4. Information about the selection procedure for positions as translators at European institutions can be found on the European Personnel Selection Office’s webpage: https://epso.europa.eu/en/epso-tests/profiles/translators-ad5. The 2018 English into Spanish exams are not accessible. Despite contacting the Secretary of the Language Interpretation Office, it has not been possible to obtain this exam.6. https://www.un.org/dgacm/en/content/exams-translators-verbatim-reporters-editors7. https://epso.europa.eu/en/help/faq/selection-tests/translation-tests#:~:text=Only%20book%2Dform%20dictionaries%20are,photocopied%20material%20are%20not%20permitted.8. It has not been possible to access the third exams from 2019 or the English into Spanish exam from the 2018 examination call.9. According to the White Book on Institutional Translation and Interpreting, 70.8% of degree programmes offer study pathways related to institutional translation and interpreting (RITAP Citation2011, 125).10. See the","PeriodicalId":45693,"journal":{"name":"Interpreter and Translator Trainer","volume":"54 87 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136112355","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Exploring the efficacy of peer assessment in university translation classrooms","authors":"Mo Li, Shulin Yu, P. Mak, Chunhong Liu","doi":"10.1080/1750399x.2023.2236920","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1750399x.2023.2236920","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":45693,"journal":{"name":"Interpreter and Translator Trainer","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2023-07-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48280884","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Meeting evolution with innovation: an introduction to (re-)profiling T&I education","authors":"G. Massey, M. Piotrowska, M. Marczak","doi":"10.1080/1750399X.2023.2237321","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1750399X.2023.2237321","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This special issue is made up of nine studies from different countries and regions that deliver important insights on major issues in current language-mediator education and practice. The rapid and accelerating evolution of the language industry and its work market has profound repercussions for the education of future language professionals. Resonating far beyond the various contexts from which they come, the contributions foreground innovative educational approaches and empirical research designed to interface closely with the industry and to address current and future trends in professional practice. The papers collectively offer perspectives on developing future-oriented ‘soft’ and ‘hard’ skills in students, teachers and working professionals: emotional intelligence, professional identity construction in trainers, the efficacy of micro-learning in online teaching, agentic MT post-/pre-editing, literacy and consultancy skills and roles, and the importance of domain, terminology and technology competence. With research aimed principally at developing and deploying value-adding skills and agency, the authors apply both interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary methods that shed light on multiple dimensions and epistemologies of educating for new and emerging demands on language professionals.","PeriodicalId":45693,"journal":{"name":"Interpreter and Translator Trainer","volume":"17 1","pages":"325 - 331"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2023-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44607769","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Translator education as a collaborative quest for insights into the re-positioning of the human translator (educator) in the age of machine translation: the results of a learning experiment","authors":"Senem Öner Bulut, Nilüfer Alimen","doi":"10.1080/1750399X.2023.2237837","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1750399X.2023.2237837","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Motivated by the urgent need to investigate the possibilities for re-positioning the human translator and his/her educator in the machine translation (MT) age, this article explores the dynamics of the human-machine dance in the translation classroom. The article discusses the results of a collaborative learning experiment which was conducted in an MA course. In the experiment, the students carried out the emergent professional tasks of MT post-editing, pre-editing and error annotation. The results showed that the experiment helped the majority of the students re-position themselves as future experts of MT-related tasks by developing task-specific self-efficacy beliefs and raising their awareness of their self-concept as human agents and of the added value they could create. The educators, on the other hand, gained insights into the challenges faced by the students in the experiment, during which the boundary between teaching and learning became blurred. The educators further witnessed, first-hand, the need to transform translation classrooms into platforms of collaborative learning, where all involved can work together to discover ways of creating human added value in emergent MT workflows, which also requires the re-positioning of the translator educator in the MT age.","PeriodicalId":45693,"journal":{"name":"Interpreter and Translator Trainer","volume":"17 1","pages":"375 - 392"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2023-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44883433","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Machine translation and culture-bound texts in translator education: a pilot study","authors":"Krzysztof Łoboda, Olga Mastela","doi":"10.1080/1750399X.2023.2238328","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1750399X.2023.2238328","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Mass adoption of neural machine translation (NMT) tools in the translation workflow has exerted a significant impact on the language services industry over the last decade. There are claims that with the advent of NMT, automated translation has reached human parity for translating news (see, e.g. Popel et al. 2020). Moreover, some machine translation (MT) research has already been done in the context of literary texts. In this paper, we share the results of a pilot study carried out with two groups (a pre-course group and post-course group) of MA-level students participating in a course that involved translating culture-bound texts. The students’ role was to post-edit and evaluate two machine-translated stories (Polish legends), marking their comprehensibility and accuracy. We discuss the lessons learnt during this pilot study, the critical errors detected by the students and their perceptions of the end products and the experiment itself. We report noticeable differences found between the pre-course group and the post-course group in terms of language awareness and the speed and quality of their post-editing (PE) performance. Our results also show that the task of post-editing culture-bound texts offers students a unique and enjoyable setting, enabling them to assess translation technology and hone their translation skills at the same time.","PeriodicalId":45693,"journal":{"name":"Interpreter and Translator Trainer","volume":"17 1","pages":"503 - 525"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2023-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44044442","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Training corporate and institutional terminologists: a case study at the University of Granada","authors":"Silvia Montero-Martínez","doi":"10.1080/1750399X.2023.2237326","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1750399X.2023.2237326","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT To respond to the needs of the language industry, further specialisation in terminology at Master’s level is needed to equip students with the necessary skills to work as corporate and institutional terminologists. For this purpose, curricular design should envisage the general and specific competences identified by practising terminologists in the workplace. Moreover, the competences established by the European Master’s in Translation Competence Framework (2009, 2017, 2022), adapted to terminology work, can be used to identify course content and expected learning outcomes. Teaching and learning strategies should promote life-long learning and learner autonomy. Finally, course instructors should include both lecturers and practitioners. This paper discusses the curriculum developed for corporate and institutional terminology training within the Master’s Degree in Professional Translation at the University of Granada (Spain), a programme that was incorporated into the EMT network in 2019. The ultimate goal is to train highly qualified terminologists who meet the demands of the market, and who have the necessary competences and skills to continue their self-training, once they have completed their postgraduate studies and have entered the labour market.","PeriodicalId":45693,"journal":{"name":"Interpreter and Translator Trainer","volume":"17 1","pages":"412 - 433"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2023-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48868494","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}