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In line with its theme of "New Ideas for a New Century" and with up to seven concurrent sessions, numerous displays by publishers and software firms, and much networking' amongst the 500 participants between sessions, the triennial congress of the International Federation of Translators (FIT) held in Vancouver on 7-10 August offered far more than one 'rapporteur' can summarise here. The following is a lopsided view of just some of the sessions I attended in line with my own interests, although I have tried to abstain from subjective comments on the presentations. The next Congress is to be held in Finland in 2005.
The keynote speech on the first day was given by Robert Bringhurst, a Canadian poet who has studied both European and Asian languages and whose translation career of forty years includes several volumes of Native North American oral literature. Commenting that for him translating is a 'method of exploration,' a means of finding out what others have, Professor Bringhurst used linguistic maps to indicate the extent of the disappearance of Native American languages. Despite these losses, 34 languages from seven different language families survive in British Columbia today. The professor focused in particular on his work with Haida oral literature, stressing that to understand this it is first necessary to learn the language of oral literature and Native American literature, which focuses on the timelessness of myth, rather than on trying to create something 'novel.' In his view, anthologies deal in stereotypes and fail to give a sense of the complexity of Native American literature. In an echo of the famous comment in 1917 by Rudolf Pannwitz, Bringhurst suggested that instead of translating from Native American languages we should translate ourselves into their languages.
The first session I attended after the plenary opened with a report by Dr Defeng Li of Hong Kong on the trustworthiness of think-aloud protocols (TAPs). TAPs involve taping translators as they verbalize their thought processes while translating, and the goal is to gain a better understanding of the cognitive processes of translators. The speaker compared 15 different TAP studies and discussed safeguards that can be put in place to increase their reliability and validity. His paper was followed by another one on TAPs, presented by Professor Wolfgang Lorscher of Germany, whose comments, along with other points, raised the interesting question of whether the translator's cultural or social embedding shapes the translation process.
I missed the first part of Dr Jiri Stejskal's paper on "International Certification: The ATA Perspective." His presentation consisted of a comparison of certification (a term he seemed to be using interchangeably with 'accreditation') in different countries, focusing particularly on initial eligibility rather than requirements for continuing certification. In addition to passing an accreditation test, the various requirements identified by his survey of the situation in various countries related to a minimum age, citizenship, place of residence, legal competence, membership, references from colleagues or clients, mandatory mentoring, compulsory attendance at professional seminars, a screening test such as TOEFL prior to the accreditation test, education and experience. Currently Egypt is the only country that includes a screening test, but the American Translators Association is thinking of introducing this, as is the National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters in Australia. According to Dr. Stejskal's findings, Japan is the only country where computers are used in the test (Australia has started to allow candidates to word-process their translations, using computers provided by NAATI). Dr. Stejskal concluded that the trend is towards less emphasis on testing and more on qualifications.
'Certification' was also the ostensible theme of a presentation by a salesman from IO-TEK Inc. He described his company's "on-line certified human translation" scheme, whereby any translator or editor who is already accredited by a national association or who is a member of an association belonging to FIT can receive a 'seal' from IO-TEK and register with them for free and receive tools such as Trados when necessary to complete a job. IO-TEK connects translators and clients with no need for them to communicate directly and sends jobs only in the translator's field of specialty. This service, which is available in 42 languages, includes an accounting system that automates the invoicing procedure. There was much scepticism from the audience about how the translators are not allowed to interact with the clients at all (only with an IO-TEK project manager), how translators must accept or decline job offers within 30 minutes without viewing any sample of the text or being informed of its length, and how long jobs are split amongst several translators working in isolation from each other. The spokesperson claimed that 7,547 people have already signed up, but he admitted that fewer than 1,000 are used on a regular basis. He asked whether translators want to be vendors or suppliers, suggesting that the latter is the job of translators, who should leave the selling to marketers such as his company.
One striking feature of the whole Congress was the emphasis on the impact of technology on the translation profession, with localization being one recurring theme. Reinhard Schaler's talk on "The cultural dimension in software localization" commenced with the 'confession' that localization translation is "not terribly interesting," but he went on to stress that the sheer size of the localization market makes it of great importance. Most localization is from English, and the golden rule is to re-use (leverage) as much of the existing product as possible, which leads to the use of translation memory software such as Trados. What made this presentation unusual was its focus on the cultural aspects of localization. Schaler suggested that the "shallow level" (e.g., cross-cultural differences in the use of colours, sensitive pictures and images, hand signals, symbols, sounds, history, product names, and acronyms) is now mostly understood, but the deeper level (e.g., entertainment, education, eContent, individualism vs. collectivism, masculine vs. feminine, weak vs. strong, and uncertainty avoidance) is not yet fully understood. He argued that localization involves more than just changing the wrapping, and it might also be necessary to adapt the underlying value system. Schaler advocated a bottom-up approach to achieve this, with the contents being localized first. He closed with a recommendation that instead of simply being recipients of others' local content, we should all become localizers, making our own local content accessible to everybody.
The plenary session on the second day was presented by Harry Obst, who has worked as a German interpreter for seven American presidents after having taught himself English at a young age in East Germany by devouring eight copies of Ladies Home Journal, the only English reading material available to him at that time. With the self-professed aim of providing "entertainment rather than enlightenment," this talk was a string of amusing anecdotes about life as a top-level interpreter. Mr. Obst was of the view that dealing with presidents is less daunting than dealing with their staff. He emphasized the need to learn to deal with embarrassment and just carry on, the need to be curious and want to learn at least the basics of the topics one is asked to interpret, and the need to be able to work without sleep. His advice to interpreters was not to believe words "guilty" of carrying a meaning until they have been analyzed from all sides. The recommended solution to nerves is to think that the speaker is actually your assistant who is feeding you your speech sentence by sentence. Obst also touched on how speakers sometimes use the interpreter as scapegoat and on his opinion that if the leader lacks a command over his or her own language, the other side has the right to know this, without the interpreter improving on the language. Obst suggested that when working with another interpreter who makes a mistake, body language (e.g., a raised eyebrow) should be used to signal the problem and to give the other interpreter a chance for self-correction.
The interpretation of 'ethics' in a session containing three papers on this topic was somewhat unconventional. Julien Marquis from Canada regarded as a matter of ethics the question of whether to accept repetitive and boring work such as the post-editing of machine translation output. Discussing the problem of reconciling the need for speed with the need for accuracy, he stressed the importance of good project management and working discipline to produce quality translations at speed and noted that the new technological tools now available are useful in this respect. The paper by John Schmitz from Brazil raised questions about the relationship between ethics and the growing "industrialization of translation" on the Internet, asking whether translators are receiving full credit for their work and whether some controversial topics are purposely not being translated.
Dr. Sarah Cummins' paper discussed the pros and cons of different approaches to the rendition of proper names in fiction and non-fiction texts, such as retention (i.e., transliteration), domestication, or omission. Names might be retained in their original form out of a desire to present the character in his or her own context, and exotic names can add to the translation's authenticity. Dr. Cummins also pointed out the paradox of transparently meaningful proper names, which must be translated while retaining their status as proper names. In conclusion, she emphasized that there is no obligation to follow a consistent approach to the handling of proper names within a single text. The dichotomy between form and meaning was also the theme of a survey by two researchers from Malta who concluded that form can overtake the content at times, as their subjects' reaction to various bilingual speakers' accents affected their reaction to the content of material heard on tape.
One of the more interesting and lively sessions was a panel on translator training, which focused on how to bridge the perceived gap between what students are taught and what the market needs. Brian Mossop from the Canadian government's Translation Bureau cautioned against excessive expectations of what translator schools can achieve. He does not believe that simulating the client situation is appropriate in the classroom, where reflection is the goal; instead, he advocates practicums and professional development workshops for learning practical skills and how to translate longer texts, and he believes that translators' associations have a role to play here. Another participant suggested that 10 weeks is a good length for practicums. The suggestion was also made that pairing students with high-profile translators and then writing this up would be good publicity about the usefulness of practicums. In Mossop's view, teaching computer skills in translation programs is a waste of valuable time that is better spent on text analysis and writing skills, for instance. He also advocates the teaching of theory, which provides tools for thinking about translation, and translation history, which develops a self-concept of the translator in a specific temporal and geographical location.
In the same panel, Ros Schwartz, a literary translator, stressed the importance of knowing how to work with editors and the need to understand copyright and contract issues. She encouraged students to follow their own instincts and take responsibility for their subjective choices, but acknowledged that students find this intimidating and tend to play safe. Tim Martin from the European Commission, which employs 1200 full-time staff translators, put forward some very concrete suggestions—swaps between translator trainers and staff translators; research collaboration; short-term placements; input from practitioners as external examiners; academic input into quality assurance and quality control; ensuring a balance between practical skills such as computer skills and the need to write well; compulsory courses in technical writing and creative writing; and greater collaboration between universities and professional associations. Martin also contended that institutional translations should often be better than the source texts, which are frequently written by non-native speakers (alternatively, the source text could be improved before translation). He concluded by arguing that translators are our own worst enemies and that we need to change our 'slave mentality.'
Christine Durban, a freelance financial translator who spends 4-5 hours every day reading about her specialty, likewise stressed the need for pre-specialization courses in writing skills. She also suggested that it is the questions you ask and how you ask them that show your client how much you know. The poor writing skills of graduates was again highlighted by the final speaker on the panel, Courtney Searls Ridge, who somewhat controversially suggested starting translator/interpreter training at the high school level and targeting the children of bilingual families. She also recommended that in order to overcome their inadequate understanding of the market, students should join professional organizations at an early date and take advantage of professional development and mentoring. Ridge advocated vocational certificate programs at community colleges, taught by professional practitioners.
In Canada, where English and French are the two official languages, all translation schools include translation into students' second language. The final speaker on the panel, Christine Durban, argued that this is unproductive except perhaps for utilitarian translations or if translators are paired with a native speaker of the target language. Mossop was of the view that it is possible to learn certain formulae about how to translate into one's second language. All panel members stressed that students of translation should be regarded as future allies, not competitors.
The final keynote speaker was Professor Alan Melby of Brigham Young University, a renowned expert on the nexus between translation and technology who also spoke at the IJET conference last year. In his view, technology is good at handling "frozen" language (formalized human language that has been agreed on in advance and is re-usable and recyclable), but less suited to dynamic (living) language. Machines are stupid but have great memories, and translators should not be scared of them but should befriend them as colleagues who have their uses. The only people who feel threatened by technology in translation are those who are not using it but are trying to compete with people who are. The "technologies to watch" are text representation (Unicode and XML), translation tools (e.g., workflow management tools), and what Professor Melby has dubbed Translation/Localization Container (TLC), defined as "source and target texts and images, specifications, including termbase, and intra-business and inter-business workflow information." In particular, he suggested that translators learn about XML, as we will all be receiving texts in this format in the next few years. The specialized translation tools he mentioned included tools for segmentation, alignment and encapsulation; termbase setup or enrichment; translation memory and machine translation; terminology look-up; tools that check the grammar and markup or check for missing segments; and tools that check terminology for consistency, false friends, and variants. The progress from searching for sentence-size segments to the ability to search for segments of any size has blurred the distinction between terms and segments, although termbases (concept-oriented) and bitexts (corpus-oriented) remain distinct. One limitation of translation tools pointed out by Professor Melby was the assumption that source texts and target texts have essentially the same discourse structure. The ability to use various translation tools is particularly important when working as part of a team. Professor Melby predicted that machine translation will be used only for gisting and "frozen" texts until machines have "agency" (when they might refuse to do the job!). He closed by saying that the only way these tools will impoverish language is if we use them improperly by failing to distinguish between frozen and dynamic language. He also suggested that translators can emphasize minority cultures and facilitate small-player to small-player interaction. Anyone interested in pursuing this topic further might like to visit Professor Melby’s website at www.ttt.org.
Professor Carol Maier from Kent State University gave a paper entitled "Eggshells—Self-Translation and Three Suggestions for Encouraging Student Translators as Writers." Starting out from a study of translator-protagonists in novels and from her own experience in translating some of her own writing into Spanish, she argued that translators cannot merely be a "conduit" as we "unsettle" the original text. In her view translator trainers need to "trouble" and also tantalize students, preparing them to question the source text’s authority while also attending to it meticulously. Using multiple translations of the same text allows a rethinking of notions such as equivalence. Focusing on the translation of literature, her suggestions included exposing students to bilingual oral readings (e.g., a writer and the translator conduct a joint oral reading, or students give their own bilingual readings), so as to demonstrate how the translation and the original are inevitably different. Having students think of themselves as speaker and writer was another suggested strategy for encouraging plural readings. Finally, self-translation gives translators additional insights—experiencing the "horror" of having to change either the text or themselves—and also enables extra liberties. Professor Maier believes that self-translation could open up a new field of translation and offer insights into such issues as equivalence (although she prefers the term "equilibrium") and that self-translation is also an affirmation of the translator as a writer.
Marco Fiola from Quebec spoke on the aptitude tests used as admission requirements by many translator training programs. Citing as translational aptitudes the ability to analyze and synthesize, as well as a knowledge of general culture and savoir-faire (translatorial competence), he noted that none of the Canadian schools he had surveyed currently test general cultural knowledge. He also suggested that linguistic competence has been over-emphasized and that translation into the B language is becoming more common in Canada, although this often occurs in tandem with a native speaker of the target language.
Professor Hannelore Lee-Jahnke of the University of Geneva spoke on assessment in translator training, proposing three criteria for summative assessment—exactitude (e.g., content and meaning), creativity (e.g., sociolect, register, collocations, word play, and connotations) and marketing aspects (e.g., appropriateness for the target audience and for the norms of that text genre). In the case of formative assessment, she argued that it should be perceived as an aid to students, not as a penalty. In addition to the traditional evaluation of students’ translations by the teacher, she suggested that students sometimes evaluate the teacher or each other and that professional translators also be invited to evaluate the students on occasion.
Speaking on the teaching of translation theory, Professor Agnes Whitfield from York University conceded that theory often does not help with microtextual choices, and she argued that course objectives should be formulated in terms of what trainee translators will need after graduation. Nevertheless, she believes that theory should lie at the core of translator training and that it helps give students a sense of control over their learning. Rather than just a textual approach to translation, Professor Whitfield argued for the adoption of a more engaged, social approach, by which she was referring to matters such as ethics, networking, and the social context.
Dr. Milena Savova gave a presentation on the on-line translator training provided by New York University, which after some earlier trials is starting a Master of Science in Translation this fall that will be delivered totally online. The instructors and students are based around the world, with the primary advantage of distance learning being the access it offers. Dr. Savova believes that translation lends itself to online training, but emphasized that it would be naive to think that on-campus teaching methods can be simply transplanted without modification. Students and teachers miss the classroom interaction, and the lack of body language in e-mail means that criticism is sometimes taken more to heart than would be the case otherwise. To overcome such problems, the NYU program starts out with an orientation for students and instructors on how to communicate better on the Internet, and much "hand-holding" is necessary in the first course to overcome student anxiety. The program also relies heavily on student support services. Over time people apparently do get to know each other well. Dr. Savova admitted that on-line learning is not for everyone, but people tend to become more comfortable with this mode of study as they progress, and shy students do much better on-line. Students must learn to become quite independent and they must do more reading than in on-campus courses, while instructors have to devote more time to answering student questions individually in writing. Teaching on-line means that instructors cannot "wing it" but must prepare the whole course in advance. In terms of teacher workload, teaching a class of 10-15 students takes at least 8 hours a week, and students receive a lot more personal attention than in a conventional classroom. The NYU program includes regular live chat sessions at different times (for up to five students in a session), with these chats being used for questions, solutions, and discussing previous translations. The university provides students with headphones so that they can participate in live chat, although there is a slight time lag. These sessions are archived for other students to access if they wish to do so. Dr. Savova stressed the need to set limits—for instance, telling students that the instructor will be online every two days, otherwise students expect immediate answers. With the assistance of one of the translation instructors, Dr. Savova gave a live demonstration of on-line teaching, while noting that on-line connections are not always stable. The tuition for this program, which can be taken on a full-time or part-time basis, is US$1,000 per credit point (plus fees), with the degree comprising 42 credits in total. Students are required to have proficiency in English and two foreign languages, and 10 different source languages are currently being offered. The final term of the degree, which can be completed in one year on a full-time basis, must be taken in New York.
Unfortunately, I was unable to attend the presentation by Professor David McMurray from the International University of Kagoshima, Kyushu, on "Haiku Development from 17 Phonograms in Japan to 11 Syllables around the Globe" but I did have the opportunity to chat with him over lunch. Altogether I counted 13 participants who translate from or into Japanese, and some of us met with other Japanese translators in the Vancouver area for an informal sushi dinner one night, organized by Randy Helten and Naoko Uchida. In her capacity as a representative of the Japan Society of Translators, Professor Kumiko Torikai from Rikkyou University was elected as a member of the new FIT Council.
After studying at the Australian National University and the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, Judy Wakabayashi worked in Tokyo as senior translator at the Australian Embassy and subsequently as a freelance translator. She later completed a Ph.D. on Japanese-English translation and taught translation at the University of Queensland for 15 years. She continues to translate professionally and has also published various articles on translation. Recently, she took up a position at Kent State University as associate professor of Japanese translation.