International Symposium Multilingual Videoconferencing in Legal Proceedings Antwerp, 19-20 April 2013

http://www.videoconference-interpreting.net/Symposium2013.html

Criminal justice services are increasingly turning to videoconference technology as a means of increasing efficiency in both national and cross-border proceedings. Video links exist between courts, police stations and prisons, and are used at different stages of proceedings. Given the current scale of migration and multilingualism in Europe, this development also concerns multilingual proceedings, meaning that there is a need to integrate interpreters into such video links. This trend is being reinforced by the recent European Directives 2012/13/EU on the right to information and 2010/64/EU on the right to interpretation and translation in criminal proceedings, and Directive 2012/29/EU establishing minimum standards on the rights, support and protection of victims of crime, which will increase the demand for qualified legal interpreters in Europe in many language combinations.

At the same time, the current economic situation puts pressure on those responsible for interpreter deployment and poses a threat to maintaining the quality standards for interpreting set out in Directive 2010/64/EU. An efficient solution for integrating qualified legal interpreters into legal proceedings is therefore crucial to ensuring judicial efficiency and strengthening the rights of EU citizens. The multi-annual European e-Justice Action Plan (2008-2013) considers videoconferencing as being of particular importance for increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of justice. Like two of the Directives mentioned above, it makes explicit reference to a secondary use of videoconferencing in legal proceedings, i.e. its use to gain access to a qualified legal interpreter.

These developments have led to many different configurations of multilingual videoconferencing. To use the full potential of videoconference technology in multilingual proceedings it will, however, be necessary to ensure that the outcomes of the proceedings are not adversely affected by the combined use of videoconference technology and interpreters. Research conducted to date shows that all forms of interpreting which lead to a separation of the interpreter from some or all participants pose potential difficulties. Research also suggests that whilst basic practical problems may be resolved quickly through initial training, increased exposure to videoconferencing and familiarisation, the combined complexities of technological mediation (through videoconference) and linguistic-cultural mediation (through an interpreter) may create deeper-rooted behavioural and communication problems which may change the dynamic of legal communication.

As a follow-up to the successful symposium in 2011, this symposium, organised by the EU project AVIDICUS 2 (led by the Centre for Translation Studies, University of Surrey, 2011-13), will provide an update on current practice and research. The aims are to raise awareness of the potential uses and the limitations of multilingual videoconferencing in legal proceedings and to stimulate further discussion about

• how the combination of videoconferencing and interpreting affects the specific goals of legal communication,
• how problems can be overcome or mitigated,
• the role that system design, training and familiarisation can play in this process, and
• the questions arising for a future research agenda.

The symposium will include the views of international organisations on videoconference-based interpreting as well as research conducted in relation to its use in national and cross-border proceedings and will introduce an enhanced set of guidelines for multilingual videoconferencing in legal proceedings.

Speakers

Andrew Constable, International Criminal Court

Peter Engels and Hans Van de Wal, European Criminal Bar Association

Paul van den Hoven, University of Tilburg, The Netherlands

Viive Jogevest, Estonian Police and Border Guard (tbc)

Maja Popovic, International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia

Paul Pryce-Jones, European Forum of Sign Language Interpreters

David Tait, University of Western Sydney, Australia (tbc)

Patrick Twidle, Court of Justice of the European Union

and

Members of the AVIDICUS 2 consortium

Who should attend?

• Legal professionals (judges, lawyers, prosecutors, police officers)  and public service providers
• Practising interpreters and interpreting service providers
• Representatives of interpreting service users
• Researchers in the field of legal interpreting including spoken-language and sign-language interpreting
• Specialists in the use of videoconference technology
• Videoconference system designers
• Representatives of educational and training institutions

Organisers Dr Sabine Braun, Dr Judith Taylor Centre for Translation Studies School of English and Languages University of Surrey Guildford GU2 7XH United Kingdom

Local organiser Dr Katalin Balogh Subfaculty Language and Communication Lessius University College Sint Andriesstraat 2 2000 Antwerpen Belgium

Venue

The symposium will take place at Lessius University College, Sint Andriesstraat 2, 2000 Antwerpen, Belgium.

Registration

Registration fee: 40 GBP.

Conference dinner on Friday 19^th April 2013: 40 GBP. Early registration for the dinner is required, as dinner places are strictly limited.

Participants will receive a copy of Braun, S. & J.L.Taylor (eds) (2012). Videoconference and remote interpreting in legal proceedings. Antwerp: Intersentia. This collection of papers presents the main findings of the AVIDICUS 1 Project and the International Symposium on Videoconference and Remote Interpreting in Legal Proceedings in 2011.

Registration is via the online shop of the University of Surrey. Please follow the link below. Please note that you need to register in the shop itself first, and then register for the symposium and, if you wish, the dinner. You will need to make a credit card payment to complete the registration process. Registration is only complete once payment has been made and a confirmation email received.

Link to registration: http://store.surrey.ac.uk/  (registration will open on 24 January 2013).

All enquiries should be sent to symposium@videoconference-interpreting.net.

This symposium has been organised by the European project AVIDICUS 2 (Assessment of Video-Mediated Interpreting in the Criminal Justice System) and is held with financial support of the Criminal Justice Programme of the European Commission. The event and its related materials reflect the views only of the organisers, presenters and participants and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Commission.

Reflexiones sobre la traducción audiovisual. Tres espectros, tres momentos

Author/Editor: Juan José Martínez Sierra (Coord.)
Publisher and Place of Publication: Universitat de València. Valencia
Year of Publication: 2012
Publisher URL: http://puv.uv.es/product_info.php?cPath=21_25_8590_10317&products_id=24787&language=es&osCsid=3b016e9ef31b9ad6c6ebed767f22f022
ISBN/ISSN & Price: 978-84-370-9064-1 / 15 €


Descriptive Summary: La traducción audiovisual existe como actividad casi desde que el cine iniciara su andadura, si bien no podemos decir lo mismo de su estudio académico, cuyo origen es bastante más reciente. Ello no ha impedido que el ámbito de la traducción de textos audiovisuales haya experimentado un tremendo auge en los últimos años (cine, televisión, videojuegos…), razón por la que merece la pena parar y echar la vista atrás para ver dónde estamos y evaluar hacia dónde vamos. Así, el pasado, el presente y el futuro de esta actividad se dan la mano en un libro en el que, al igual que le ocurriera al viejo Scrooge del cuento navideño de Dickens o al ruin mandamás interpretado por Bill Murray en la película Los fantasmas atacan al jefe, se nos brinda la oportunidad de visitar y reflexionar sobre cada periodo, siendo el foco de atención en esta ocasión el modo en el que ha evolucionado la situación de la traducción audiovisual en España en los últimos 20 años. Para guiarnos en dicho viaje por el tiempo se ha reunido a un selecto grupo de destacados académicos y profesionales de la traducción audiovisual de nuestro país. Se trata, además, de un volumen abierto a todo tipo de lectores: desde el público general aficionado al mundo de la traducción y de la comunicación y también del entretenimiento audiovisual, hasta el más o menos especializado (como docentes e investigadores, estudiantes o profesionales y empresarios del ramo). Es una obra, pues, reflexiva y hasta personal, novedosa, en la que las opiniones, pensamientos y vivencias de sus autores llenan libremente sus páginas, y en la que además el mundo académico y el profesional se dan la mano para hablar de doblaje, voces superpuestas, subtitulación, accesibilidad y localización de videojuegos.

Introducción
Juan José Martínez Sierra

La traducción para el doblaje. Visión retrospectiva y evolución
Frederic Chaume Varela

El doblaje: definitivamente sí
Gloria Cámara

El mundo del doblaje. Reflexiones de un actor
Joan Pera

El poder de las palabras
José Carlos Polo Rodríguez

Un recorrido por la voz superpuesta
Ivars A. Barzdevics

La subtitulación en España: un panorama en transformación
Eduard Bartoll Teixidor

El viaje del sobre acolchado. Veinte años de subtitulado electrónico (1990-2010)
Santiago Torregrosa Povo

Sobre comunicación audiovisual, Internet, ciberusuarios… y subtítulos
Jorge Díaz Cintas

Subtitulado para sordos, un reto y una necesidad: pasado, presente y futuro del SPS en España
Lourdes Lorenzo García y Ana María Pereira Rodríguez

Audiovisión, Audiodescripción, Audesc. La evolución de un sistema
Antonio Vázquez Martín

Videojuegos y traducción: de la excepción a ¿la norma?
Miguel Ángel Bernal Merino

La localización de videojuegos. El arte de traducir para entretener
Carme Mangiron Hevia

La traducción audiovisual. Un recorrido por quince años en la profesión
María R. Ferrer Simó

El estudio de la traducción audiovisual: comentarios
Roberto Mayoral Asensio

Teorías de la traducción audiovisual. Un viaje de ida y vuelta para progresar
Patrick Zabalbeascoa Terran

Panorama desde el puente. Tres lustros de investigación y docencia en TAV y estudios de género
Francesca Bartrina Martí y Eva Espasa Borràs

El valor diferenciador de una televisión autonómica
María Alcón Soler

The Interpreter and Translator Trainer Volume 7, Number 1, 2013

Now available to online subscribers

 

https://www.stjerome.co.uk/tsa/issue/2581/

 

 

Contents

 

 

 

Teaching Business Translation. A Task-based Approach

 

Pages 1-26

 

Author: Defeng Li

 

In line with the growing interest in the social constructivist approach to translator training, this article proposes that task-based teaching (TBT), a method initiated and popularized in the field of second language instruction, should be adopted in business translator training. However, given the considerable differences between teaching a second language and training translators, adjustments will have to be made to the TBT methodology to enable its application in the translation classroom (Gonzalez Davis 2004). It is proposed here that task cycles in translator training consist of six stages, including pretask, task, convening, analysis, revising and reflection. While the adoption of this model may pose challenges for translation teachers and students, these are outweighed by the advantages of TBT, an approach that (1) shifts the focus from teaching to learning, (2) draws students’ attention to the translation process, (3) develops reflective practices among students, and (4) most important of all, activates and develops translation competence, the ultimate goal of all translation training programmes.

 

Keywords: Task-based teaching, Teacher-centred learning, Learner-centred learning, Social constructivism, Transmissionism, Business translation, Translation competence

 

 

Undergraduate Consecutive Interpreting and Lexical Knowledge. The Role of Spoken Corpora

 

Pages 27-50

 

Author: Richard Bale

 

With a decreasing number of students enrolling on undergraduate courses in foreign languages in the UK, universities have a smaller pool of students from which to recruit. Many of these applicants come with poor foreign language skills. These weaknesses, which are prevalent in formal spoken registers, are particularly noticeable in those degree programmes containing interpreting modules - for these require a high level of competence in the students’ foreign language(s) as well as their mother tongue. This paper suggests that undergraduate interpreter training should address both the need to acquire interpreting skills and to enhance students’ foreign language competence. It reports on the findings from an empirical case study based on the BACKBONE corpus. Over a six-week period, eight English and German native speakers used corpus-based exercises to practise interpreting and to learn terminology related to education. Students’ interpreting competence and lexical knowledge were tested at the start and end of the study. The findings indicate that those who engaged more with the materials made greater improvements in lexical knowledge in both the terminology and interpreting tests.

 

Keywords: Undergraduate interpreter training, Spoken multimedia corpora, Lexical knowledge, BACKBONE corpus

 

 

The Effectiveness of Targeted Subject Knowledge in the Teaching of Scientific Translation

 

Pages 51-70

 

Author: Hala Sharkas

 

A great number of undergraduate and postgraduate translator training programmes include scientific translation among the areas of curricular specialization offered to their students. In these pedagogical settings, trainers are often faced with translation students who have little or no subject knowledge in the field of science. This article sets out to gauge the extent to which reading introductory specialized texts written originally in the target language may help trainee translators to produce accurate translations of scientific texts. To assess the effectiveness of targeted subject knowledge in the teaching of scientific translation, two groups of undergraduate translation students were instructed to translate a passage from a scientific report. While the two groups were allowed to use specialized dictionaries, only one was provided with an introductory target-language article on the same topic prior to translating the text. It was hypothesized that a smaller rate of translation errors by students reading the introductory text would confirm the effectiveness of elementary background knowledge in helping produce accurate translations.

 

Keywords: Targeted subject knowledge, Scientific and technical translation, Translation teaching, Accuracy, Documentary research

 

 

Examining Students’ Perceptions of Computer-Assisted Interpreter Training

 

Pages 71-89

 

Author: Lily Lim

 

Audio-cassette recorders have traditionally been central to interpreter training facilities, including labs and interpreting suites. With the growing ubiquity of information and communication technologies, however, integrating computers in the interpreting classroom and exploring their pedagogical potential has moved higher up the research agenda of interpreter trainers. This study explores the effectiveness of a Computer-Assisted Platform (CAP) in assisting student interpreters with their interpreting practice. Rather than examining the usefulness of this platform from the teacher’s viewpoint, this research focuses on the students’ perception of what computer-assisted training offers them, comparing it with their learning experience using audio-cassette recorders. Subjects in this study identified five attributes as central to their perceptions of CAP-based interpreting training. The findings also suggest that subjects prefer the computer-assisted approach to the traditional form of interpreting practice involving audio-cassette recorders. The paper articulates the reasons for their preferences, and explores the potential of the CAP as an alternative approach to interpreter training.

 

Keywords:  Chinese/English, Interpreter training, Computer-Assisted Platform, Student perception, Three-channel mode

 

 

Virtual Worlds in Interpreter Training

 

Pages 91-106

 

Author: Mehmet Sahin

 

With translators and interpreters being increasingly expected to develop sophisticated computer skills to succeed in the translation and interpreting industries, interpreter trainers must explore new and effective ways of integrating new technologies in their courses. Virtual worlds have quickly exceeded the affordances of social networking tools and are now assuming an important place in educational settings worldwide. This article outlines the main features of a popular virtual world (Second Life) and explores how it might be used as a platform for interpreter training. After contextualizing the pedagogical use of virtual worlds within the wider approach to computer-assisted interpreter training, the article examines the advantages derived from learners’ access to multi-sensory stimuli as well as quasi-professional practice settings that Second Life facilitates. This is followed by an overview of the ways in which Second Life supports blended learning without compromising the degree and quality of practice and feedback involved in such courses. The final section outlines the main steps to cover in setting up an interpreting course using Second Life.

 

Keywords: Interpreter training, Virtual worlds, Information and communication technologies, Computer-assisted interpreter training, Second Life

 

 

FEATURE ARTICLE

 

 

The Quest for ‘Perfection’. Multidisciplinary Reflections on Aptitude and Affect in Interpreter Selection and Training

 

Pages 107-127

 

Author: Alessandro Zannirato

 

This paper explores the hypothetical construct of interpreting aptitude, with particular reference to its current operationalization for student selection purposes. The idea that there is a universal ‘ideal’ student profile, identifiable through a yet to-be-developed ‘perfect’ screening examination, is a recurrent theme in the interpreting literature. Indeed, the debate over interpreting aptitude has recently concentrated on personality-related traits of successful interpreters, and on potential interventions to test such traits in order to screen suitable candidates. After providing a brief theoretical overview of the research on interpreting aptitude and personality, this article describes some conceptual and practical challenges posed by the above-mentioned views, and presents reflections on alternative conceptualizations of interpreting aptitude that may inform not only student selection, but also training practices.

 

Keywords: Interpreting aptitude, Student selection practices, Personality, Affect in interpreting

 

 

 

REVIEWS

 

 

Jody Byrne. Scientific and Technical Translation Explained: A Nuts and Bolts Guide for Beginners

Pages 129-133

Reviewed by Elisa Calvo Encinas

 

Louise Haywood, Michael Thompson and Sandor Hervey. Thinking Spanish Translation. A Course in Translation Method: Spanish to English

Pages 133-139

Reviewed by Maria Gonzalez Davies

 

Jeremy Munday. Introducing Translation Studies: Theories and Applications

Pages 139-142

Reviewed by Sara Laviosa

 

Sabine Braun and Judith L. Taylor (eds). Videoconference and Remote Interpreting in Criminal Proceedings

Pages 142-147

Reviewed by Luis Alonso Bacigalupe

 

Lukasz Bogucki. Tlumaczenie wspomagane komputerowo (Computer-Aided Translation)

Pages 147-151

Reviewed by Magdalena Dombek

 

 

Thesis Abstracts

 

Anne Lafeber. Translation at Inter-governmental Organizations: The Set of Skills and Knowledge Required and the Implications for Recruitment Testing

 

Beatriz Cerezo Merchan. La didactica de la traduccion audiovisual en Espana: Un estudio de caso empirico-descriptivo [The Didactics of Audiovisual Translation in Spain: An Empirical and Descriptive Case Study].

 

 

 

 

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To join the International Association of Translation & Intercultural

Studies, click here:

http://www.iatis.org/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&layout=item&id=61

Assemblée générale ordinaire du réseau LTT

L'Assemblée générale ordinaire du réseau LTT (Lexicologie Terminologie Traduction) aura lieu le 31 janvier 2013 à 15 heures au siège de l’association, 34 rue Joseph Hazard a 1180 Bruxelles (Belgique).
Informations et ordre du jour (susceptible d'être complète - demande à faire avant le 12 janvier) sont en ligne
http://www.ltt.auf.org/article.php3?id_article=736