Proceedings of the Bath Symposium [1 ed.] 9781443812184, 9781847188328

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Proceedings of the Bath Symposium

Proceedings of the Bath Symposium

Edited by

Valerie Pellatt and Elena Minelli

Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Proceedings of the Bath Symposium, Edited by Valerie Pellatt and Elena Minelli This book first published 2008 Cambridge Scholars Publishing 12 Back Chapman Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 2XX, UK British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Copyright © 2008 by Valerie Pellatt and Elena Minelli and contributors All rights for this book reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. ISBN (10): 1-84718-832-X, ISBN (13): 9781847188328

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction ............................................................................................... vii The History of the Bath MA in Interpreting and Translating .................... xv Professor James Coveney Part I: Translating The Chinese Economic Language: Issues in Translation ............................ 2 Valeria Zanier, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice Critical Lexical Structures as a Technique for Evaluation of TRESL Proficiency................................................................................................. 17 Peter G. Emery, Sultan Qaboos University, Oman Meeting Students’ Expectations in Undergraduate Translation Programs .... 26 Séverine Hubscher-Davidson, University of Salford Interacting with the Translation Profession: A Report .............................. 35 Ian Kemble, University of Portsmouth Linking Professional Practice with Translation Training in a BusinessOriented Setting: The Portuguese Association of Translation Companies Example..................................................................................................... 42 Fernando Ferreira-Alves, Universidade do Minho eCoLoTrain: Blended Learning Resources for Translation Teachers........ 57 Alina Secară and Anthony Hartley, University of Leeds A Benchmark Bilingual Publishing Model? Simultaneous, High -Volume, Compliant Documents in Identical Target- and Source -Language Versions originated in either Language from Two Local Platforms ................................................................................................... 72 George Witherington

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Introducing e-Learning into Translation Courses (The Case of Russian and English): Discussion of the Benefits................................................... 93 Olga Tabachnikova, University of Bath Part II: Interpreting Using Language Teaching Methods to Train Interpreters ....................... 118 Andrew Gillies, ESIT Paris Awareness of the Monitoring Function in Professional and Trainee Interpreters............................................................................................... 131 Christelle Petite Evaluating a Capacity Measure for Interpreting Research – Bilingual Digit Recall.............................................................................. 145 Ya-Shyuan Jin, Robert H. Logie and Martin Corley, University of Edinburgh Norms in Simultaneous Interpreting: A Case Study................................ 157 Chan Sin-wai, Tong Yuan Fang and Wang Yongqiu, The Chinese University of Hong Kong Contributors............................................................................................. 166

INTRODUCTION

The papers in this volume were given to celebrate forty years of interpreter and translator training at the University of Bath. When the MA Interpreting and Translating Programme was set up (coincidentally at the same time as the University itself) simultaneous interpreting, in official terms, was a relatively new profession, dating back only to the Nuremburg trials in 1946. Translation and other types of interpreting were of course ancient, and well established in history, but undeservedly unrecognised. But over the second half of the 20th century these twin professions began to come into their own, with the etablishment of the United Nations, the European Union and its parliament, and organisations such as the World Bank and the World Trade Organisation. Forty years ago Bath was at the cutting edge of the interpreting and translating professions, and remains so. In 1986, at the conference held to celebrate 20 years of interpreter and translator training at Bath University, Steve Slade outlined the provision of university postgraduate-level training courses in the UK and investigated the output of those schools and departments, and the kinds of employment opportunities available for their graduates (Slade 1988: 23). Dr. Slade listed the Universities of Bath, Bradford, Kent, Salford, Surrey and Heriot-Watt and the Polytechnic of Central London (now Westminster University) as providers of postgraduate level courses in professional interpreting and translating. Now, twenty years later, those institutions have not only continued those courses, but have expanded them to take in more students and additional languages – notably Chinese and Japanese. But the picture is even rosier: no less than 27 British Universities now teach graduate programmes in translation and or interpreting.1 Not only is this expansion remarkable in terms of quantity, it is also noteworthy in the variety of languages now on offer. Languages available 1

Aston, Bournemouth, Bristol, Cardiff, City University, Durham, East Anglia, Edinburgh, Essex, Imperial College, Newcastle University, University of North London, Portsmouth, Sheffield, Surrey, Swansea, University of Wales, Warwick, UMIST all offer PG translation courses. Bath, Bradford, Heriot-Watt, Kent, Leeds, London Metropolitan, Middlesex, Newcastle, Salford, and Westminster all offer PG Interpreting and Translating courses.

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(in most cases paired with English) include Arabic, Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese, Danish, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish and Welsh, and no doubt more since the expansion of the European Union.2 The Chartered Institute of Linguists offers tests in virtually any language for which there is a demand. This development in professional training in the UK is not before time – demand for professional linguists world-wide is probably at an all-time high. The range of job opportunities on offer now is similar to that described by Dr. Slade, but the emphases in different areas have changed, with some brand new careers coming (literally) online. With a total of 25 member states in Europe, careers for those who can offer Eastern European languages, especially in combination with native English, present a glamorous prospect in the EU institutions. At the same time, grass-roots community interpreting has seen an explosion in demand as “new” Europeans cross boundaries to seek new futures, and as refugees from war-torn and disaster-stricken African and Asian states flee to safe havens: political and economic situations decree the fashions in the language pairs which are in demand at any particular time. Awareness of human rights on the one hand, and an increasingly litigious society on the other, require the utmost professional rigour and discretion, notions which are at the core of interpreter training. This is just one of the reasons why training, in addition to language skill, is important. Technological developments in the media have seen new types of interpreting arise – “breaking news” requires immediate, real-time simultaneous interpreting which is broadcast live – a very demanding task. The revolution in electronic technology has effected two major changes in the translation profession: there is a huge demand for translation, not only of instructions for manuals, and programming, but also for websites –“localisation” as it is known. Alongside the demand for translation in the technological field has come a wonderful translation tool in the form of translation memory. Emma Wagner-Johnstone, speaking at the 1986 Bath anniversary conference, spoke of the “gibberish, howlers and lack of common sense” of machine translation (MT). She doubted whether machine translation would ever save time or money (Wagner-Johnstone 1988: 39). But twenty

2

ITI List of translation and interpreting courses available in the UK www.iti.org.uk

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years later, we know that translation memory (TM as opposed to MT) is a boon to translators and researchers. Interpreting and translating are activities which undergo change on a scale as great and swift as any other human activity. Professional linguists need to adapt to new language requirements, new kinds of clients, and above all new technologies, yet at the same time, can take advantage of expanding market demands and supportive technology. The papers given in 2006 to celebrate the fortieth anniversary of the Bath programme show the wealth and complexity of these twin professions, the rigour and variety of research across language pairs and the importance of relating training to practice. Translation has traditionally been a part of the activity of university literature departments, and the rendering of literary works is still an important part of that endeavour. However, the volume of world trade, the large numbers of refugees and professionals moving from one country to another, and the need to disseminate scientific and technological knowledge, have created a need for training of professional translators who have the ability to translate a wide range of texts from a range of fields. At the same time translators have had to come to terms with the speed of modern communications, and, like all other professionals, have developed dedicated electronic tools. In spite of the long history of translation, there are pressing needs in the training of translators. The first of these is teaching method – while there is much that can be transferred from language teaching methods, it is essential for translation teachers to link classroom practice with the profession – students need to be prepared for the world of work. This not only encompasses the various text types they may meet, but also the way in which they must be assessed, and the ways in which they will need to interact with clients and publishers in the wider world. Mike Crofts, in his introductory address to the conference, noted the apparent, traditional gap between the practical translation and interpreting courses taught in UK universities, and the research requirements of those universities. We are increasingly bridging this gap – practising interpreters teach on university T&I courses, and engage with academics in the multidisciplinary research that T&I requires. A new breed of professional linguists is emerging from our universities, who are professional translators or interpreters, often working freelance, and who also pursue research by means of a PhD, along with teaching. It is these young professional/teacher/researchers who are building the corpora and the methodology that underlie translating research for today and for the future, and this volume includes a number of examples of their work.

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Mr. Crofts also referred to the happy coincidence that, as we celebrated the 40th Anniversary of the Bath MAIT, in Seattle another 40th anniversary was taking place – that of the first screening of Star Trek. Perhaps there is a greater affinity between these two events than at first meets the eye: Star Trek has brought to at least two generations the instruction “to boldly go where no man has gone before.” Streetwise interpreters will ignore the split infinitive and the sexual discrimination, and will boldly espouse this principle on their daily excursions into realms of new language and topics. Interpreters and translators help to change the world. Professor James Coveney, who founded the programme in 1966, gives a resumé of the history of the programme, which to a very great extent mirrors the history of the professions over four decades. A personalised view of the production of “Bath buns”, Professor Coveney’s account gives us a feel for a new and growing profession and its emerging and maturing apprentices. Valeria Zanier’s paper illustrates how language trends have changed in recent years – not only are all other parts of the world anxious to do business with China (and therefore need to translate Chinese texts), but as China’s economy changes, so does the language, and translators need to keep abreast of trends. She deals with the very specific problem of terminology. Chinese does not always provide direct equivalents, and the translator needs to be fully aware of the possibilities and problems of variation. Over the last century, and even earlier, Chinese contact with other nations has predictably thrown up new language forms; some of these phases of influence may have slipped from public consciousness – for example the Soviet-Chinese relationship of the first half of the twentieth century – but they have made an impact on language and therefore on translation. And perhaps never before have changes in language taken place with such speed and volume. Valeria demonstrates how in Chinese the traditional way of introducing new terms is to give a new meaning to an existing character or combination of characters. It turns out that in most cases, it is not just the terms which are new, but the concepts. She shows how Western terms such as “private” are culturally loaded, and need special care in the fastmoving commercial world, amply illustrating the word-level issues of translation which reflect the broader top-down variations in ideology and attitude. Peter Emery deals with the eternal problem of assessment. Translation is notoriously difficult to assess, for there are as many right answers as there are translators. For teachers, proof-readers, and indirectly, clients, it

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is vital that translations are properly evaluated. Students need fair assessment, positive feedback, and a knowledge of how they will need to proceed once they become professional. The problem is magnified when translators are obliged to work into their “B” language – a situation which has become increasingly common as the world has grown smaller, and the daily dialogue of trade and diplomacy has increased. At the time of writing, the Arabic speaking world seems to be acutely aware of its apparent non-availability of foreign works. The number of foreign works translated into Arabic in the last thousand years is only equal to the number of works translated into Spanish every year (Independent 22.11.07).3 There is a need for translation into and out of Arabic, and the vast majority of the translators are Arabic speakers, thus, the need for stringent quality assessment arises. Peter’s paper looks at the way in which it is possible to monitor certain “critical structures” used in Arabic to English translation, working within target language norms. He shows how minor grammatical errors are less important than a sound understanding of collocation, making an important contribution to the need for standardisation of assessment. The next three papers deal with the all important question of relating translator training to professional practice. Séverine Hubscher-Davidson discusses student expectations – not all students become professional translators, and even those who eventually do so are not always sure of what they require, and what is required of them, during training. She demonstrates the need for varied, realistic texts which enhance the learning both of prosepective professionals and those who translate in order to improve language skills. She also explores teaching method, showing how valuable oral, reflective and introspective practices can be, both for the individual student and for classroom activities. Contrary to some recieved notions, translation is not necessarily a solitary, bookish habit, but a lively stimulating, sociable activity. Ian Kemble’s topic is related to this, in that he asks not only to what extent student translators become professionals, but to what extent university teachers of translation practise translation professionally, and whether authentic materials are used in teaching. His study shows the strongly practical slant of most of the specialist translation university courses in the UK. Once again, the evidence is that translation is a living, breathing profession, and that training courses respond vigorously to “the real world.” If we are to provide structured, relevant courses in translation, 3

Boyd Tonkin. Two cultures, one language: Arabic translation of great works aims to bridge the divide. The Independent 22.11.2007

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a good working relationship between professional practice and institutional pedagogy, in the form of authentic materials and input from professional translators and interpreters, is essential. Fernando Ferreira-Alves investigates market expectations in Portugal, such as needs, constraints, requirements and working conditions, creating a picture of the ideal translation services provider’s profile; this could serve to redefine the way translators are trained according to professional standards by tailoring translation curricula to what may be very volatile business-oriented settings. His findings reflect those of HubscherDavidson and Kemble in that this “voluble, volatile and dynamic” profession needs to adapt constantly to new demands – service providers and trainers must now think in terms not only of exacting standards, as required by EN15038, but also in terms of contemporary fields, such as IT, Law, New Technologies, Medical Technology, Economics, Engineering and Localisation – a far cry from some of the translation that students will have experienced on their “lang-lit” courses. He highlights the social nature of the translation profession, particularly the need for teamwork at every stage of the translation process, from commissioning to publication. Alina Secară and Anthony Hartley, working at the cutting edge of teaching, describe their eCoLoTrain project, which brings together the concerns of teaching, professional practice and the use of IT. Working with partners in Germany, Romania, Estonia and Slovenia and two industrial partners, they are developing software relevant to eContent localisation, i.e., translation memory applications and software localisation systems. Olga Tabachnikova also explores the use of IT in the teaching of tranlsation, using virtual learning techniques to bolster students’ professional judgements and confidence. Her project focuses on the importance of self-directed learning in the situation in which most professional translators operate – alone with their computers, faced with making crucial decisions at all levels of the translation process. George Witherington’s paper illustrates very clearly the kind of pressurised situation commonly found in today’s professional translation. He proposes what is in effect simultaneous translation, a bi-lingual publishing system designed to deal with difficulties which can be encountered in high-volume, time-sensitive bilingual documents (especially English/foreign-language pairs), which consist of complex prose as opposed to standardised text and which comply with regulatory or legal requirements, where editing, readability and speed are just some of the considerations. This is real world activity, with real world challenges -

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for example, simultaneous publication by a competitor, or swiftly changing conditions, as in the case of stock market fluctuations. The interpreting side of the proceedings are represented by a crosssection of papers dealing with specific questions of teaching and learning. Andrew Gillies, a professional interpreter, discusses the problems associated with the traditional, old style of interpreter training, and suggests methods more in line with modern language teaching techniques. Gillies’ view may be seen as provocative by some, revolutionary by others, and by yet more as common sense. There are those who believe that trainees should simply struggle through speeches, monitored and corrected by professional interpreters, but many believe, like Gillies, that the training of interpreters should be infused with imagination and innovation, and informed by a commitment to teaching techniques which will keep student interpreters engaged, and will produce results. Christelle Petite explores the role of monitoring during simultaneous interpreting, using as her starting point Moser-Mercer’s (1997) idea that there are significant differences in the awareness of the monitoring function depending on the subject’s level of experience. She compares the output of professional and trainee interpreters with regard to self-repair. Like Gillies, she highlights the importance of thoughtful, reflective attitudes to training. She points out that study of repairs in interpreting gives us an opportunity to observe, in a non-invasive way, the interpreter’s mind at work in real time. While her data are small in scope, and she limits the study to quantitative analysis, it paves the way for a broader, qualitative approach to self-monitoring and repair among trainee interpreters. Chan Sin-wai, Tong Yuan Fang and Wang Yongqiu investigate norms in Cantonese-English simultaneous interpreting (SI) in the context of Hong Kong Legislative Council (Legco) meetings. They find that in Cantonese-English SI production norms come from context, text, speakers and interpreters with influences from linguistic, cultural and ideological aspects, and seek to apply these findings to the practice of interpreting and interpreter training. The notion of the norm in translating was first mooted three decades ago, and it has only in recent years become a hot topic. It’s application to interpreting is not before time, and it will be interesting to see how the idea will affect training in the years to come. Ya-Shyuan Jin, Robert H. Logie and Martin Corley, working from a psychological perspective, discuss the importance of phonological working memory in simultaneous interpreting. For many years the “black box” of the interpreter was something of an unknown quantity – even the most acutely perceptive intuitions could not tell us exactly how an

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interpreter’s brain works. We have had the experimental tools of psychology to help give insights for many decades now, and interpreting research is beginning to make use of these. This paper is a tentative look at the interlinking of working memory and intepreting. This work on digits opens the way for further work on the normal discourse structures of speeches. Interdisciplinary research is the key to the “black box” of the interpreter – using the combined forces of psychology and linguistics will create new ways forward for interpreting research, and in its wake, interpreter training. The papers as a whole reflect the breadth of expertise involved in interpreting and translating research and professionalism. The disciplines are rich in skill and scholarship, and growing, and we can look forward to ever more fruitful discussions of the issues and innovations in learning, teaching and technology.

References Tonkin Boyd. Two cultures, one language: Arabic translation of great works aims to bridge the divide. The Independent 22.11.2007. Croft, Michael. The Linguist’s business: the inside view. Bath: Bath University Press, 1988. ITI List of translation and interpreting courses available in the UK, http://www.cilt.org.uk/langservices/pdf/courses.pdf, accessed 19.10.2007. Slade, Stephen. The selection process – survival of the fittest? In The Linguist’s business: the inside view. Edited by Michael Croft, 23-30. Bath: Bath University Press, 1988. Wagner-Johnstone, E. Machine translation – exploding the myth. In The Linguist’s business: the inside view. Edited by Michael Croft, 36-45. Bath: Bath University Press, 1988.

THE HISTORY OF THE BATH MA IN INTERPRETING AND TRANSLATING JAMES COVENEY

I suppose that as the “founding father” of the postgraduatge interpreting/ translation programme, I may be permitted on this occasion to reminisce and recall the reason why the programme was initiated at Bath, the first of its kind at a UK university. Before my appointment to Bath in 1964 to found the new Modern Languages Department I had interrupted my academic career to work as a translator from French and Spanish at the United Nations headquarters in New York, and subsequently as an interpreter/translator with NATO, mostly at Northwood, Middlessex, where I grappled into and out of French, with NATONIAN and NATOSPEAK. Having been thrown in at the deep end, as it were, myself, I felt that there was a need for a strictly vocational postgraduate programme designed to prepare selected graduate linguists for employment as interpreters and translators in international organisations such as the United Nations and its agencies, as well as European-based international organisations, with an eye on the eventual entry of the UK into the European Community. It was decided that such a programme would be a one-year course, based on two foreign languages offered by applicants, one of which would be French, and applicants would be given rigorous selection tests in both languages. In 1965 we convinced the University that the programme would be successful. Moreover, the fact that the programme would be strictly vocational fitted in well with the ethos of the new University of Bath. So the postgraduate programme was launched in 1966 with 7 students, selected after rigorous tests, and it proved to be the case that we had selected a group of clever and highly motivated linguist graduates. They came from an interesting cross-section of universities, two from Cambridge, two from Bristol, two from London and one from the University of Wales, Aberystwyth. All the group went on to become successful translators and interpreters in various international organisations, including the United Nations and its agencies.

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The languages offered on the programme at first were French with either Russian or Spanish. German was added after two years, and later on Italian. Despite the increasing number of applicants we continued to insist on a high standard at entry, with rigorous testing, and the annual intake to the course was generally between six and twelve students. As the programme became known in international organisations such as the United Nations, the high standard attained by the Bath graduates was increasingly recognised. By the time the UK joined the European Communities in 1973 the Bath programme was well established and a number of international organisations were accepting our students for short training periods on the job during their course at Bath. Some of those orgainsations, including the UN and the EC provided members of their staff as visiting lecturers and external examiners in the programme. We also received a valuable input on the teaching side from freelance conference interpreters. By that time there were murmurings in some University quarters on Claverton Down about the fact that we were regularly rejecting a large proportion, if not to say most of, the applicants for entry to the postgraduate course. In the late 60s and early 70s this University was endeavouring to increase the number of its postgraduate students in science and technology and applicants for postgraduate studies in those subjects were seldom turned away. Students on our postgraduate course would help to fill the gap for the time being in the total university postgraduate numbers. And there was little understanding of the reason for our insisting on a high standard of entry to our course. But we kept our nerve, resisted the pressure, and it proved to be the right course of action. The more the news went round outside that the Bath course was difficult to get into, but that the job prospects for those completing the course were good, the more applications increased and we were able to select increasing numbers of students of a high standard. It is worth mentioning at this juncture that in 1970 we launched in our department a BA degree course in European Studies and Modern Languages, also with a high standard of entry. Its immediate success was undoubtedly due to the reputation of the postgraduate programme. Incidentally, in 1972 we appointed Joyce Quinn as lecturer in French to teach in the European Studies and Modern Languages course. In her later political career she was at one time Minister for Europe. I was delighted by her recent elevation to the House of Lords as Baroness Quinn of Gateshead. To return to the postgraduate programme, with regard to the careers of former students of the course, most of them in those early days obtained posts as interpreters and translators in international organisations.

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It is a pleasure to have with us tonight a former student of the course from 1975-1976 who is now the Head of the English Interpreting Service in the European Commission in Brussels – David Smith). An interesting appointment on the teaching side of the programme was made a few years before the UK joined the EC. Some years before the UK joined, the Foreign Office established a unit in London to translate into English important documents emanating from the EC so that the British Government could keep abreast of what was happening in Brussels. English not being an official language of the Communities at that time, no documents were issued in English. I discovered that this unit, tucked into the Foreign Office, was headed by the late Alexander Elkin, and that he had been appointed Special Adviser in European Communities Law at the Foreign Office in 1970. Furthermore, some of our postgraduates, on finishing the course at Bath, were recruited by Elkin on a daily basis and he was very pleased with their standard. He called them his Bath Buns! Eventually, a number of the Bath Buns went to work in permanent positions as translators in the EC when the UK joined. Soon afterwards Elkin was appointed a visiting lecturer on our staff to give seminars on language and law to students of the postgraduate programme and continued in this role until 1996. His successor is Julie Stoker, who was a student on the programme from 1976-77. The next development in the postgraduate programme marked the first step towards globalisation. I decided I had to fit in that fashionable term somewhere! In 1979 I accepted an invitation from Al-Mustansiriyeh University in Baghdad to visit Baghdad to talk about the postgraduate programme and discuss the possibility of organizing in Bath a postgraduate course to train Arabic-speaking students as English/Arabic translators, some of whom would be employed at a forthcoming conference in Baghdad of non-aligned countries. This took place a few months before Saddam Hussein took over. With strong support from the British Council and the Arab league the MA course in Arabic Translation and Linguistics began in 1981 in Bath. I will say no more except to quote from a recent University publication entitled “History of the University” with a subtitle “40 Years of Excellence” the following statement: From 1981 when the School of Modern Languages took in its first students on the MA in Translation and Linguistics (Arabic), the first of its kind at a British University, the University took important steps towards becoming the ambassador for Britain that it is today.

A further step along the road to globalization was taken with the introduction of Chinese and Japanese in the postgraduate programme. By

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that time I had retired but I was able to appreciate some of the problems in dealing with the Chinese language during a visit to Macau in 1988, that is to say before Macau was taken over from Portugal by China. I was invited by the University of Macau to advise the University on the establishment of a department of translation and interpreting to include Portuguese, Chinese and English. It was during discussions on language matters in Macau that I soon learned not to use the term “Mandarin” but “putonghua” when referring to the Chinese national language, as distinct from Cantonese. As for Japanese, having been to Japan many times in recent years, initially in connection with the compilation of a Japanese/English Business Management dictionary, I became aware of the lack of advanced training or interpreting in Japanese universities. The market for such training appeared to be dominated by commercial English language schools and in particular by SIMUL INTERNATIONAL. Hopefully, Bath will be able to redress the balance. In conclusion, may I say how delighted I am to be here today on Claverton Down to celebrate forty years of excellence in the knowledge that the postgraduate programme is in good hands, under the direction of Dr. Stephen Slade, who was himself a student on the course from 1979 to 1980, and went on to become a translator in the European Parliament.

References Hornshaw, Claire. The University of Bath: a history: 40 years of excellence. Bath: University of Bath Press, 2006.

PART I: TRANSLATING

THE CHINESE ECONOMIC LANGUAGE: ISSUES IN TRANSLATION VALERIA ZANIER, CA’ FOSCARI UNIVERSITY OF VENICE Abstract Translating the current economic and business language into Chinese brings about two main issues: 1) there are many words which have been introduced into the Chinese language only very recently. 2) the Chinese economy is changing very rapidly, moving towards globalization and homologation. Regarding the first issue, the paper will advance some considerations about the role of the legal language in the creation of a Chinese economic lexicon. As to the second issue, the tendency to homologation and the introduction of new business forms need to be included in a well balanced analysis, which takes into account the peculiarity of the dramatic transformations recently occurred in the Chinese society and the legacy of the Socialist economic system. Using a number of examples, the paper will delineate a tentative framework for the study of the current Chinese economic language.

Introduction Translation refers to the rendering of a text from a source language (SL) into a target language (TL) in interlingual and intercultural communication. During the process of translation we aim for equivalence. Nevertheless, languages differ in terms of grammar and syntax, and refer to different cultural systems and to different worldviews. Are there such things as equivalent words? Can words in different languages really share a core meaning? Or are the differences so wide that it is impossible to fully render a concept into another language? When knowledge passes from the source language to the target language, it inevitably takes on new meanings. In the new environment, the translation remains connected with the original idea only by a “trope of

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equivalence”. All the efforts of the translator are directed to the placement of the translation in the host language, in order to better include it in the target historico-linguistic environment. The analysis presented in this paper covers some words and phrases used in economic discourse. The chosen language combination is English > Chinese, since it may offer wider possibilities and can be understood by a larger number of people. Moreover, English is currently the most widely used vehicle for importing new concepts into Chinese and is used as a lingua franca among businessmen around the world. The aim of the present analysis is to provide students and translators of Chinese with a number of useful tools to interpret linguistic material within a cross-cultural perspective. In the first part, the paper will outline a brief account of the introduction of an economic lexicon at the end of the imperial era, at the same time showing how the Chinese language has been able to adapt and to create new ideas. In the second part, the accent will be placed on the new meanings that have emerged in the language of business operations, the language of economics and the language of law. The analysis will highlight the relationship between language and society and eventually offer some keys to interpret the Chinese economic context and render a more accurate translation.

The introduction of “new” concepts and ideas Previous research shows that in Chinese the traditional method of renewal is to attribute a new meaning to a pre-existing linguistic sign (written as a character or as a combination of characters). The approach of introducing new words as loan-translations (or semantic neologisms, or semantic loans) means that - in most cases - it is not the terms, but the concepts that are borrowed. 1 The method was widely used by the Japanese, when moulding new characters for new meanings. Let’s take for instance jingji 㒣⌢, the word used in modern Chinese to translate “economy”. In the XIXth century, the Japanese chose the same characters (in Japanese pronounced keizai) to render the word “economy” and the term jingji was reintroduced into the Chinese lexicon through Japanese translations of western texts. However the term was not a complete novelty.2 It originally 1

An example of pure loan translation (calque) is the Chinese word for “railway”, tielu 䪕䏃 , literally “road” (䏃) made out of ‘steel” (䪕). The word is a loan translation from the German “eisenbahn”. 2 The Meiji Era –second half of the XIXth century- brought the opening-up and the modernization of Japan. Western modern sciences (among which, law and economics) entered the country, and the Japanese language very rapidly formed

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existed in VIth century China as part of a more complex compound: jingshi jimin 㒣Ϫ⌢⇥ meaning “governing and assisting” (or, in a more literal translation, “to develop the land and save the people”), therefore “to rule”. The character jing 㒣 means “warp” (of textile), but also “to manage”; the character shi Ϫ means “world”; the character ji ⌢ means “to save”, “to be of benefit”; min ⇥ is “people”. By the late 1800s, the word jingji was already known in Chinese with the meaning of ‘statesmanship” or “administration”, but had not yet been associated with the new concept of “economy” . Therefore, the modern jingji appeared to the eyes of Chinese speakers as an abbreviation of a more complex and older form, but, since it had “reappeared” in China as associated with a new concept, it could as well be considered as a neologism from Japanese. The difficulty lay in introducing the new meaning among the Chinese speakers. The famous intellectual Liang Qichao tried to explain the “returned” neologism with the help of more than one term: fuguoxue ᆠ೑ ᄺ (the science of how to enrich the country), zishengxue 䌘⫳ᄺ (the science of resources and livelihood), pingzhunxue ᑇ‫ޚ‬ᄺ (the science of how to keep prices at an equal level), or shengjixue ⫳䅵ᄺ (the science of the means of existence).3

neologisms in order to express the new concepts. At the time, China received many of the new concepts through Japanese translations of western texts. Among the first economic texts to be translated into Chinese are: Fuguoce ᆠ೑ㄪ (How to enrich the country) and Fuguoyangmince ᆠ೑‫⇥ݏ‬ㄪ (How to enrich the country and feed the people), which date back to 1880. There are roughly 15 more works, published between the 1830s and 1880s, which have been neglected. Only very recently have scholars started research on Zhiguo zhi yong da lue (1839), a handbook of political economy; Maoyi Tongzhi 䊓ᯧ䗮ᖫ (General Treatise on Commerce), translated into Chinese by the Jesuit Karl Guetzlaff in 1840; and Zhifu Xinshu 㟈 ᆠ ᮄ к , published in 1847 as a translation of A Treatise on the Principles, Practice and History of Commerce by John Ramsey McCulloch. The first relevant work on Western law, Wanguo gongfa (a translation of Elements of International Law by the reverend Martin) appeared in 1864. For a complete account of the introduction of modern terminology into the Chinese language, see Masini (1993). 3 To list no more than a few of the most famous Chinese who studied in Japan between the end of the XIXth and the beginning of the XXth centuries, benefiting from the stimuli offered by Japanese cultural life: Sun Yat-sen, Liang Qichao, Kang Youwei - speaking of intellectual and political life - and Lu Xun, Guo Moruo, Zhou Zuoren – among writers. As Japan was more advanced in the study of economic sciences, many of the new concepts actually entered China as Japanese terms, imported by Chinese intellectuals, who had borrowed the Japanese neologisms as “graphic loans”.

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The example of jingji is instructive in terms of what happened to large part of the new Chinese lexicon. Generally speaking, Japanese loanwords are virtually undistinguishable from native Chinese words and it is immaterial to discuss whether they are to be considered as real loans or as homecoming words.

Translating “company ownership” and “company management” in post-Mao China In order to get a complete picture of the complexity of the economic language used in the People’s Republic of China, we also have to consider the Republican Period, the Marxist legacy and the influence of SinoRussian scientific and economic exchange. Important - and overlooked years are the 1950s, when the two countries had very strong relations and many Chinese experts got their education in the USSR. With the introduction of market reforms, other actors entered China’s economic arena and the language started to receive a massive influence from the USA and Europe. Notably from the late 1970s on, the introduction of a new legal system has been playing a big role in China’s transformation into a modern and “westernized” country. Private economic organizations were eliminated after the transformation brought about by the socialist government in 1956. They came back in the early 1980s when the opening-up reforms introduced the possibility for foreigners to engage in Chinese business, as well as the possibility for Chinese citizens to “jump into the sea”, that is to say to open private companies. 4 New rules for the economy meant the shaping of a new economic-legal terminology. Starting with the Sino Foreign Joint Venture Law (1979), the legal guidelines introduced fresh definitions, with the result that new concepts – unfamiliar to socialist China – came into everyday usage, eventually modifying the actual meaning of some terms. In the late 1980s and during the 1990s, regulations in the economic field changed so quickly that it was very difficult to keep track of the many emerging definitions to label the transforming business forms. 5 Nevertheless, the legal corpus constitutes an important reference for the translator: by reading the definitions contained in the regulations, it is 4

The meaning of the phrase is “to jump into the sea of business” (in Chinese, xiahai ϟ⍋). 5 To quote only the most important: Sino Foreign Equity Joint Venture Law Implementing Regulations (1983); Wholly Foreign Enterprise Law (1986); PRC Company Law (1999).

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possible for the translator to integrate the new meanings with the spoken language and, eventually, to find out what part of the new “official” concepts is being retained in everyday discourse. In Chinese, the two basic words expressing “business activities” are: gongsi ݀ৌ (company), usually used when referring to trading and/or services; and qiye ӕ Ϯ , which stands for “industrial enterprise” or “business”. Actually, in Chinese one of the oldest ways to refer to business entities is gonghang ݀㸠 (official corporation), originally coined to refer to those corporations of Chinese merchants entitled to conduct business with foreigners.6 The term is a loan translation, which entered China at the beginning of the XIXth century. Its original etymology is “general business”. It was first introduced to refer to the East India Company; later on it passed to indicate any foreign company and, subsequently, any company in general. The character gong means “general”, “common”, and “public”, hence the sense of “official”, contained in the word gongsi. Currently the word has become such a part of colloquial language, that the meaning has somewhat softened and gongsi is frequently used to mean “office”, “work” (for example, wo hui gongsi le ៥ಲ݀ৌњ – I’ll go back to the office). However, the word still strongly retains the sense of “business operated by persons”, as we can see in the following examples: youxian zeren gongsi ᳝䰤䋷ӏ݀ৌ (limited liability company); gufen youxian gongsi 㙵ӑ᳝䰤݀ৌ (shareholding company). The noun qiye, which also appeared in the Chinese lexicon in the XIXth century, was introduced through Japanese as a “semantic neologism”. If we look at etymologies, qiye and enterprise appear very similar. The character qi ӕ expresses the concept of “trying”, “making an attempt”, and such is the sense of “enterprise” - introduced into English from the French. During Mao’s time and even later on, qiye has been used to indicate “manufacturing enterprises owned and operated by the State”. Nowadays qiye also appears in word compounds defining non-state enterprises. It is interesting to note that qiye retains the sense of “single” enterprise, as opposed to chanye ѻϮ and hangye 㸠Ϯ, which indicate “a whole sector”. 6

Masini, p.9 (quotes Fairbank, John K. 1953. Trade and Diplomacy on the China Coast. The Opening of the Treaty Ports, 1842 – 1854. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press. p. 13): Chinese merchants rented three-storey buildings to various western merchants, who were allowed to trade and reside there. In English these were called “factories” or “corporations” (hang 㸠 with the Cantonese pronunciation hong) since this is where the factors resided. A definition of factor is: “one, who acts or transacts business for another”. After 1720 all transactions with foreigners had to be conducted via a special corporation of merchants, in Chinese gonghang ݀㸠 (official corporation), referred to by foreigners as cohong.

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By the mid 1990s, industrial enterprises in China started to be classified by the government according to their owners’ identity: 1) guoyou qiye ೑᳝ӕϮ (state enterprises), 2) jiti qiye 䲚ԧӕϮ (urban and rural collective enterprises), 3) duzi qiye ⣀ 䌘 ӕ Ϯ (domestic private enterprises), 4) waizi qiye ໪䌘ӕϮ (foreign enterprises), 5) hezi qiye ড় 䌘ӕϮ (joint-venture enterprises). This happened after 1993, when the National People’s Congress modified the Constitution by suppressing the principle of state-run economy and substituting it with that of state-owned economy. This change was fundamental in order to proceed with the reform of State Owned Enterprises (SOEs), which had already led to separation between management and ownership. 7 Actually, before the 14th Congress of the Chinese Communist Party in 1992, state companies were referred to as guoying qiye ೑㧹ӕϮ (staterun enterprises). Since then, their classification label has been modified to guoyou qiye ೑᳝ӕϮ (state-owned enterprises). This suggests that by that time the Government had acknowledged the difference between “management” (ying 㧹 ) and “ownership” (you ᳝ ). By stressing the concept of “property” the Government meant to recognize the existence of other forms of ownership (different from State-ownership). As far as management is concerned, the situation is still quite complex. Nowadays, all those enterprises which are not managed by the State fall into the category of minying qiye ⇥ 㧹 ӕ Ϯ (literally, enterprises run by the people). The group consists of collective-, cooperative-, shareholding-, individual- and private-, and state-owned people-managed enterprises, including every non-state managed enterprise with the sole exception of foreign-funded enterprises. This implies that minying qiye has a very wide meaning, which goes beyond that of “private enterprise”. We can infer that the actual meaning of minying is “non-state”. It is worth noting that “nonstate” sector in China does not automatically mean “private” sector: the state-sector receives funds from the government budget and operates under state administrative control; the “non-state” sector is financially selfsufficient and does not receive any budgetary funds. 7

The first stage of the SOEs reform had already started in 1979-84. First of all, enterprises were allowed to sell part of their output on the market. Secondly, they could retain profit (instead of remitting it to the government) and decide how to invest it. In 1987, with the introduction of the “contract responsibility system” (chengbao jingying zeren zhi ᡓࣙ㒣㧹䋷ӏࠊ), SOEs started to set their own profit targets and to keep surplus (or to make up for the shortfall). The “contract responsibility system” was further expanded in 1992, giving more power to managers, who could now hire and fire employees. The reform is still ongoing, though big doubts have arisen as to what has been achieved up to now. Cf. Green and Liu (2005), pp. 16-17.

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To date, there has not been an explicit privatisation programme in China, as has happened in other post-communist countries. It is true that after 1993 the reform of SOEs shifted from management reform into property rights reforms. Basic lack of success made the government introduce many possibilities for the incorporation of SOEs, and it is really hard to get a complete picture of the entire set of regulations. This may partly explain the difficulty of finding precise correspondences in English and Chinese terminology to translate processes which are taking place, but do not always reflect the concepts attached to them in official discourse. Let us take as an example the official term for “privatisation” (siyouhua ⾕ ᳝࣪). The word actually has a very precise meaning and officially refers to the sale of SOEs to private firms that do not have private “legal person” status (siren gongsi), though - as we shall see - siyouhua is also used in a broader sense. In the Chinese language, a typical way of forming abstract words is by adding the suffix -hua ࣪. The suffix itself means “to change”, “to alter”, and it adds to the word a sense of “transformation into something”. In some cases it may also be interpreted as “making things totally and thoroughly different”. Adding the suffix -hua to minying, we have the word minyinghua ⇥ 㧹 ࣪ , whose meaning cannot be rendered very accurately in English. Let us say that minyinghua refers to the transformation of the Chinese economy into one that is non-State-run. At the same time, we have the words siyouhua (privatisation) and feiguoyouhua 䴲 ೑ ᳝ ࣪ (denationalization). 8 Actually, in the common usage, all three words are used in order to express “denationalization”, a complex process consisting in non-state enterprises replacing, taking over, or merging with SOEs, whereas SOEs are being converted into privatelymanaged joint ventures with either domestic or foreign partners, or are being reorganised into privately-managed joint-stock companies. Under a closer analysis, denationalization does not stress the ownership reform, nor the management transformation. The translator is free enough to choose among the possible Chinese translations. Which is the difference between the three terms? Being very accurate with the meaning of the single characters, we should use minyinghua, when we want to give more attention to the different kinds of management which emerged during the denationalization process; siyouhua when we are focusing on ownership reform; feiguoyouhua when we point to a more general stepping-out from the old state-owned economy. As a matter of fact, the three translations appear to convey rather vague nuances of meaning: while siyouhua is more direct, minyinghua and feiguoyouhua are 8

The affix fei- can be translated into English with un-, non-.

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more euphemistic terms. At the same time, siyouhua bears a very precise meaning and is an official term, whereas minyinghua and feiguoyouhua are just “tolerated” by the official discourse.

The notion of “private” The amendment to the Constitution introducing private property ownership is one of the principles which inspire Chinese legal reform, yet until now this important aspect of Chinese economic reforms has not been translated into reality. As a matter of fact, enterprises owned by Chinese citizens have been classified as private enterprises since the early 1980s. Although there are many regulations about the management of private enterprises, no law effectively regulating private property has been promulgated ever since. The problem of land ownership remains unresolved, with the result that many people do not understand whether the land they are using is collectively owned or owned by State. The concept of “private enterprise” pertains obviously to the non-state sector and it should be more correctly translated as siyou qiye ⾕᳝ӕϮ (privately owned enterprise) or siying qiye ⾕㧹ӕϮ (privately managed enterprise). A further distinction exists between siying qiye that employ more than seven employees, and getihu Ͼԧ᠋ , described as “a tiny firm owned usually by one person, a family or a couple of persons”. According to state regulations, this kind of company should not employ more than seven persons”.9 More difficulties emerge when we analyse the term duzi qiye ⣀䌘ӕϮ , which renders the English “wholly individually owned enterprise”. The latter is an enterprise invested-in and operated by one person, who bears unlimited liability for the company’s debts. According to the Provisional Regulations on Private Enterprises, it should have over seven employees. Yet, according to the 1999 Wholly Individually-owned Enterprises Law, no minimum number of employees is stipulated. Thus, it is difficult to make a clear distinction between duzi qiye and getihu. The English word “private” comes from the Latin “privatus” (an adjective referred to persons), and has the original meaning of “withdrawn from public life”. The meaning of the English “private” is “not holding public office or official position”; when referred to material things or acts, “private” describes something “not open to the public” or “not publicly

9

In Das Kapital, Marx discussed a case where a concern employing more than seven staff was considered to have led to the exploitation of employees. As an extension of this rationale, those that employ only one or two assistants and three to five apprentices are considered to be self-employed. Yip (2006)

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done or performed”; moreover, “private” is something “belonging to some individual”.10 In Chinese we can express the “private-public” antithesis by using the couple si-gong ⾕-݀ . The character si ⾕ means “personal”; “private”. The concept of “privately owned” is rendered through the adjective siren ⾕Ҏ , at the same time meaning also “personal”. The word “privacy”, which in English exists as a natural extension of “private”, is translated into Chinese with the combination of characters yinsi 䱤⾕ , where yin means “to hide”, “to conceal”, while si brings its sense of ‘selfish”, ‘secretive”. The official discourse relegates these elements (human feelings and ethical principles at work) to the realm of the “private” or the selfish si, as opposed to the realm of the “public” (gong). Although the English word “private” is the closest to designating the Chinese word si, the Western notion of private does not quite capture the pejorative connotation of selfishness that is inextricably intertwined with the Chinese si. Furthermore, the Chinese si does not harbour the Western positive notion associated with the word “private”, of the rights of an individual to be free from prying and intrusive eyes.11 What constitutes a basic difference in translation is that – unlike the English “private”- the Chinese si mingles with the specific characteristics of the individual, bestowing on those “privately” performed actions a strong “attention to one’s own interests”. Moreover, the opposition si-gong ⾕-݀ reflects the collective-oriented character of Chinese society, where individual interest is not considered as good as public interest. Since the character si is reminiscent of its original negative meaning, we can find other characters expressing the idea of “private”, such as min ⇥ or geren ϾҎ or geti Ͼԧ. We have already noticed that the word minyinghua ⇥㧹࣪ is more accepted than siyouhua ⾕᳝࣪ : min is good, it recalls renmin Ҏ⇥ (people). For the same reason, when translating “privately-run company”, the word minying qiye ⇥㧹ӕϮ is more readily used than the “quasi synonymous” siying qiye ⾕㧹ӕϮ. While in English “private” is essentially something opposed to “public”, the Chinese translation for “private” can be opposed to wider concepts, exactly because with min we place the accent on citizens, that is to say on the “people” (min). In this respect, taking min-gong as an exact translation of the antithesis “private-public” can generate confusion. In Mao times, a more complete way to call State enterprises was quanmin suoyouzhi qiye ܼ⇥᠔᳝ࠊӕϮ (enterprises owned by all the people). At 10

The Oxford Universal Dictionary Illustrated, Oxford University Press Yang (1994), p. 60, when speaking of the role that human feelings, and ethical principles at work, play in the art of guanxi.

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the same time, state enterprises and urban and rural collective enterprises were referred to as gongyouzhi qiye ᳝݀ࠊӕϮ , a term which can be translated as “publicly owned enterprises”. Such considerations bring about some confusion. If we take min as a way to translate the notion of private, then it will be opposed to gong. On the other hand, if we acknowledge that min – as well as gong - embodies the concept of public good, the two words would not be in opposition anymore. More appropriately, minying can be considered in opposition to guoying: the second term referring to State-management and to the “public” seen as the country (guo). Finally we find another opposing couple: minjian ⇥䭧 vs. guanfang ᅬᮍ. In this case, minjian (literally meaning: “popular”) expresses the meaning “non-governmental”, as opposed to guanfang (governmental, official). The two character compounds are used to describe organizations such as business associations, or NGOs. For example, a foreign Chamber of Commerce in China is a free association of businessmen (regardless of the official character the institution may have as a representative of a foreign country) and – as such – is described as minjian. On the other hand, most citizens’ associations (NGOs) in China are Government Organized Non-Governmental Organizations (GONGOs) and are regarded as guanfang.12 Actually, we have the concept of “private” mingling with the people and the civil society, whereas the notion of “public” acquires the authoritative connotation of State-controlled or governmental. Moreover, the fact that here guan is used to label public organizations, leads to a further reflection: in post-revolutionary China, the distinction between “official” (guan) and “public” (gong) tends to disappear. The concept of “public” conflates with “official” and “state”, whereas in late imperial China, guan referred to the Qing court and gong to the people.

Economic globalization and linguistic ambiguity As we have observed in the previous pages, there is a complex process taking place, which we can generically call “denationalisation” (feiguoyouhua) or – when we want to highlight a particular aspect of that – “privatization” (siyouhua). The last ten years saw the rise of many words, all trying to depict a transformation into a new economic reality: shangyehua ଚ Ϯ ࣪ (commercialisation), shichanghua Ꮦ จ ࣪ (marketisation), qiyehua ӕ Ϯ ࣪ (making industrial enterprises businesslike), chanyehua ѻϮ࣪ (industrialisation or incorporatisation). These concepts not only reflect current Chinese reality, but can be easily 12

The Chinese government requires that for any NGO to become a legal entity, it must first obtain sponsorship from a state agency.

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applied to other market economies all around the world. We notice more and more similarities between Chinese economic discourse and those of the U.S. or the countries of the EU. In fact, as China learns how to play by the rules of the market economy, we detect a phenomenon of global homologation. According to social scientists, people do not pay enough attention to the fact that we now live in the neo-liberal age, and to how deeply this affects our existence. There are many circumstances that we tend not to notice, since they appear “unchangeable and unquestionable – the simple “fact of life” which we must respond to”.13 In fact, neo-liberal economic discourse is internationally disseminated and imposed by organizations like the International Monetary Fund and the World Trade Organization. By using the same key-words and phrases, they project pre-built images and lead us to thinking that this is the only possible world. A particularly important aspect of neo-liberal discourse is the representation of change in the global economy, which is pervasive in contemporary societies – representations of economic change as inevitable and irresistible.14

What happens when we observe the Chinese context? There are some concepts which became “good” during the 1980s – 1990s. For instance shangye and shichang have become quite neutral in today’s language. Shangye ଚϮ originally means “trade”, shichang Ꮦจ is “the market”, both in the more traditional and the more modern sense. Trade is by tradition a negative concept in Chinese. Back in classical China, merchants were at the lowest end of the social order, considered only slightly better than slaves. Shichang, on the contrary, does not have a bad connotation. Moreover, the word has for years been used in the proposition shehuizhuyi shichang jingji ⼒ӮЏНᏖഎ㒣ࠖ (socialist market economy), implying that the Government has interpreted and publicized the market as a “positive” concept. Therefore shichanghua is more appealing than shangyehua, and is used more frequently and readily. Despite all this, one may say that both words still retain some pejorative connotation because they contain the meanings “commerce” and “profit driven”. The words qiyehua and chanyehua express a more neutral meaning: in economic discourse, to speak of “industries becoming businesslike” or “incorporatisation”, is surely more “scientific” and has a lesser negative connotation than speaking of “commercialization” or “marketization”. For this reason, qiyehua and chanyehua have a better response from citizens 13 14

Fairclough (2001), pp. 121-138. Ibid

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and are used interchangeably. We might as well see in this a sign of China’s homologation with the world’s market economies. Although qiyehua and chanyehua are used to express the same notion of “transformation into market economy”, they can also be seen in opposition. The word qiyehua means “making industrial enterprises businesslike”. It refers to single enterprises, highlighting the transitional process from State-led to privately-run, whereas chanyehua bears the sense of “making the whole sector businesslike” and it refers to the commercial merger of a trade. The term chanyehua has a defined usage to describe the transition of the Chinese media from the not-for-profit sector to the for-profit sector, from public broadcasting to business-oriented networks. The term was coined in the mid 1990s by Huang Shengmin, an advertising specialist, who tried to label the process of transformation of the party press into commercial media. 15 Huang maintained that commercialisation was an inadequate term in the context of China’s media industry. The term chanyehua translates as the “interaction between [the media] interest and [the government] control”. For this reason, chanyehua has been for some time an unpleasant word for the Chinese Government. The characteristics of media chanyehua are: first, the media are directed by economic interest; second, the political administration of the media is weakened to allow them to emerge as relatively independent businesses, and their “nature of non-business, not-for-profit enterprise is (also) weakened.16

Originally, chanye stands for “manufacturing company with commercial purposes”. At the opposite end, we have shiye, which defines a company carrying out not-for-profit activity. In this sense, the two terms have been used to depict the two souls of China’s communication industry. In fact, chanyehua embodies a more complex meaning, closer to big capitals and big markets; let us say it is more in line with the world’s general trend toward the formation of big mergers. When we analyse the transformation of the Chinese media industry into a capitalistic system, we observe that the political elite was at first hostile to chanyehua, because they identified it with the transformation of the Chinese media into something completely businesslike, to the extent of escaping Party control. In the mid 1990s, the propaganda office put the term on the list of 15

Huang Shengming and Ding Junjie (1997), eds. Mei jie jingying yu chanyehua yanjiu (Studies on Media Operation and Industrialization). Beijing: Beijing Broadcasting Insitute Press, quoted by Guo (2004). 16 Huang and Ding (1997) quoted by Guo (2004).

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unfavourable terms. After a few years” time, the term’s political weight was softened. In later writings, Huang and his group of researchers described chanyehua as “a phenomenon when media institutions that used to be purely cultural, spiritual undertakings are being transformed into profitable corporations along the track of rational business” and, further on, “the economic collection of business in the same trade consisting of independent legal persons whose membership is made under market rules of equality and competition inside and outside the industry”.17 We may observe that, while there is no reference to political control, economic characteristics are highlighted, with the result that media chanyehua becomes apt for describing the transformation of the Chinese media into a modern industry. Eventually, the word showed its full potential: chanyehua annihilates the profit-making vs. not-for-profit dichotomy, spreading the message that it is impossible to have non-commercially oriented media. At the same time, no major transformation is foreseen as far as government control is regarded. It is a neutral, economics-related term. Political leaders accepted the term and inserted it into official discourse.18 We can present chanyehua as a fruitful example of cooperation between the cultural and political elites. Intellectuals coined the word, which functioned as an ice-breaker in introducing the concept that even the media can be managed in a capitalistic way.

Conclusions The analysis carried out in these pages shows that we have no perfectly equivalent words to use in translation. Moreover, the examples chosen in the field of the Chinese economic lexicon strongly suggest that we have to be aware of words’ original meanings, of the current social and economic framework and of the specific context – all of which are important factors when making our decision as to which (apparently) synonymous word to choose in translation. Some words seem “luckier” or “trendier” at a given moment. There is a file rouge among them: they are all examples of words gathering importance in the lexicon thanks to their heavy ambiguous and neutral content. Should this lead us to conclude that the Chinese language prefers 17

Huang Shengming and Ding Junjie (2001), eds. Zhongguo guang dian jituanhua yanjiu (Research on the Integration of China’s Broadcasting Media). Beijing: Chinese Price Press, quoted by Guo (2004). 18 See Guo (2004).

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a more undefined terminology because it is inherently indeterminate? This would be rather an extreme statement to make, since all languages are in fact inherently indeterminate. Linguistic and pragmatic strategies are a means to overcome linguistic uncertainty. Chinese much prefers flexible words, which can be more easily contextualized and are open to partial changes in meaning, over more precise words, linked to a more fixed meaning. In order to explain this phenomenon, we can underline the importance of lexicon and characters. According to Cao’s interesting investigation into Chinese legal language, the flexibility of the language of Chinese characters renders Chinese sentences lexicon-driven, rather than syntax – or grammar – drive.19 This should be considered in comparative rather than absolute terms. English is more a syntax-based language, and sentences are syntax or grammar driven. In order to obtain a clearer view, it is worth comparing the legacy of Classical Chinese with that of Indo-European languages. Further on in her work, Cao tries to provide a theoretical explanation, quoting Ames and Rosemont’s discussion on classical Chinese: English is basically substantive and essentialistic whereas classical Chinese is an eventful language. Essentialism is built into English and all Indo-European languages by the way things, essences, substances, (nouns) do something (they are verbed), or have something else attributed to them (via being auxiliary verbed). In contrast, the classical Chinese language has a more relational focus, not a concern to describe how things are in themselves, but how they stand in relation to something else at particular times.20

According to the above mentioned studies on traditional Chinese philosophy (and, especially, on Confucius), the discourse turns around a concept. Explaining a concept within a given context can be considered a basis of traditional Chinese thought, and a pillar for the understanding of changes in contemporary China.

References Cao, Deborah. Chinese Law: A Language Perspective. London: Ashgate, 2004. 19

See Cao (2004), p. 106. See Cao (2004), p. 107. The work quoted here by Cao is Roger T. Ames and Henry Rosemont Jr. 1998. The Analects of Confucius: A Philosophical Translation. New York: Ballatine Books. 20

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Fairclough, Norman. “Critical Discourse Analysis as a Method in Scientific Research.” In Methods of Critical Discourse Analysis, edited by Ruth Wodak and Michael Meyer, 121-138. London: Sage Publications, 2001. Green, Stephen and Guy S Liu. “China’s industrial reform strategy: retreat and retain.” In Exit the dragon? Privatization and State Control in China, edited by Stephen Green, and Guy S Liu, 15-41. Oxford: Blackwell, 2005. Guo, Zhenzhi. “WTO, ‘Chanye Hua’ of the Media and Chinese Television.” Working Papers of the Institute for Broadcasting Economics 189. University of Koeln, 2004. Lin, Yi-min. Between Politics and Market: Firms, Competition, and Institutional Change in post-Mao China. Cambridge (UK): Cambridge University Press, 2001. Lippert, Wolfgang. “Language in the Modernization Process: the Integration of Western Concepts and Terms into Chinese and Japanese in the Nineteenth Century.” In New Terms for New Ideas. Western Knowledge and Lexical Change in Late Imperial China, edited by Michael Lackner, Iwo Amelung and Joachim Kurtz, 57-66. Leiden: Koninklijke Brill, 2001. Liu, Lydia. Translingual Practice: Literature, National Culture and Translated Modernity – China 1900-1937. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1995. Lubman, Stanley B. Bird in a Cage: Legal Reform in China after Mao. Stanford (CA): Stanford University Press, 1999. Masini, Federico. “The Formation of Modern Chinese Lexicon and its Evolution towards a National Language: The Period from 1840 to 1898.” Journal of Chinese Linguistics Monograph Series No. 6, 1993. Yip, Po-Ching. The Chinese Lexicon: A Comprehensive Survey. London: Routledge, 2000. Yip, Bennis So Wai. “Privatisation.” In Critical Issues in Contemporary China, edited by Czeslaw Tubilewicz, 49-78. New York and London: Routledge, 2006.

CRITICAL LEXICAL STRUCTURES AS A TECHNIQUE FOR EVALUATION OF TRESL PROFICIENCY PETER G. EMERY, SULTAN QABOOS UNIVERSITY, OMAN Abstract Evaluation is an abiding problem in translation. It is doubtful if there will ever be algorithms for assessing literary translations but, even in the case of non-literary texts, models of Translation Quality Assessment (TQA) run into difficulties. In the field of translation into English as a second language (TRESL), an all-important criterion in evaluation is conformity to target-language norms. In translator-training programmes, the degree to which the translation approaches these norms is ascertained both qualitatively and quantitatively, at times resulting in a significant degree of subjectivity in scoring. The purpose of this paper is to test out an alternative approach to gauging target-language translational proficiency viz. by monitoring the degree to which the translator successfully negotiates certain “critical structures”. Campbell (2000) studied the way in which translators handled certain grammatical structures in their translations and suggested that this could be a useful diagnostic instrument in evaluation. The hypothesis of the present study was that TRESL translators’ negotiation of characteristic grammatical and semantic structures would correlate with their overall proficiency in translation. The results indicated only a weak positive correlation in this regard but a significantly high correlation if critical lexical rather than grammatical structures were compared with overall performance. This result suggests that the degree of importance attaching to grammatical correctness varies inversely according to the point of view of the consumer (instructee/instructor). It also indicates that vocabulary selection and collocational choice may be a more reliable predictor of translational competence in a TRESL situation. Under such an approach, translators can reliably be sorted into five (as opposed to Campbell’s three) categories of

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competence by means of a quick and easily administered procedure. As in all evaluation, the element of subjectivity remains a) in the specification of the text’s critical lexical structures and b) in the judgment of what is an appropriate collocational equivalent.

Discussion Like many emerging disciplines, translation studies is bedeviled by a plethora of technical terms; in addition to evaluation are found quality and assessment of translated texts. In fact, the terms are used synonymously since all three involve a. measurement and b. judgment as to whether the translated version carries the same “value” as the original text (Reiss, 2000: 3-4). Maier (2000:142) alludes to a further sense of “value”, reminding us that translators have consistently affirmed that “all evaluative practices are linked to individual values.” Chesterman (1997) argues that translational values such as clarity, truth, trust and understanding are logically prior to translational norms. However, the scope of this paper is restricted to the first sense of value, namely the operation of evaluating (quantitatively and/or qualitatively) the translation product. The purpose of such evaluation varies according to the context of the translation activity whether professional, literary or pedagogical. The degree to which such evaluation is necessary or justifiable (or the extent to which the Target Text should be equivalent to the Source Text) has been a subject of endless controversy, the limiting case being Toury, for whom equivalence was ‘something automatically produced by all ostensible translations, no matter what their linguistic or aesthetic quality” (quoted in Pym 2000 : 6). A further issue involves the term quality, which, it was felt, should be applied only in the case of literary translation, the implication being that such translations could not be quantitatively assessed. However, the question arises, is it even possible to formulate a procedure for evaluation of literary texts? Eco (2003: 6) describes translation as a negotiation between the original text (with the cultural framework in which it was conceived) and the destination text (with the cultural milieu in which it is expected to be read) with the translator, and even the author, as negotiators in the process. In an earlier work (2001), Eco comments on the interaction between author and translator in the evolution of the translation process, giving examples of problems such as the rendering of intertextual allusions in the target text. Clearly, in such a fluid and idiosyncratic situation, standardization of translational methods is impracticable. House’s (1977) A Model for Translation Quality Assessment specifically excludes poetic-aesthetic texts but it is to be

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wondered whether, even with this exclusion, such a model can be applied to all aspects of translation praxis. In her re-issued version (1997), the author continues to promote her overt/covert distinction with a cultural filter employed in the case of the latter translation category. However, the distinction seems to break down in the case of an advertisement in which the target text is clearly an overt translation but a cultural filter has been applied. Perhaps a model of translation evaluation is too ambitious even for non-literary texts and we must therefore fall back on universally accepted assessment criteria ? A possible set of such criteria is provided by Brunette (2000), namely: logic, purpose, context and language norm. Logic refers to semantic coherence, purpose to the intention of the text producer, and context to the translator’s sensitivity to the target culture. It may be asked why language norm is included as a criterion in a situation where the translator is expected to have an a priori command of both languages. The answer is that even professionals translating into their mother tongue can be guilty of awkward syntax, grammatical errors or infelicitous collocations. However, in the case of translation into a second language and especially in a pedagogical situation, language norm tends to become the overriding evaluation parameter. One such example is the case of translation from Arabic into English, where much of the emphasis is on translation into another language by Arabic mother tongue translators. Due to the dearth of native English speakers with the requisite proficiency and an adequate stylistic repertoire in Arabic, most interpreting and translation work in governmental and non-governmental organizations has hitherto been undertaken by native Arabic speakers. Courses to train Arabicspeaking interpreters and translators sprang up to meet this demand first of all in Europe and the New World and now, increasingly, in Arab World colleges and universities. The prioritization of the language norm by no means excludes other assessment criteria such as purpose and context. This can be illustrated at the micro-level by the sensitivity which such Arabic terms as shuhada should be translated: suicide bombers, victims of hostile fire or martyrs? At the macro-level, should the translation of an officially-sanctioned cultural text convey the glorification inherent in the original or simply stick to historical exegesis? At issue here are what Chesterman (1997) calls “unwanted side effects” of form which may detract from the desired perlocutionary effect on the target text readers. Realistically, then, the context in which translation is taught as an undergraduate subject and the average level of English proficiency of the students involved dictates that target language norm will be the most common measure of assessment.

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Evaluation in the TRESL situation: the importance of critical syntactic structures Campbell (2000) identified certain critical structures in a text translated into English as a second language (TRESL) by Arabic-English student translators. He hypothesized that the ways in which the trainee translators handle the translation of these grammatical structures can give useful information about their personal cognitive styles and assist in the evaluation process. He found that their renderings of Arabic indefinite relative clause structures into English could offer a useful diagnostic instrument for placing trainee translators in appropriate instructional grades. To test out Campbell’s hypothesis, a group of 24 junior and senior undergraduates in Sultan Qaboos University’s English programme were given a short Arabic text to translate. No special instructions were given for the rendering of this general scientific text by a well-known Arab writer into English. In the absence of indefinite relative clauses, the initial supposition was that success in negotiating certain characteristic Arabic grammatical and semantic structures in translation into English would correlate with overall performance. The linguistic structures selected were past tense and paronomasia; the source text also contained examples of semantic repetition and metaphors conventionally found in Arabic written discourse. The resulting translations were graded in percentage terms by two native English-speaking assessors, using their conventional evaluation methods; namely, a qualitative/quantitative approach, based on overall impression, deduction of marks for grammatical and vocabulary errors, and a final reading. It should be noted that while the scores of each marker were congruent at the upper and lower ends, in the middle range variations of as much as 18 percentage points were sometimes noted. It should also be noted that when the scores of the individual assessors were compared with student handling of the selected syntactic and semantic criteria, a negative correlation was produced. The scores of the two assessors were then averaged, standardized to a mark out of 10, and correlated with the afore-mentioned criteria (also standardized to a mark out of 10). These raw scores, using the Pearson product moment correlation, (as detailed in Hatch and Farhady, 1982) yielded a correlation coefficient of 0.62. This indicates a weak positive correlation between translators’ overall performance and their handling of the selected grammatical/semantic criteria. The scripts were then analyzed from a lexical perspective, taking into account collocational choice and vocabulary selection. It should be stressed that the term collocation is used here in a loose sense to include compounds, phrases, and idioms, as well as collocations proper. Examples

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of lexical items accepted in students’ translations were: public opinion, sources of energy, to put pressure on, direct/devote their efforts, allocate funds. Ten collocations were selected and the scores were correlated with the same 10-point overall mark as above. This time, the result was dramatically different, yielding a correlation coefficient of 0.89. This index tells us that the two measures are providing similar information and suggests that vocabulary selection is a reliable predictor of overall performance in a controlled translation test. It is noteworthy here that grammatical errors peripheral to appropriate collocations were not penalized (e.g. *the public opinion) and neither were spelling errors (*buplic opinion). This suggests that, traditionally, students do not attach as much importance to grammar and spelling mistakes as assessors do. Focusing on collocational proficiency alone seems to offer a surer measure of translation ability than grammatical or orthographical accuracy. If the 10 point mark scale is collapsed into a 5 point grade scale : 9 = A, 8 = B, 7 = C, 6 = D, 5 and below = F, we appear to have a reliable and easily administered procedure for sorting translations into five conventionally accepted levels of proficiency.

TRESL evaluation using critical lexical structures In reference to the use of the term collocation above, it is perhaps clearer to describe the lexical structures in question as “composite units”. This term is used by Cowie (1981) to subsume both collocations and idioms and, in the present study, is expanded somewhat to include free phrases and metaphorical usages as well. The basic principle being invoked is that knowledge of what goes with what in a second language can be regarded as a function of one’s proficiency in that language. Collocational ability, in this expanded sense of the term, appears, from the test results referred to in the previous section, to correlate very well with overall proficiency in a translation evaluation situation. The 10 selected lexical structures (composite units) can be classified as follows: x Free phrases e.g. sources of energy (not resources) industrial purposes x Collocations proper, in no particular syntactic configuration. Benson, Benson and Ilson (1997) divide word combinations into grammatical and lexical collocations. It should be clear that in the present study only the latter type are considered. x Examples: allocate funds to devote efforts to

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Noticeable in this connection is that approximately half the subjects were unable to put the correct grammatical form of the verb following the preposition (i.e. gerund). This grammatical error was ignored. It is arguable that those who did have the correct gerund form in this context have a superior grammatical ability and this should be taken into account in a more delicate evaluation scheme than the one proposed in this paper. x Precise lexical choice in nominal or verbal phrases e.g. manufacturing (rather than “making”) bombs; tremendous power (rather than “force”) of the atom. x Idioms proper e.g. public opinion. x Correct rendering of source language metaphors and collocations into the target language. Examples: follow this path, move in this direction (SL = “tended this tendency/direction huge amounts of money (SL = “tall wealths”). In this last instance, trainee translators are displaying – although at an inferior level to professional translators - their freedom from what Mona Baker terms “the engrossing effect of source text patterning” (1992: 54). It seems logical therefore that this feature should be one of the components of their emerging translational proficiency. It is evident from the above that no one particular grammatical type of lexical structure or particular category of composite unit was selected in the present study. Thus, in contrast to Campbell’s study where certain grammatical structures were investigated, the procedure under study involves earmarking lexical structures afresh for each translation evaluation exercise, the only guide being that composite units should be chosen by the evaluators as being likely to reflect the subject’s overall translational ability.

Consideration of the principle that collocational ability correlates with overall translational proficiency The first thing to consider is what exactly do we evaluate when we assess a translator’s collocational ability? The answer is that collocational ability would seem to measure inter alia: x familiarity with Target Language collocations and idioms; x sensitivity to differing source//target lexical structuring (e.g. avoiding literal translations from Arabic such as *tall wealth and *tend this tendency); x understanding of Source language expressions and ability to locate satisfactory Target Language renderings, even if they

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are not the most likely collocational equivalent (e.g. “people around the world” instead of “international public opinion”). It may be objected that by restricting evaluation to this criterion we are not measuring how far the global meaning of the ST has been preserved in the TT. But what exactly is meant by the term “global meaning”? The term can be viewed atomistically (i.e. are all the bits of grammatical and lexical meaning preserved in the translation ?) or holistically (i.e. has the overall intention of the ST been conveyed in the TT?). With regard to the first point, Campbell’s study suggests that “work on stylistic variation is somewhat futile in subjects who engage much of their cognitive processing in formal grammatical operations” (2000: 227). The corollary of this is that trainee translators who have a good level of proficiency in vocabulary selection are likely in turn to have an acceptable grammatical competence. However, here we are on dangerous ground since the present study did not always show a high correlation between translators’ lexical and syntactic competence. It could be objected that the global meaning of a text cannot be deconstructed in his way; the sum of the parts does not necessarily add up to a coherent message. In which case, we are returned to a purely subjective evaluation of whether the meaning of the ST has been preserved in the TT. On the second point, consideration of translation of a text’s overall pragmatic meaning is a difficult issue, the more so since illocutions, implicatures and even presuppositions may be culturally relative (Emery, 2004). However, it is less of an issue in informational and expositional texts, which form a large part of the work load in undergraduate translation courses. The conclusion from the above discussion is that collocational competence is likely to be a good indicator of translational (though not necessarily grammatical) ability in the case of informative texts where the rendering of pragmatic meaning is not an issue of prime importance.

Methods of assessment : towards more objectivity How do markers evaluate translation tests? There appears to be a multiplicity of approaches, indicating that this is a field where subjectivity reigns supreme. Sounding out several colleagues engaged in this form of assessment reveals that most approaches involve evaluative concepts such as “general message” and structural soundness”, as well as arbitrary divisions between such concepts, e.g. the assessor may award 60% to “meaning” and 40% to “language”. Lexical selection is of course included but a premium is placed on grammatical and orthographical accuracy. The problem here is that, in the case of false beginners, a high proportion of

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grammatical errors in their written English tend to be performance errors; accordingly, an overemphasis on penalizing such errors can result in misdiagnosis of their linguistic competence. The viewpoint adopted in this paper is that collocational ability may be a more accurate measure of their competence since if they know a particular equivalent collocation, they are likely to use it (even if misspelled). In the case of informational and expository texts, by restricting assessment to the criteria of collocational competence and vocabulary selection while ignoring grammatical and orthographical errors, the present study indicates that statistically we have an accurate and potentially objective evaluative measure, which sorts student translations into five categories corresponding to a conventional official university grading scale (A - F). An element of subjectivity remains in the matter of choosing collocational equivalents but these can be agreed upon prior to marking by discussion among the assessors, thereby achieving a degree of standardization. Furthermore, the increasingly sophisticated nature of bilingual concordancers, analyzing large bodies of computerized data, opens up the possibility of selecting statistically the most frequent collocations as a means of bringing greater objectivity to the procedure. The method indicated above would of course have to be tested out on a much wider scale to establish its validity but the indications are that a reliable and speedy procedure for evaluating trainee translators’ work may be within view. Meanwhile, a significant finding of the SQU study is that, statistically, joint assessment of translation tasks is more reliable than individual marking.

References Baker, Mona. In Other Words: A Coursebook on Translation. London: Routledge, 1992. Benson, M; Benson. E; Ilson, R. The BBI Dictionary of English Word Combinations. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 1997. Brunette, Louise. “Towards a Terminology for Translation Quality Assessment.” The Translator, 6/2, (2000):169 - 182. Campbell, S. “Critical Structures in the Evaluation of Translation from Arabic into English as a Second Language.” The Translator, 6/2, (2000): 211 – 229. Chesterman, Andrew. Memes of Translation. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 1997. Cowie, Anthony. P. “The Treatment of Collocations and Idioms in Learners” Dictionaries.” Applied Linguistics, II/3, 223- 235, 1981.

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Eco, Umberto. Experiences in Translation. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2001. Eco, Umberto. Mouse or Rat: Translation as Negotiation. London: Weidenfield & Nicholson, 2003. Emery, Peter. G. “Translation, Equivalence and Fidelity: A Pragmatic Approach.” BABEL, 50/2, (2004): 143 - 167. Hatch, E & Farhady, H. Research and Design Statistics for Applied Linguistics. Cambridge, Mass: Newbury House. 1982. House, Juliane. A Model for Translation Quality Assessment. Tubingen: Gunter Narr, 1977. —. Translation Quality Assessment: A Model Revisited. Tubingen: Gunter Narr, 1997. Maier, C. Introduction in The Translator: Special Issue- Evaluation and Translation, (2000): 137 - 148. Pym, Anthony. “European Translation Studies, une science qui derange, and Why Equivalence Needn’t Be a Dirty Word,” TTR 8/1, (2000): 153 - 176. Reiss, Katarina. Translation Criticism: Potential and Limitations. (Translated by E.F. Rhodes). Manchester: St. Jerome and American Bible Society, 2000.

MEETING STUDENTS’ EXPECTATIONS IN UNDERGRADUATE TRANSLATION PROGRAMS SÉVERINE HUBSCHER-DAVIDSON, UNIVERSITY OF SALFORD

Article originally published in the Translation Journal: (http://accurapid.com/journal)

Abstract According to the American Translators Association (Tinsley 1973), completing a translation program does give a student certain skills but does not provide any assurance that these skills will find a ready market. Moreover, an approximate picture of the current and future needs in the field of translation is difficult to obtain and institutions should make this clear to their translation students. In view of this uncertain job market, the ATA advises institutions to provide students with as much “real-world” practice as possible and to specialize themselves as soon as possible, so as to become competent professionals. Although more than thirty years old, this advice is still followed today by many translator-training institutions. In the context of my current job, I teach translation to first and second year students registered on various academic programs. Their interests and aims differ from one another, as do their expectations of the outcomes of the class. At this stage few have seriously considered translation as a career and they do not perceive the class as a way to becoming a professional translator. This naturally implies that the aim of the class cannot be to prepare them for a career as a translator. The few students who may be considering this career-path are a minority in the group and the class cannot be geared towards their sole needs. In this research paper, I will aim to gather an understanding of student expectations at this early stage of their academic studies with the help of a carefully designed questionnaire. Because it is essential that educators are sensitive to student

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career needs in structuring their curriculum offerings, they must learn to reconcile their varied expectations with the intended aims and objectives of a translation class. While it can be difficult to keep motivation levels up if all of the learner’s needs are not met in each class, it is the educator’s responsibility to ensure that all students gain skills useful to them in their respective career choices. This paper will highlight some of the ways in which educators can achieve this. Sewell and Higgins (1996: 9) stated that in recent years universities have been increasingly aware of the needs and practices of professional life, and much of this awareness has been generated by teachers who actively seek to realign their teaching so that it opens its doors to new ideas from outside the university. It is the educator’s responsibility to ensure that all students gain skills useful to them in their career choices. According to them, the teaching of translation is usually studied for two main reasons, or approached from two different angles. The first is the idea that translation can be taught as an end in itself, and resulting studies focus on the L1 (i.e. translating into the mother-tongue) as this is how professionals earn their living. The second is the idea that translation can be used as a tool, a way to learn another language, and this type of study therefore focuses on the L2. Indeed, in this case translating into the foreign language is believed to be beneficial as a language-learning device. These two theories have generated plenty of literature, and it is generally accepted that on postgraduate translation programs, where the aim is to “teach the trade” and produce professionals, translation is – and should be – taught as an end in itself, whereas it should be used merely as a language-learning device for undergraduate students studying languages. However, this dichotomy can be difficult to achieve when a translation class at undergraduate level is made up of students taking different, more or less language-based, degrees. In the context of my current employment, I teach translation to firstand second-year students registered for various academic degrees. For example, some can be studying for a BA in “Business Studies with French” while others can be part of the School of Languages and studying a BA in “Modern Languages with Translation and Interpreting Studies.” In the first case the focus of the degree is Business, with French as a sidedish, whereas in the second case, the degree is entirely focused on the professional study of language(s). This means that in the translation class, students’ interests and aims differ, as do their expectations of the outcomes of the class. Although there is still a majority of students in the class

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studying for a language degree, at this stage few have seriously considered translation as a career. After teaching these students for a year, I designed a questionnaire in order to gather an understanding of student expectations at this early stage of their academic studies, and to see whether the class I had taught had lived up to expectations and met their varied needs. Fourteen students returned completed questionnaires to me. In the questionnaire, the students were asked what they expected to get out of their French to English translation class when they embarked on their course. As Figure 1 clearly shows, the students were quite split in their answers. However, at this early stage, it seemed that most students expected to gain a better understanding of the French language and grammar. Hence, they considered translation to be a tool, a way for them to improve their knowledge of French.

Nowadays, it is increasingly essential that educators be sensitive to students’ career needs when structuring their curriculum offerings, and I believe they must learn to reconcile the varied expectations students have with the intended aims and objectives of a translation class. While it can be difficult to keep motivation levels up if all of the learner’s needs are not met in each class, it is the educator’s responsibility to specify the aims and

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objectives of the course and of each class to their students, and to ensure that all gain skills useful to them in their respective career choices. There are certain practical methods one can use in class in order to achieve this, for example something as simple as using a variety of text types. Indeed, not surprisingly, in answer to the question: “What did you find particularly useful in the class?” a great majority of students (twelve out of fourteen) answered “the variety of texts used”, and one of them even commented on the fact that there was something for everyone. In a lecture given at the University of Bath, Dolan stated that learning is a natural drive and that individuals are naturally curious. When they are in a new situation they will explore it and want to discover and master the environment. But when this is done, they become bored with the familiar situation, especially if it never changes. When it does change, the natural drive to explore is awakened again (Dolan: 2005). This applies to all types of learning activities, including translation classes and training. Students constantly need to be motivated and their curiosity aroused if they are to do well. I believe that putting them in new and different translating situations is the way they can make progress and that they are more likely to enjoy a class if it constantly presents new experiences and new challenges. One must also keep in mind the fact that students learn in different ways; some are more receptive to hearing, others to seeing or to experiencing (Dolan: 2005). So a constant change of learning methods can enrich the students’ experience and stimulate their minds, as well as teach them a variety of skills which will serve them well in their future careers. I would like to draw attention to the fact that, as Jones and Creswell remind us: “A mixed-method approach [also allows] the advantages of one method to compensate for the drawbacks of another” (Jones and Creswell 2003: 29-31). In Translation Studies, valuable training and evaluation methods are currently being used and developed which aim to improve translation pedagogy by focusing on the student and on his needs. It is not my intention to advocate an eradication of currently used methods, but rather to view some of them from a different angle, show how they can be used innovatively and encourage their development. As Gonzáles Davies states, there is room for more than one approach to teaching translation (Gonzáles Davies 2004: 5). One such approach is the use of translator interviews and diaries. They are typical methods used in research, which are still rare in classrooms but which, if used regularly, encourage students to reflect on their work, thereby giving the trainer an idea of the progress made and eliciting introspective information. With diaries, students get a chance to write down thoughts either during a translation or after it. This individualistic

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approach gives them the chance to reflect on the process and generally appeals more to introverted types. There is a risk that some students may feel self-conscious, as they know the diaries will be read by the teacher, but they also often like the idea of their being read, and therefore listened to, and that their experience and feelings are taken into account by their trainer. I believe this method should be used more widely in class, and be the object of further research as well. Indeed, personal and individual aspects of the student’s experience would surely be reflected in a diary (Fox 2000: 127), and, I believe, in oral interviews as well. Interviews, diaries, and questionnaires disclose valuable information on processinvestigation and end-product evaluation, thus enabling trainers to monitor the student’s experience. Another popular method used in class is splitting students into small groups and asking them to translate something together. It remains, I believe, an effective method of learning, although only four students in my study stated that they found group work useful. However, studies have shown that working in groups during a translation class is perceived as beneficial to students’ learning experience in terms of reader expectations and development of responsibilities as a translator (Fox 2000: 129). Students are encouraged to discuss and defend their translations, think about decisions, and serve as guides and critics to each other. It is argued that students learn best through social interactions which allow them to work toward a common goal, by sharing information and solving the same problems (Zeng and Lu-Chen 2002: 59). Students have the chance to bounce ideas off each other, debate meanings and contexts, and they are generally more comfortable working with “equals” rather than with a teacher. It is generally accepted that working in this way is a good idea, as long as students learn from working together as a team, and one or two do not monopolize the conversation while the others are bored and/or silent. The teacher needs to monitor the situation carefully. One efficient way to avoid negativity is to change the groups at every class and for the trainer to move quietly from group to group checking the dynamics and making notes of different attitudes and behaviors. I believe this versatile training method can still be developed and adapted. Observing the group work (or pair work) regularly is an excellent way to monitor progress in different areas of students’ work, and learning how to work in a team is an important skill to have, whatever career one aspires to. Moreover, working this way helps develop an understanding and awareness of decision-making processes. In class, I also believe it is particularly important to encourage the students to focus on the different phases of translating a text (for example

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decoding the source text or en/recoding it into a target text) rather than undertaking exercises where an end-product has to be handed in after an hour’s time. In fact, Daniel Gile (2005) and other researchers promote the use of evaluation exercises which incorporate two phases in the training: a process-orientated one and a product-orientated one. As there are different phases in the act of translating, it seems necessary to have a specific training time for each one. This dichotomy allows for the development of appropriate strategies for each phase, and gives the students time to reflect on different aspects of their performance and progress. The American Translator’s Association advises institutions to provide students with as much “real-world” practice as possible so they can become competent professionals (Tinsley 1973). Although they may want to become professionals in areas other than translation, first- and secondyear students do appreciate the importance of gaining “real-world” practice. At the end of their course, the students in the study were asked if there were any aspects on which they would have liked to concentrate more. As Figure 2 clearly shows, the students were much more divided in their answer to this question than they had been when asked about their expectations. This shows how difficult it can be to please every student, but more importantly, the answers reveal that a great majority would have liked to learn more about professional techniques and to translate more “real-world” texts. This indicates a shift in student expectations and how much more important it has become to them to study translation as an end in itself, and not only as a means to learn French. Students gained a new awareness of the need to be prepared for the market, and a new understanding of how activities done in class can help them build skills for their future careers. More than anything else, Figure 2 reflects something which has come across very strongly in the questionnaires, and that is the desire to learn “professional techniques such as technology and research methods”. Technology is another element of training which is gaining in popularity because of its increased use in the “real world”. The place of technologies in teaching and practising translation is increasingly significant and something that students generally relate well to. Although some trainers are reluctant to adopt language technologies as they can completely transform the way teaching is carried out, and shift the dynamics in a classroom, the rapid developments in this field mean that students need to have some knowledge of how online tools for example can help them and benefit their work. There is a risk that technology will alienate a few students, and this field certainly requires further research, but technology

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has been shown to improve translation evaluation, and generally motivate students in their task. As the questionnaires showed, a majority of firstand second-year students are already expecting to learn how to use new technologies and it is up to the trainer to show them how. As Gonzáles Davies (2004: 3) aptly puts it, perhaps the time has come to adapt to the new generations by including texts and activities in our classes not only in the written form, but also in the oral and non-verbal and, what’s more, in those that integrate both, in consonance with the culture the students have grown up with and in which they will be working: these include TV and radio talk shows, e-mail and cell phone messages.

It is my contention that oral activities are particularly useful. As can be seen in Figure 1, a great majority of students wished to gain a better understanding of the French language. In previous studies (Hubscher 2004), I have investigated student performance with the help of TAPs, or Think Aloud Protocols. This type of experiment consists of students translating aloud, saying everything that goes through their minds while they translate. I discovered that a great majority of students enjoyed this type of experiment and reported that they were happy to work in this way. Most deemed the verbalization helpful and believed it had a positive impact on their work, making comments like: “it helped to put my

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thoughts in order”, “it helped me to understand more clearly”, “it helped me think better” and qualifying TAPs as “a good practice for qualifying my linguistic decisions”. I believe this overwhelmingly positive reaction to a training method clearly deserves further attention, as the translators” approval and acceptance of a method is of paramount importance to its potential success as a training tool. My research confirmed not only that TAPs are a valuable method of investigation into translation processes, but also that most students would welcome its introduction in the curriculum. Designing some oral activities for classes by drawing on this method would, I believe, improve students’ confidence levels and their understanding of the foreign language. In this paper, I have aimed to gather and understand some students’ expectations when they embark on a translation course early in their academic career and on what they wanted to concentrate more once the course was over. Although it is difficult to meet every student’s expectations, and not always possible to adapt all of one’s teaching methods in a short time, the students – as well as the teachers – need to be listened to, and mutual feedback and communication need to be a feature of the training process so as to ensure student satisfaction. A combination of methods can be used in translation to give students different skills, but above all I believe trainers need to be open-minded, as using varied learning methods has been shown to benefit students and to promote their success. As Gambier (2004: 67) rightly argues, publications in Translation Studies have been repetitive in their choices of subject and conclusions drawn. He adds that the emerging identity of translators and the new demands made on their skills and behaviors certainly make it necessary to renew our efforts at description and explanation, but that research in translation should be more than an academic pursuit and purpose (which limits its scope), and that it needs to be more far-reaching, with long-term goals and a clearer purpose. By supporting further investigations into active, innovative, cooperative, and inclusive teaching methods, trainers are contributing towards an improvement in the success rate, academic performance, and satisfaction of their students, which is no small feat.

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References Dolan, Margarida. “Lecturing for learning.” Lecture given at the University of Bath, 2005. Fox, Olivia. “The Use of Translation Diaries in a Process-Oriented Translation Teaching Methodology.” In Developing Translation Competence, edited by Christina Schäffner and Beverly Adab, 115 ff. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2000. Gambier, Y. “Translation studies: a succession of paradoxes.” In Translation Research and Interpreting Research - Traditions, Gaps and Synergies, edited by Christina Schäffner, Clevedon: Multilingual Matters, 2004, 62-70. Gile, Daniel. “Training students for quality: ideas and methods.” Paper given at the IV Conference on Training and Career Development in Translation and Interpreting. Universidad Europa de Madrid, 2005. González Davies, M. Multiple Voices in the Translation Classroom. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2004. Hubscher, Severine. “Personality features as an integral part of the translation process.” In Choice and Difference in Translation, edited by Maria Sidiropoulou. University of Athens, 2004. Hung, Eva. Teaching Translation and Interpreting 4, Building Bridges. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2002. Schäffner, Christina, ed. Translation Research and Interpreting Research: Traditions, Gaps and Synergies. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters, 2004. Schäffner, Christina and Beverly Adab, eds. Developing Translation Competence. Amsterdam. John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2000. Sewell, P. and Higgins, I., eds. Teaching Translation in Universities Present and Future Perspectives. London: Middlesex University Printing Services, 1996. Tinsley, R. “Guidelines for college and university programs in translator training. ” ADFL Bulletin Vol. 4, No. 4, Modern Language Association: New York, (1973). Zeng, S. M. and Lu-Chen, J. Y. “Interpreting training programmes: The benefits of coordination, cooperation, and modern technology” in Teaching Translation and Interpreting 4, Building Bridges edited by Eva Hung, 65-72. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2002.

INTERACTING WITH THE TRANSLATION PROFESSION: A REPORT IAN KEMBLE, UNIVERSITY OF PORTSMOUTH Abstract The following report, based on primary research, constitutes the first attempt in recent years to gauge the interaction between UK providers of translation and/or interpreting courses and the translation profession. It provides a tentative framework, by which this interaction may be measured, thereby providing, among other things, a snapshot of translation studies in the UK.

Introduction According to a database held at Aston University and the list of universities published in the January 2005 edition of Translating Today, there are a total of 24 institutions in the UK that offer translation and/or interpreting courses, almost all at postgraduate level. In June 2006 a questionnaire was sent to course leaders of these (postgraduate) courses or their representatives, inviting them to respond to a series of questions on their interaction with the translation profession. One university in Ireland was added to the list of invitees on the grounds that the institution in question enjoyed particularly close links with its English counterparts. Of the 25 institutions a total of 24 completed the questionnaire, a response rate of 96%. In the course of analysing the results, however, it transpired that one questionnaire was ‘spoilt”, so that the actual response rate was 92%. Nevertheless, this is a very pleasing result.

Questionnaire design The questionnaire was designed in four parts: part 1 asked respondents to put their course in context; part 2 posed questions on human interaction, defined in terms of academics who translated themselves and the

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employment by universities of professional translators on a full-time or part-time basis; part 3 looked at aspects of material interaction, defined essentially in terms of the use of professionally translated text; part 4 examined professional interaction, defined in terms of invited speakers from the professional world, short courses for professionals, involvement in projects, such as EU-funded ones, delivery of courses leading to professional qualifications, placements and other forms of student involvement in professional translation.

Working hypothesis The working hypothesis was that the responses to the questionnaire would show that those courses which were more vocationally-orientated would enjoy levels of interaction with the translation profession which were higher and more varied than those of more theoretically-orientated courses.

Analysis of results Contextualisation of courses The first set of questions invited course leaders to situate their course at a point along a spectrum, the end nodes of which were labelled “theoretically orientated” (point 1 on the spectrum) and “vocationally orientated” (point 9 on the spectrum), respectively, with the central point (5) indicating “balanced between theory and practice.” The results were as follows: a total of 6 institutions (24%) declared themselves to be more theoretically orientated, situating themselves between nodes 2 and 4; 7 institutions (28%) declared their courses to be balanced between theory and practice and a total of 12 institutions (48%) described their courses as more vocationally orientated, placing themselves between nodes 6 and 9. The subsequent analysis of the results was based on these three groups1. As we shall see later, the group identifying its courses as balanced between theory and practice – referred to subsequently as the “balanced” group – appears to have more in common with the vocationally-orientated 1

Wherever percentage figures are given for the three groups, e.g. 83%, 100%, 82%, the first figure refers to the theoretically-orientated group of courses, the second figure to the “balanced” group, and the third figure to the vocationallyorientated group.

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group of courses than with the theoretically-orientated group. This possibly serves to underline the relative nature of the concept of “balance”, suggesting a reluctance on the part of the course leaders in question to be identified as more or less theoretical or vocational. The final questions in this section asked respondents to specify how many students on their courses were already translators at the point of entry to the course and how many intended to become translators at the point of exit. All courses specified that “some” students were already translators at the point of entry, but the results show that the more vocationally-orientated the course the greater the number of students who intend to become translators subsequent to graduation. This is evident from the response by institutions that “most” graduates from their courses intended to become translators: the figures for each group are as follows: 66%, 71% and 80% respectively. Against an average of 72%, it could be argued that the “distance” between each group is not great, amounting to a maximum of + or – 8. In summary, some two-thirds of graduates from all translation courses intend to go on to become translators.

Human interaction This section of the questionnaire opened with an examination of whether academics teaching on translation courses actually translated themselves.2 The responses from universities in each of the three groups were 83%, 100% and 82% respectively, indicating quite clearly that the majority of universities have academic staff who translate themselves. The highest representation of such academics is to be found in the vocationallyorientated group (56%), though the frequency of translation activity is fairly consistent across all three groups: 40%: 29% 33%. In terms of the employment of professional translators as full-time members of academic staff, only 6 institutions employ professionals in this way, 26% of all institutions in the survey. 2 of these institutions are in the theoretically-orientated group; 3 in the vocationally-orientated group and 1 in the “balanced” group. In almost all 6 cases, their presence on the staff team was deemed to be negligible. On the other hand, many more institutions employ professional translators on a part-time basis, a total of 14 institutions, 61% of all institutions. Their employment is particularly 2 The question in the survey read: “Do your academic colleagues teaching translation also translate themselves?” The question implied “translate professionally”, but the failure to make this explicit may have produced an unrepresentative picture. Any follow-up survey would need to make clear the reference to professional translation.

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characteristic of the “balanced” and vocationally-orientated groups, with 71% and 82% of institutions respectively employing professionals in this way. Moreover, compared to their full-time counterparts, the presence of part-timers on teaching teams is described as “medium” or “noticeable” in the case of both groups.

Material Interaction Material interaction refers essentially to the use of authentic translated text for purposes of teaching/learning and assessment. All institutions replied that they made use of such material, but differed in the extent to which they did so. The greatest use of authentic translated text was made by the vocationally-orientated group, though the figures for the balanced and theoretically-orientated groups indicated extensive use of authentic materials, too. If the figures for medium and high use are added together, then the differences between all three groups are relatively small: 83%, 86% and 100%. The actual figures were: Group Theoretical Group Balanced Group Vocational Group

Low use 17% 14%

Medium Use 50% 43% 73%

High Use 33% 43% 27%

Figure 1. Use of authentic materials by institutions teaching translation

Very few institutions make use of the Institute of Linguists past papers; just 4 institutions, at least 1 institution in each of the three groups, specified that they did so. Only in one case was their use described as high. All institutions made use of authentic translated text for teaching and learning, but their use for assessment purposes was more restricted, particularly in the case of the theoretically-orientated group. The results for each of the three groups were: 17%, 57%, 55% respectively.

Professional Interaction All three groups invite representatives from the professional bodies to speak to students and/or academic staff. This applies to 19 out of a total of 24 institutions or 79% of institutions. Proportionally more such speakers are invited by the “balanced” and vocationally-orientated groups: 86% and

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82% respectively compared to 66% of the theoretically-orientated group. The frequency of invitations is remarkably close across all three groups of institution. Some 50% of institutions invite representatives of the professional bodies occasionally, 25% invite them sometimes, and 25% invite them frequently. The participation of speakers from the translation profession in conferences and similar meetings, e.g. seminars and workshops, is also high, rising from 66% of institutions in the case of the theoretical group to 100% of institutions in the case of the vocational group. In relation to the origin of speakers from the professional bodies there is no strong evidence to suggest a particular preference for either the IoL3 or the ITI, although the ITI is cited more often. Asked whether they engage with the translation profession through the delivery of short courses for professionals, 33% of institutions replied that they did. All three groups were represented in the response: out of the 8 institutions who responded to the question, 3 specified that they offered short courses with a focus on translation technologies, 3 were unspecific, 1 mentioned literary translation and 1 mentioned that a market study had been carried out to investigate the market appeal of a short translation theory course for translators. Very few institutions delivered courses leading to a professional qualification, e.g. the IoL Diploma in Translation, with two exceptions. However, a further 2 institutions indicated that they aligned their course content with the IoL Diploma in Translation to a greater or lesser extent, leading in one case to an exemption from one of the IoL Dip.Trans. papers. Collaboration with professional translators on projects, such as EUfunded ones, also elicited a low response, with just 3 institutions replying affirmatively, 2 of which reported involvement in Leonardo-funded projects, which included the development of a European Masters in Translation and a European Masters in Specialised Translation. The third institution reported on doctoral research involving professional translators at one major software company as subjects. Work placements with a translation company or similar organisation also provide a further platform for interaction between postgraduate students and the profession. 7 institutions replied that their courses included a placement element. The majority (6) were located in the vocationally-orientated group; none were found to be in the theoreticallyorientated group. Of these 6 institutions 3 rated the significance of placements as high. 3

Editor’s note: Institute of Linguists, now the Chartered Institute of Linguists, and Institute of Translation and Interpreting.

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Finally, course leaders were asked to specify other forms of interaction between translation course students and the translation profession; 75% of respondents (18 institutions) took the opportunity to provide information. Responses were particularly high in the case of the “balanced” and vocational groups. Significantly, many institutions promote or provide opportunities for students to obtain real translation experience (12 institutions). In some cases, this is organised – there is an explicit reference to an “in-house translation company” – in many others the provision of real translation work is in response to occasional requests from commissioners of translation, such as the academic institution itself or a local organisation, such as a museum, or a local company or business. In other cases, voluntary translation for NGOs, such as Oxfam, is encouraged. Other forms of interaction which were mentioned by respondents include encouragement to become involved with a professional body, such as the ITI, and the organisation of employability seminars to deal with career matters, such as curriculum vitae and covering letters.

Interpretation of results The results suggest that the more vocationally-orientated group of institutions tends to enjoy a slightly higher but distinctly more varied level of interaction with the translation profession, thereby providing evidence that the hypothesis is proven. The level of interaction is demonstrated by human and material interaction where a large number of institutions employ academics who translate themselves and use authentic translated text for teaching and learning purposes. While the number of academics who translate themselves is highest in the case of the vocational group, the frequency with which they translate does not differ greatly from that of the other two groups. On the other hand, the vocational group employs more professional translators on a part-time basis than the other groups and makes the greatest use of authentic translated text. Evidence of the range of interaction is provided by the responses to the third section on professional interaction where we find that placements and the provision of “real” translation experience are activities which clearly separate the vocationally-orientated group from the theoretically-orientated one. On the basis of the evidence provided by the survey there is much evidence to suggest that the “balanced” group of courses has more in common with the vocational group than with the theoretical group. Nevertheless, the low use of placements suggests there is no perfect alignment between the two groups.

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The survey throws into relief some interesting “gaps” in the interaction between translation course providers and the translation profession. These relate to the low use of resources developed by the Institute of Linguists, e.g. past papers. In addition, a very small percentage of translation providers deliver professional qualifications, such as the Diploma in Translation of the IoL. Short courses for professional translators also feature little (with some notable exceptions), as do projects which bring together translation academics and translation professionals (again with some notable exceptions). Nevertheless, there is much evidence of interaction, from which we can derive satisfaction, as demonstrated by the large number of academics who translate themselves across all three groups and, in many cases, by the employment of translation professionals on a part-time teaching basis. Use of authentic materials is consistently high across all institutions. However, their use for assessment purposes is much less than their use for teaching and learning, possibly a reflection of the concern about plagiarism and copyright. Speakers from the professional bodies and other members of the translation profession are also invited to present in a range of contexts to the students and staff of the majority of institutions. And there is a commitment to providing “real” translation experience for students when the opportunities present themselves or, at the very least, to encouraging the acquisition of such experience. Given the stated intention of the majority of students that they wish to become translators, the continued strengthening of the ties between translation providers and the profession is only to be welcomed.

LINKING PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE WITH TRANSLATION TRAINING IN A BUSINESS-ORIENTED SETTING: THE PORTUGUESE ASSOCIATION OF TRANSLATION COMPANIES EXAMPLE FERNANDO FERREIRA-ALVES, UNIVERSIDADE DO MINHO

Abstract This paper is aimed at surveying the Portuguese translation market from the point of view of the translation services provider by presenting some of the conclusions of a research project focused on the universe of the Portuguese Association of Translation Companies (APET). Based on some of the findings of an academic survey specially designed to outline the sociological profile of the associate members of the Portuguese Association of Translation Companies, this report aims to contextualise the translation industry both at a national (APET) and international level (EUATC), by characterising the sector and the background in which some of the most important translation agencies usually operate in Portugal. Besides offering a brief overview of the language industry in Portugal, this survey provides new insights into market expectations (features, skills and competences, profiles, needs, constraints, requirements and working conditions, among others), and builds up a picture of the ideal translation services provider’s profile, which may eventually lead to a redefinition of the way translators are trained according to professional standards by tailoring translation curricula to new business-oriented settings.

Background Based on the perspective of training future translation professionals, the major goal of our study was to assess a specific context of translation

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practice, as it is lived and felt at a daily level of professional practice in terms of technical and specialised translation. We would then try to mediate the results obtained with the major training courses currently on offer in Portugal. Faced with the social-professional dynamics and mutability of a profession that has barely been studied from a sociological perspective, and is so often undermined in terms of its context and socioprofessional background, we have decided to search for the answer to the following questions, firstly: “What is it to translate today within a business-oriented context?”, and secondly: “What are the most important skills and basic requirements for new translators entering a market that is increasingly more specialised, volatile and unique?” According to Don Kiraly, we are now witnessing a sort of “whirlwind of change in the language market” (Kiraly, 2000: 2), and indeed, the way he subsequently compares the current professional status quo to an undeniable social void, whose characterisation or de-characterisation will imply “deep fundamental and decisive changes within the scope and nature of translation skills” (Kiraly, 2000: 19), gives us some legitimacy to centre our approach round the concept of the specific restructuring of professional translator training aimed at the essential collaborative and cooperative aspects of the translator’s task.

Context Within the scope of a specific training project on the undergraduate course of LEA (Applied Foreign Languages), from the University of Minho, the Department of English and North-American Studies (DEINA-ILCH), together with the cooperation of the Sociology Department of the Institute of Human Sciences (ICS) and the APET (Portuguese Association of Translation Companies) carried out a sociological survey on the profile of some of the major translation agencies operating in Portugal, under the following title: The profile of translation companies in Portugal – A brief sociological survey. Based on the universe of study of some of the major translation companies currently operating in the Portuguese translation market, the said research project was carried out during the second semester of 2005. Its aim was to outline the model picture of a specific socio-professional universe yet to be explored, at the same time as contributing towards promoting a deep academic reflection on the industry’s major features, needs and requirements. Besides offering a general overview of the current market needs, it is our hope that the survey findings will enable university-

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level training to be geared towards and adapted to the constraints and demands of business-related domains.

General and specific objectives Safeguarding from the outset the anonymous and confidential nature of the data from all the answers indicated, the study was aimed essentially at the people responsible for managing, supervising and running the selected translation companies, and was designed to meet several previously established objectives. In broad terms the survey that was carried out was based on the following general goals: 1. To outline the model picture of a socio-professional universe yet to be explored; 2. To contribute towards a profound academic reflection on the sector’s most important features, needs, demands and requirements; 3. To offer a broad overview of the current market perspective; 4. To guide and adapt training at undergraduate level to the constraints and demands of business-oriented settings. In fact, these broader goals actually broke down into the following specific goals: 1. To draw the prototypical profile of the translation agencies currently operating within the Portuguese market; 2. To outline the socio-professional profile of the major key-players and other parties involved in terms of human resources and staffing; 3. To identify the sector’s basic needs and requirements; 4. To create a specific base typology of the services provided by companies; 5. To establish the size and nature of the translation services currently available on the market; 6. To identify the typical procedures and pattern behaviours within a specific frame of reference from the point of view of a business organisation; 7. To study the key work contexts and frameworks involving the supply of translation services; 8. To analyse the basic organisation methodologies and management procedures; 9. To reflect upon the quality control procedures that are commonly adopted; 10. To analyse the relationship between the translation agencies, their clients and the people in their service;

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11. To identify the essential profile skills of a translation service provider within a professional business-oriented setting; 12. To list the basic data regarding the technological resources currently available and used on the market; 13. To study current market trends and major market needs; 14. To explore the real expectations and inner motivations of the sector; 15. To detect the major types of behaviours and strategies for making services suitable for the market and how they are adapted in order to improve the services offered; 16. To identify future perspectives and trends designed to diversify and transform the sector.

Methodology The task of writing the following research paper was based mainly on the quantitative analysis of data that was collected by means of a previously elaborated questionnaire, based on a series of closed questions. The preparation of the said questionnaire involved a multi-stage process before it was finalised in order to be submitted to the target subjects, namely the major translation companies operating in Portugal. The working process began with the elaboration of a comprehensive list of translation companies that would ultimately satisfy the APET’s eligibility requirements. In a second phase, it became clear that it would be essential to carry out a needs analysis of the sector, based on several surveys that have been conducted in other countries, namely the United Kingdom (the UK Market Research, conducted by the ATC, the British Association of Translation Companies), the World Bank and Canada (Survey of the Canadian Translation Industry), in order to enable the elaboration of a sufficiently reliable and feasible final questionnaire with the support of the Sociology Department of the University of Minho. This prior analysis of the major coordinates and specific guidelines in terms of setting, background and context allowed us to produce a profile of the type of universe under assessment. It was therefore possible to draw up a set of specific topics and general goals which were then developed into concrete questions aimed at the analysis of specific variables. In total, we have worked with a set of 51 questions, divided into 13 major sections or thematic areas. Later on, a web link was created directing the respondent to the questionnaire that was available on-line at: http://ceh.ilch.uminho.pt/lea/Intro.htm. Requests for participation in, publication of and response to the said study were sent by e-mail on 8th

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July, with a final deadline for submission of questionnaires and answers on August 8th, 2005.

Characterisation of the sample, framework and corpus selection criteria Initially, the purpose of this survey was to study the major translation companies currently operating within the national market, from the perspective of the translation service provider, within the scope of the language industry. However, given the size of the market, the extraordinary multiplicity of the requests for translation services, the diversity of the supply and the specificity of the demand, together with the sector’s instability and lack of control, as well as the usual conceptual/terminological mix-up typical of this field of activity, we have decided to focus our analysis on a much narrower, though much more controlled universe in terms of sample reliability. In formal terms, our decision was also influenced by the fact that it would be physically impossible to carry out, within the specific time frame foreseen for a training period of this kind (about 3 months), an in-depth and scientifically supported survey based on reliable and concrete data, beyond the usual constraints at the level of the resources and means available for its application in the field. On the other hand, and bearing in mind the fact that the APET showed an interest in supporting such a survey, we have decided to focus our attention on two distinctive, but complementary, phases. First, we have focused our attention on the member companies of the APET which, despite being few in number, are subject to strict selection procedures during their application process, something that is worth mentioning, and that is of special interest to our investigation. And, secondly, we have extended our survey to other companies and translation agencies, whose dimension, scope and market intervention are widely known and highly reputed, either because they have been in the market sector for several years or because they have previously been APET members or are currently in the middle of some sort of application procedure to the said association.

Constraints In fact, bearing in mind that the current number of APET associates does not exceed 15 companies, it was necessary to extend the number of respondents, in a later study, to increase the number of eligible candidates. We therefore sent the said questionnaire to other companies which, despite

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not being associate members of the APET, shared some sort of common ground in terms of profile, eligibility criteria and professional requirements, as previously mentioned. Therefore, the total number of companies surveyed increased to 28, 15 of which were in fact associate members of the APET. By opening the survey to other companies, our aim was to get a wider and much more diverse description of the profile of some of the major translation agencies currently operating in the market at a national level. It is worth mentioning that, of all the contacted companies, only one company outside the universe of the association of translation agencies managed to answer the survey. Globally, and despite several contacts, we have managed to get a total number of 12 answers from 12 companies, 11 of which belong to the APET, whereas only 1 does not belong to the said association. It is also worth mentioning that, although we are aware of the terminological distinction between company, agency and translation bureau, as well as the major difficulties involved in setting up a formal and functionally credible corpus, in the course of this paper we will use the term “translation company” as used by the universe of the APET to describe a set of companies which, according to the association’s by-laws, meet the associate aims and the respective statutory conditions of entry. However, this terminological debate leads us to the conclusion that there is clearly a need to redefine the whole concept of translation company, agency or bureau, especially in the light of the new directives stipulated within the scope of the recently approved Translation Services standard EN 15038. Indeed, one of the major reference documents for our study was in fact the said European Standard for Translation Services, recently approved in May 2006, and whose implementation will ultimately affect the concept of professional practice and translation training. As an example, the new EN 15038 standard contains several items of special interest for the profession and its academic approach, as well as for the future professional which include, for instance, the whole redefinition of the concept of translator or translation agency/company/bureau, namely due to the introduction of the concept of TSP or Translation Service Provider, which is: “a person or organisation supplying the client with the agreed translation services”. It also establishes the distinction between “translation service provider” (TSP) and “translator”1, the latter considered as yet another link in a long chain of service provision. However, for the purpose of this study, and as objective criteria for selecting the companies, we have chosen the conditions of entry established by the APET in Article 1

Source: European Standard En 15038 (May 2006).

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7 of its By-laws (Conditions of Entry)2 as preferential requirements for organising our corpus of study.

Data analysis and discussion The following is a list of the major components and variables of analysis that we consider to be of specific interest in order to assess, reflect upon and contextualise the professional training of translators. We also believe that, although the data is scarce and could become de-contextualised, since it is part of a much wider and systematic study, it will allow us to rebuild and outline a certain typology of the major key-features that define the practice of some of the most important translation companies in Portugal. We will now give a short list, followed by its respective discussion, of the data obtained in terms of the areas involved in the scope of our survey: human resources; major fields or domains of activity; services provided; quality management; necessary skills and requirements for selecting a good translator; hiring and outsourcing policies / procedures; language pairs; additional services; most requested areas and fields of knowledge; customer relations; future trends; the importance of skills in terms of the profile of the future translation service provider; need to expand certain areas of training.

Conclusions 1) Human Resources All the companies have a fixed and stable management or administrative structure. However, they are generally small in size and are run by a few people, often linked by family ties. In fact, the number of people that constitute the so-called hard core of these companies varies between two and ten, whose tasks include management and administration, often in addition to translation and proof-reading (linguistic and technical), and even including computer and secretarial tasks. However, these employees are not the only ones responsible for production. In fact, these companies are not only involved in in-house translation, since subcontracting is also an option to which they resort on a regular basis, by establishing more flexible contacts or through outsourcing procedures. The latter type of employee is therefore encompassed by the legal regime of service

2 Source: APET Website, By-laws section, available in electronic format at http://www.ape-trad.pt/estatutos.htm Accessed 17 February 2006)

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providers, whereas the former have contracts under more rigid contractual regimes. The average age of the professionals that work inside these companies is 35 and there is a predominance of the female sex in terms of occupation and professional practice. Only in tasks connected with the so-called more technical areas do men exceed the number of women in these companies. 2) Major fields or domains of activity The fields that were cited as being most requested were Informatics, Economics, Mechanical Engineering, Medicine, Pharmacy, Law and the Automotive Industry. However, from a more general point of view, it is worth stressing the crucial importance of legal translation, followed by the Automotive Industry, Informatics, Economics and Medicine. 3) Services Provided From the results obtained, we came to the conclusion that all the companies surveyed actually do translation and certification of official documents, which seems to corroborate the previous findings, in which legal translation was seen as highly important. Other important services provided are interpretation and the areas of software engineering, secretarial work and audio/video document transcription. 4) Quality management and skills preferred when selecting future translators The skills that receive the greatest attention from the contracting companies are linguistic, writing and translation skills. However, the socalled research skills, cultural knowledge and the capacity for selfcriticism are also an added-value for the potential employee. Some of the people that answered the survey considered it important to have a good level of general and technical knowledge in the specialised areas under scrutiny, to be demanding of oneself, and to have a special taste and/or flair for translation. The most common strategy used for finding new employees is analysis of the CVs that are usually sent to the companies by prospective translators. Third-party recommendation is also a recurrent method, as well as, though to a lesser extent, job recruitment from universities and the Internet. After this stage, i.e., specifically during the process of selection and recruitment, many companies do prefer to carry out a practical test designed for selecting potential employees, assessing the potential translator’s output as well as his/her capacity to solve any obstacles that may arise. Generally speaking, and according to the companies that were contacted during this survey, the ability to integrate the current translation market comes, on the one hand, from experience in terms of translation

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practice - the more experienced you are the more easily you can get into the business – and, on the other hand, through the mastery and knowledge of the various computer-aided translation software tools. It is also important to understand the technological resources that are available to facilitate translation practice, together with a capacity to demonstrate excellent knowledge in terms of linguistic, cultural and technical skills in one or more foreign languages. On the other hand, the respondents stressed the importance of having some kind of university level degree in translation, for instance, or even in one specific specialised field, namely Medicine or Law. Finally, it is important to note that most companies that answered the survey stressed the need for the future translator to demonstrate other important skills such as professional skills, social skills, cultural skills and linguistic skills, in tune with market demands, gained throughout his/her academic training and conveyed during the course of his/her personal career path. As to the importance of the stages involved in the translation process in order to achieve a high quality end-product, it is worth mentioning that all the steps considered (namely, pre-translation, translation and posttranslation, according to Daniel Gouadec’s traditional model), are mentioned by the companies as valid, essential and useful for the production process. In fact, in a later question, all the companies included the translator and the reviewer, as the most important people involved in the application of the above-mentioned three stages (research, translation and review), in order to assure the quality of the end-product. According to the results, as a general rule, the other people responsible for the task of applying quality control procedures are the quality manager and the project manager. 5) Outsourcing Outsourcing is a common practice chosen by all the translation agencies surveyed. One of the most important reasons for this choice has to do with the absence of qualified staff within the company (at both a linguistic and technical level) that are able to respond to clients’ expectations. On the other hand, this situation has to do with a kind of constant and frequent practice that has been institutionalised over the years in the translation market, resulting from a specific legal background in Portugal that, on the one hand, fosters the hiring of external workers and therefore decreases the so-called cost of employability, and on the other hand, allows for much more flexibility, autonomy, freedom and mobility in terms of human resources. Thus, the reason why so many people answered that they usually resort to subcontracting is for obvious management reasons.

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Knowing that one of the most important goals of these companies is quality itself, all the companies do actually try to support their freelance staff by always or nearly always providing them with support material, which may vary from glossaries and translation notes to the translation software itself. In addition to this, all the companies stated that they always or nearly always perform a specific internal review of all the material translated by the freelancers. The in-house proof-reader and the quality manager working inside the company are the main people responsible for quality control as well as for checking the reliability of translations done by external translators. 6) Additional Services When asked about the kind of additional services they were used to providing, all the companies stated going to notary offices, which is quite understandable since all of them stated that they normally did translation and certification of official documents. Furthermore, legal translation was once again one of the most sought after areas in this field. In terms of additional services, many companies also mentioned the issue regarding urgency rates and their connection with the lack of public awareness of the field of translation, something that contributes to adding an entirely new constraint in terms of this rate being charged as an extra “product” provided. Finally, another issue of important debate for the translation companies has to do with the type of proofreading done by specialists. Bearing in mind the utmost respect for the strictest and most rigorous standards in terms of technical and linguistic accuracy, the purpose of this choice within these companies” policies generally has to do with favouring proofreading done by specialists in each of the specific areas, in accordance with the diversity and range of clients’ requests and demands. 7) Customer relations All the companies that took part in this survey usually create tailor-made glossaries, at least for the most regular customers with whom these companies maintain a solid and strong business relationship based on loyalty and fidelity. Thanks to this approach, the companies are, in fact, providing a more customised service that is better in quality since it enables them to organise, run, manage and more easily personalise the type of terminology that they normally use with each client. In order to obtain new clients, all the companies usually gather information about future business opportunities by talking to third-party colleagues and peers, by browsing the Internet or by looking up possible contacts in the Yellow Pages and other general or specialised directories. Following this selection procedure, the business contacts are usually made over the phone or via Internet / email, although other means may be used,

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depending quite often on geographic location. The same thing happens with the kind of strategy used to provide professional follow-up. In fact, the companies try to accompany their clients throughout all the stages of the translation process, by drawing a customised profile of the clients, by identifying their needs, requirements and demands and ultimately by trying to diagnose their demands and preferences so as to be able to solve these problems and create some sort of solid and long-lasting business relationship. Usually, clients consider speed and technical and linguistic accuracy as imperative for the service to be provided. These requirements go hand in hand with such important and complementary values as quality, ethics, professionalism and efficiency. Ultimately, we can say that all clients want a high-quality service together with high quality in the way in which the service and product are provided. The former means being able to meet the deadlines required as well as being able to provide a first-class quality service in terms of technical and linguistic accuracy and precision, that is, all that was previously agreed and requested by the clients. As to the latter, this expresses the way in which the product provided actually fits and is adapted to the client’s own reality, whether it modifies this reality or if, on the other hand, it fails to meet all the previously agreed requirements. One last word to say that each and every company has its own unique idea of the client it prefers and the type of markets in which it would rather work. Among these, preference is given to international and privatelyowned companies. In this case, the privately-owned sector is generally the most common kind of client for these companies. 8) Future Perspectives The answer to the question about the areas of knowledge that will be most requested in the future, and ranked in terms of their importance and impact, produced the field of Informatics as the first option3, immediately followed by Law. Some of the other areas cited as being of potential interest for the industry were New Technologies, Medical Technology, the Internet, Economics, Engineering and Localisation. As future potential domains of interest for the industry, it is worth mentioning the emergence of areas connected to Management, the Automotive Industry and Information Technologies. We also obtained answers indicating a slight interest in such disparate areas of specialisation as Community Affairs, Tourism, Medicine, Marketing and Publicity and Industry-related issues, 3

This growing interest in Informatics is strongly and intimately connected with the growing impact of the so-called Localisation Industry within the context of the Language Industry / Engineering (software and contents).

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namely: Electronic Engineering, Techno-industrial Engineering, Biology, Pharmacy and Research. In terms of language pairs, no major changes to the current panorama are foreseeable in the future. English, German, French and Spanish are, and will be, the most common language combinations on the market, although there may be a slight increase in terms of market demand for such languages as Chinese and the languages of the new EU member states, namely those of Eastern Europe. In fact, as to the major working languages that might be most requested in the near future, English is still the uncontested market leader, followed by Spanish, Chinese and some of the languages from the new enlarged Europe and, to a lesser extent, German and French. 9) The importance of skills in the profile of the future translator Another area on which we have decided to focus our attention has to do with the evolution evident in terms of the skills of the future translator. By analysing the data gathered, we must conclude that it will be necessary to strengthen the above-mentioned skills, whilst at the same time focusing on much more polyvalence and flexibility in the kind of training provided in order to strengthen new areas. Considering the proposed comments, and although these skills have been discussed for some time now, the truth is that it is of the utmost importance to provide university-level training that is adapted to and consistent with the demands that are faced by future translators. As stated by the respondents, most recent graduates still have to learn the basic technical and professional skills in tune with the kind of job they are expected to produce, as well as the kind of skills that are considered absolutely essential, after they have entered the labour market, or by undergoing further training offered within an employment context. The findings of this survey suggest that there is an absolute need to focus, on the one hand, on some sort of technical specialisation and, on the other, on the development of certain skills that would enable the translator to be easily integrated into work teams, as well as to cope with different settings that are mainly characterised by such features as project management and quality evaluation and control. As far as training is concerned, it is worth mentioning the focus placed on the area of information technology as well as translation-aiding tools or computer-assisted translation (CAT). Finally, and according to the universe studied, the future of training must include integrated and functional management of all the steps of a specific translation project, from the moment the text is received until the finished product is handed to the client, all the necessary administrative procedures, entrepreneurship and client/company contacts, among others. It also seems important to stress other types of skills, in addition to those mentioned

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above, which, despite having less impact, may reveal future areas of interest as far as training is concerned. These include the ability to deal with the various instruments and tools available, the ability to search, investigate and carry out research, as well as availability, self-training and refresher training, good sense, ethics and self-critique.

Some brief findings and future opportunities for integrating training In general terms, within the scope of this redefinition of the market, we should like to make some brief final remarks about the results that were obtained in order to get some insights that might be considered useful in the training of future translators geared towards and influenced by specific professional and business-oriented contexts which may eventually produce concrete effects in the elaboration of future study plans. First of all, we have the ubiquitous, omnipresent and transversal nature of translation in the world today. More and more translation is being done and there is an increasing need for multilingual communication. The production, management and circulation of information are growing daily, as is the volume, amount, intensity, depth and specificity of the major requests for translation. On the one hand, and considering the international context in which the whole professional translation activity actually takes place and is currently developed, one of the major findings concerns the considerable depth and reach of the market. In other words, in the face of the designs and constraints of globalisation, the translation agencies engaged in providing translation services in the field of the so-called language industry or, according to the recently approved translation services standard, these new “TSPs” or “Translation Service Providers” will ultimately be faced with a wide array of requests which, on the one hand, are rooted in more diverse supply and, on the other, in more specific demand. Nevertheless, the intense effects of globalisation on the language industry, responsible for the dissemination of information on a global scale, do actually pose new threats and present new challenges to all the companies engaged in the production and provision of multilingual services. The need to mutate and adapt to a market that is also increasingly voluble, volatile and dynamic therefore calls for some specific strategies designed to reset and redefine the whole concept of business goals, namely at the level of variety or exclusiveness of the type of language pairs provided, the specialisation of themes and fields of work and, finally, in terms of provision of additional services, all included within a perspective of rendering the most complete range of integrated

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and multimodal services. At the same time, and contrary to the whole market deregulation and professional fragmentation, we are gradually witnessing an increase in the levels of expectations and rigour, as well as the growing emergence, and even imposition from the outside, of standards and regulations concerning quality and productivity that are increasingly standardised and formatted. This will eventually lead to the redefinition of the concept of professionalism as applied to translation. Therefore, and in the face of this new configuration of the translator’s profile and function, it seems important that the kind of training provided should be as polyvalent and versatile as possible, as well as sufficiently multifaceted, integrated and multimodal. It should also be geared towards the so-called new satellite-professions or extensions of the task of the translator and conveniently open and available so as to solve the equation problem posed by the specialist/generalist. The type of training offered should be as general as possible, and as specialised as necessary. Christiane Nord describes the “functional translator” (Nord, 2005: 210 and 211), i.e., a professional translator, characterised by the awareness that translation today is used in the most varied communications and situations, thus requiring a special flair for articulating professional knowledge with the most suitable social norms and technical-functional skills. If our goal is to train this kind of individual, it is possible that just one type of training that is both balanced and diversified, as well as compatible with the new personal and professional demands faced by the translator, can meet the most diverse market requirements: situations where the individual himself is confronted with the specific dynamics of project management, human resources management, materials management and, above all, an entirely new dynamic geared towards sociability and the application of a specific savoir-faire. In this sense, a multi- and interdisciplinary approach seems to be a wise option in order to provide the trainee with a series of strategies and solutions that will eventually allow him to easily integrate and adapt himself to the new working contexts with which he is constantly faced, characterised by a vast array of language combinations, thematic and conceptual specialisation as well as technological diversification and complexity. Basically, a more human interactive and pro-active kind of training focused on the individual as a person, whilst at the same time professionally oriented and focused on such crucial values as quality of service, ethics and deontology. This is, we believe, the kind of approach that will be capable of regaining a new technical culture of the craft, while implying the specific knowledge of what to do and how to be that is deeply rooted in specialised contexts marked by social and human interaction.

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References Hermans, Johan and José Lambert. “From translation markets to language management: the implications of translation services”, Target 10 (1), (1998): 113-132. Kiraly, Don. A Social Constructivist Approach to Translator Education. Empowerment from Theory to Practice, Manchester: St. Jerome Publishing, 2000. Nord, Christiane. “Training functional translators.” In Training for the New Millennium: Pedagogies for translation and interpreting edited by Martha Tennent, 209-223. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2005. European standard prEn 15038 (Working version September 2004). Steyaert, Chris and Maddy Janssens. “Language and Translation in an International Business Context: Beyond an Instrumental Approach”, Target 9 (1), (1997):131-154.

ECOLOTRAIN: BLENDED LEARNING RESOURCES FOR TRANSLATION TEACHERS

ALINA SECARĂ AND ANTHONY HARTLEY, UNIVERSITY OF LEEDS

Abstract The wide range of skills required in the professional translation industry today challenges the traditional roles and responsibilities of translation teachers and trainers. There is a strong need to the training of teachers and trainers, so that they are ready to face current needs and challenges and prepare their trainees to meet the market’s needs. This is the issue eCoLoTrain addresses, thus trying to remedy the “severe skills shortage” identified in the EC-sponsored SPICE-PREP II report on eContent localisation. Following the successfully completed eCoLoRe project and making use of its renewable eContent localisation resources to support ICT training for translators, the eCoLoTrain project aims to develop and test innovative training opportunities for trainers and teachers in the field of professional translation. It seeks to improve translator trainers’ ICT skills in general and their eContent localisation skills in particular. The eCoLoTrain deliverables will range from methodological and pedagogical guidelines to course materials. The design of the courses draws on the results of a needs analysis questionnaire conducted by ITI (Institute of Translation and Interpreting) among its members and website visitors. The eCoLoTrain courses include tools and materials for teaching eContent localisation processes together with instructions for the best integration of these tools and methods into general and specialised translation classes. The courses, which are systematically tested during workshops and combine online distance learning and face-to-face education techniques, are organised as follows: Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Skills, Terminology Management, Computer-Assisted Translation Tools (CAT tools), Project Management (PM) and Software Localisation.

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The beginnings Building on the eContent localisation resources generated by the successful eCoLoRe 1 to support ICT training for translators, the eCoLoTrain project is developing and testing innovative training opportunities for translator trainers and teachers in the field of professional translation. The wide range of skills required in the professional translation industry today challenges the traditional roles and responsibilities of teachers and trainers. There is a strong need for these professionals to be trained in readiness to face evolving needs and challenges and prepare their trainees be “market-ready”. eCoLoTrain has been bringing blended learning into the traditional translation class by delivering materials that combine conventional learning methods with new learning technologies to offer a dynamic and flexible learning structure. This has been achieved by the creation of a wide range of online materials and guidelines for their use in traditional translation classes. Special workshops, where translation teachers have been able to familiarise themselves with and test materials created for their specific needs, have been organised by the project participants.

Consortium eCoLoTrain is a Leonardo-funded project, and the consortium includes academic partners with a strong tradition in education and vocational training in the filed of translation. They are the Department for Applied Linguistics, Translation and Interpretation (Saarland, Germany), the Centre for Translation Studies (Leeds, UK), the Faculty of Letters (Iaúi, Romania), the Translator Training Centre (Tallinn, Estonia), and the Department of Translation (Ljubljana, Slovenia). In addition, two industrial partners – Atril and PASS Engineering – are important players in their fields, providing the two major types of software relevant in eContent localisation, i.e., translation memory applications and software localisation systems. Moreover, two professional associations – BDÜ (Bundesverband der Dolmetscher und Übersetzer) and ITI (Institute of Translation and Interpreting) – have ensured that trainers from outside academe have been involved in designing and testing the eCoLoTrain materials.

1

http://ecolore.leeds.ac.uk/

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Needs analysis The design of the curriculum and the course contents draw on the results of a needs analysis questionnaire conducted by ITI among its members and website visitors. The questionnaire aimed at finding out whether Computer-Assisted Translation (CAT), Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and Project Management (PM) courses should be present in a translation studies curriculum, as well as how knowledgeable and how confident translation teachers feel about teaching them to students. Out of 86 respondents, some 40% reported that they would like to learn CAT while some 60% expressed an interest in project management tools. Almost 50% did not feel confident enough to teach TM software to others. Over 75% of the respondents replied that they need further training in terminology management software, 85% in project management software, over 80% in translation memory software and approximately 55% in various ICT skills. Despite the respondents’ enthusiasm about using new technology and online materials in their courses, to date they have encountered difficulties in putting this into practice, citing in particular the “lack of sample teaching material – handouts and exercises – and lack of specialised literature offering guidelines for creating teaching materials”2. More than 70% of the respondents expressed the wish to have style sheets for their presentations and to be guided through using new technologies and new electronic materials in their classes. Moreover, it was interesting to note that more than half of the respondents did not first acquire or extend their knowledge of these topics at university, but rather during other activities such a training events, workshops or self-teaching. The results of the report, now available on the ITI website 3 , show that ICT, PM and CAT skills are among the chief objectives in translator training, but if the teaching of these skills is to become more widespread in higher education institutions, more training materials must be made available.

Learning resources It is important that the materials developed within eCoLoTrain be adopted as part of a general curriculum which aims to cover a wide range of issues 2 3

ITI, eCoLoTrain eContent localisation training, 23. http://www.iti.org.uk/indexMain.html

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associated with translation studies. Given the technical nature of the eCoLoTrain materials, this curriculum should allow for a gradual phasing in of new topics. Since the eCoLoTrain courses are meant to complement already existing translation programmes, our goal was not to design a comprehensive translation curriculum, but simply to identify and develop resources for those topics that were revealed by the needs analysis to be neglected by the majority of traditional translation teaching institutions. The know-how of the applied translation trainers involved in eCoLoTrain, together with the lessons and experience gathered from the eCoLoRe project – which developed eContent localisation resources for teachers and trainers already actively involved in applied translator training – served as a solid starting point for organising the production of learning resources within eCoLoTrain. As a result, the initial portfolio contained three courses, each of which adopts an incremental learning path, building progressively on trainees’ previous knowledge. The first course – dealing with Translation Memory (TM) – is the obvious choice for a curriculum that aims to introduce up-todate translation technology into the traditional translation class. The popularity of such tools among both translation service providers (TSPs) and freelance translators makes them a compulsory topic for any translation studies student. The second course – Terminology Management – provides a more theoretical explanation of the underlying concepts, together with a practical, technology-oriented section. The third course on our list – Software Localisation – was introduced as a result of our observing the industry’s reaction to emerging needs: “Localization involves taking a product and making it linguistically and culturally appropriate to the target locale (country/region and language) where it will be used and sold”4. A relatively new area, software localisation is gaining ever more importance in the industry, with internationalisation and globalisation being among the top priorities for most companies. Despite this ambitious coverage, in analysing the needs of traditional translation teachers and taking a second look at the translation market today, we identified two more courses for immediately inclusion in our portfolio. The idea for one of them, namely translation Project Management (PM), came from analysing the employment trends within TSPs today. Increasingly these prefer to outsource, usually to freelancers, the majority of their translation and quality control work, while employing growing numbers of in-house translation project managers. Their prospective employees have not only to be proficient in using TM and 4

LISA in Esselink, A Practical guide to Localization,3.

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terminology tools, but also to master PM tools and principles. Thus, even if this topic has not hitherto been viewed as necessary in translation education, the value it adds to a translation student’s profile is evident. Moreover, to our knowledge, there is no online course presently available which targets the specific area of PM. It is for all these reasons that we decided to create a translation project management course which, following the good practice implemented in the other courses, combines practical and theoretical sections and uses a wide range of dedicated tools in the online demonstrations. The last course – Information and Communication Technology Skills – is a direct response to the needs of traditional teachers and students. Following discussions with the translation teachers involved in our project and after looking very closely at the needs analysis data, we realised that the success of the other four courses already identified for the portfolio depended on the teachers and students having adequate competence in ICT. Our meetings gave translation trainers the opportunity to express their concerns regarding the severe shortage of qualified individuals, as well as training materials, in this area. Consequently, we decided to address this topic and develop a course which would be different from the other four, since we foresaw a substantial variation in the range of knowledge among those taking it. Moreover, its goal would be to enable the acquisition of skills and techniques presented in the subsequent courses. As a consequence, this course would have to both measure the user’s knowledge and fill in the gaps whenever necessary. In terms of content, this course would also have to be different from other ICT courses already existing on the web, since it would specifically target the ICT needs of professional linguists. Considering all the above, the ICT course took the form of an online ICT skills test, which is to be taken by anyone wanting to complete or use the other four courses. This test is a selfassessment exercise, the user being able to navigate through the alreadyknown topics and stop to read and watch demonstrations on less familiar topics. For more about this, see the section on Deliverables. Besides the instructional content of the courses, the portfolio was designed to contain exercises, again with varying degrees of difficulty, accompanied by one or several solutions, depending on the nature of the exercise. The final structural element is represented by the methodological and pedagogical guidelines available for all the courses, which have been designed and created to cover as wide a range of teaching scenarios as possible. These are also meant to assist teachers in their integration of the eCoLoTrain materials into their classes and in the creation of new scenarios and further materials.

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To sum up, the eCoLoTrain portfolio contains five courses with exercises and guidelines, tackling topics which are demonstrably essential to any educational or vocational programme that aims to provide up-todate training in translation practice.

Deliverables The materials are designed for use by translation teachers in blended teaching scenarios. They have already undergone one cycle of testing by translation teachers in workshops organised especially for them and run by professional CAT trainers, and been revised in the light of structured feedback from all participants. The deliverables fall into two categories: courses and guidelines.

Courses The courses have been systematically tested during workshops and combine online distance learning with face-to-face education. They are organised in the following notional order, with each course after ICT assuming at least some knowledge presented in the previous courses: Information and Communication Technology Skills, Terminology Management, Translation Memory, Software Localisation and Project Management. Information and Communication Technology Skills: This course is a diagnostic, preparatory step, aiming to both test the knowledge of the users and fill any potential gaps. The topics in this course are designed as yes/no questions, with the yes automatically directing the user to the next topic and the no offering an explanation of the current concept, with examples and, for more complex topics, Flash animations demonstrating the various issues associated with that particular area. This course is divided into five sections, starting with basic ICT concepts, and moving on to text editing principles - covering a wide range of topics from formatting and document quality control to special characters and special file formats. The middle sections consist of a general guide to using the basic functionalities of MS PowerPoint and an overview of the use of spreadsheets with MS Excel, both of which cover key tasks for translators and translation teachers, particularly in project management. The last section introduces the use of the Internet in a translation environment. The Terminology Management Course is divided into four sections. It provides the basic theoretical concepts and principles associated with

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terminology and terminology research, gives an overview of best practice in terminology management and terminology management tools, and explores specific functionalities of these tools such as creating, populating, exporting, importing, maintaining and working with terminology databases. Exercises and their solutions are provided at the end of the course. By using examples and exercises from three different translation memory applications, namely Déjà Vu X, SDL Trados and Wordfast, this course enables the user to compare and contrast functionalities of various applications and thus get an overall understanding of the tools. The Translation Memory course covers in its four sections theoretical concepts and principles of translation memory tools, an overview of the necessary steps that lead to the creation of a TM as well as the most important TM functionalities such as alignment, analysis, and pretranslation. Exercises are provided at the end. The Project Management (PM) course provides information about the different steps and processes that occur during a translation project. The design of the course as a general overview of translation project management makes it suitable for students, teachers and even freelance translators and trainers, who can thereby gain a better understanding of the role they play in the translation production chain. There are two sections followed by exercises. After exploring theoretical concepts and principles of project management in general with references to project management for translators, the course explores the stages of translation project management using four different tools: two specialised ones – LTC Organiser and MS Project – and two general ones – MS Excel and MS Access. The Localisation course, currently under development, provides a basic introduction to software localisation and the concepts used in this field. A specialised localisation tool – PASSOLO – is being used for all the demonstrations and exercises, which are being created in collaboration with PASS Engineering.

Methodological and pedagogical guidelines Blended learning came about after some years of implementing, testing, and evaluating e-learning. Among the intelligence acquired during these years is the fact that different people have different needs and ways of learning, hence they require different scenarios to make their learning successful.

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“Blended Learning is really the natural evolution of e-learning into an integrated program of multiple media types, applied toward a business problem in an optimum way, to solve a business problem.”5 At the centre of blended learning is the idea of combining different approaches, such as face-to-face workshops and lectures, online courses, participation in online communities, reading books and watching multimedia material. This means that the learning experience is extended outside the traditional classroom: The importance of face-to-face classroom learning will be integral to this extended learning environment; however, it will be just one feature of a rich and varied approach to the learner’s continued growth and development.6

Currently under development and intended to be available for every course, the methodological and pedagogical guidelines offer instructions for the best integration of translation tools into both general and specialised translation classes. The guidelines, created to provide assistance for the development of similar training initiatives, offer different teaching scenarios, thus catering for different learning needs. These guidelines address several learning set-ups and provide step-bystep support for the teachers involved. For example, one of the possible set-ups is a three-stage learning model: 1. Teacher tutorial-face-to-face class: The goal of this first stage is to assess the needs and identify the level of each student, as well as to provide basic information by means of presentation. 2. Online course: At this stage the students are expected to improve their understanding of the given topic, thus building on the knowledge they acquired during the face-to-face class. They are asked to go through the eCoLoTrain online courses and write down questions/comments. This is the stage of enhanced knowledge. 3. Teacher-led exercises and discussions: The students are now involved in interactive situations, solving problems and receiving feedback on responses. The sessions can be conducted using face-to-face coaching, presentations with group discussion, workshops and simulations. At this point the students are expected to achieve a deep knowledge of the subject and to be able to apply it in practical situations. For every course to which this scenario applies, there are specific indications as to which course materials, exercises, activities and 5 6

http://www.e-learningcentre.co.uk/eclipse/Resources/blended.htm Dam, The e-Learning Fieldbook, xviii)

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techniques should be used. Nevertheless, because the guidelines offer a number of alternatives, they give the teacher the high degree of flexibility needed for a successful integration of such materials into a translation classroom. Another scenario can involve an initial electronic or paper questionnaire to test the students’ knowledge, followed by online courses and exercises according to everyone’s needs, to be summed up by teacher-led discussions. A third scenario can involve the students first reading the online courses before the teacher delivers a face-to-face course which would aim to clarify and emphasise the important points. Finally, there can be teacher-led exercises and discussions. Let us imagine a language for special purposes (LSP) translation class, into which the online Terminology Management course can be integrated. In this sort of scenario, the technology acts merely as support, since the goal of this course is not to teach the technical functionalities of terminology tools, but to use them as a way of exemplifying theoretical concepts and providing a practical model for handling termbases. Of the many possible teaching situations in which eCoLoTrain materials can be used, let us look closely at the following three.

Preparing courses Since the teacher has to be familiar with the basic principles and methods of terminology management, he/she must read the sections covering these aspects before creating and delivering his/her own courses. Because the content of the eCoLoTrain course is well-structured, the teacher can plan the content of the translation courses for one or even two semesters and can define the subject domain for the terminology exercises. In terms of raw materials, the teacher does not necessarily have to create his/her own termbase, as existing termbases can be used. At the beginning of the course, the teacher can ask the students to research basic terminology associated with a specific subject field and can provide background materials, the addresses of relevant websites, etc. found in the eCoLoTrain Links section.

Student exercises at the beginning of the course Students can read the online courses and access already created termbases, add new or modify existing entries, add additional translations and other terminological information. The exercises can then be checked and feedback given in the classroom.

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Teacher-led classroom activities Depending on the teaching environment, there are various possibilities. In a PC lab, students can edit their translation directly in a word processor, make use of the interface between the word processor and the termbase (for instance, MS Word and MultiTerm), work on PCs in groups, or all view and comment on a single database displayed using the overhead projector. In traditional classrooms which feature face-to-face interaction and where only one PC is available, a projector can be used and the teacher can engage students in interactive discussions. They can evaluate the translation variants proposed by their peers, correct translations, research and compile new terminology, add relevant terminology to a common termbase, etc. As homework, students can research new terminology or prepare the exercises in the eCoLoTrain Terminology Management course.

Because eCoLoTrain materials can be incorporated into a wide range of teaching scenarios, the teachers can easily retain their own personal approaches and styles. The eCoLoTrain materials and scenarios are simply means to help teachers bring the technology into translation classes and provide students with well-researched, up-to-date, technology-assisted education.

Dissemination technologies All the materials are freely accessible on the eCoLoTrain website. The site has been designed and implemented using open source and free software, such as the VIM text editor, an Apache web server and the TYPO3 content management system. Two main platforms were considered for the dissemination of the materials, namely Moodle and TYPO3. As we have just said, TYPO3 is a free, open source content management system, with active communities and permanent updates geared towards the HTML-initiated. Moodle is also free and open source, but currently serves more as a course management system, designed specifically for educators who want to create online courses, hence requiring less IT expertise. The decision to use TYPO3 within eCoLoTrain, rests on a series of factors. First of all, for the ease of collaboration between the project partners, the system to be used had to be able to manage both the content that was to appear on the website, as well as other content related to the project – related materials, series of drafts of numerous pages, articles, etc. At the time, this could only be achieved by TYPO3, as Moodle 1.5, available then, did not offer this feature, although Moodle 1.7 now incorporates a content management

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module. Moreover, a number of partners, among whom the IT expert, were already familiar with TYPO3 and would have required more time to familiarise themselves with Moodle. The functionalities offered by Moodle – such as statistics on learning process, glossary integration, help and support available through forums, questionnaire creation, multimedia and backup features – are also available in TYPO3. The feature that decisively tipped the scales in favour of TYPO3 was its integrated content localisation functionality, crucial for our courses, as we are set to deliver all the materials in four languages: English, French, German and Spanish. To facilitate the localisation of our courses, our IT specialist developed an interface which makes it possible to route TYPO3 content directly to PASSOLO and SDL TagEditor. Another piece of software used within eCoLoTrain is Macromedia Captivate. With it we have been creating interactive demo clips which generate a dynamic visualisation of the concepts explained. In practical terms, we have benefited from its ability to generate highly customisable animated graphics clips in SWF (Shockwave) format which improve the degree of interactivity of the courses. Moreover, the clips thus generated can be used on their own, in classrooms, to support teacher-led courses. Yet again, choosing this particular application was not an arbitrary decision, but one taken by comparing the functionalities it offered against a free screen capture application, Wink. Both these systems offer quality output (with a multitude of formats to choose from), audio and image integration, as well as export of comment boxes as .txt, which can then be translated and imported back into a localised clip. Nevertheless, there were certain Captivate features that made it our favourite, namely the possibility of questionnaire insertion, a user-friendly interface, and highlycustomisable output. In terms of the translation-related software used, we selected the most representative ones. This is due to the nature of our courses, which favour the analysis and comparison of the features offered by different tools. We believe that this contributes substantially to a better understanding and assimilation of new concepts. For translation memory and terminology management, the tools used are Déjà Vu X, SDL Trados and Wordfast and for project management a combination of dedicated tools such as LTC Organiser and MS Project, and more general software such as MS Excel and Access. The software localisation course includes descriptions and demonstrations from PASSOLO and Plunet. Every tool used within eCoLoTrain has been chosen to meet our precise needs. All partners are actively involved in the process of choosing

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the right tools and making the most of them. We also engage with the tool developers in order to research additional functionalities.

Feedback We have used various mechanisms to gather feedback about our materials, depending on the learning situations involved – workshops, lectures, or discussion groups. Because the materials have been tested not only in the eCoLoTrain workshops but also at the partners” institutions with students or teachers, their evaluation encompasses two perspectives: the students’ point of view and that of the teachers”.

Feedback from teachers and trainers The translation teachers from the participating institutions have played the role of testers throughout the project. The majority teach a combination of translation and literature and their computer literacy is average. They provided feedback for every course, using one of three mechanisms. Paper-based feedback forms were used only at the beginning of the project, both to evaluate the already-created materials and to gather ideas about user needs and preferences to be used in the creation of subsequent materials. With that in mind, many free text questions7 were designed to invite comments and suggestions. The difficulties that a paper-based form implies – manual collection and transfer of data to an electronic format and handling large volumes of paper – seemed insignificant compared to the advantages it brought at this initial stage. We judge that our target audience would be comfortable responding to a paper-based questionnaire and the number of questions we could formulate was higher than with an online form. The form was organised in three sections. The first gathered information about the tester (profession, languages, teaching experience). The second enquired about the perceived usability of our materials and the overall level of user satisfaction (questions related to the appropriateness of materials in terms of difficulty level, environment, organisation, and density of instructions). We were also interested in finding out if they would be able to integrate those materials into their classes and what sort of teaching scenario would suit them best (face-to-face learning, blended learning, or autonomous learning). The third, free text section, gave testers 7

Editor’s note: “free text questions” are questions used in questionnaires which require short free-text answers, about one sentence long.

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the opportunity to express their views on the most or least enjoyable features, as well as comment on the content of the course as a whole and make further suggestions. Online feedback forms were introduced after every section of each course, since each section is relatively self-contained. The length of the online form varies significantly from that of the paper one, as its intention is strictly to evaluate the materials tested and not to contribute – as the paper one did – to shaping the courses. It comprises two sections, one gathering information about the tester and another regarding the usability of materials. This online form is a compressed version of the paper one because this format is more likely to attract responses from individual users. During our workshops we used the online forms, supplementing these with discussions. The feedback is centrally stored in a database, which can be exported to MS Excel and to easily generate visualisations of the data. Because the target audience of eCoLoTrain is translation teachers and trainers, the online feedback form posted on our website is directed exclusively at them. But, since all theories find their application in practice, other feedback mechanisms have been used throughout the project to gather feedback from students exposed to our materials.

Feedback from students Other electronic feedback forms were introduced when we realised the diversity of possible blended learning. This occurred only when the translation teachers and trainers within the project started to use the eCoLoTrain materials. Different teaching methods imply different feedback mechanisms from one case to another. As the feedback we required from students was different from that required from teachers and trainers, the questions concentrated on the evaluation of students’ prior knowledge and the way this was affected by their use of, enthusiasm for, and comments on the eCoLoTrain materials. One teacher used an MS Excel spreadsheet to gather this data and included three possible options: Read the topic; Learnt something new from the topic; Revisited the topic. We also encouraged suggestions of new topics of interest from the students’ perspective, as well as inviting their feedback on whether there was any missing or incorrect information in the current courses. In another teaching scenario, an online questionnaire was created using Zoomerang, an online survey creation application. Again, the students were asked to report whether their knowledge of a particular topic had increased after having used the materials, whether this fitted their needs, and to what

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extent they felt comfortable using the materials. In a third scenario, the questionnaire was implemented on the e-learning platform (Moodle) which was being used within that teaching institution. The same type of questions as in the previous scenarios were used, the change being that the students filled in this questionnaire during class and so it was essential, due to time constraints, that they were familiar with the environment they used. All the data collected from these different feedback mechanisms has been carefully assessed within the consortium. The changes suggested by both teachers and students, if deemed relevant, have been implemented. Obtaining regular input from testers has meant that the contents of our courses are reviewed and updated on a regular basis. So far, we have only been able to gather feedback about individual sections of our materials but, by the end of this project, feedback on the materials as a whole will be available.

Conclusions Since the beginning of the project, the website traffic has been constantly growing – 1,496 visits of which 1,005 were unique visitors were recorded in November 2006. The visitors log in from a wide range of countries – from the UK, Germany and Belgium to France, Romania, Estonia and Slovenia. We ascribe this upward trend to our dissemination activities. Besides special eCoLoTrain workshops, we have made presentations at several translation conferences and seminars throughout Europe, at translation masterclasses and specialised seminars. We aspire, by the end of this project, to attract large numbers of traditional translation teachers to use our training materials and blend them in various ways into their own, thus contributing to the modernisation of translation teaching. As with the materials produced by eCoLoRe, all the eCoLoTrain deliverables will continue to remain freely available on the project website after the conclusion of the project.

References Bersin & Associates. Blended learning: What Works? on http://www.elearningcentre.co.uk/eclipse/Resources/blended.htm (Last accessed on 13 February, 2007). Dam, Van. The e-Learning Fieldbook. New York/Chicago: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2004.

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eCoLoRe website http://ecolore.leeds.ac.uk/ (Last accessed on 13 February, 2007). eCoLoTrain website http://ecolotrain.uni-saarland.de (Last accessed on 13 February, 2007). Esselink, Bert. A Practical guide to Localization. Amsterdam/ Philadelphia. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2000. ITI. “eCoLoTrain eContent localisation training”. Bulletin of the Institute of Translation and Interpreting, (Nov-Dec 2006): 22-23. Wagner, Emma. “Upgrading the expertise of translation trainers.” Bulletin of the Institute of Translation and Interpreting, (March-April 2006): 24-25.

A BENCHMARK BILINGUAL PUBLISHING MODEL? SIMULTANEOUS, HIGH-VOLUME, COMPLIANT DOCUMENTS IN IDENTICAL TARGET- AND SOURCE-LANGUAGE VERSIONS ORIGINATED IN EITHER LANGUAGE FROM TWO LOCAL PLATFORMS GEORGE WITHERINGTON Abstract A number of difficulties can be encountered when businesses or organisations regularly publish bi-lingual documents conforming to regulatory requirements: x A long time-lag between the foreign-language source document and the published translation in the target language; x No guarantee that the source-language and target language texts fully match up following author or editor amendments (target-text (source text) integrity after source-text (targettext) changes); x Source-language content may not comply with stricter regulatory requirements in the target-language country (especially UK/USA); x Published documents may have to be originated by authors writing in either of the two languages. This paper proposes a benchmark bi-lingual publishing system for highvolume compliant documents simultaneously published in two fully identical language versions with source documents originated in either language. This highly integrated system addresses all four above issues. It could be adapted for various language pairings. It is a symmetrical, dual-platform system, with mirror-image set-ups in each country. Each function, namely Authoring, Editing (Quality Control), Desktop Publishing (DTP), In-house Translation, Compliance, Senior Management, Printing, is represented on each platform, which publishes

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only in its local native language. With the exception of translation, functions are staffed with local native-speakers. Acknowledging the natural constraints of simultaneous bi-lingual publishing, the proposed model minimises the time lag between publication of source-language and target-language documents by cutting DTP time and by facilitating translation checking, translation editing and regulatory compliance. A policy of target-language translators on source-text platforms means that the translators are in the same location as authors for ease of communication. DTP and translation staff on the source-language platform can therefore combine effectively to produce an already extensively formatted, thoroughly checked target-language master file before transfer to the target-language platform for final editing, formatting and publication. Source-text editors/quality control staff ensure that material editing alterations by the target-language editors/QC staff are replicated in the formatted source-language master file ensuring source text integrity after target text editing changes. Source documents can be originated in either language allowing collaboration between authors writing in either of the two languages. This paper is limited to demonstrating the operational feasibility of this proposed benchmark bilingual publishing system and not analysing its cost effectiveness.

Introduction Bilingual publishing: operational difficulties Operational difficulties can be encountered when businesses or organisations routinely publish high-volume, time-sensitive bilingual documents (especially English/foreign-language pairs), which consist of complex prose as opposed to standardised text and which comply with regulatory or legal requirements: x Simultaneous publication is needed despite the time-lag between the source-language document and its translation into the target language; x Source-language and target-language texts must fully match after author or editor amendments (target- (source-)text integrity after source- (target-) text changes); x Both versions are required to be reader-friendly and to meet publishing standards in each language;

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x

Source-language content needs to comply with stricter regulatory or legal requirements in the target-language country (UK/USA especially); x Documents may be originated by authors writing in either of the two languages; x A choice has to be made between in-house translation and outsourcing. This paper proposes a theoretical bilingual publishing system which both addresses these issues and achieves high operating performance levels (volumes and document length). It is modelled on the multilingual publishing operations which sprang up in the 1990s in European equities research. These were usually component elements of a larger host monolingual (e.g. French or English) publishing system. Could the proposed model serve as a theoretical benchmark for bilingual publishing? Caveats nevertheless apply. The model predates the generalisation of present-day computer-based and internet techniques (translation memory, computer-assisted translation, on-line localisation sites, etc.) and does not take leading-edge multilingual publishing/media operations, e.g. BBC multilingual news website, National Geographic, into account. The system’s cost, its operating complexity and cross-national staff and other management challenges are also potential drawbacks.

Origins and practical basis of proposed bilingual publishing model Bilingual publishing of the type described here began as a way of making locally-consumed, high-volume, time-sensitive, local-language comment (on local subjects) abroad available to English target-language readers (one-way) through translation. Next came the logical step of two-way bilingual publishing. Content originated in English was then translated and made available within the same system to the original (“foreign”) sourcelanguage readers. A significantly increased readership (i.e. client base) was achieved in this way by leveraging an existing bilingual publishing system at a reasonable incremental cost. Various refinements aside, the model is derived from multilingual equity research publishing systems at investment banks mainly in London and Paris during the 1990s and early 2000s. These systems were superimposed on already existing domestic English- or French-language, etc. publishing operations. Just like other in-house investment bank support services, they were well-funded and evolved without significant financial restrictions.

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Similar systems are, in some cases, still functioning but on a reduced scale following the upheavals in the equity research industry at the start of the current decade. Nevertheless, much equity research industry content nowadays seems to be originated in English. Although theoretical, the model therefore has a strong practical basis. It holds good for pairings of English with various foreign languages. It may be less suited to other language pairs, as bilingual editors on one platform are preferred (foreign-language editors are likely to be familiar with English). Note the distinction between bilingual publishing, where both language versions are published, and published translations, where only the targetlanguage version goes to print and the source text is discarded.

Proposed model’s cost effectiveness not analysed This paper deals with the operational feasibility of this high-cost, largescale bilingual publishing model. There has been no attempt at an analysis of its cost effectiveness. The economics of the model are in any case dictated by the value added of bilingual documents and by the way fixed and variable costs are shared with the larger host monolingual publishing system.

Bilingual publishing: the difficulties in close-up. Simultaneous publication and time lag between the foreign-language source document and target-language translation More to gain from better process flows The time lag between source- and target-language versions cannot be completely eliminated. But it can be reduced by process flow improvements with an eye for productivity gains. Bilingual publication is especially slowed when target-text processing commences only after source-text completion. Further delay is caused by redoing the formatting and graphics from scratch on the target-language version. The proposed model achieves time savings by minimising such disconnection and duplication. The instinctive reaction is to make up for lost time by faster translation. This often occurs at the expense of quality, causing even greater delay at the post-editing stage.

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Bilingual publishing poses a basic dilemma Bilingual publishing of time-sensitive documents is faced with a basic dilemma. Is it best to publish the document immediately in the source language first to achieve maximum effect in one language at least (staggered publication of the target-language version later as back-up)? Or accept the potentially lesser impact (elapsed time and risk of intervening unforeseen events) of publishing a deliberately embargoed sourcelanguage document only at the same time as its subsequent translation?

Simultaneous bilingual publishing: the risk The risk in simultaneous bilingual publishing (when the source-language document is embargoed) is that the full value of the source text may never be realised. An uncomfortable period exists between source-text completion and bilingual publication during which the document’s impact or benefit may erode or even completely vanish. For example, a competitor may in the meantime publish similar content (in the faster monolingual version) or conditions may abruptly change. Intervening events may invalidate original source-file content making both the source and target texts even erroneous or pointless (e.g. sudden profit warning while a bilingual “buy” note on a traded stock is in preparation). The same considerations apply in staggered bilingual publishing but only to the target-language version. The usefulness of that version may additionally be lessened by impatient target-language users extracting the necessary information from the source text without waiting for the translation.

Editing slows down publication but a worthwhile price to pay On the other hand, editorial intervention as described in the proposed model slows the overall process down significantly. However, the sacrifice in terms of time can be more than offset by the assurance that published material meets legal, regulatory and quality requirements. Non-compliant, poor-quality publications in today’s litigious, highly regulated and more competitive environment can be costly for the publishing entity.

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Target- (source-) text integrity after source- (target-) text changes: divergences can be detrimental Credibility and liability A certain amount of divergence between source- and target-language texts is doubtless tolerated in bilingual publishing. After all, it is difficult for persons fluent in only one of the two languages to ascertain if the two texts are a faithful reflection of each other. However, discrepancies between the two versions of a bilingual document can unnecessarily undermine the credibility of a valid source document and can also potentially create a legal liability.

Three ways source and target texts can fail to match Undetected translation errors Various lines of defence exist against translation error. The first is individual translator self-checking followed by internal translator crosschecking of in-house colleagues’ or outside translators’ work. The next line of defence for English target-language translations is foreign-language author checking of the translation. The reverse does not usually apply, as English-language authors are often monolingual and less likely to be able to check translations of their work. The proposed model adds a third line of defence: in-house editors on both platforms. English-language editors, who in many cases are monolingual, rely on inconsistent text logic for residual translation error detection. Bilingual foreign-language editors (combining their native tongue with English) are able additionally to verify translations against an English source text if necessary.

Authors’ text changes not fully relayed to translators It is industry practice to request a final version of a source text but experience shows that authors make changes right up to the last minute to eliminate content error. Communicating late-stage author changes to translators can be a tricky logistics problem, especially if there is a long communication chain (e.g. for outsourced translations).

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Transposition of editors’ amendments from one language version to the other Transposing editing changes made in one language version to the other language version is probably the single most difficult challenge in obtaining fully edited, matching texts. The first obstacle to overcome is differentiating between grammatical or stylistic edits (not needed in the other language version) and changes to content or meaning (essential). This requires the intervention of a bilingual operative able to identify material alterations and incorporate them appropriately in the other language version, i.e. author-, editor- or translator-level personnel. Some essential edits may also involve formatting and require DTP intervention. Editors generally edit in one language only, so the difficult task of inserting amendments in the other language version can in practice often fall to the author, monolingual DTP staff or translators. Experience can show these solutions to be unreliable. Authors may not be available at the opportune moment, monolingual DTP personnel are generally averse to altering foreign-language content and the translators need to be native speakers of the language in which editorial amendments are required. The proposed model remedies this by making the editors on the foreign-language (non-English) platform responsible for a fully-matching foreign-language version. They incorporate in their foreign-language version those significant editing changes made in the English-language version by the English-language editors. Thus, the foreign-language editors in the model fulfil a triple role: preliminary editing (and compliance checking) of documents originated in the platform’s native language (to lessen the English-language editing and compliance workload); insertion of target-language (English) editing changes back into the source-language version; and print-file sign-off responsibility (in consultation with local publishing management and compliance) for all documents published locally. This includes locallanguage translations of content originated in English. The proper functioning of the model is crucially dependent on close cooperation between the editors on the two platforms. As seems to be common practice now in Anglo-Saxon publishing, they and not the local authors or management approve final print versions. Given that English-language editing and compliance tend to be the dominant culture, there are usually more editing and compliance-driven changes into foreign-language versions than foreign-language editing and compliance changes into English versions.

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Content may not comply with stricter regulatory requirements in the target-language country (especially UK/USA) Any decision to translate a locally authored text and publish in another country can have legal or regulatory implications. Compliant bilingual publications always have to conform to the more demanding of the two national sets of regulations (i.e. usually Anglo-Saxon). Today’s stricter Anglo-Saxon regulatory environment can be a barrier to publishing English-language versions of foreign-language content. The proposed model acknowledges that compliant bilingual publishing is beyond the normal scope of a translator’s responsibilities and more suited to the editor’s role. Editors therefore liaise with their local compliance counterparts on all legal and regulatory matters connected with the planned publication. The addition of local-language editors on both platforms also avoids a situation where compliance responsibility for a local platform’s output is shouldered by nationals of the other platform. Mainstream monolingual English-language publishing appears to have reconciled itself with the idea that a trade-off now exists between rushing to print and reducing legal and regulatory liability.

Reader-friendly, source- and target-language versions Any large-scale bilingual publishing operation needs to achieve local source- and target-language publishing standards in order to justify its running expenses and investment outlay. While local source-text publishing is relatively straightforward, targetlanguage version publishing is more difficult, especially from a sourcelanguage platform. Necessary expertise tends to be concentrated in the target-language country. Requiring staff of one nationality to publish in another language is a tall order but commonplace. Another issue is the requisite qualifications of source-language staff with print-file sign-off responsibility for target-language versions. A considerable amount of English-language authoring and publishing now takes place outside Anglo-Saxon countries. Note the new acronym TRESL34 or translation into English as a second language.

34 See “Critical Structures as a technique for evaluation of TRESL proficiency” by Peter G. Emery, in this volume.

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The problems of target-language publishing from source-language platforms are avoided in the model by staffing DTP and editorial teams on the two operating platforms with local nationals. Target-language editors (as in the proposed model) are well-placed to prevent technical publishing anomalies and “foreign-sounding” content deterring readers of target-language translations. Translated text is thus more certain to be palatable for local consumption (a point now commercially exploited by localization).

Documents originated by authors writing in either of the two languages Bilingual publishing can be one-way (author contributions in one source language only) or the more complex two-way (authors writing in either of the two languages): x One-way bilingual publishing is restricted to source-language authors, ruling out content from target-language authors. x One-way bilingual publishing processes can be disrupted by rogue contributions written in the target language instead of the usual source-text language. A resulting unexpected gap in the source language version can cause problems because the system is not geared to translating into the source language. Two-way bilingual publishing can, on the other hand, add an important strategic dimension. One-way bilingual publishing provides an essential service in the majority of cases, e.g. disseminating important sourcelanguage content to target-language readers (scientific breakthroughs, economic or business developments). However, two-way bilingual publishing can provide a showcase for local expertise. This arises when, instead of bilingual content on local target-language subjects written by source-language authors, content on these subjects is generated by local target-language authors. This has two benefits: firstly, source-language readers access unique on-the-ground expertise through translation and, secondly, target-language readers are exposed to content on local themes written by their local (vs distant) authors. The proposed model offers two-way bilingual publishing. This gives considerable flexibility and unexpected temporary gaps in either language version can easily be dealt with. It allows target-language subjects to be handled additionally by target-language authors.

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Translating in-house or outsourced translations. Practicalities point to an in-house translator presence Systems like the model were and still are mainly reliant on in-house translators with varying degrees of outsourcing (usually as a backup). In theory, there are distinct advantages to in-house translation in terms of translation quality, terminology, availability, proximity, confidentiality, training, etc. Dividing up long texts between translators (a common occurrence) is more easily managed in-house. In addition to routine administration (duty rosters, archives, external vendor payments, etc.), in-house translators can lessen the editors’ workload by cross-checking in-house translations and pre-checking incoming outsourced translations, by updating translations for author changes (under DTP supervision) and by carrying out emergency translation work. Full outsourcing (with a small team of in-house translators) is possible and is practised with success. However, only specialist agencies or freelancers can usually deliver the necessary “for publication”35 quality. There is the additional consideration of the availability of suitable freelance or agency translators for a specific job at any given time. This is compounded when long texts are divided up between different agency translators or freelancers and require harmonisation before delivery. Expatriate English native-speaker translators act as editors and translation revisers in some existing systems where translation is systematically outsourced.

Target-language translators on source-language platforms: rationale The argument for target-language translators on the source-language platform is threefold: x better source-language DTP synchronisation of the translation process in the initial target-language file; x a good author/translator working relationship facilitated; x and, potentially, better translator knowledge of the sourcelanguage. Source-language DTP would find initial target-language file handling less practical with translators on the opposite platform. 35 See “Translation “for publication” vs “for information”” by this author in the July/August 2006 issue of Multilingual #81 Volume 17 issue 5.

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A policy of target-language translators on source-text platforms means that expatriate in-house translators can be on the same premises as the authors for faster reaction, ease of communication (they can build authortranslator working relationships) and quick resolution of translation queries. Expatriate translators arguably build up a stronger knowledge of the source-language but can be prone to native-language skills erosion longer term. Target-language translation editing tends to offset this possible drawback in the model. The presence of foreign target-language translators on the Englishlanguage platform, meanwhile, is useful to flag cases where urgent English source-language documents risk going to print without waiting for the foreign target-language version. Note that a significant part of the translation industry abroad functions thanks to source-language native speakers translating into a foreign target language from their home-country platform. Cost is usually the overriding consideration. Comparison of their situation with the proposed model provides a measure of the professional challenge facing them and also the scale of their achievement when their work is successfully published in the target language.

Basic model: mirror-image set-ups in two countries with mainly native-speakers on each platform The proposed model is a symmetrical, dual-platform system, with mirrorimage set-ups physically located in the source- and target-language countries. Authoring, Editing (Quality Control), Desktop publishing (DTP), In-house Translation, Compliance, Publication Management and Printing are represented on each platform, which generally speaking prints only in its local native language. With the exception of translation, functions are staffed with local nationals.

Illustrations and tables showing the model’s parameters Tables and illustrations on the following pages show typical staffing levels, detailed process flows (European Union languages paired with English), and simulated minimum & maximum ranges for document output and for production times.

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Detailed operation Source-language platform work cuts time lag Acknowledging the natural constraints of simultaneous bilingual publishing, the proposed model addresses the main operational difficulties. In particular, it reduces the time lag between source-language and target-language documents by reducing DTP disconnection and duplication (when target-language versions are formatted separately from scratch). This is achieved by DTP staff on the source-language platform replicating all formatting work (especially charts, tables and graphics) performed on the source document in a parallel target-language file from the very outset (after the source-language document is approved by local editorial, management and compliance staff). DTP staff on the source-language platform can in this way synchronise formatting and translation. Source-file hand-offs to the translators, initiating translation, can be organised appropriately. Translators’ working files can be pre-formatted to facilitate subsequent typesetting. On-going authors’ early amendments can be accurately incorporated in both language master files by DTP in direct liaison with the authors. Translators

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in this way are freed from text-management concerns and can concentrate on quicker turnarounds. DTP and translation staff on the source-language platform in this way combine effectively to produce an already extensively formatted targetlanguage master file (translation cross-checked by in-house translators and, depending on the language, by the author).

Next stop: target-language platform in target-language country The translated target-language master file is then physically transferred from the source-language platform to the target-language platform for a second round of editing, compliance checking and final formatting. The quality of the translated copy is verified by target-language editors and, if necessary, improved or corrections made. Trial and error have shown that a second round of editing and DTP by target-language staff in the target-language country can make translated text quality almost indistinguishable from locally produced content, as well as properly compliant.

Source-language editors ensure post-edited sourceand target-text matching Meanwhile, the original source-language master file remains on its original platform, awaiting target-language editorial changes. The sourcetext editors (who were responsible for initial quality control and compliance editing of the source-language document) then liaise with target-text editors to replicate any material editing changes in the parked source-language master file. The source-language version is now ready for publication.

Go-ahead for publication After consultation with their platform’s senior management and the green light from compliance, the target-language editors approve the targetlanguage version for printing after final formatting by the local DTP team. Source- and target-language versions can now be simultaneously sent to print (by DTP staff) and/or distributed electronically from the two platforms.

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Operational parameters of the proposed model The proposed model is likely to be a system grafted onto a larger monolingual publishing set-up (English in this example). It is not therefore autonomous but belongs instead to a “system of systems”. The larger host set-up and its integrated bilingual operation become practically indistinguishable. The boundaries with the core monolingual operation can be blurred. To illustrate, foreign authors may on occasion produce a monolingual report directly in English for distribution to English readers only (e.g. replacing an absent English-language author). The model’s size is a function of the core system’s dimensions and managerial decisions on translated foreign- and English-language content quotas. Only a certain percentage of the overall system’s published output (measured in weekly numbers of pages of 250-350 words/page) is bilingual. This is set at around 40% in the calculations here (probably at the top end of the range). Local language output not published bilingually on the foreign-language platform is (here) set arbitrarily at the equivalent of 20% of its bilingual output. Estimated minimum and maximum output values are given in the simulation tables that follow to provide ranges.

Typical Estimated Minimum and Maximum Weekly Output Range: Published Pages Total aggregate weekly published output of local foreign-language only, bilingual and core-English documents (rounded up figures)

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Typical Estimated Minimum and Maximum Weekly Output Range: Pages per Operative per Week Average weekly output of individual authors, editors, DTP staff and translators (pages per person per week) for all published documents

Total Estimated Aggregated Production Times (in working hours or working days) for Range of Document Lengths (finished docs. assumed) – Min. and Max. Ranges

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Maximum size of simultaneous bilingual document attained with proposed model Anecdotal evidence exists that one of the largest bilingual documents published simultaneously on this type of system totalled around 285 pages. It was reportedly 1.5-2 months in the making, from the point when five foreign-language co-authors started to write the text until the despatch of both language versions in electronic format from the foreign-language platform at midnight on the cut-off date. The English-language version of the document was rapidly edited in the three days immediately afterwards, before sending to the printers and posting on a website. Considerable overtime working by authors, DTP and translation (but no foreign-language editors) was apparently needed to meet the deadline (including night work). The project undoubtedly strained the system to its limits. There is also evidence of a slightly larger (unedited) bilingual document of over 300 pages published with a time lag of 3-4 working days between the two language versions. This publication apparently took around 3 months (authoring, translation, formatting) from start to finish but was not edited.

Further integration of core English-language and bilingual publishing within distribution and client relationshipmanagement systems In reality, the core English-language publishing system and its bilingual publishing sub-system would probably, in turn, be part of further in-house systems, e.g. research data bases, published content distribution. Modern, high-volume English-language publishing involves complex content-distribution using computerised client relationship management systems. Individual customer data is collated and maintained by sales or marketing staff. Agreements may additionally exist with external content vendors who also disseminate the same content through their proprietary channels to reach even wider audiences. Content translated into English can be plugged directly into existing English-language distribution systems (as electronic or hard-copy documents). Foreign-language content distribution may be on a smaller scale and less well-supported. Foreign-language translations may therefore not benefit from the same wide exposure and be assigned a lower priority.

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Justifying and promoting bilingual publishing Bilingual publishing: justification and lack of tools for evaluating its benefits The emergence of this type of system in the previous decade demonstrates that such large-scale systems do have a place under the right circumstances. But they obviously represent a major decision for any business or organisation. The temptation of the simpler, faster and less expensive monolingual publishing alternative is, moreover, omnipresent. For the proposed two-way bilingual publishing system to be sustainable, the finished product should not only meet the required quality criteria in a timely manner. The commercial or other benefits of foreignlanguage readerships and authoring should also outweigh the added cost, work and complexity. Evaluating these benefits poses a problem. Indeed, the case for bilingual publishing generally seems to have been handicapped by the lack of available tools to measure the readership of foreign-language versions of documents (and the impact of foreign authors). The development of such tools could give bilingual publishing a much needed boost and help convince decision-makers of its utility.

Bilingual publishing needs to be acknowledged, publicised and actively utilised Further support for bilingual publishing can be provided by publicising and promoting its existence both internally and externally. While this could be counterproductive if the system malfunctions, heightened internal awareness that a bilingual publishing system operates within a business or organisation should improve the system’s efficiency through its better integration. Foreign-language documentation should also be made an integral part of a business’s or organisation’s day-to-day operation and be actively promoted. The same applies to foreign-language content translated into English and its promotion by English-language personnel. Once publication management has designated a forthcoming document as bilingual, the content distribution machinery should be set in motion to ensure proper exposure and marketing when the document is published bilingually.

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System management aspects Human resources challenge: two platforms on same footing The efficient operation of such a complex system as the proposed model is dependent on scrupulously even-handed management of both platforms. The human resources challenge of achieving team work between operatives of two different nationalities in two different countries is no easy task. Management decisions which undermine the basis of simultaneous bilingual publishing or openly favour one platform are to be avoided, e.g. arbitrary cancellation of one of the language versions, unexplained “frontrunning” (one language version released before the other). The simplicity and lesser work load of monolingual publishing contrasts sharply with the extra burden that bilingual publishing imposes on operational staff on both platforms. A separate status for bilingual publishing staff looks justified on this basis.

Pressure for early publication of English-language versions Management are constantly faced with a trade-off between the commercial benefits of the early release of English-language product and the system’s welfare and morale. Intense pressure can build up to publish Englishlanguage versions without waiting for their translation. This is a consequence of the overwhelming attraction of the much larger AngloSaxon market and readership. However, unauthorised “front-running” by one platform is viewed negatively by the other platform. It can be damaging for morale and for the harmony of a bilingual system that requires cooperation between teams of two different nationalities. The overall system does not function efficiently if personnel on the different platforms are reluctant to cooperate.

Team cohesion rather than written instructions With so many variables in play, such large systems are more dependent on team work than highly detailed procedures or centralised management. Operating guidelines can be in verbal rather than in written form because of the system’s complexity and constantly changing conditions. Frequently mooted, detailed written procedures can be problematic to draft and of limited use. Accurate timing of operations is similarly ruled out because of many unknowns, e.g. task completion times, delays, bottlenecks.

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System management: informal liaising between the two platforms Day-to-day liaising between members of the two platforms tends to be done by operatives on each platform themselves (often in English). By contrast with monolingual publishing, this can be viewed as a supplementary job task performed by bilingual publishing staff. Team members on each platform establish working relationships with their opposite number over the phone and by email. Mutual visits to allow individual staff to make each other’s acquaintance in person plus regular follow-up visits are essential at all levels. Coordinating complex dual-platform processes requires a minimum number of bilingual managers and line staff. It is helpful to have communication channels between the two platforms that are not solely English-language, i.e. source-language speakers on the target-language desk. Forward planning can be handled through joint weekly telephone conference calls attended by publishing managers, editors, DTP staff and translators from each platform. These can serve to update work schedules and to identify imminent reports.

Bilingual publishing: management and operation Overall responsibility for publishing In practice, the same executives responsible for the published core authors’ output on each platform are also ultimately responsible for both core and bilingual publishing. These executives are primarily content specialists and people managers whose focus is the commercial exploitation of content within the wider context of the business or organisation. Monolingual and bilingual publishing are secondary areas of expertise for them. These secondary operations tend to be managed by an appointed local publication manager on each platform or via informal decision-making processes involving the executives, editors and DTP staff. Translators are called on to give forecast completion times for future or current translation jobs. They also provide specialist advice on all translation matters.

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Bilingual publishing procedures improvised Bilingual publishing tends to be considered an extension of the core monolingual publishing activity rather than a unified operation spanning two national platforms. Spontaneous cooperation between autonomous national platforms rather than management control from any central point seems to be the rule. Local DTP, editing and translation teams on each platform tend to use their initiative. Ad hoc bilingual publishing procedures are improvised around the core monolingual publishing operation. Bilingual publishing is a highly complex, hands-on activity that does not always lend itself easily to supervision by non-specialist management. Personnel react to situations rather than carry out orders from line managers.

Conclusion Operational difficulties can undermine the basis for bilingual publishing and can ultimately force businesses or organisations to choose the easier monolingual option. The model described here deals with many of these difficulties, e.g. simultaneous publication, source- and target-text editing and matching, requisite publishing standards, compliance, rational translator location, etc. It also achieves high scores on performance parameters, e.g. document size, volumes. Despite being the subsystem of a larger monolingual publishing set-up, can the proposed model be considered a benchmark?

References Emery, Peter G. Critical Structures as a technique for evaluation of TRESL proficiency. In this volume. Witherington, G. Translation “for publication” vs “for information.” Multilingual July/August 2006, Volume 17 issue 5.

INTRODUCING E-LEARNING INTO TRANSLATION COURSES (THE CASE OF RUSSIAN AND ENGLISH): DISCUSSION OF THE BENEFITS DR OLGA TABACHNIKOVA, UNIVERSITY OF BATH

Abstract Translation courses are often taught in a classroom setting which imposes severe constraints on the teaching time. Introducing e-learning can help to diminish the inadequately short contact hours as well as to mitigate the problems of mixed-ability teaching and to entail a more satisfactory discussion and feedback. In this talk we shall present the results of our attempts to incorporate an e-learning provision into the existing translation courses between Russian and English at a post-graduate level. This involved various kinds of computer-assisted self-assessments and electronic lessons through digitizing the translation courses’ materials and incorporating them into a virtual learning environment. We wish to discuss the benefits of this approach, and the ways in which theoretically expected results correlate with practice. It is our hope that sharing our experience will lead to cross-fertilization of ideas and will ultimately serve to improve further our existing e-learning provision.

Introduction This paper is aimed at those who are interested in enhancing their teaching of translation to students by incorporating into it the use of virtual learning environments (VLE). My own experience, explained below, has been in using Blackboard (version 5, commercial product) for assisting with the teaching of translation. I thus developed an electronic adjunct to the Russian-English Postgraduate Translation course taught by Professor Rosalind Marsh on the two MA/Diploma courses in Interpreting and Translating and Translation and Professional Language Skills, to support

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the extension of the translation module of the HEFCE-funded Bath-Surrey MA/Diploma in Russian Language and Society to the VLE (and in general to have a significant impact on all our Russian-English and EnglishRussian translation courses at final-year undergraduate and postgraduate levels). I have subsequently developed additional digital materials and designed the corresponding electronic module for the reverse translation: from English into Russian, aimed at postgraduates and final year undergraduates. However, it is important to stress that this provision is general in the sense that it can be adapted to any specific modules (in other words, it is largely independent on the actual content of the course and the specific languages involved). The value of this experience, as I see it, is in the fact that Blackboard, which is, in a sense, a typical representation of a VLE, is not particularly suited or designed for assisting with teaching translation. Yet, it proved possible to customise it to fit in with our goals, but in order to achieve this, a number of problems had to be short-circuited. Thus this experience is useful in that it demonstrates new (perhaps unexpected) possibilities and shows the ways to realise them.

The use of VLE Before addressing this, a brief general note on the nature and use of VLE is due. As Nicole Kipar, a virtual learning technologist from Canterbury Christ Church University College writes in his report, 1 “A Virtual Learning Environment is a course information management system that takes a number of web-based services and places them together on a single site, with a single interface, accessed through a web browser”. These services are then easy to handle through “a single set of on-screen controls”. As Kipar points out “VLEs are increasingly becoming a standard feature of university education across the UK, widely adopted to support traditional and distance learning”. However, being of an obvious advantage to the educational process, VLEs are, on the other hand, restricted in the scope of the options and services provided – in contrast, say, to a website designed for a specific purpose. However, sophisticated websites are expensive to acquire, and it may thus be sensible to use the existing VLE provision purchased or adopted by your particular institution, tailoring it, whenever possible, to your specific tasks or needs. 1

Nicole Kipar, “What is the Blackboard VLE and how can I use it in my teaching?”, December 2003 report, available electronically at the Canterbury Christ Church University College website: www.canterbury.ac.uk

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The Bath Russian/English translation VLE In our use of Blackboard for teaching translation we adopted the general structural ideas developed by our colleagues at the university of Bath, Jane Francis and Valerie Pellatt (now of Newcastle), for their pilot-project to serve a Chinese-English translation course. Thus our electronic provision comprised two main areas of activity: Self-Assessment Centre and Homework Centre. The former offered four tests to students: one Multiple Choice Test and three Ordering Tests (in increasing order of complexity). Each test consisted of a text set for translation and four different versions of its translation into the target language. A student was supposed to choose the best translation in the case of the multiple choice test, and to order translations by decreasing quality in the case of an ordering test. The student’s answer would then be assessed automatically, and he or she would then proceed to view the detailed feedback (with corrections to inferior translation versions and commentaries supplied). It is the feedback which, in my view, has the most educational value. The Homework Centre was designed for handling assignments. It would set a piece of text for translation and supply the deadline for submission. Students could then post their translations to the teacher electronically, using the Blackboard e-mail provision, and suggesting a nickname for themselves. The teacher could then mark the assignments electronically and display them through Blackboard, having replaced authentic students’ names with their nicknames, for ethical reasons. All the students could then have a simultaneous access to all the (marked) translations, without knowing who the author of each work was, except for their own work (since they would recognise their nickname, if not the work itself). They could thus learn not only from their own mistakes, but also from those by their peers. After this conceptual introduction, we shall now reconstruct a real experience of a student using our electronic translation teaching via Blackboard and see in the process what difficulties had to be tackled by me as a designer of this provision within this particular VLE, and the ways I resolved them. To do this I will take you through the actual learning process, stage by stage (with the ability to see it also “from the inside”, at the teacher’s end). So, first, as usual, you have to login through the main Login page, as shown on the image below:

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This will take you to the front page of the VLE where, amongst various assisting options, you choose the relevant course in the list given under “My Courses” section: Now you are at the front page of your course.

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This page (as can be seen on the image below) gives you a brief description of the course content:

Alongside the textual description, situated on the right, there is a panel on the left which contains the virtual buttons (links). In this version of Blackboard the names of the buttons of the corresponding sections (content areas/fields) are predetermined and cannot be changed by the administrator. I therefore designated the existing buttons to facilitate the content of the course in the following way. The tests of the SelfAssessment Centre are available through the Course Material button, while the Course Information button will take you to the feedback for these tests. To enter the Homework Centre, that is to download the assignment, you have to click on the Assignments button, whereas to obtain the marked assignments you click on the Course Documents button. The same button will take you to the other documents associated with the course: the materials of the past examinations and the reading lists. The Staff Information button connects you to the field where the deadline for assignments is set. The Communication section (available through the Communication button) contains the Course Discussion Board, as the front page description informs you. Finally, the buttons marked “Announcements” and “Student Tools” remained the links to the

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corresponding sections with the content predetermined by Blackboard. Of the remaining three buttons: Resources, Course Map and Control Panel, it is the latter which is of utmost significance. This button can only be accessed by the administrator (i.e. by the teacher, and not by a student), and is used to set and manage the course. Now, the obvious difficulty, which this set-up conceals, is the simultaneous and unrestricted availability of both questions and answers. The way I selected to overcome this is to introduce the password-locked access to the tests’ feedback, as will be explained in more detail when we come to the relevant image later in this paper. The assignments’ feedback (i.e. the marked scripts) does not present the same difficulty, as it can be posted to the relevant field (Course Documents) only after the designated deadline. Instead of introducing an automatically barred access for late submissions, I opted for displaying a notice that late submissions will not be considered. The reason was twofold: to avoid technical difficulties and to allow a more humane approach when exceptional circumstances can be taken into account and individual late submission can be permitted, and handled in the same way as the other ones. Apart from locking the premature access to the tests’ feedback, another innovation introduced is in the fact that links to the main sections are provided on the front page in the textual description of the course content. These links replicate functionally the corresponding buttons on the left. Thus, when reading the description you can either click on the relevant link in the text (as you would do in a proper website), or you can use the panel on the left instead. The full set of these “textual” links is available from the front page only, while the panel is available (in its entirety) on every page of the course. However, the inability of the administrator to change the buttons’ names obviously creates a major interface difficulty: the need to remember, when on all those other pages, which button (i.e. which field) contains the relevant content (e.g., that Course Information contains the tests’ feedback, etc). I therefore provided whenever possible an additional “textual” link from a page; otherwise, as we shall see, I supplied a reminder as to which button on the left panel to “press”. Thus, from the front page you can access the relevant section of the course. Let us first go to the Self-Assessment Centre (through the Course Material link). Here is the image of the corresponding course page. It tells you which tests are available, and how you can view the feedback. The link to the feedback is provided (which takes you directly to the relevant field, also accessible by pressing the relevant – Course Information – button on the left panel, as explained above). This is precisely an illustration of the aforementioned phenomenon: of how this innovation

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(having the “feedback” link available in the text) frees you from the need to remember which exactly button on the panel to “press”. Incidentally, in this case the feedback link will take you to the information which is only available to those who already attempted the tests – otherwise you will be told to go back and take the tests first.

The Self-Assessment Centre comprises a folder with the contents page as well as four other pages: one for each of the four tests available:

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By entering each test’s page you are invited to take the test (by following the link “Take quiz” which is a genuine Blackboard service):

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You then get an additional (need to confirm) question (from Blackboard) which offers you an opportunity to cancel the decision of taking the test immediately:

By clicking on the “Take quiz” link, you get the following page with the instructions which explain the nature and the structure of the test and its assessment. These adopt the existing features of the VLE which clearly were not conceived with specifically teaching translation in mind. Thus the scoring system is primitive for our purposes (it is essentially Boolean: you are either right or wrong; numerically it corresponds to 0 or a positive number – in our case 5). For the actual tasks” setting I used the “link to file” option which takes you to a separate window. In it the text for translation and four (numbered) versions of its translation are given, and the student has to choose the best one. The downside is the inconvenience of having to handle all these texts as one file. However, you always have the option of saving it in your file space or printing it out to work on it at your leisure. The following two images viewed together give you the full idea of what is on screen at this stage (i.e., Instructions, the Question and four options for the answer):

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Having worked with the Word file, you then come back to the initial window and click on the number which is equal to the ordinal number of the best translation version. Below you can see the resulting image, when number 1 was chosen: .

However, this answer is wrong, and you are thus given the immediate feedback, as part of the Blackboard test structure. The brief text I provided there directs the student to the relevant field (through the button on the left panel, as the direct link proved technically impossible in this case, because it would confuse the system), and, importantly, equips him or her with the password. The latter is necessary for accessing the detailed feedback where all the four translation versions are marked and analyzed. Here is the image of the immediate feedback:

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The next two images represent the same process, only for the correctly given answer (i.e. when the correct number – in this case: four – was chosen):

and

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The next seven images convey the situation of taking a more sophisticated – Ordering – test (which is also structurally provided by Blackboard and into which I, again, inserted the relevant provision for translation teaching). There are three of such ordering tests available. The example given below concerns Ordering Test 2. At first the nature and structure of the test are explained. More precisely, this time the four given versions of translation of a given text, available again in a separate Word file, will be numbered by four letters: A, B, C and D. You have to order these letters by decreasing quality of translations (e.g. B C D A means that B is the best translation version, while A is the worst).

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You then have to register your choice (the B C D A sequence) using the drop-down menus of four numbers (1-4) associated with each letter. Thus, in our example, for A we would have to choose number 4, as A corresponds to the worst translation version.

The drop-down menu appears as shown here:

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Let us now consider a different example of the sequence to be registered – say, A B C D. In this case the result of choosing the appropriate numbers for each letter looks as follows:

You can then see the immediate feedback which shows you, alongside your chosen sequence, the correct one. In this case the latter is C B A D. This means that 50% of the answers are correct (indeed, B is the second best translation, while D is the worst): The maximum available score (set to be 20) is thus halved for the student with such an answer:

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However, had the sequence been chosen correctly (i.e., C B A D), the score would have been 20, as the next two images demonstrate:

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Now, to view the detailed feedback where the translations are marked and the comments are provided as to their relative qualities, you have to proceed to the Course Information section, as explained above. Here is the relevant image:

Clicking on the feedback link will take you to the appropriate Word file (given, once again, in a separate window). Next, to access the Homework Centre, i.e. to download the assignment, one has to enter the Assignments section. As the image below shows, detailed instructions are provided there as to how the students should handle this task, including the downloading of the text set for translation, submitting (anonymously, but with a nickname supplied) their translations, when ready, and learning the deadline for this. Clicking on the link to the Assignment file will create a separate window with the text set for translation. The “deadline” link will take you to the field (Staff Information) where the actual date is stored (it can thus be managed centrally – through that field alone, rather than changing the date wherever the deadline is referred to). As for posting in your translation – this has to be done through the Student Tools section (accessed via the left panel). Here is the relevant image – of the front page of the Homework Centre:

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Viewing marked translations is done through the Course Documents field where the administrator/teacher places the marked scripts together with a “model translation” after the deadline. Although the fluidity and relativity of the latter concept is explained to the students in the assignment instructions, ideally it should also be addressed in the classroom setting. Before the deadline the folder for marked assignments remains empty, and the reminder of the deadline as well as a pointer to the assignment text are supplied. This field also contains samples of past examinations and recommended reading list. These materials are available as Word files (as usual, in a separate window) and accessed through the given links:

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Now, the information about the actual deadline at any given time is stored, as was mentioned earlier, in the Staff Information field, and can thus be managed centrally:

Next, let us learn about the Student Tools field which is multifunctional, but whose main function for our purposes is to provide the way of sending

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to the teacher a completed assignment. This is done via the link to the Digital Drop Box (see below). Entering it as a student will provide you with ways of sending your work electronically in a file form to the teacher, within the VLE:

However, the functionality of the Digital Drop Box for the teacher is different from that for a student. Thus rather than entering it via Student Tools button on the left panel, the teacher should access it via the Control Panel button (on the left panel). The latter field is the principal one for managing and setting the course. Below you can see the image of the Control Panel field, with the Digital Drop Box button already “pressed”:

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Assignments arrive at the Digital Drop Box with a notification of the sender and the date. It is possible to add new files to the Box, and to send either the existing (stored) files or to upload a new one to be sent. A list of users is available, and it is then possible to choose the recipients to any given message that a teacher wishes to send. Amongst the remaining fields, the Communication field offers some useful services, such as a Discussion Board (to conduct discussions about the course) and a Virtual Classroom (for electronic lessons):

The remaining fields (Announcements, Resources and Course Map) were not actively used in my course, although they represent useful options for making course announcements, linking to external resources and viewing the course design (which is particularly useful for courses with sophisticated structures).

Conclusion Thus, in our case the VLE Blackboard was adjusted for a specific use - to teach translation. To this end various innovations were introduced, in order to customise the VLE for these specific purposes. The feedback to Tests was locked by introducing passwords, made available only after attempting the tests. Thus, a student could not stumble across the answers by chance. Different sections were interlinked for the users’ convenience

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(i.e. links were provided between content areas). This is not designed as part of the VLE, and thus it had to be specifically constructed (with extreme caution, not to confuse the system). More generally, the existing facilities were used to cater for the specific needs of the course. Thus, the Digital Drop Box was used for assignments submission, while in the tests the tasks (i.e. texts for translation) were provided via a link in a Word file form. This presented certain inconvenience, but still made it possible to use the existing VLE structures for providing translation exercises. Other structures did not need any alteration and proved useful to the course (such as Communication with the Discussion Board and provision for e-lessons). The obvious advantages of using the VLE for teaching translation can be described as a simultaneous access to information (e.g., viewing Assignment results), provision for distance learning, increased efficiency (e.g., unlike paper work which can be mislaid, the information on the web is permanently available). Finally, using this electronic provision solves a serious problem of an insufficient number of contact hours in translation teaching (by providing students with extra-practice, ability to ask individual questions, to address common problems and errors). Students’ response to the course has been very positive. They found such a provision useful, and, rather surprisingly, were happy with the electronic explanations and instructions rather than making requests for an introductory tutorial in a classroom setting. However, they did encounter some minor technical problems, which were largely due to their general unfamiliarity with IT. This, in my opinion, only reinforces the need for persisting with such electronic provisions to complement conventional teaching. Students’ criticism mainly revolved around the feedback which they wanted to be more specific rather than general (i.e. rather than addressing the common mistakes made) and to have more useful phrases suggested. In my opinion the feedback indeed can and should be improved in such cases, and this in itself is a special challenge opening up to a separate field of research (the details of constructing feedback in our case had to remain outside this paper); however, the texts offered were based on past papers sat by previous students, and thus contained genuine and most common mistakes made in the past. As such, it must be of high educational value. I therefore conclude by suggesting that using VLE in translation teaching can be a very useful tool, but various adjustments can be necessary (due to the fact that VLE are not normally designed specifically for teaching translation). These adjustments remain subject to personal ingenuity and can still fall short of a perfect electronic solution. However, this may still be more effective and financially viable than creating a

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specific website tailored for the purposes of a given translation course. Ultimately, however, it is an individual decision (either personal or institutional) – what outweighs: the advantages of using VLE for translation teaching or the (figurative) price to pay for having to adjust VLE for these specific purposes.

References Kipar, N. “What is the Blackboard VLE and how can I use it in my teaching?” December 2003. http://www.canterbury.ac.uk/support/learning-teaching-enhancementunit/publications/FLT-briefing-notes/Blackboard[1].pdf Accessed July 2006.

PART II: INTERPRETING

USING LANGUAGE TEACHING METHODS TO TRAIN INTERPRETERS ANDREW GILLIES, ESIT PARIS

Previously published in JĊzyk trzeciego tysiąclecia II, Tertium, Krakow, 2002. Editor Wladek Chlopicki.

Introduction In the article below I will try to describe how the methodology used in management training and in the teaching of English as a foreign language can be applied to the training of conference interpreters. When we think about teaching methods, schools, universities and the like, we probably see the same image. The teacher stands at the front of the class with the students sitting in rows before them and talks either to the whole group, to individual students or gives them instructions for exercises which students complete individually. This model is call lockstep, meaning that the pace of the lesson is defined by the teacher and each student must work at that same pace. Harmer (1991: 237) notes the following advantages of Lockstep: x Students are concentrated on what the teacher is saying, and can hear clearly what he says x The teacher is a good model of the target skill x The teacher can check the accuracy of what the students say This model is now, though, something of a rarety in language schools and corporate training schemes for the reasons outlined below. Towards the end of the 70’s private schools and firms began teaching on a large scale for the first time, influenced heavily by Anglosaxon schools and teachers, languages and management skills started being taught outside university and normal school buildings. Language schools and corporate training firms had clearly defined goals and worked under different conditions than did public educational institutions, and this led to a fundamental change in the approach to teaching (see Brundage, McKeracher, 1980; Nunan, 1984; Harmer, 1991) and training management

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skills (De Bono, 1970; Heron, 1999). The Lockstep model became a thing of the past.

Changes in teaching methodology I will look at changes in teaching methodology with respect to 4 areas: skills transfer, how we learn, dealing with mistakes, and the way we treat learners. 1. Skills transfer The realisation that the Lockstep method was useful for the transfer of information but less well suited to the transfer of skills led to fundamental changes in the teaching methods. The aim of the exercise, for example in language learning, management skills, (and now conference interpreting) was that the student be able to apply the skills learnt in the classroom in practice outside the classroom. Skills are learnt not because the teacher explains them but rather through the students’ practice of those skills. Knowing how to, and being able to are not the same thing. This process, through which theoretical knowledge is transformed, through repeated practice, into practical ability is called internalisation. One example of this process can be found in our mastery of our mother tongues. We cannot necessarily explain why something is right, but we know that it is. We internalise the grammatical rules of the languages unconsciously because we hear and use examples of them thousands of times as children. A mark of the importance of internalisation is that almost all European languages have a saying along the lines of, “practice makes perfect.” I don”t know any language with a saying, “theory makes perfect.” If we want to increase the time students spend practising, so that they can internalise principles and rules, the teacher’s role changes: it is no longer to pass on information, as it has been up until now, but rather it is to allow the students the maximum amount of time to practise their skills in the lesson. The student is to become the centre of attention of the teaching process, in contrast to the Lockstep model where the teacher was the focus of attention, and only one student was in direct interaction with the teacher at any given time, where the rest are not directly involved, they are passive.

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Figure 1. Lockstep model Trainer

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The fundamental change introduced saw students able to talk to one another within the framework of an exercise planned by trainers and under their supervision. In this way more students can be active for more of the lesson time. Since the goal of the lesson is for the students to apply the skills learnt themselves outside the classroom it would seem logical to offer them the chance to practise autonomously in the classroom first. Work in smaller sub-groups within the larger group is now the mainstay of modern teaching. (See Harmer, 1991; Lewis, 1993; Margolis, Bell, 1996). Below we can see that students can be active simultaneously and for a longer proportion of the time. Figure 2. Pairwork

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2. How we learn Teachers also looked at the ways in which students acquire skills and how the trainer can apply this knowledge in the classroom. The following are 3 of the many different elements that help people learn more effectively, x Use of external stimuli x Group psychology x Student motivation It is known that people learn better if visual, kinesthetic or other sensory stimuli are used, this means by using pictures, movement or calling on the

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other senses during the exercises completed in class time. (See Harmer, 1981; Puchta, 1992). The way students interact with each other and the teacher’s understanding of that interaction will also influence learning. The trainer considers psychological aspects in the planning phase to ensure, for example, that the less extrovert are involved to an equal extent. The way the trainer behaves also has a significant effect on the learning process. (Margolis, Bell, 1996). Motivation is also important for the learner – it is now the trainer’s task to help motivate students (See Brundage, MacKeracher, 1980). Motivation levels can be increased by using the methods described above and by using a variety of different activities during lessons. Motivation is also increased if the course is transparent, that is if the student can see what and why he is doing and what progress he is making and by involving students in decisions about the content of the course (asking them what they want to learn). The trainer’s behaviour is also a significant factor. Respect for, and courtesy towards, the learner should go without saying. The trainer must also take care not to hinder learning, for example by intimidating, deliberately or otherwise, the learners (for how to avoid doing this see Margolis and Bell, 1986; Quirke, 1996). Bringing together these ideas, the following Chinese proverb has become something of a mantra for teachers, Tell me and I will forget Show me and I will remember Involve me and I will understand Unfortunately that means that readers will probably forget what I have written here! 3. The approach to mistakes Traditionally, if the student makes a mistake the teacher corrects it by giving the correct version which the student then repeats. The aim of the exercise is that the student should not repeat the error in the future, but we should be aware that this type of correction is not effective. In addition it can often be perceived as negative and discouraging by the student. Normally a student will first learn some theoretical rule or pattern. There then follows a communicative situation or exercise in which the rule has to be applied. So the student recalls the pattern or rule and speaks or completes a task accordingly. If what they say is correct we see the following:

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Pattern o Analysis o Correct version If not, as we see below there follows a mechanical procedure in which the teacher “corrects” the error but in which the student’s arriving at the correct version and saying it requires no further intellectual effort from them. Figure 4.

Pattern o Analysis o Student’s version o Correction by teacher o Student repeats correct version It is not only the correct version that is important but also the way it is arrived at. Has the learner understood the rule or pattern and can they apply it? (Bartram and Walton 1991). If a correct answer is not arrived at immediately the teacher no longer corrects but rather draws the learner’s attention to the mistake. The learner then thinks back to the pattern he or she is trying to apply and tries to answer again. Figure 5.

Pattern o analysis o Student’s version o trainer reacts o Analysis [student] o Correct version from student If the student still answers incorrectly then we must return to the pattern itself which the student has clearly not understood. Figure 6.

Pattern o Analysis o Student’s version o Trainer reacts o Analysis [student] o Incorrect version from studento relearn rule 4. Student as customer As mentioned above the environment surrounding teaching has changed radically. Schools have become companies with a product to sell and are subject to the same rules of the market as any other company. Teaching is a product and the customer has to like the product. The customer has to know why they are devoting time and money to this product and that they

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are getting something out of paying for this product. The approach taken by teachers and directors of schools changed fundamentally as a result of seeing students as customers. Taking this approach means also finding out from students what they need. The information gathered is used to create our product, that is the lesson or course. At every stage the learner is informed or is able to see why a given activity is useful to their learning, and that they and their views are being taken seriously. Professional preparation of classroom materials, punctuality and the like also demonstrate that the learners are being taken seriously. Students are asked for their feedback on the quality of these measures at regular intervals. This should result in the following virtuous circle: Figure 7.

Product o Transparency of teaching o Professionalism o Learners” feedback o (improved) Product

Training Conference Interpreters The methods described above can also be applied to the training of conference interpreters since they are principles which apply irrespective of the subject being taught. It is worth noting that in teaching conference interpreting we are no longer acting in the role of interpreters but in that of teachers. Using the changes in teaching methods described and assuming that our goal is for students to autonomously interpret to a professionally adequate level, these ideas can be incorporated as follows. Again I will take the four areas described above as my basis; they are skills transfer, how we learn, dealing with mistakes, and the way we treat learners. 1. Skills transfer Interpreters do not often agree but they do agree that conference interpreting is a skill, rather than a theoretical subject area, and its mastery requires practice. In this respect interpreting is like learning a foreign language or acquiring management skills. The theory is interesting but the fact that a student has written a good MA thesis does not mean they can interpret. The need for practice is discussed at length by Heine (2000): practice time for the student interpreter can be increased in the same way as in the group work mentioned above while at the same time making the students the centre of attention. Imagine that in the diagram below the capital letters denote students in the booths, the small letters are other students listening to them.

Using Language Teaching Methods to Train Interpreters

124 Figure 8.

Trainer

S ž   s

S ž   s

S ž   s

S ž   s

S ž   s

In this model the students are interpreting for and listening to one another, the material for interpretation being provided either by an invited speaker, one of the students or a recording. In this way each interpreter has a listener for the whole time they are working and the listener has the opportunity to practise evaluating interpretation. The importance of this skill for the student interpreter should not be underestimated, since as a working interpreter, one must evaluate one’s own work all the time (Schjoldager 1996). During this activity the trainer can listen to all the students in turn. When we come to the feedback part of the lesson we use the same model. Thus the trainer doesn’t comment on students in turn (see Fig 1) but rather first asks the students to discuss the interpretation in pairs. The trainer can listen in while they do this and only afterwards briefly sums up the points which are most relevant to all or most students. In this way students spend less time listening to comments that do not apply to them and more of them are active for more of the time. In pair work the students are the focus of an activity and are active for longer. Sainz (1993) uses the same approach in training translators – and in this way students practise for longer which helps them internalize the skills more quickly. The advantages of quicker internalization in interpreter training are discussed in, for example, Weber (1989), Kalina (1992), Heine (2000) and Gillies (2001). 2. How we learn The same model (Figure 8) is also effective if we look at the three elements discussed above that promote better learning. They are the use of external stimuli, group psychology and student motivation. Varying the activities – listening then interpreting (and perhaps also giving the speeches) – promotes learning and gives the lesson a certain dynamism, as students have to move about. This may seem trivial but even the fact of changing seats alone will increase attention levels in the classroom. The students are also active for longer - see Harmer (1991) and Altman (1989).

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Visual and sensory stimuli are more difficult to apply, but not impossible. Imagine we wish to demonstrate that interpreting the ideas is more important than the individual words (Jones, 1998). Gile (1995) does this using one picture and showing how many ways its contents can be rendered in words. One can go further though – instead of asking students to interpret a text we can show a series of pictures, which indicate the content of the speech; for example the following series of photographs: the Heads of Government of Austria and the Czech Republic, a meeting room, a nuclear power station with a large “X” could in effect give a number of renderings, for example: x The Prime Ministers of Czech Republic and Austria met to discuss the closure of a nuclear power station..... x Miloš Zeman and Wolfgang Schuessel were both present at a meeting on the future decommissioning of nuclear power stations..... There are of course many other possibilities. The interpreter is conveying the same information in a number of different ways thus demonstrating the freedom to reformulate in interpreting and thus avoid source language interference. Because we are using pictures the students’ attention levels are higher and they will remember the point of this lesson longer – the principle of “show me.” The principles of group dynamics and psychology also apply. In Figure 8 the less outgoing students can translate in the knowledge that critical feedback will be given in a smaller group (pairs), while the more extrovert do not monopolize the lesson or the trainer’s time. The interpreter-trainer should also be aware of the effect their personality has on students and adjust it accordingly (Margolis, Bell, 1996). Motivation is increased through varying the activities in the classroom. In Figure 8 Students interpret for each other, give feedback to each other while the trainer monitors but is not directly involved. Students may also be asked to give the speech to be interpreted. In this way they are involved in creating the substance of the lesson, and are the focus of it. They feel responsible for what happens in the lesson, which increases motivation and thus promotes learning. Similar ideas about interpreter training can be found in Bowen (1993). 3. The approach to mistakes Correction in interpretation classes is on the one hand desirable, as the trainer gives good examples of the target skill (trainer as model – Harmer, 1991: 237 and Altman 1989). On the other hand the aim is for the student to find the solution for themselves, since as we have seen, in giving the correct answer the trainer actually hinders the learning process (see figure

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4.). Neff says as much: “Par les fautes commises, le professeur revient sur les mecanismes d”analyses a l’origine de ces erreurs” (Neff 1989:232). Gile (1993) also favours focus on the learning process rather than the endproduct. Let us look at the following example. Jones (1998) suggests the following principle: “Do not start a sentence with a conjunction even if the speaker does,” and notes that doing so may cause problems for the interpreter especially if the sentence is long and if the speaker himself forgets how it began. Imagine the student interpreter starts a sentence as follows: x Despite the ruling of the Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.... But the speaker then digresses after the word “Strasbourg,” adds extra information leading both him and the interpreter to forget how they started the sentence and therefore they cannot complete it gramatically. The trainer can suggest a correct version but it would be more useful to apply the methods described above (See Figure 5), and simply make the student aware of the error. The student will recall the difficulties they had and can consider how they might have been avoided. A student who is familiar with Jones’ principle can arrive at a solution on the basis of it, and those who do not may arrive at a solution (and Jones’ principle) themselves. If not, the principle should be presented in a separate lesson. 4. Student as customer Despite the fact that most interpreting schools are part of universities, we are actually training professionals, who will work in and be subject to the rules of the market. The school too is subordinate to the laws of the market. Students can choose where they go to train their skills, and so there is competition between schools. Here we can use Figure 7 as a model

Product o Transparency of teaching o Professionalism o Learners” feedback o (improved) Product. Interpreting schools compete on the quality of their products (their courses), rather than on the level of fees, which are generally set by the universities in which the schools are located. Because our customers should be happy with the product they buy, it needs to be continually improved. To involve students in decisions about the course content, we ask about their expectations and explain what each part of the course is

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designed to achieve (transparency). The course and lessons can be made more transparent and the learning process more effective if the trainer presents and organises practice for each of the component skills individually. For example spending several weeks on each element of consecutive interpreting – speaking skills, memory training, discourse analysis, note-taking, (including the use of margins for example) and note-reading. Such a breakdown will show the student that the course has a clear structure and will allow them to follow their own progress more clearly. The product should be prepared properly, meaning that the course and each lesson is planned in advance and has a clear set of goals, and that the materials are presentable. The teacher should be dressed appropriately, punctual (turning up 10 minutes late is not acceptable), and polite (all students should be treated as equals and not in proportion to their abilities or shortcomings). Remarks of a personal nature directed at students are unacceptable (see Margolis, Bell, 1996). At the end of the course, we ask the students what they thought of it – formally, for example in the form of an anonymous questionnaire. On the basis of the replies it may be necessary to change some elements of the course from one year to the next.

Conclusions Drawing from the methods used in the teaching of English as a foreign language and management training, I have described in brief the fundamentals of contemporary teaching methodology. I hope to have demonstrated that these universal principles can also be applied to the training of conference interpreters. Improving one’s abilities as a teacher, like improving one’s abilities as an interpreter, requires talent and a certain amount of effort. Teaching is a skill, like interpreting, and in order to improve, the teacher must practice, a lot, applying tried and tested principles and continually evaluating their own performance. Some interpreters like Pöchhacker (1993 ), Seleskovitch (1989) and Kalina (1992) lament their colleague interpreter-trainers’ lack of familiarity with the theoretical literature of the field and call on them to read more of it. They are quite right to do so, but interpreter-trainers should also make themselves familiar with the newest training literature and methods. My call, to colleagues, as much as myself, is:

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Explore! Experiment! Exchange!

the teacher training methods and literature around. with new teaching methods and techniques. experience and ideas with colleagues.

This will help us constantly to improve the effectiveness of our teaching and the quality of our “product.”

References Altman, J. “The role of tutor demonstration in teaching interpreting.” In The Theoretical and Practical Aspects of Teaching Conference Interpreting, edited by Gran, L., J. Dodds, 237-241. Udine: Campanotto, 1989. Bartram, M. and Walton, R. Correction – A Positive Approach to Language Mistakes. Hove: Language Teaching Publications, 1991. Bowen, M. “Teaching and learning styles.” In Teaching Translation and Interpreting: Training, Talent, Experience, Papers from the First Language International Conference Elsinore, 1991. Edited by Dollerup, C., and A. Loddegaard. Amsterdam: Benjamins. 175-182, 1992. Brundage, D. H. and D. MacKeracher. Adult Learning Principles and Their Application to Programme Planning. Toronto: Ministry of Education, 1980. De Bono, E. Lateral Thinking. London: Penguin, 1970. Dollerup, C. and V. Appel, eds. Teaching Translation and Interpreting 3: New Horizons. Papers from the Third Language International Conference, Elsinore, 1995. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 1995. Dollerup, C., and A. Loddegaard, eds. Teaching Translation and Interpreting: Training, Talent, Experience, Papers from the First Language International Conference Elsinore, 1991. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 1992. Dollerup, C. and A. Lindegaard, eds. Teaching Translation and Interpreting 2: Insights, aims and visions. Papers from the Second Language International Conference Elsinore, 1993. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 1994. Gile, Daniel. Tinsley, R. “Guidelines for college and university programs in translator training” ADFL Bulletin Vol. 4, No. 4, Modern Language Association: New York, 1973 —. “Basic theoretical components in interpreter and translator training.” In Teaching Translation and Interpreting 2: Insights, aims and visions.

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Papers from the Second Language International Conference Elsinore, 1993. Edited by Cay Dollerup and A. Lindegaard, 185-194. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 1994. —. Basic Concepts and Models for Interpreter and Translator Training. Amsterdam: Benjamins, 1995. Gillies, Andrew J. Conference Interpreting: A Students Companion. Kraków: Tertium, 2001. Gran L. & J. Dodds, eds. The theoretical and technical aspects of teaching conference interpretation. Udine: Campanotto, 1989. Harmer, Jeremy. The Practice of English Language Teaching. London: Longman, 1991. Heine, M. “Effektives Selbststudium – Schluessel zum Erfolg in der Dolmetscherausbildung.” In Dolmetschen: Theorie – Praxis – Didaktik – mit ausgewählten Beiträgen der Saarbrücker Symposien. Edited by Kalina, S., S. Buhl and H. Gerzymisch-Arbogast, 213-230. St. Ingbert: Röhrig Universitätsverlag, 2000. Heron, J. The Complete Facilitator’s Handbook. London: Kogan Page, 1999. Jones, Roderick. Conference Interpreting Explained. Manchester: St. Jerome, 1998. Kafka, Franz. Der Prozes, Frankfurt: Fischer, 1979. Kalina, S. “Some views on the theory of interpreter training and some practical suggestions.” In Translation Studies – An Interdiscipline. Edited by Snell-Hornby, M. F. Pochhaecker, and K. Kaindl, 219-226. Amsterdam: Benjamins, 1994. —. “Zu den Grundlagen einer Didaktik des Dolmetschens.” In Dolmetschen: Theorie –Praxis – Didaktik – mit ausgewählten Beiträgen der Saarbrücker Symposien. Edited by Kalina, S., S. Buhl and H. Gerzymisch-Arbogast. St. Ingbert: Röhrig Universitätsverlag, 2000. Kalina, S., S. Buhl & H. Gerzymisch-Arbogast Dolmetschen: Theorie – Praxis – Didaktik – mit ausgewählten Beiträgen der Saarbrücker Symposien. St. Ingbert. Röhrig Universitätsverlag, 2000. Krawutschke P. W., ed. Translator and interpreter training and foreign language pedagogy. ATA Scholarly Monograph Series, III, Binghampton Press. Binghampton, 1989. Lewis, M. The Lexical Approach. London: Longman, 1993. Margolis, F. and Bell, C. Instructing for Results. Minneapolis. MN: Lakewood Publications, 1986. Neff, J. “Pour une méthologie dans l’enseignement de l’interprétation consécutive.” In The Theoretical and Practical Aspects of Teaching

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Conference Interpreting, edited by Gran, L., J. Dodds, 229-237. Udine: Campanotto, 1989. Nunan, D. The Learner-Centred Curriculum. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984. Pochhacker, F. “The role of theory in simultaneous interpreter training.” In Teaching Translation and Interpreting: Training, Talent, Experience, Papers from the First Language International Conference Elsinore, 1991. Edited by Cay Dollerup and A. Loddegaard, 211-220. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 1992. Puchta, H. Do and Understand. Hove: Language Teaching Publications, 1992. Quirke, B. Communicating Corporate Change: A Practical Guide to Communication and Corporate Strategy. London and New York: McGraw-Hill, 1996. Sainz, J-M. “Student-centred corrections of translations.” In Teaching Translation and Interpreting 2: Insights, aims and visions. Papers from the Second Language International Conference Elsinore, 1993. Edited by Cay Dollerup and A. Lindegaard, 133-142. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 1994. Schjoldager, A. “Assessment of simultaneous interpreting.” In Teaching Translation and Interpreting 3: New Horizons. Papers from the Third Language International Conference, Elsinore, 1995. Edited by Cay Dollerup and V. Appel, 187-197. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 1995. Seleskovitch, D. “Teaching conference interpreting.” In Translator and interpreter training and foreign language pedagogy. ATA Scholarly Monograph Series, III. Edited by P. W. Krawutschke, 65-88. Binghampton: Binghampton Press, 1989. Snell-Hornby, M. and F. Pochhacker, K. Kaindl. Translation Studies – An Interdiscipline. Amsterdam: Benjamins, 1994. Weber, W. “Improved ways of teaching consecutive interpretation.” In The theoretical and technical aspects of teaching conference interpretation. Edited by Gran L. & J. Dodds, 161-167. Udine: Campanotto, 1989.

AWARENESS OF THE MONITORING FUNCTION IN PROFESSIONAL AND TRAINEE INTERPRETERS CHRISTELLE PETITE Abstract This paper aims at shedding light on the awareness of the monitoring function during simultaneous interpreting. Interpreters – like speakers – have access to a monitoring function during speech production. During simultaneous interpreting, the interpreter divides his/her attention between the listening, understanding, processing, producing and monitoring of speech. This control mechanism allows him/her to edit his/her own output and therefore possibly produce a self-modification, also known as a repair. This phenomenon has been studied by various scholars in order to explore the production of speech and more specifically to better understand what the correction of errors in speech can tell us about the whole process. A study of repairs in interpreting gives us an opportunity to observe, in a non-invasive way, the interpreter’s mind at work in real time. The subject’s level of experience may influence the awareness of the monitoring function during simultaneous interpreting. Therefore I decided to compare the performance of a group of trainee interpreters with a group of professionals. A trilingual corpus was compiled from the work of several professional interpreters working at two conferences. Subsequently the same speeches were given to a group of trainee interpreters during an experiment set up in a university. All interpreters’ performances were transcribed and later analysed following psycholinguistic findings. In this paper I will posit various hypotheses and attempt to ascertain whether trainee interpreters repair their outputs and if they do, what type of repairs they produce in comparison with their professional counterparts. This observational as well as experimental study – even if limited – will provide evidence of trainees” and professionals” awareness of their monitoring function and therefore could also have implications for the training of future interpreters.

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Introduction Following the completion of my PhD thesis on the occurrence of repairs in simultaneous interpreting, I decided to look at the performance of trainee interpreters in order to ascertain whether, as Moser-Mercer (1997) points out, there are significant differences in the awareness of the monitoring function depending on the subject’s level of experience. On the basis of an experiment carried out with trainee interpreters I wish to find out more about the level of awareness of the monitoring function during simultaneous interpreting. I will test various hypotheses to shed light on trainees’ performance compared with their professional counterparts. In this article, we will see whether trainee interpreters repair1 their utterances and, if so, what type of repairs they produce.

The monitoring function Speech production proceeds in different phases. An idea is conceptualized, formulated before being articulated. During the whole process flaws or trouble can be prevented from hindering the comprehension of uttered speech by the monitoring function. Scholars tend to disagree as to the place of the monitor in speech production. Some prefer to place it outside the model and suggest that it has access to different levels of production. This is the so-called “production theory of monitoring” (see Laver, 1969; Van Wijk and Kempen, 1987). Others place the monitor inside the model in order to prevent duplication of knowledge and a slowing down of operations (see Levelt, 1983, 1989). In this “perceptual loop theory”, an internal monitor looks after the speech which has not been uttered yet while an external monitor checks the articulated speech. This theory speeds up the whole monitoring process and seems therefore more adequate for the study of simultaneous interpreting data. Indeed the concomitant activities inherent in simultaneous interpreting do not leave much time for the interpreter to monitor his/her output. The former type of monitoring is called pre-articulatory and the latter post-articulatory. Once the flaw or trouble is detected action can be taken and can generate the production of a repair. While there is ample evidence of post-articulatory monitoring and consequently repairs, pre-articulatory repairs are much more difficult to detect.

1 Editor’s note: repair may be defined as interpreters” instantaneous selfcorrection.

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The experiment In order to find out more about the performance of novices, I decided to set up an experiment with trainee interpreters at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh. Over a weekend in February 2005, seven postgraduate students on an MA programme (3 with French A and 4 with German A) willingly took part in a workshop during which they interpreted a variety of speeches. For reasons of time constraints only two original speeches which had been used in my PhD thesis were played to trainees. Students had been asked by their own lecturers in advance of the experiment whether they wished to take part and had been told what the subject matters would be. Therefore they had ample time to familiarize themselves with the terminology if they so wished. Out of a series of speeches, students were told that only two speeches would be recorded for research purposes. No trainee was aware of my field of study, just like the professional interpreters I recorded for my thesis. Before starting the experiment the trainees were extensively briefed on the contextual aspects of the speeches. The first conference was recorded in Ireland and took place in Dublin Castle in 1998. It was a European Regional Meeting of the “International Social Security Association”. The topic was the “Evaluation of Social Security Reforms”. The speech used with trainees is the opening speech which has a speed of delivery of about 150 words per minute. The professional interpreters had access to a manuscript in the booth. Therefore I gave the trainees the same printed material. The second conference took place in Galway (Ireland) and was entitled “Global Change through Information Technology”. The recorded speech is a Powerpoint presentation containing vague bullet points which was given to the professional interpreters but was not available for the trainees. The speed rate of the presentation is, on average, approximately 170 to 180 words per minute. Just as for the larger corpus it was decided to use the same 10 minute speeches for the trainees. Both speeches were played to trainees in interpreting booths at HeriotWatt University and the corpus of their interpretation was recorded on tapes and later transcribed on paper. This corpus will be compared with the performance of professional interpreters recorded in situ. For the first conference, three professionals were recorded (two with German A and one with French A) and for the second conference, one professional interpreter with French A was recorded. All interpreters shall remain anonymous.

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Different types of repairs In his extensive study of repairs in spontaneous speech, Levelt (1983, 1989) found different types of repairs. He listed several overt or postarticulatory repairs: Appropriateness repairs (when the speaker “becomes aware that the way he expressed the intended information needs qualification in view of the context of expression”) (Levelt, 1983: 52); E repairs (when the speaker detects a mistake or an error) and finally D repairs (when the speaker prefers a different order of words, in other words he operates a change of direction and gives an alternative syntax). Furthermore, Levelt also found so-called covert or pre-articulatory repairs called C repairs. In this case, the utterance is corrected pre-articulation. C repairs are found when “no morphemes are changed, added or deleted” (Levelt, 1983: 44-45). He gives the following example to illustrate his covert category (Levelt, 1989: 13): “(…) to the left side of the purple disk is a v-, a horizontal line”. In this paper, within-word interruptions will be classified as “mid-articulatory” repairs, i.e. instances where monitoring happens in-between stages, meaning neither completely post-articulatory nor pre-articulatory. During simultaneous interpreting, the interpreter’s role is to relay what the speaker has said in one language to the audience in another language. The interpreter represents an intermediary through which the message is relayed. In this triangular process two types of utterances need to be monitored: the speaker’s and the interpreter’s. This in turn gives rise to different kinds of repair mechanisms. If the repair is triggered by the original speaker’s utterance, I will call it input-generated. If on the other hand it is triggered by the interpreter, I will call it output-generated. Also, a category of “indeterminate repairs” was added to account for instances where the repair is unclear.

Quantitative analysis First I will present the results of the professional interpreters in a tabular format followed by the results of the trainee interpreters. Then I will posit various hypotheses and attempt to verify them.

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First conference Professional 1 (Total: 15)

A E D Mid-Art. Ind. Total

Output 2 3 2 2 1 10

Input 1 2 2 0 0 5

Total 3 5 4 2 1 15

Table 1: Professional interpreter (French A) Professional 2 (Total: 21)

A E D Mid-Art. Ind. Total

Output 2 3 1 5 0 11

Input 3 1 3 2 1 10

Total 5 4 4 7 1 21

Table 2: Professional interpreter (German A) Professional 3 (Total: 36)

A E D Mid-Art. Ind. Total

Output 1 9 7 9 1 27

Input 3 1 5 0 0 9

Total 4 10 12 9 1 36

Table 3: Professional interpreter (German A)

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Awareness of the Monitoring Function in Professional and Trainee Interpreters Trainee 1 (total: 27)

A E D Mid-Art. Ind. Total

Output 5 3 8 5 0 21

Input 1 3 1 1 0 6

Total 6 6 9 6 0 27

Table 4: Trainee interpreter (French A) Trainee 2 (total: 33)

A E D Mid-Art. Ind. Total

Output 4 1 3 1 0 9

Input 3 7 8 3 3 24

Total 7 8 11 4 3 33

Table 5: Trainee interpreter (French A) Trainee 3 (total: 66)

A E D Mid-Art. Ind. Total

Output 1 13 13 16 2 45

Input 3 4 5 9 0 21

Table 6: Trainee interpreter (French A)

Total 4 17 18 25 2 66

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Trainee 4 (total: 36)

A E D Mid-Art. Ind. Total

Output 7 8 2 5 0 22

Input 7 1 5 1 0 14

Total 14 9 7 6 0 36

Table 7: Trainee interpreter (German A)

Trainee 5 (total: 35)

A E D Mid-Art. Ind. Total

Output 6 6 7 4 1 24

Input 3 3 3 2 0 11

Total 9 9 10 6 1 35

Table 8: Trainee interpreter (German A) Trainee 6 (total: 17)

A E D Mid-Art. Ind. Total

Output 4 5 3 3 0 15

Input 1 0 1 0 0 2

Table 9: Trainee interpreter (German A)

Total 5 5 4 3 0 17

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Awareness of the Monitoring Function in Professional and Trainee Interpreters Trainee 7 (total: 23)

A E D Mid-Art. Ind. Total

Output 6 5 3 3 0 17

Input 1 5 0 0 0 6

Total 7 10 3 3 0 23

Table 10: Trainee interpreter (German A)

Second conference Professional 4 (Total: 46)

A E D Mid-Art. Ind. Total

Output 6 8 2 14 2 32

Input 1 2 10 1 0 14

Total 7 10 12 15 2 46

Table 11: Professional interpreter (French A) Trainee 1 (total: 30)

A E D Mid-Art. Ind. Total

Output 2 2 7 5 3 19

Input 3 0 5 3 0 11

Table 12: Professional interpreter (French A)

Total 5 2 12 8 3 30

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Trainee 2 (total: 35)

A E D Mid-Art. Ind. Total

Output 11 7 8 2 0 28

Input 2 1 2 2 0 7

Total 13 8 10 4 0 35

Table 13: Professional interpreter (French A) Trainee 3 (total: 67)

A E D Mid-Art. Ind. Total

Output 4 7 11 17 0 39

Input 2 4 17 5 0 28

Total 6 11 28 22 0 67

Table 14: Professional interpreter (French A) Trainee 4 (total: 31)

A E D Mid-Art. Ind. Total

Output 6 8 6 2 0 22

Input 4 2 2 1 0 9

Table 15: Professional interpreter (German A)

Total 10 10 8 3 0 31

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Awareness of the Monitoring Function in Professional and Trainee Interpreters Trainee 5 (total: 25)

A E D Mid-Art. Ind. Total

Output 4 6 3 8 0 21

Input 0 1 0 3 0 4

Total 4 7 3 11 0 25

Table 16: Professional interpreter (German A) Trainee 6 (total: 19)

A E D Mid-Art. Ind. Total

Output 1 2 5 3 1 12

Input 2 2 0 3 0 7

Total 3 4 5 6 1 19

Table 17: Professional interpreter (German A) Trainee 7 (total: 24)

A E D Mid-Art. Ind. Total

Output 4 4 6 4 2 20

Input 1 1 0 2 0 4

Total 5 5 6 6 2 24

Table 18: Professional interpreter (German A)

First hypothesis Trainee interpreters’ performances are less polished. Therefore they produce more repairs in total than professionals. The tables above show us a difference in the total number of repairs between trainees and professionals. For this first conference and with the exception of one professional (professional 3) who has a total of 36 repairs and one trainee (trainee 6) who has a total of 17 repairs, all trainee interpreters repaired more often than professionals, respectively 27, 33, 66,

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36, 35, and 23 compared with 15 and 21. This shows a certain level of awareness of the trainees’ monitoring function. For the second conference and with the exception of one trainee (trainee 3 with a total of 67 repairs) the number of repairs produced by the professional (46) outnumbers the number of repairs produced by each trainee: 30, 35, 31, 25, 19 and 24.

Second hypothesis Trainee interpreters are less aware of the whole interpreting process. Therefore they produce more output-generated repairs than professionals The results show a significant difference between the total numbers of output-generated vs. input-generated repairs. For the first conference and with the exception of one subject (trainee 2), all trainee interpreters produced more output than input-generated repairs. Whereas the difference is also true for professionals, we can see a much stronger discrepancy between output and input repairs in the trainees than in the professionals with the exception of professional 3 (26-9). For the second conference the total numbers of output-generated repairs is also higher than the total numbers of input-generated repairs for trainees and professional alike. The discrepancy is not as marked for three trainees out of seven (i.e. trainees 1, 3 and 6). These results show that our trainees are more likely to repair something triggered by their own output rather than the original input. This suggests that the trainee subjects are more aware of their own output than of the source text.

Third hypothesis Trainee interpreters tend to be less confident with their first solution. Therefore they will produce more A-repairs than professionals. The results show that for the first conference a vast majority of trainees produced more A repairs (14, 9, 7, 7, 6) than the professionals (5, 4, 3) with the exception of two trainees (trainee 6 and trainee 3, respectively 5 and 4 A repairs). For the second conference, the results are slightly different. Only two trainees (trainee 2 and trainee 4) produced more A repairs (respectively 13 and 10) than the professional (total of 7). All others produced less A repairs (6, 5, 5, 4 and 3).

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Fourth hypothesis Trainee interpreters are less experienced and make more mistakes. Therefore they will produce more E repairs than professionals. Trainee interpreters tend to produce more mistakes than their professional counterparts. This could generate a larger number of Erepairs. The results obtained for the first conference show that a vast majority of trainee interpreters produced more E repairs (17, 10, 9, 9, 8, 6 and 5) than the professionals (5 and 4) with the exception of professional 3 (total of 10). For the second conference, the results are the opposite. The professional interpreter produced more E repairs (10) than the vast majority of trainees (10, 8, 7, 5, 4 and 2) with the exception of one (trainee 3 who produced 11).

Fifth hypothesis Trainee interpreters shorten the time-lag (décalage). Therefore they produce more D-repairs (Different repairs). In general, trainees tend to shorten the time-lag between the input and their own output. This, in turn, could result in a large number of what we call “D-repairs”, i.e. when the speaker “realizes that another arrangement of messages would be easier or more effective” (Levelt, 1983: 51). In other words, the interpreter starts with one idea, stops and repairs in order to be able to finish the message. For the first conference and with the exception of one professional interpreter (professional 3) a vast majority of trainees (trainee 4: total of 7; trainee 1: total of 9; trainee 5: total of 10; trainee 2: total of 11; trainee 3: total of 18) produced more D repairs than the professional subjects (professional 1: total of 4, professional 2: total of 4). One trainee produced the same number of D repairs (trainee 6: total of 4) and one trainee less (trainee 7: total of 3). For the second conference and with the exception of one trainee (trainee 3: total of 28) all trainee interpreters produced less D repairs (3, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12) than the professional interpreter (46).

Sixth hypothesis Trainee interpreters shorten their time-lag and are more insecure. Therefore they produce more Mid-Articulatory (mid-word) repairs than professionals. The results show that for the first conference only one professional (professional 1) produced fewer Mid-Articulatory repairs (total of 2) than

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the others. The majority of trainees produced either 3, 4 or 6 MidArticulatory repairs while the other two professionals produced 7 and 9 and one trainee uttered 25. As for the second conference, and with the exception of the same trainee (who produced 22) all trainees uttered fewer Mid-Articulatory repairs than the professional interpreter (total of 15).

Conclusion In this paper, I attempted to shed light on the level of awareness of the monitoring function in professional and trainee interpreters. The quantitative analysis is limited and the fact that there is only one professional interpreter for Conference 2 does not allow us to draw many conclusions as to the comparison between professionals and trainees because of the paucity of subject. However, some trends did emerge. First, trainees showed a certain awareness of their monitoring function by detecting trouble while interpreting and generally repairing more than professionals. They also repaired their own output more often than the input of the original speaker. Moreover, trainees produced more A, E and D repairs than professionals. Trainees were played the “Social Security” Conference, (Conference 1) first, before interpreting the conference on “Telework” (Conference 2). It is possible to hypothesize that the first conference would generate more repairs than the second one because trainees were more alert and aware of possible trouble they uttered but it is not the case. At least not for all trainees. In fact the opposite is true for trainee 1 (Conference 1: total of 27; Conference 2: total of 30), trainee 2 (33-35), trainee 3 (66-67), trainee 6 (17-19) and trainee 7 (23-24). The only two trainees who produced less repairs are trainee 4 (36-31) and trainee 5 (35-25). In conclusion, this limited study of repairs in professional and trainee interpreters represents a first step towards a more refined and detailed analysis of the corpus. A qualitative analysis would be indeed necessary to ascertain whether trainees tend to produce the same types of repairs as professionals and why. Such a non-intrusive study is valuable as it can be duplicated in order to find out more about the whole process of simultaneous interpreting.

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References Danks J.H., G.M.Shreve, S.B.Fountain, M.K.McBeath, eds. Cognitive Processes in Translation and Interpreting. London: Sage Publications, 1997. Fromkin V.A., ed. Speech errors as linguistic evidence. The Hague/Paris: Mouton, 1973. Laver J. “The detection and correction of slips of the tongue.” In Speech errors as linguistic evidence. Edited by Fromkin V.A., 132-143. The Hague/Paris: Mouton, 1973. Levelt, W. “Monitoring and self-repair in speech.” Cognition 14, (1983): 41-104. —. Speaking: from Intention to Articulation. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1989. Moser-Mercer, B. “Can Interpreting Research Meet the Challenge?” In Cognitive Processes in Translation and Interpreting. Edited by Danks J.H., G.M.Shreve, S.B.Fountain, M.K.McBeath, 176-195. London: Sage Publications, 1997. Van Wijk, C. and G. Kempen. “A Dual System for Producing Self-Repairs in Spontaneous Speech: Evidence from Experimentally Elicited Corrections.” Cognitive Psychology 19, (1987): 403-440.

EVALUATING A CAPACITY MEASURE FOR INTERPRETING RESEARCH – BILINGUAL DIGIT RECALL YA-SHYUAN JIN, ROBERT H. LOGIE AND MARTIN CORLEY, UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH

Abstract It has been contended that working memory is implicated in simultaneous interpretation (SI) (Christoffels, De Groot, & Waldorp, 2003), both to store the input message for interpretation and to provide a workplace for the translation process. In order to investigate these functions, we conducted two experiments in which native Chinese (Mandarin) speakers proficient in English were presented with sets of digits to memorise, which were recited aloud either in the same or in a different language. When the digit lists were presented visually, performance was high in cases where the recall was in Mandarin. Surprisingly, this pattern did not hold for auditory presentation, where Mandarin input was advantaged. A second experiment, in which participants were explicitly instructed to rehearse aloud visually-presented digit lists in Chinese or English before responding, established that the auditory advantage for Chinese input in Experiment 1 could be attributed to early availability of digit representations in the phonological buffer. We discuss the implications for translating from written and spoken input.

Assessing Phonological Loop in SI It has been proposed, “one should aim at systematically decomposing the SI process into simpler and more basic operations (Frauenfelder & Schriefers, 1997)”. Christoffels and colleagues suggested that word translation and working memory are two independent subskills of SI in untrained bilinguals (Christoffels, De Groot, & Waldorp, 2003). Although the speed of single word translation was found to correlate with SI

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performance, it remains unclear as to how working memory is related to SI. In the present paper, we present two experiments in which the translation task (translating digit words) is kept as simple as possible, in order to independently assess how working memory plays a part in translation. The following section gives a brief sketch of the working memory model as put forward by Baddeley (A. Baddeley, 1986).

Working memory – a very brief introduction According to Baddeley (2000), “working memory refers to a limited capacity system allowing the temporary storage and manipulation of information necessary for such complex tasks as comprehension, learning and reasoning.” This model is comprised of four components (Fig 1). 1 Here, we are primarily concerned with two: the central executive, which allocates attention to memory-demanding tasks, and its slave system, the phonological loop (PL), which is assumed to rehearse and store speechbased information (the other two slave systems are the visuospatial sketchpad and the episodic buffer).

Fig 1 Revised working memory model, adopted from Baddeley (2000), p 421.

PL is the most thoroughly studied slave system of the working memory model and is reckoned highly relevant to the processes of SI (Christoffels & De Groot, 2005). It is thought to contain a temporary storage system in which acoustic or speech-based information can be held temporarily, but 1

The fourth component, episodic buffer, will not be discussed in this paper mainly because its mechanism is not entirely clear.

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will spontaneously fade away within two seconds unless it is refreshed with subvocal rehearsal in the phonological loop. For example, in order to remember a telephone number, we usually silently say or whisper it to ourselves again and again until we copy it in our address book or mobile phone. Using our inner voice to rehearse to-be-remembered items is called subvocal rehearsal or covert rehearsal. The disruption of this rehearsal process can usually lead to fast forgetting and poor recall performance. Another robust feature of PL is the word length effect. It was found that subjects had more difficulty in recalling long words than short words even when word frequency was controlled (Baddeley, Thomson, & Buchanan, 1975).

Relating SI to phonological working memory A few studies have established correlations between working memory capacity and SI performance (I. Christoffels, De Groot, & Waldorp, 2003; I. Christoffels, De Groot, AMB & Waldorp, LJ, 2003; Padilla, Bajo, Cañas, & Padilla, 1995), which highlight the importance of working memory in SI. Christoffels and colleagues discovered significant correlation between SI performance and both digit span and reading span, especially when the tasks were conducted in the participants” second language. One study by Shlesinger (Shlesinger, 2000) was explicitly designed to measure the load placed on working memory by translation. Shlesinger’s participants were required to translate sentences with high load input strings, each of which had four adjectives preceding a noun, e.g. “clumsy, stylised, heavy, stilted language” from English to Hebrew. Note that Hebrew is a post-modification language, so when translating a text with multiple modifiers from English into Hebrew, participants must store the item words such as the adjectives in an earlier example and reconstruct sentences online in order to produce grammatically correct interpretation. Shlesinger observed significantly poor recall for strings of items, presumably because information storage and syntax reconstruction trade off one another for limited resources of working memory (see also (Mizuno, 2005). However, because the translation task required the use of the central executive at the same time as the phonological loop was presumably required for rehearsal, the exact role of working memory in these studies is hard to determine. The present experiments, by keeping the translation task simple, allow us to investigate what parts of working memory may be implicated in maintaining the original or translated message. Taken together with Shlesinger and Mizuno’s findings, we hope to gain a richer view of the contribution of working memory to translation.

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SI, by its nature, requires auditory input. But it could be that the characteristics of this input affect the memorability and translatability of the message. In fact, as early as 1912, Henmon showed that recall for digits is better when they are presented auditorily than when they are presented visually (Henmon, 1912). In order to investigate this difference with respect to translation, we presented our digit lists both auditorily and visually. However, to ensure that translation would take place, we used digit words (like three) rather than numerals (like 3) in visual presentation.

The Present Study The overarching assumption in this study is that SI performance is dependent on efficient coordination of working memory and long-term memory by the central executive, and the phonological system is strategically recruited in the face of possible lexical or syntactical overload. By minimising the lexical load, this study investigates the spoken recall of digits presented in either Chinese or English, in a written or spoken modality, where the language of recall is either English or Chinese. A second experiment replicates some of the visual conditions of experiment one, together with explicit rehearsal instructions designed to account for the observed differences between visual and auditory presentation. In order to study the participants’ error patterns, the traditional span measure, characteristic of increasing set size until an individual makes mistakes in two out of three trials, was replaced with fixed-length digit recall. The list length of nine was decided with reference to the possibly largest span of 9.9 observed in a group of Chinese monolinguals (Hoosain, 1984) and a pilot study we conducted to rule out the possibilities of ceiling and floor effects.

Experiment One This experiment was designed to examine digit recall with translation in eight conditions (two translation and two same-language conditions after visual and auditory presentations).

Procedure 24 Chinese-speaking advanced learners of English, aged between 19 and 34, took part in this study. They all had a score of 6.5 in IELTS or the equivalent score in TOEFL. Each participant had to complete a SelfEvaluation Bilingualism Questionnaire as part of the study. On the day of

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experiment, there were two language proficiency tests and two experiments to be carried out. The senior form of Mill Hill Vocabulary Scale (MHV) (Raven, 1997) and ZHC (Occupational Chinese Test) were used to index their language proficiency. Their mean scores were 43.33 (full score = 66) in MHV and 74.25 (full score = 100) in ZHC. Subjects always finished two experiments before taking proficiency tests to avoid fatigue. In Experiment 1, there were eight conditions, each of which has six trials with the first one as a practice trial. In the visual conditions, nine digit names were presented in the centre of a computer screen, one digit at a time. The presentation duration was one second for each digit word and the inter-item interval was zero seconds. In the auditory conditions, recordings of digit words were played through a headphone at the same rate as in the visual presentation. In both conditions, after each list of digits was presented, the full screen turned cyan, which served as a signal for immediate recall. The reason for using colour as the cue was to avoid the suffix effect2. During all digit word presentations, participants were told not to rehearse aloud or whisper to themselves in order to make sure that overt rehearsal was ruled out. Any hand movements used to aid memory were forbidden. Their oral recall for each list of digit words was immediately marked, and only the digits recalled in their correct order were counted.

Results The mean digit recall performances of 24 participants are shown in Table 1. Participants’ recall scores in each condition were analysed using ANOVA, with modality (two levels) and translation direction (four levels) as factors3. There was a main effect of directions (English into English, Chinese into Chinese, Chinese into English, English into Chinese) (F (3, 69) = 46.6, p˘0.01). In same-language conditions, CC is significantly larger than EE after both modes of presentation. The comparison at the recency part of serial curves for all conditions between visual and auditory modes established that modality effect is significant in CE but only marginal in CC. However, the interaction between translation (performance of translation conditions) and storage (performance of same2

People are found to be good at recalling the last few items in a list of stimuli, but this recency effect tends to be reduced when an irrelevant verbal item is attached to the list. Note that a pure tone does not produce the suffix effect. 3 ANCOVAs including Mill Hill and ZHC scores as covariates showed no differences, which were not shown using ANOVA, and are not discussed further.

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language conditions) identified by Ellis and Hennelly (1980) was not observed in our data. In other words, it does not appear that our participants had any advantage in storage-only conditions over dual-task ones.

Table 1 Mean digit recall under eight conditions

It is noteworthy that the difference between CC and EE in Ellis and Hennelly’s study was significant but not as big as that in our study. Together with the absence of trade-off between storage and translation taken into consideration, it was suspected that word length effect alone cannot fully account for the huge discrepancy. Also, Table 1 clearly shows Chinese response language advantage (CC ˉ CE=2.1, CC ˉ EC=0.2, p