Postgraduate Course: Technology and Translation in the Workplace (CLLC11065)
Course Outline
| School | School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | The main goal of the TTW course is to equip students with the skills and techniques required as professional translators of various subjects including marketing, business, engineering, manuals and media-related texts. Classes are practical with a strong Information Technology element, project-based translation exercises, group work and discussions. At the end of the course, the students will have become familiar with computer-assisted translation tools, particularly SDL Trados Studio 2019. They will also have acquired skills and knowledge required in a professional environment, including the development of certain techniques and resources for background research, terminology management, text analysis, and document preparation and production. On the whole, the course intends to give students a better understanding of tools and techniques used in the translation industry and it also provides information to students on how to become more integrated in the wider translation community and how to market themselves effectively. The course is taught by a team of academics and professional translators.
As of 2014/5 the University of Edinburgh's postgraduate programme in Translation Studies is an official member of the SDL University Partner Program.
The objective of the SDL University Partner Program is to provide students with the necessary knowledge, expertise and resources to help prepare for a career in the translation industry. This academic program offers students the opportunity to gain the official SDL Certification qualification, through a professional and well-structured series of training materials and there is also a number of other additional benefits.
Benefits of the SDL University Program include:
SDL Certification official courseware and exams: this gives students the opportunity to gain an additional qualification. Upon successful completion of an online examination the students become SDL Certified. Participation in the exam (3 attempts) and related courseware are provided for free to the students as part of the Partner Program. SDL Certification is an industry recognised qualification for professional translators and as such, the biggest translator community website Proz.com incorporates SDL Certification into its translator profiles.
Students who pass the exam will immediately have a webpage dedicated to their achievement and this can be found in their SDL account. Many users send the page link to prospective employers to show them that they are SDL Certified.
Discounted pricing on SDL CAT tools: as part of this program students also have the opportunity to purchase their own SDL Trados license at a substantially discounted price. |
| Course description |
Week 1: Introduction to the course. Personal and Professional Skills
After an introduction to the course's aims and assessment, the session will look into personal and professional skills that the students need to develop when working in a translation environment (e.g. Time Management, Teamwork and Networking).
Weeks 2-10: Translation Memory tools
You will work with different computer assisted translation tools (Trados, Déjà vu and Wordfast Anywhere) used in the translation industry. The sessions offer hands-on experience in translation using translation memory tools and include issues such as text segmentation, text alignment, handling matches, terminology management and the ethics of sharing memory tools with agencies.
Recommended links about software:
http://www.trados.com/en/freelance-translators/translation-memory.asp
http://www.translationzone.com/en/solutions/terminology/?
http://www.wordfast.net
Recommended reading:
Hartley, Tony (2009)
Walker, Andy (2014)
Week 11: CV and cover letter workshop
Prior to the session, the students will be asked to write a CV and cover letter based on a fictitious job advertisement. In class, we will then focus on what makes a good CV and cover letter.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2021/22, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Quota: None |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 2,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 18,
Other Study Hours 4,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
172 )
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| Additional Information (Learning and Teaching) |
4 hours Other Study
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Weekly activities from week 6 (30%)
Final 2,500 word essay (70%) |
| Feedback |
Assessment is divided into two assignments (TTW1 submitted week 6 and TTW2 submitted week 12). Written feedback will be provided for each assignment on the following aspects: content, structure, style, presentation and referencing. Students will be expected to reflect on the feedback they received on TTW1 before submitting TTW2. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Demonstrate personal and professional skills (such as time management, networking and teamwork) important for their future career as translators
- Use the web as an effective research tool when preparing translation work
- Demonstrate an understanding of the principal techniques and functions of Translation Memory tools -mainly SDL Trados 2014- and how to apply these in the translation of a wide range of documents and formats for improved productivity and consistent quality
- Reflect and comment on the advantages/disadvantages and overall impact of the widespread use of CAT Tools on the workflow of translators, and on the translation industry as a whole
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Reading List
Austermühl, Frank (2001) Electronic Tools for Translators, Manchester: St. Jerome.
Bastin, Georges L. (2007) Profession Traducteur, Montréal: Presses de l'Université de Montréal.
Benis, Michael, Translation Memory from O to R, online at http://www.transref.org/
Benis, Michael. How the memory measured up, http://transref.org/default.asp?docsrc=/u-articles/Benis4.asp
Berneking Steve and Scott S. Elliott (eds) (2008) Translation and the Machine: Technology, Meaning, Praxis, Roma: Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura.
Bowker, Lynn (2002) Computer-aided translation technology: A practical introduction, Ottowa: University of Ottowa Press.
Byrne, Jody (2006) Technical translation. Usability strategies for translating technical documentation, Dordrecht: Springer.
Chiew Kin Quah (2006), Translation and Technology, Palgrave Macmillan.
Declercq, Christophe (2009), Video interview on CAT tools, Jostrans 11: http://www.jostrans.org/issue11/int_declercq.phpn
Díaz Cintas, Jorge (1999) 'Dubbing or Subtitling: The Eternal Dilemma', Perspectives: Studies in Translatology 7(1):31-40.
Díaz Cintas, J. (2003) "Audiovisual translation in the third millennium", in Anderman, Gunilla & Margaret Rogers (eds).Translation Today. Trends and Perspectives. Clevedon, Buffalo, Toronto, Sydney: Multilingual Matters Ltd, 192-204.
Díaz-Cintas, Jorge and Aline Remael (2007) Audiovisual Translation: Subtitling, Manchester: St. Jerome Publishing.
Esselink, B. (2000) A Practical Guide to Localization, Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins [item available as an e-book]
Esselink, B. (2000a) 'Documentation Translation - Reviewing Documentation', in A Practical Guide to Localization, Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins: 315-321 [item available as an e-book].
Fiederer R., O'Brien S. (2009), Quality and Machine Translation: A realistic objective? Jostrans 11: 52-74: http://www.jostrans.org/issue11/art_fiederer_obrien.pdf
Fulford, H. and Granell-Zafra, J. (2003) 'Internet Skills and Translation: Training Freelance Translators to Explore, Exploit and Evaluate the Potential of Web-Based Resources', in Internet in Linguistics, Translation and Literary Studies, Posteguillo, S., Ortells, E., Ramon, J., Bolanos, A. and Alcina, A. (eds), Universitat Jaume 1, Castellon: 223-239.
Fulford H., Granell-Zafra J. (2005), Translation and Technology: a Study of UK Freelance Translators. Jostrans 4: 2-17 http://www.jostrans.org/issue04/art_fulford_zafra.php
Garcia, I (2005), Long term memories: Trados and TM turn 20. Jostrans 4: 18-31
http://www.jostrans.org/issue04/art_garcia.pdf
Garcia, Ignacio (2007). 'Power Shifts in Web-based Translation Memory' in Machine Translation, issue 21: 55-68, online at: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/30219110 [accessed 05/04/2012].
García, Ignacio (2009). 'Beyond Translation Memory: Computers and the Professional Translator' in JosTrans, issue 12: 199-214, online at: http://www.jostrans.org/issue12/art_garcia.php [accessed 05/04/2012].
Gouadec, Daniel (2010) Translation as a Profession, Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Hartley, Tony (2009) 'Technology and Translation' in Munday, Jeremy (ed) (2009) The Routledge Companion of Translation Studies, London & New York: Routledge: 106-127.
Heyn, Matthias (1998) 'Translation Memories: Insights and Prospects', in Lynne Bowker et al (eds.) Unity in Diversity? Manchester: St. Jerome, 123-136.
Kastberg, P. (2007) Cultural Issues Facing the Technical Translator, JoSTrans 8: 104-109. http://www.jostrans.org/issue08/art_kastberg.pdf
Mossop, Brian (2001) Revising and Editing for Translators, Manchester: St. Jerome.
O'Brien, Sharon (2002) 'Practical Experience of Computer-Aided Translation Tools in the Software Localization Industry', in Bowker et. al., 115-22
Pym, A. (2010) What Technology Does To Translation, Intercultural Studies Group, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, online at http://www.tinet.cat/~apym/on-line/translation/2010_technology.pdf
Raley, Rita (2010) 'Machine Translation and Global English' in Baker, Mona (ed) (2010) Critical Readings in Translation Studies, London & New York: Routledge, 417-434.
Robinson, Douglas (1997) Becoming a Translator: An Accelerated Course, London: Routledge.
Robinson, Douglas (2003) Becoming a Translator: An Introduction to the Theory and Practice of Translation, Manchester: St. Jerome.
Somers, Harold (2003) (ed.) Computers and Translation: A Translator's Guide, Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Sprung, Robert (2000) (ed.) Translating into Success: Cutting Edge Strategies for Going Multilingual in a Global Age, Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Useful links
Theses and academic reports on terminology: http://termcoord.wordpress.com/terminology-tools/thesis-on-terminology/
Special issue of JoStrans on terminology, phraseology and translation (July 2012):
http://www.jostrans.org/issue18/issue18_toc.php
The Localisation Industry Standards Association Official Website: http://www.lisa.org/
Directorate General for Translation of the European Commission, Translating for a Multilingual Community (2002, 2004 eds) http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/translation/publications/brochures/translating_eu_brochure_en.pdf
Directorate General for Translation of the European Commission, Translation Tools and Workflow (2002, 2004 eds) http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/dgs/translation/bookshelf/tools_and_workflow_en.pdf
http://www.port.ac.uk/research/translation/talkingwiththetranslators/
TC World - An online journal devoted to translation issues: http://www.tcworld.info/index.php?id=23
Ostler, Nicholas, The Last Lingua Franca: The Rise and Fall of World Languages (Penguin, 2011)
Cronin, Michael (2003) Translation and Globalization, Routledge.
Wu, Timothy (2010)The Master Switch: The Rise and Fall of Information Empires, Atlantic Books.
Slightly more technical/practical material in blogs etc.
AQText Translation Services http://aqtext.com/blog/google-translate/. Last viewed 3rd January 2012. A blog entry on the copyright pitfalls of using Google's translation services.
Raya, R., Reduce translation time and effort with the aid of XML standards, online at http://www.maxprograms.com/articles/tmx.html#Resources. Last viewed 3rd January 2012. A good article to read if you're interested in how TM matching Works.
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Keywords | TTW |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Mavis Ho
Tel:
Email: Mavis.Ho@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Mrs Vivien MacNish Porter
Tel: (0131 6)50 3528
Email: vivien.macnish-porter@ed.ac.uk |
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