Undergraduate translation training: In search of a model (original) (raw)
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Iranian Instructors’ Practices and Criteria for Teaching English Translation
Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 2016
Concerning the significant role of translation as a significant field which contributes to intercultural communication, assigning valid criteria for teaching translation is necessary to make sure that the best practices are employed by instructors’ to teach translation skills. This, in return, would help translation students be equipped with better translation skills. However, little research has been conducted to see what training practices translation instructors employ in their translation training classrooms. More significantly, it has been little research to determine the criteria that are behind the practices instructors employ in their translation training classroom. The purpose of the current research was to determine what practices instructors follow in their English translation classrooms and what criteria are behind these practices. To serve this purpose, the classrooms of ten English translation instructors were observed in an Iranian academic context using an observatio...
2013
This case study intended to identify the translator trainers' attitude at Iranian universities about using translation theories in practical translation classes. It aimed to improve translation teaching programs at universities. In this regard, eight universities and 29 instructors from these universities were chosen randomly. The participants filled out a questionnaire containing 15 items divided to two parts. The first part asked questions on the use of translation theories in practical translation generally. The second part checked instructors' personal attitude about using translation theories in their practical translation classes and how they motivate students to apply translation theories. The answers to the items ranged from strongly agree to strongly disagree. Strongly agree was graded 5 and strongly disagree 1.To analyze the data SPSS program version 16 was applied and descriptive statistics including frequency, percent, mean and standard deviation was used. One ...
This case study intended to identify the translator trainers' attitude at Iranian universities about using translation theories in practical translation classes. It aimed to improve translation teaching programs at universities. In this regard, eight universities and 29 instructors from these universities were chosen randomly. The participants filled out a questionnaire containing 15 items divided to two parts. The first part asked questions on the use of translation theories in practical translation generally. The second part checked instructors' personal attitude about using translation theories in their practical translation classes and how they motivate students to apply translation theories. The answers to the items ranged from strongly agree to strongly disagree. Strongly agree was graded 5 and strongly disagree 1.To analyze the data SPSS program version 16 was applied and descriptive statistics including frequency, percent, mean and standard deviation was used. One sample T-test was applied on every item based on the gained grade considering medium level to be 3 and statistical significance 0.05. The results suggest that the translator trainers at Iranian universities have a generally good attitude and are aware of the importance of translation theories yet they seem to be undecided whether: 1. translation theories help students translate more accurately, 2. prepares students as a researcher and not a practitioner and 3.general rules of translation help students more than theories of translation. Due to this uncertainty they indirectly ignore translation theories in practical translation classes which can mislead students about the significance and is worth considering.
Development of a New Translator Education Program in Iran
Fourth International Conference on Research into the Didactics of Translation, 2018
The present paper reports the researchers’ recent experience of developing a new undergrad program for translator education, traditionally known as the English Language Translator Training program in Iran. The new program is expected to replace the old one which was initially developed as the result of the Cultural Revolution after the establishment of the Islamic Republic, modified and nationally implemented in 1990 and again partially modified in 1995. The aim of the new program is to localize this brand of knowledge and practice, improve and update it. The huge time lapse since the last modification means a huge distance from present day teaching materials, teaching methods and market requirements. The gap seems to have forced many translator trainers away from the program and its outdated goals, course descriptions and textbooks into uncertain idiosyncratic syllabi based on diverse personal experiences or expectations, copied and transferred from other disciplines such as EFL and linguistics. To develop the program, first a list of 61 required and elective courses was prepared based on the existing experience and the most recent trends in translation pedagogy. 82 university lecturers and professors were contacted through a general call, of whom about 40 agreed to write course descriptions, based on a guideline provided by the researchers. The course descriptions were collected and then reviewed in terms of content, teaching materials, methods, textbooks and references, finalized and approved by a group of curriculum developers and specialists in the Iranian Ministry of Science, Research and Technology. The new program developed in line with insights from PACTE (2003/2011) translation competence model. The focus on competences is apparent in the courses, syllabi and suggested methods for teaching. One major finding of the project was that to implement the program and to train more qualified and cognizant translators, we need more proficient educators, thus a teacher education plan, together with new teaching materials and textbooks is required. The new program is expected to snowball into a translator education movement in the country in the next few years.
European Online Journal of Natural and Social Sciences, 2013
The present study, in the first place, attempted to examine the relationship between the theoretical knowledge of translation and practical translation skills in Iranian translators. For this purpose, 35 M.A students both males and females studying English translation were selected in Mashhad Ferdowsi University in Iran. In order to collect data two tests were applied: one made up of questions selected from the Ph.D and M.A entrance exams together with a test of actual translation from Persian to English and the reverse. Data analysis and statistical calculations through T-TEST, one way ANOVA and Pearson Correlation revealed that participants’ theoretical knowledge does not displays a significant correlation with their scores in the English to Persian practical exams, while there is a positive relationship between participants’ scores in the theoretical exams and their Persian to English translation. Also it was found that participants’ experimental experiences in translation have a...
English Translator Training Curriculum Revisited: Iranian Trainees' Perspectives
English Translator Training Curriculum Revisited: Iranian Trainees' Perspectives, 2019
English and Persian translator training have been offered by many Iranian universities as an undergraduate program nationwide. However, the program failed to keep up with the dynamics of the market demands, findings of Translation Studies research, and varied competences of students in the past two decades. This study investigated the Iranian English translator trainees' perspectives on the former curriculum that was used for over twenty years. The other aim was to understand whether their needs and wants correspond to either of the old and the recently revised curriculum in 2018. Based on focus group interviews and literature review, a questionnaire was designed and validated, and the survey responses of over five hundred English and translator trainees (351 females & 152 males) from twelve universities in Iran were statistically analyzed. The findings revealed that the courses related to translation practice were ranked as the most important component of the curriculum by the trainees, highlighting that trainees favor practice-oriented translation courses the most.
Research in Applied Linguistics, 2019
In this study, the directed (deductive) content analysis approach was adopted to explore the components of translator trainers’ competencies through in-depth individual semistructured interviews conducted with 10 expert Iranian translator trainers at different universities around Iran. Theoretical model was the translator trainer profile proposed by The European Master’s in Translation (EMT) Group, including fundamental requirements, instructional competence, assessment competence, field competence, organizational competence, and interpersonal competence. Initial codes were extracted from the interview data and subsumed under the existing subcategories of the framework or formed new categories. Subcategories were, then, analyzed and subsumed under the existing main categories or caused new subcategories to emerge. As a result, for the theme fundamental requirements, the main categories ‘research skills’ and ‘linguistic-cultural-general knowledge,’ for the theme assessment competence...
Implication for translation teaching pedagogy: a case of Benghazi University
Students' errors can be pedagogically useful only if they are constantly related to other variables that constitute the teaching context such as the course design and the professionalism of the teacher. The main aim of this paper is to reconsider the teaching situation of translation. It is an attempt to develop a new programme for the teaching of translation in the light of newly developed methods in both theory and practice. The focus will be on the students' performance, the material used the course design and the teacher
Undergraduate translation teaching: a pedagogical perspective
Onomázein Revista de lingüística filología y traducción, 2020
In institutions across the world, translation training is accorded sacrosanct status in translation studies. Recent developments in translation and technology, combined with the increasingly prominent role of translation in the global marketplace, have given the discipline a renewed significance both academically and culturally. In Palestine, however, translator training has for many years subsisted on limited resources, despite the fact that translation, in most Palestinian universities English departments, has been a requisite course in English language and literature degrees at undergraduate level for the past four decades. Drawing on first-hand experience from teaching undergraduate translation courses at Al-Quds University and An-Najah National University, what this article attempts to investigate, then, is the status of translation teaching at the undergraduate level at English departments in Palestinian universities. To that effect, the paper uses a selective body of authenti...
Many studies found out that teaching translation in most Departments of English in Faculties of Education in Egypt is confined to mere practice and intuition on the students' part, with the emphasis laid on judging the quality of their output rarely include any type of analysis or help provided on systematic basis as far as translation problems and ability are concerned. Abdel Raheim (1998) points out that the absence of clear objectives of teaching translation, random choice of unrelated passages, and the irrelevance between the type of training students get and final examinations they sit for, all contribute to the low-quality performance of students. Gabr (2002) investigated the practices of teaching and studying This study explores the actual practices of preservice teachers of the faculty of education in learning and studying translation as well as the practices of university instructors in teaching and evaluating translation. Tools included two questionnaires and guided interviews with the instructors. Students-teachers of the faculty of Education were shown to lack most of the basic skills of translating and instructors seemed to be dissatisfied with the current practices of course design, teaching and evaluating translation tasks.