Translation, Terminology and Responsibility

1. Translation, Terminology and Responsibility Belinda Maia Universidade do Porto

2. Objectivos desta Jornada • Partilhar conhecimentos nos domínios da tradução especializada, tanto técnica como literária, com uma forte componente de interdisciplinariedade; • Promover o reforço do elo entre os estudos de tradução especializada e o mundo empresarial; • Fomentar o diálogo entre as empresas e a comunidade académica acerca das necessidades reais na área da tradução.

3. Objectives of this Jornada • To exchange knowledge acquired in fields of specialized translation, both technical and literary, with a strong emphasis on the need for interdisciplinarity; • To promote and reinforce the links between specialized translation studies and the business world; • To encourage dialogue between the translation market and the academic community on the real needs of professional translation.

4. Emphasis of this contribution • To exchange knowledge acquired ………. with a strong emphasis on the need forinterdisciplinarity; • To encourage dialogue between the translation market and the academic community on the real needs of professional translation

5. This contribution will • Examine: • Changes that have taken place in market demands for translation over the last 40 years • The way translators have been educated over the last 40 years • The problems of developing translation curricula • The way special domain translation and terminology studies have (not) been taught • The importance of terminology to the professional translator

6. This contribution will • Call for greater responsibility from: • The academic world and the development of translation curricula • The translation market as responsible and just employers • Translators as professional language services providers

7. Pym’s (2000) 3-segment model of the market • The bottom end of the market – students, friends-of-friends, part-timers = no real professional training > badly-paid • The middle market professional translator = usually with qualifications, sometimes in-house, or free-lance working for a company > average pay • The “highly competent language professionals” – earning more money than they can find time to spend!

8. Translation market – 40 years ago • Professional translators = • Translators in the EC, UN, NATO and other international organizations – very often bilinguals with qualifications in a specialized field like economics, science, law etc • In-house translators for ministries or large companies – often secretaries with good knowledge of languages • Free-lancers – often with some other part-time job – with knowledge of languages

9. Translation Market – Now • Professional translators = • Translators in the EC, UN, NATO and other international organizations> but increase in outsourcing > • In-house translators – disappearing as work is >>>> outsourced> • Language services companies • Free-lancers – often employed by these companies + some other part-time job

10. Today - Translator > Language Services Provider • See Maia et al (2002) • The Language Services Provider: • Translates and interprets • Uses translation software • Uses information technology • Revises translations • Summarises texts • Edits and adapts both originals and translations

11. Today - Translator > Language Services Provider • Does Technical Writing • Subtitles and dubs multimedia texts • Works on localization teams • Creates Translation memories • Creates Terminology databases within commercial translation software • Works with Controlled Writing and Machine Translation • Does research in Computational Linguistics and Language Engineering

12. Translation Training – Past • Graduate and Post-graduate training at: • Geneva (1941) • Viena(1943) • Montréal (1951) • Paris – ISIT and ESIT (1957) • Belgium - ESTI, Brussels (1962): ISTI, Brussels (1965) : Antwerp HIVT (1968) • Private Institutes and Polytechnics – combining languages with secretarial skills • Knowledge of languages + ‘learning on the job’

13. Translator Training Today • A wide variety – see: • Listof Translator-Training Institutionsby Country at: http://isg.urv.es/tti/tti.htm > A general survey – not always up-to-date • Translation and Interpreting courses at Lexicool: http://www.lexicool.com/courses.asp > Particularly good on Post-graduate courses – and up-to-date

14. Translator Training Today • Undergraduate courses - New ones developed every year • Not always with the benefit of professional advice on the relevance of the curricula • Not always with the benefit of knowledge of the market • Often more with a view to solving the needs of the teaching institution than the needs of the market

15. Why? • Translation courses are traditionally taught in the environment of Modern Languages – or formulated for other institutions by professors from this environment • The academic Modern Languages world is dominated by Literature • Recently, Literature ‘discovered’ Translation Studies

16. What is Translation Studies? • Munday (2001) - a ‘bird’s eye view’ of: • Linguistic theories • Functional and systemic theories • Cultural studies – e.g. feminism / colonialism • The (in)visibility of translation • Philosophical theories • Translation studies as an interdiscipline • ETC

17. Translation studies and responsibility • Debates the translator’s responsibility to: • The author • The source text • The social, cultural and historical context of the source text • The reader of the translation • The social, cultural and historical context of the reader of the translation • The linguistic realization and expression of the source text and context in the translation • ETC

18. For example • The translator’s responsibility to: • Shakespeare (1564-1616) • Romeo and Juliet (1594-5) • The social, cultural and historical context of Shakespeare’s plays in general – Elizabethan England • The social, cultural and historical context of the story of Romeo and Juliet – Italy

19. For example • The translator’s responsibility to the social, cultural and historical context of the reader of the translation: • 16th century Portugal? • 21st century Portugal? • General or academic readers? • Verse or prose? • Work of art… or a crib for students of English literature?

20. But what about Romeu & Juliet as: • An opera by Gounod (1867) • Ballet music by Prokofiev (1935) • Film – Zefirelli (1968) • Film – Luhrmann (1996) – in modern dress • West Side Story (1961) • Shakespeare in Love (1998) ?

21. Now multiply all these possible interpretations by involving a different language, country, culture and time!

22. And how relevant is all this theory to professional translation?

23. Well…. • Legal texts > products of centuries of different legal systems • Is the translation a legal document – or an explanation of the legal content? • Think about a university degree certificate • Technical texts • Are you justified in improving them using techniques from Technical Writing?

24. And…. • Scientific texts: • Result from complex, highly sophisticated, and constantly evolving knowledge systems • Often become out-dated after a few years • May belong to different contemporary schools or trends in science • They are NOT a combination of ‘difficult’ words • They are only boring to those who don’t understand them – i.e. many translators!

25. So… • These facts should be recognized today by those who teach future PROFESSIONAL translators • Let us see how people are trying....

26. Translator Training Today • Undergraduate courses in Translation AND: • Interpreting • International Relations • European Studies • Intercultural Communication • Translation or Language Technology • Terminology • Documentation

27. Translation AND • Specialization in: • Language services of international organizations • Documentary translation (general and technical) • Précis-writing • Conference/community/public service interpreting, • Politics • Business, economics, law, etc • Editorial work • Literary translation • Multimedia • Etc

28. OR… • Applied Languages • Language Sciences • Intercultural Communication • ……………

29. Translator Training Today • Post-graduate and specialized translation courses • Increasing number of courses offered • Wide variety of specializations • Language services professionals • Translators with information technology skills • Domain-specific Translators e.g. Law, Economics • Translators for Multimedia • Localizers • Language Engineering Research

30. Questions? • Should we TRAIN translators or EDUCATE them? • Should Translation, Interpreting and other Language Services be taught at a Graduate or Post-Graduate level? • Should the Graduate level concentrate on general skills only? • Should Post-Graduate study concentrate on specialization?

31. Questions? • Should we talk about: • ‘Técnicas de Tradução’ / Translation Techniques? • ‘Tradução e Seus Mecanismos’ / Translation and its Mechanisms (NOT machine translation!) • Tradução Específica ou Tradução Especializada / Specific Translation or Specialized Translation (and what is the difference?)

32. Questions? • Why does one University teach: • Teoria e Prática da Tradução Literária • BUT • Prática da Tradução do Texto de Especialidade • Why do so few university translation programmes include courses on Terminology or Document Management?

33. Answers? • There are plenty – but the principal ones: • A combination of ignorance and intellectual snobbery within the academic system • The Result / Cause of market lack of comprehension of need for Total Quality Management in documentation • The Result / Cause of the low value (and pay) for Translators

34. Terminology in Translation courses - the Past/Present • Post-graduate courses prefer training domain specialists + good knowledge of languages • No terminology training considered necessary • Terminology learnt ‘on-the-job’ –in-house translators / specialized free-lancers • Terminology acquisition feature of ‘on-the-job’ experience

35. Terminology in Translation courses - the Past > Present • (Frequent) Special subjects in teaching programmes • Related to general business skills • Introductions to: • Economics, law etc – • BUT very basic • (Rare) Introductions to: • Terminology • Document Management • Quality Control

36. Translator educators • Believe(d?) that if the student could do literary translation, anything else came easily • Do (did?) NOT consider Scientific and Technical translation a problem • A good dictionary and common sense is/was all one needed • Access to expert information difficult and/ or expensive

37. Market and Terminology • Resulting ‘terminology’ from translators is/was often unacceptable to specialists • Scientific and technical translation given to: • domain experts • in-house translators • free-lancers who specialize • ‘Translators’ continue(d) to be considered ‘secretaries with languages’

38. Terminology as a discipline • Sager (1992) – terminology can be • An activity - “the set of practices and methods used for the collection, description and presentation of terms” • A theory – “the set of premises, arguments and conclusions required for explaining the relationships between concepts and terms which are fundamental for a coherent activity under 1” • “A vocabulary of a special subject field”

39. Prescriptive Terminology • Wuster (from 1930s) – engineer • Standardization of terminology • Ideal of 1 concept = 1 term • International Standards Organization (ISO) • Instituto Portuguesa da Qualidade (IPQ) • National interests in terminology – e.g. France, Canada, Catalonia, Austria

40. Terminology Today • Increasingly Descriptive • Radical change from paper to digital form – dictionaries /glossaries > databases • Essentially multidisciplinary • Domains with special traditions – e.g. Chemistry, Pharmaceuticals, Engineering, Medicine..... • Linguistics > lexicography > specialized lexicography > terminology

41. How do Translators fit in? • Terminology is usually – but not always – a bi- or multi-lingual activity • Terms often translated by experts – sometimes by translators and/or linguists • Translators are USERS of terminology – but need to be aware of strengths and limitations of sources • E.g. EURODICAUTOM is NOT the Word of God!

43. Terminology and Translation • Technical dictionaries are: • Limited to certain areas • Out-of-date very quickly • Theories, concepts and products evolve and change • Terminology changes to reflect this evolution • On-line glossaries are particularly suspect unless provided by reputable organizations • Many organizations and companies have ‘in-house’ terminology that is not valid elsewhere

44. TerminologyToday and Tomorrow • In a knowledge-driven world good terminology is essential for • Translation software • Information databases • Information Retrieval • Knowledge Engineering • Artificial intelligence

45. Translation, Terminology and Responsibility • The academic world that educates translators must learn to be responsible to the market, and teach responsibility to its students • The market must become more responsible and accept that Total Quality Management requires training and hard work – and good pay • Translators must .... Be responsible!

46. Thank you!