CC BY
31
ЮРИДИЧЕСКИЙ ПЕРЕВОД В МЕЖДИСЦИПЛИНАРНОМ КОНТЕКСТЕ
UNIVERSITY NETWORKING IN TRAINING FOR PUBLIC SERVICE INTERPRETING AND TRANSLATING: PRESENT AND FUTURE
Carmen Valero-Garcns
The Department of Modern Philology The University of Alcalá de Henares
C. de Trinidad, 1, Alcalá, Madrid, Spain
Anastasia Atabekova
The Department of Foreign Languages, Faculty of Law Peoples' Firendship University of Russia
6, Miklukho-Maklaya st., Moscow, Russia, 117198
The article highlights the social demand for public service interpreters and translators, studies key methodological and administrative aspects that are to be discussed when launching the university-based network of masters' programs on Public Service Interpreting and Translation (PSIT). The University of Alcalá de Henares(Madrid, Spain) and the Peoples' Friendship University of Russia (Moscow, Russian Federation) are taken as examples to share the experience.
Key words: public servise, transalting and interpreting for public service, multilingualism, language and culture mediation,intercultural communication, transaltor and interpreter training.
There is an increasing demand for public service interpreters and translators ( PSIT) for over 20 years, and PSIT is gaining more academic and professional recognition. However, we are still far from getting the whole involvement of both higher education institutions, and public services institutions and interpreting agencies or user organizations like hospitals or state agencies whose provision of translators and interpreters is usually limited in duration and geared to specific settings.
An example of best practices can be found in the the Master's in Intercultural Communication, Public Service Interpreting and Translation (MICIT) offered at the University of Alcala (UAH), Madrid, Spain. The Master's is part of a Postgraduate degree which has been running since the academic year 2005-06 when the Master's gained the official recognition by the Spanish Ministry of Education. In 2009 the Master's was accepted as a member of the European Master's in Translation Network (EMT). Furthermore, the pro-
gram was preceded by Carmen Valero-Garces's experience of more than a decade as translator and interpreter trainer, and based on previous experiences and theoretical publications by other trainers and scholars such as E. Aijona [1], C. Baker-Shenk [2], A. Corsellis [3], F. Pochhaker [11], R. Roberts [12], D. Swayer [13].
As A. Corsellis points out [4], pressing need, and without much more tradition specific to the field, has given rise to a range and growing imaginative and innovative approaches to training often carried out by multidisciplinary teams of "enthusiastic and committed individuals" that have faced what I will call "external" difficulties. These include long distances, climate conditions, or lack of computers and classrooms to other "internal", or more specifically PSIT related problems such as scarcity of qualified graduate language tutors in the range of languages required, uneven levels of existing language skills, lack of appropriate teaching material, lack of trained trainers, distant academic backgrounds, unknown cultural practices, or lack of expertise to solve some conflicts to name but a few.
Training is geared not just to passing qualifying examinations but beyond that to preparing good professional practice and development. Thus gradually worthwhile training opportunities are growing as the adequately trained and qualified interpreters earn respect from the line public service professionals who, in turn, are putting pressure on their managers. As a result inadequacies that once went unnoticed are being challenged, and more attention to some needs is leading to create new services (e.g. sign language interpreting services, remote interpreting companies) and more comprehensive programs as the Master's in Intercultural Communication, Public Service Interpreting and Translation (MICIT) offered at the University of Alcala (UAH), Madrid, Spain. The program has been developed, offering a research-based curricula and an innovative model of didactics for university training.
It will be described in the following pages.
The MICIT started in 2000 with a 40-hour seminar, in the academic year 200102. It was turned into a 250-hour postgraduate specialist course in Interlinguistic Communication and Public Service Interpreting and Translation and offered in five language pairs (Spanish and Arabic, French, English, Romanian and Russian). Three years later, in the academic year 2005-06, it became a Master's Degree (60 ECTS) and more language pairs were added.
Admission conditions are basically two: First, students must hold a bachelor's degree from a Spanish University or a university degree issued by a higher education institution belonging to the European Higher Education Area, which gives access to Master's courses in the country that issued it. Students who do not comply with the first requirements but who have the sufficient credits in order to register (basically a minimum of 180 ECTS (European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System)), will have to prove that they fulfill the admission requirements prior to registration. Second, students must be proficient in Spanish and one of the other languages offered: German/Arabic/Bulgarian/Chinese/French/English/Polish/Romanian/Russian. The level of both languages required is C2 according to CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages). If this level is not sufficiently accredited, an entrance exam must be passed.
The general objective of MICIT is to provide students with the theoretical knowledge and the skills, abilities, and tools they need to act as linguistic, and cultural liaisons between institutional, medical, judicial, and educational staff and the users of these public services who do not speak the contact language well.
More specific objectives include the ability to know more deeply the characteristics of Public Service Interpreting and Translation (PSIT); to become familiar with and to practice the primary techniques used in public services with foreign population (translation, simultaneous and dialogue interpreting, sight translation, specialised terminology, etc.); and to contribute to training qualified public service professionals to work as a link in communication with foreign population.
The Master's is aimed at people holding a university degree with an extensive knowledge of one of the pairs of languages offered who have served or are currently serving as liaisons for foreign people, who have or have not been previously trained. It is also aimed at people holding a university degree who have experience as translators and/or interpreters and who want to specialize in community interpreting and translation.
The syllabus includes five different modules with different subjects and combines online and onsite class. The rationale behind the syllabus lays in the development of the Spanish society towards a multicultural reality which has given way to new needs and challenges which need to be solved (and education is one of them). There is a growing need to create academic programs and activities to help the coexistence and development of foreign populations who do not speak or understand the Spanish language and public and private services.
Another reason, which explains the existence of this postgraduate degree, is the considerable increase in spaces dedicated to the field of PSIT. PSIT started acquiring academic prestige slightly over a decade ago influenced by migration. While we work to reach the same training, professionalization and research levels as other areas in Translation Studies (such as literary, technical or legal translations, or conference interpreting), the developments in PSIT are clear and a hopeful future can be forecast as the continuous publications and organization of conferences, seminars and European projects show.
This Master's also fills the training gap at higher education levels to create competent and efficient liaisons (even if they are termed "translators", "interpreters" or "mediators") as opposed to bilingual volunteers, who can contact the local and foreign populations without knowing the culture or language. That is the reason for the degree being aimed at University graduates fluent in Spanish and the traditional English, French or German, but also in the other languages such as Arabic, Bulgarian, Polish, Romanian, Russian or Chinese, languages of migrant communities who generally need translation and interpreting services.
As for the methodology, it is widely known that, on the one hand, the lack of specialized training and, on the other hand, the lack of information for companies and public service providers leads to professional infiltration. It is often thought that every person that speaks (or has some knowledge of) a language can work as a translator/interpreter. Therefore, no importance is often given to other skills of a profes-
sional translator/interpreter, who knows how to work with various tools and resources, observe a code of ethics or have a specialized knowledge in some areas (medical, legal, educational). Trying to bridge all those gaps, the study program of the Master's degree at the UAH has three interconnected main pillars: training (combining onsite and online teaching), research (obligatory dissertation) and the internship in public or private institutions in which students must come into contact with the real life work for which they are being trained for and where they can apply or take information for their research project.
This program is also intended to serve as a further step in the professionalization of PSIT. The authors agree with the ideas by researchers, trainers and practitioners such as H. Mikkelson [9], U. Ozolins [10], R. Roberts [12], F. Pochhaker [11], A. Corsellis [4] among others, who state that the professionalization of translators and interpreters is dependant upon the existence of competent professionals, and that in order to "create" these professionals, education and training are necessary. These statements imply consideration of, on the one hand, a correlation between training, duties and good professional practices while, on the other hand, the need for cooperation among all of the individuals who, directly or indirectly, participate in translation and interpreting for public service.
Fulfilment of this end means alliances and cooperation with all the agents that somehow (might) intervene in the translation and interpreting working environment. Thus, achieving the final goal requires paying special attention to job market, and to the real recruitment conditions and requirements for professional translators and interpreters but also to train students in translation and interpreting skills. So, along their first months of training (module 1), the students explore the real market conditions and are taught how to look for a job in the translation and interpreting sector, either for a public institution or a private enterprise, and they even get some tips about how to develop a new translation and interpreting business.
During their onsite lessons, students work with real documents, which are kindly sent by the institutions and enterprises which collaborate with the Master's degree. This collaboration is regulated by conventions and agreements with state and local administration agencies, NGOS, private enterprises and international organizations, where the students complete the compulsory period of internships. In 2001 this collaboration began and it has increased yearly, so that our students currently go to institutions such as the Home Office, Foreign Office, the Department of Justice or Education, town halls, schools, and hospitals, which have signed internship conventions.
The methodology used gives students the chance to acquire and practice translation and interpreting skills in the chosen language pair. We train efficient professionals with analytic and communicative capacity and train them to develop skills derived from good language and culture knowledge. Thus this programme encourages inter-culturality and interdisciplinarity, necessary conditions in the multicultural and multilingual EU.
The Master's belongs to EMT, a network of masters acknowledged by the EU Directorate-General for Translation and it is integrated in a postgraduate programme in Modern Languages offered by the Modern Philology Department at the University
of Alcalá and represents a step forward towards the PhD degree, two facts that add value for its recognition.
It is equally important to point out the variety of professional profiles which could come from this Master's: translator and interpreter specialized in medical, legal or administrative areas, as well as general translator or interpreter in language combinations such as Russian-Spanish, or Arabic-Spanish (more and more often required), linguistic and intercultural mediator, editor, proof-reader in publishing houses, institutions or different businesses in a moment at which Spain seems to be extending towards Eastern European countries or the Asian continent, terminologist and linguistic project manager because of the need to create bilingual and multilingual material in some language pairs (such as Russian-Spanish, Chinese-Spanish), teacher of translation or interpretation, linguistic consultant, international relations consultant, cultural, economic or administrative relations interpreter to mention some. As all we know, globalization is also requiring specialists in intercultural mediation, an activity which covers a wide array of job descriptions, such as specialized tour guides, mediators or economic or political consultants, staff working in cultural fields such as agents, editors, exhibition organizers, linguistic and cultural mediators at schools, hospitals, etc., in languages for which training is very hard to find.
As a step further and as a way to create networks, the development of a joint program in Public Service Interpreting and Translation between the University of Alcalá, (Madrid, Spain) and Peoples' Friendship University of Russia, (PFUR, Moscow, Russia) seems to be a good example. A short description of the PFUR program and some comments on its prospective and relevance for the Russian multilingual and multicultural landscape will follow.
The PFUR MA program "Translator and Interpreter for Public Services and Institutions (TIPSI) has been launched to meet the requirements of the growing multinationals' presence on the Russian labour market, including commercial, educational, industrial settings, and inbound tourism, as well.
The above Program was drafted in 2012 and approved by the Peoples' Friendship University of Russia in 2013. The admission requires a bachelor's degree or a university degree awarded by a higher education institution. The general goal of TIPSI at PFUR is to bridge the gap between Academia and T&I Industry through further pro-fessionalization and the program focus on the translator role in the multilingual and multicultural society.
The program academic track combines the theoretical and the applied foci.
The professional specialization track provides for training in the specialised translation and interpretation in the key settings of the multilingual community members interaction. The research track trains students for access to the doctoral field of Comparative Linguistics and Specialized Translation Studies.
The program curriculum has been drafted in accordance with the Russian Federation State Higher Educational Standard (further on RF SHES) for MA programs in the field of Linguistics (code 035700). The total workload of MA program is 120 credits. This curriculum workload is divided into four parts. The module of General Disciplines for MA in Linguistics accounts for 30 credits and includes compulsory
subjects and university sub module, which according to the RF SHES, can vary depending on the MA program specialization.
As far as the PFUR MA program "Translator and Interpreter for Public Services and Institutions" is concerned, the MA course contents have been specified, taking into account the modern metropolitan-based international multilingual and multicultural community needs.
The compulsory subjects, which are recommended by the Ministry of Education for all MA programs in Linguistics, include two disciplines that are History and Methodology of Linguistics and Pedagogy and Psychology of Higher Education.
The University Module accounts for 25 credits, including optional subjects for students' choice.
The module of Professional Disciplines for Specialized MA program in Linguistics in our case, TIPSI program, also accounts for 30 credits.
The compulsory subjects include General Linguistics and History of Linguistics and Quantitative Linguistics and Information Technology.
The University Module is equal to 25 ECTS, including electives that provide opportunities for students to improve their translation and interpreting skills in chosen language pairs through the following subjects: Interpretation in Healthcare Settings, Specialised Translation: Healthcare Settings, Interpretation in Legal-Administrative Settings, Specialised Translation: Administrative Settings, Specialised Translation: Legal Settings.
The Internship and Research Work Module is valid for 52 ECTS and the Final State Assessment, including qualification exam and Master's thesis defense accounts for 8 ECTS.
What deserves a special attention is the matter of structuring the electives sections in the General and Professional Disciplines modules. The electives list has to be thought over very carefully in order to make it work the principle of correlation between the compulsory subjects that are expected to introduce the basic concepts and theories, and optional subjects that are supposed to contribute to students' knowledge specialization and basic skills further improvement.
The program is drafted to be run in English. It means, that the compulsory module and university module theoretical disciplines are taught in English. As far as the optional disciplines language pair is concerned, students can choose it.
Students are expected to master two foreign languages upon the course completion. The main focus is laid on translation and interpreting in administrative, legal, healthcare and educational settings. The major attention is paid to training skills for court interpreting, legal documents translation, interpreting and translating for the law enforcement, healthcare, government agencies and institutions.
As far as the methodology for program implementation is concerned, it has been based on the social constructivist approach to translator and interpreter training.
The social constructivist approach in translator training is known to provide training in a learner-centered environment for collaborative learning through authentic activities [6; 7]. Students are expected to "think for themselves, to work as members of a team, to assume responsibility for their own work, to assess the quality of their own performance and to continue learning once they leave the institution" [7. P. 31].
While drafting the MA program under study at PFUR, we also kept in mind modern scholars' opinion that cooperative learning brings more "learning achievement than competitive or individualized ones" [5. P. 37] as today's translation industry is based on professional translators' networks and collaboration is an effective tool of quality-based professional translation.
Taking into account the above statements the program disciplines contents and activities are aimed at involving students in inquiry-based learning, translation projects, and interpreter activities simulations.
The integration of process-oriented and product-oriented training was also critical for the PFUR teachers to develope the up-to-date translator and interpreter training MA course.
Process -oriented translator training is known to be based on think-aloud protocols that help identify professional translator's strategies. Further on they are explained to students and classified to inform students about potential errors.
In terms of translator and interpreter training the above procedure helps to increase students' awareness of translation problems, to make students' think of decision-making strategies and tactics to provide for translation quality. Taking into account the above mentioned points, PFUR teachers selected and combined a set of tasks for translation and interpreting skills training in such a way that the respective courses assignments first required systemic translation product analysis, then students' analysis of their own translation strategies and tactics, followed by further translation commentaries, etc.
Product-oriented translator's training focuses on classifying errors in translation product, identifying their reasons, drafting recommendations to avoid the above errors in further translation activities [8. P. 5-9]. A set of assignments aimed at train students to classify, identify and avoid errors in translation and interpreting has also been in the focus as far as educational aids are concerned.
The above approaches constituted the methodological pillars to draft the curriculum, discipline contents and activities for the MA program under study at PFUR.
Basing on the above approaches the PFUR MA program on TIPSI required building up a subject-centered, learner-centered, competence-based curriculum. The PFUR MA program curriculum takes into account the Russian multinational community social needs; social and economic context of international interaction in legal, administrative, educational, healthcare settings; the international and national professional standards for unviersity-based translator and interpreter training; industry and labor market demands, Peoples' Friendship University of Russia 50-year long tradition of specialised translator training; interdisciplinary landscape of public service interpreter and translator activities.
There should be noted the relevance of professors' exchange within the joint program in Public Service Interpreting an Translation between the University of Alcalá, (Madrid, Spain) and Peoples' Friendship University of Russia, (Moscow, Russia).
Thus, prof Anastasia Atabekova, the PFUR head of the above program, taught one of the Program course (Translation in Legal Administrative Settings) at the partner University of Alcalá for a month period during 2013 to get acquainted with the
partner university's course requirements and peculiarities to inform Russian students about them further on.
The MA course in translating and interpreting for public services can meet the goals of the translators and interpreters who would like to specify and shape their professional activities within the key social interaction settings. The program can enhance the professional background of those who work in multilingual legal, educational, healthcare, governmental institutions and agencies, have to master and use foreign language and mediation skills and strive to get a second higher degree in the given field.
In conclusion it has to be mentioned that university-based public service interpreter and translator training has got it both academic and professional recognition in Spain and is doing its first steps forward in Russia. The world wide move towards globalisation requires both the university-based training of language and culture mediation skills and the promotion of linguocultural mediation practice within the mul-tiligual metropolitan landscape, that, in turn, makes the academic program under study of current importance as far as social welfare, benefits, human rights provision are concerned.
REFERENCES
[1] Arjona E. (1978) Intercultural Communication and the Training of Interpreters at the Monterey Institute of Foreign Studies. In: Gerver, David/Sinaiko, H. Wallace (eds.) Language Interpretation and Communication. Proceedings of the NATO Symposium, Venice, Italy. September 26 — October 1, 1977. New York-London: Plenum Press, pp.35-44.
[2] Baker-Shenk C. (ed.) (1990) A Model Curriculum for Teachers of American Sign Language and Teachers of ASL/English Interpreting. Silver Spring: RID Publications.
[3] Corsellis A. (1999) Training of Public Service Interpreters. In: Erasmus, Mabel (ed) Liaison Interpreting in the Community. Pretoria: Van Schaik: pp. 197-205.
[4] Corsellis A. (2009) Relación entre el desarrollo y la investigación académica. In: Valero-Garcés, Carmen (ed.) Avances y retos en la Traducción e Interpretación en los Servicios Públicos/Challenging Topics in Public Service Interpreting and Translating. Alcalá de Henares: Servicio de Publicaciones de la Universidad, DVD Publication.
[5] Johnson D W., Johnson R.T. (1991) Learning Together and Alone, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall.
[6] Kiraly D. (2000) A Social Constructivist Approach to Translator Education: Empowerment from Theory to Practice, Manchester/Northampton: St. Jerome, 207 p.
[7] Kiraly D. (2003) From Teacher-Centred to Learning-Centred Classrooms in Translator Education: Control, Chaos or Collaboration?" in: A. Pym, C. Fallada, J. R. Biau & J. Orenstein (eds.) Innovation and E-Learning in Translator Training: Reports on Online Symposia, Tarragona: Universitat Rovira I Virgili, pp. 27-31.
[8] Kussmaul P. (1995) Training the Translator. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 177 p.
[9] Mikkelson H. (1996) The Professionalization of Community Interpreting". Originally published in: Jérôme-O'Keefe, Muriel M. (1996) Global Vision, Proceedings of the 37th Annual Conference of the American Translators Association. Amsterdam-Philadelphia: John Benjamins. In: http://www.acebo.com/papers/PROFSLZN.HTM [DATUM].
[10] Ozolins U. (2000) Communication Needs and Interpreting in Multilingual Settings: The International Spectrum of Response". In: Roberts, Roda P./Carr, S./Abraham, Diana/Dufour, A. (eds.) The Critical Link 2: Interpreters in the Community. Papers from the 2nd International
Conference on Interpreting in Legal, Health, and Social Service Settings, Vancouver, BC, Canada, 19-23 May, 1998. Amsterdam-Philadelphia: John Benjamins, pp. 21-34.
[11] Pöchhacker F. (2004) Introducing Interpreting Studies. London-New York: Routledge, 252 p.
[12] Roberts R. (2002) Community interpreting: A profession in search of its identity. In: Hung, E. (ed.) Teaching Translation and Interpreting 4 — Building Bridges. AmsterdamPhiladelphia: John Benjamins, pp.157-175.
[13] Sawyer D.B. (2004) Fundamental Aspects of Interpreter Education. AmsterdamPhiladelphia: John Benjamins, 310 p.
СОТРУДНИЧЕСТВО УНИВЕРСИТЕТОВ В ПОДГОТОВКЕ УСТНЫХ И ПИСЬМЕННЫХ ПЕРЕВОДЧИКОВ ДЛЯ ГОСУДАСРТВЕННЫХ СЛУЖБ: НАСТОЯЩЕЕ И БУДУЩЕЕ
Кармен Валеро Гарсес
Кафедра современной филологии Университет Алкала ле Энарес
Алкала, Мадрид, Испания
А.А. Атабекова
Кафедра иностранных языков юридического факультета Российский университет дружбы народов
ул. Миклухо-Маклая, 6, Москва, Россия, 117198
В статье подчеркивается социальная значимость и востребованность переводчиков в системе государственных служб, рассматриваются ключевые методологических и организационные аспекты, которые актуальны для реализации магистерских программ по подготовке устных и письменных переводчиков для системы государственных учреждений, включая органы государственного и муниципального управления, суды, полицию, учреждения здравоохранения и образования. В качестве примера реализации подобной программы анализируется опыт Университета Алкала-де-Энарес (Мадрид, Испания). Также представлены ключевые позиции реализации подобной программы в Российском университете дружбы народов.
Ключевые слова: письменный и устный перевод, перевод для государственных служб и учреждений, многоязычие, лингвокультурная медиация, межкультурная коммуникация, подготовка устных и письменных переводчиков.
