enterpreting and translation

Teaching Translation and Interpreting


Teaching Translation and Interpreting:
Challenges and Practices



Edited by

Łukasz Bogucki


















Teaching Translation and Interpreting: Challenges and Practices, Edited by Łukasz Bogucki

This book first published 2010


Cambridge Scholars Publishing


12 Back Chapman Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 2XX, UK


British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library


Copyright © 2010 by Łukasz Bogucki and contributors


All rights for this book reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,
or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or
otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner.

ISBN (10): 1-4438-2500-X, ISBN (13): 978-1-4438-2500-9

Table Of Contents


Introduction………………………………………………………

1
Fiorenza Mileto and Luigi Muzii
Teaching computer-assisted translation and localization: a projec

t
based approach……………………………………………………

3
Michał Kornacki
Teaching “computer translation skills” to English philology students
at the University of Łódź…………………………… ….……………

15
Łucja Biel
The textual fit of legal translations: focus on collocations in translato
r
training……………………………………………………………….…

25
Aleksander Gomola
Teaching translation of religious discourse in Poland………………….

41
Janusz Wróblewski
Sensitizing learners to multiple equivalence……………………… …

51
Marcin Zabawa
Teaching translation at the university: should students be taught thei
r
native language?

69
Adam Sitarek

Criteria for the selection of lexical items that are false friends
b
etween
English and German, German and Polish, and Polish and English fo
r
the curriculum of translator training in the Polish educational system

81
Joanna Janecka and Magdalena Kizeweter
Perils or perks? Teaching translation as part of Practical English
curriculum for undergraduate English Studies…………………… ….

99
Paulina Pietrzak and Mikołaj Deckert
Teaching translation to evening students at the University of Łódź
–
a perspective on directionality…………………………………… …



121
Table of Contents

vi
Michał B. Paradowski
From catering college to the naked chef – teaching LSP and culinar
y

translation……………………………………………… …………….

137
Jolanta Sak-Wernicka
Interpretation and interpreting – how does it work in Relevance
Theory?

167
Janusz Sikorski
Interpreter aptitude in testing procedures

179
Andrzej Łyda, Alina Jackiewicz and Krystyna Warchał
To get what you want. Triggering agentlessness in the consecutive
mode……………………………………………………………………

193
Zuzanna Łopacińska
Dealing with speakers’ errors in interpreting – indispensable skill for
a

well-trained interpreter…………………………………………………

213
List of Contributors…………………………………………………

239

INTRODUCTION


Translator and interpreter training has recently received ample

attention, manifested in numerous articles, books and conference papers.
However, many central issues still appear controversial. Should translation
and interpreting be taught within the curricula of language studies or
independently? What is translator competence made up of? Which of its
elements can be developed through practice and which require coaching?
What kind of translators and interpreters, if any, are "born, not made"? In
an attempt to address these and other questions as well as to exchange
experience and expertise regarding translation curricula in Poland and
abroad, the Department of Translation Theory and Practice, part of the
Chair of English Language and Applied Linguistics at Lodz University,
has organised two conferences under the title "Teaching Translation and
Interpreting"; the first was held in April 2008, the second almost exactly a
year later.
The present volume is an outcome of these two events. It is meant as a
response to the developments in translation didactics which result from the
recognition of the role of the translator/interpreter and the consolidating
status of Translation Studies. The rationale behind the publication is
manifold. First, there is evidently a need among translation scholars and
translators to exchange information on the process of becoming a
translator – issues like the optimum profile of a translation adept, the most
efficient methods for guiding students who wish to pursue the career or
balancing formal education with practical training. What is more, the
volume hopes to offer an opportunity to discuss the design of translation
and interpreting teaching tracks as they actually function in different
institutions within Poland and across Europe. The contributions talk about
the challenges and solutions in a translation and interpreting classroom by
combining theory and practice, hence allowing for implementation of the
different methods in real-life situations. As the authors come from a
number of institutions and countries, the volume offers varied perspectives
on analogous issues to arrive at a comprehensive up-to-date account but

also to discuss outlooks for the future.
The volume contains thirteen papers delivered at the aforementioned
events plus one invited contribution. The first two articles address an issue
of increasing relevance, that is teaching computer-assisted translation,
contrasting the Italian perspective (Fiorenza Mileto and Luigi Muzii) with
2 Introduction

the local one (Michał Kornacki). The paper by Łucja Biel focuses on
collocations in legal translation. Aleksander Gomola tackles the rarely
addressed topic of religious discourse in translation. Janusz Wróblewski
offers a variety of instances of ambiguity at word level and discusses
problems trainee translators may face. Marcin Zabawa discusses the role
of students‘ first language in translation classes. Adam Sitarek offers a
comprehensive outline of false friends and ensuing translation problems in
German, English and Polish. Joanna Janecka and Magdalena Kizeweter
talk about teaching translation to undergraduates as part of the practical
English programme. Mikołaj Deckert and Paulina Pietrzak follow up with
a discussion of translation courses offered to postgraduates. Michał B.
Paradowski comments on LSP in translation on the example of culinary
language. The remaining four papers concern interpreting studies. This
section opens up with a paper by Jolanta Sak-Wernicka on the application
of Relevance Theory. Janusz Sikorski tackles the issue of aptitude for
interpreting. Andrzej Łyda, Alina Jackiewicz and Krystyna Warchał focus
on consecutive interpreting and agentlessness. Finally, Zuzanna
Łopacińska embarks on coping with speaker’s errors in interpretation.
Thanks are due to Professor Piotr Stalmaszczyk, Dean of the Faculty of
Philology as well as Professor Barbara Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk, Head
of the Chair of English Language and Applied Linguistics, for their
support. Michał Kornacki, the technical editor, has put in a lot of effort
into preparing the volume. while Paulina Pietrzak, Mikołaj Deckert and

Janusz Wróblewski assisted with both events and the publication itself.
Most importantly, however, all the contributors ought to be given credit
for their valuable and relevant work.

Łukasz Bogucki
Łódź 2010

CHAPTER ONE
T
EACHING COMPUTER-ASSISTED
TRANSLATION AND LOCALIZATION: A
PROJECT BASED APPROACH
F
IORENZA MILETO AND LUIGI MUZII


Introduction

Tell me and I forget. Show me and I remember. Let me do and I
understand.
Confucius


Globalization has become a synonym for commoditization of work,
including knowledge work. In this framework, universities should be the
place for continuing education, incubators of new ideas, approaches and
solutions. Unfortunately, in our experience as students first, then as
professional translators and localizers, and finally as trainers and teachers,
we observed that, especially over the last few years, translation schools in
Italy have become sterile conservatories for accepted ideas, and the level

of expertise offered by graduates is far from the realities and requirements
of the workplace.
This does not mean that translation schools should churn out instantly
productive professionals like so many human widgets, yet we believe that
students should not be considered only diploma products.
The approach used for teaching computer-assisted translation and
localization at the faculty of interpreting and translation at the “S. Pio V”
University in Rome is aimed at helping each student’s skills emerge by
shifting his or her focus from grades to experience.
In fact, the common theoretical “conduit” view of learning still
predominates in translator education, and students generally tend to focus
to exams and grades rather than actual learning but when they get into
business, they blame the university since they become impotent witnesses
of the unwillingness of employers abdicating their responsibility to
Chapter One
4
educate and train their employees. On the other hand, the widespread
practice of ceasing hiring in favor of short-term contracts confirms that
certificates and diplomas are tickets to nowhere.
As business is the mainstay of modern translation practice, to help the
development of translator competence, and the comprehension of all
aspects of the translation process learning should be carried within the
context of real translation projects.
This paper is a report of a five-year teaching experience starting with a
post-graduate course in localization to continue in the curricular courses of
computer-assisted translation and localization.
The teaching approach comes from professional experience and
industry knowledge as well as from the continuous exchange of ideas with
colleagues and students at LUSPIO and during seminars, workshops, and
conferences. We came up with a “formula” to exploit class teaching at

best, and help students to get accustomed to goal setting as they will
typically bump into on the workplace.
The purpose of this paper is to outline our approach for student-
centered classroom activity, with no theoretical or methodological claims.
The paper presents a parallel structure reflecting our individual
experiences in a common effort to improve each one’s approach to
teaching and evaluation. In this respect, special attention is given to the
differences in the evaluation systems to appraise the students’ level of
competence and maturity.


PBL

Project-based learning (PBL) is a constructivist pedagogy approach for
classroom activity that emphasizes learning activities that are long-term,
interdisciplinary and student-centered. This approach is generally less
structured than traditional, teacher-led classroom activities; it is designed
to be used for complex issues that require students to investigate in order
to understand: in a project-based class, students often must organize their
own work and manage their own time.
Within the PBL framework students are asked to team up, work
together, take on social responsibilities, and find solutions to real
problems. The students’ choices lead to artifacts representing what is
being learned.
The approach is based on two key assumptions:
− learning is enhanced when knowledge is activated;
Teaching Computer-Assisted Translation And Localization

5
− processing knowledge in a problem-solving approach to learning

improves the ability to organize, store and retrieve it.
Not only do students respond by feeding back information, they also
actively use what they know to negotiate, and devise solutions.
In PBL, traditional classroom activity integrates with “real world”
issues and practices. Running a structured project allow students to
practice “real-world” conditions in a “safe” environment, and finally
deliver a synthesis of their learning experience in a factual product.
The teacher teach students how not be at loss in real life situations, and
help them build strategies to be armed with to deal with whatever comes
their way. The class changes from a teacher-fronted passive mass to a
place of activities. Instruction has its goal to make the student a self-
sufficient problem-solver.
Students are discouraged to be passive receivers of the information
transmitted to them from the teacher or the textbooks. They will otherwise
end up focusing only to the exam, trying to devise strategies to pass it with
the minimum effort and maximum profit.


The Rationale

Over the last few years, the need has become acute to adapt
educational practice in university-level schools for translator training to
rapidly changing market requirements. Nevertheless, teaching is still based
on a trial-and-error approach, reflecting the teacher’s self-deemed superior
wisdom and the attempt to duplicate knowledge in students’ minds.
We do not know of any formal study on translation teaching in Italy,
and no figures are available to tell this is a universal practice; nevertheless,
students attending the computer-assisted translation course and the
localization course at LUSPIO are graduates from the major academic
institutions in Italy.

In our experience, translation buyers and employers have definite
expectations of new graduates in translation, and they are finding that the
universities fall short of meeting their expectations regarding the skills and
preparation for being on the workplace. The main obstacles encountered
when hiring graduates are their preparation for dealing with specialized
translation, terminology management and information technology, narrow
exposure to culture, lack of practical training but also with their ability to
organize themselves autonomously or work independently or in teams,
solve problems or establish and effectively manage social relations on the
job.
Chapter One
6
Anyway, comparing job profiles with academic programs will make
the educational gap clear. We have been trying to reduce it by introducing
a certification pathway and a real-life project experience to endorse each
student’s skills.
In the traditional translation education scenario, the in-class
instructional process is largely reduced to homework review: the instructor
essentially identifies the errors in students’ drafts and provides “correct”
solutions to translation problems. The teacher is supposed to possess
absolute knowledge of how to translate, while translator competence
emerges as the result of the collaborative completion of authentic
translation work.
Gaming is a fundamental ingredient in learning, and to help students
achieve a professional-like level of autonomy and expertise they should go
through experience by being involved in the collaborative undertaking of
authentic translation projects for real customers. Nevertheless, while
newspaper texts are actually rare on the translation market they are still the
all-but-exclusive practice material in classes.
The results achieved so far confirm the soundness of the approach, and

the accomplishment of the educational goals: the rate of abandonment is
next to zero, students are mostly enthusiastic in their comments in the
questionnaires they are asked to fill anonymously at the end of courses,
and the placement rate is largely satisfactory.
Last year, the SDL Trados certification exam was introduced at the end
of the computer-assisted translation course: 18 students out of 28 passed
the exam. 78% of students from the post-graduate course in localization,
the computer-assisted translation course and the localization course are
proficiently and satisfactorily working in the GILT industry, in Italy and
abroad.


The computer-assisted translation course

Computer-assisted translation is increasingly made the object of study
nowadays. A lot has been said and published on TEnT’s, while little has
been written on their application to training. Teaching methodologies as to
translation tools are out of the scope of this paper, which is just the report
of a teaching experiment, and therefore does not take into account the
relevant literature and any similar studies/experiments carried out
elsewhere.
The purpose of this paper is to show that tech-driven courses need a
different approach from traditional courses.
Teaching Computer-Assisted Translation And Localization

7
The teaching approach for the computer-assisted translation course is
borrowed from the experience made in training translators and trainers for
the GILT industry as well as organizations and academic institutions. This
approach is aimed at reconciling education and work-linked training.

The computer-assisted translation course is aimed at introducing
students to a working methodology different from “Word and dictionary”
and based on translation tools as an integral and indivisible part of the
translation process.
Therefore, it is important for students to learn about the industry,
understand and evaluate their working environment, mature a teamwork
attitude, and meet the deadlines, while getting accustomed to identify the
technical aspects and skills to develop.
In this way, students can face a non-traumatic impact with the “real
world”, while a first-time approach to computer-assisted translation can
help the teacher take advantage of a total absence of habits and prejudices
affecting long-time translation professionals. This makes it possible to
integrate translation tools in the working process, and develop an unbiased
view of a project.


Working strategy

The first step is to encourage students not to be in awe of and suffer
from computer and software tools, possibly for poor rehearsal. Therefore,
it is pivotal to foster a collaborative approach by setting up working
groups whose members are able to compensate each other for weak points,
and exploit the little time available at best.
The working strategy comes from the experience in training the
translators where being acquainted with each other helps cooperation, and
cooperation helps initiative and learning. Teamwork cannot be taught, but
is more and more widespread in the workplace. Individual skills should
therefore be used and students should be invited to rely on each other to
solve the problems in the classroom positively moving the focus from the
teacher to the class team.

The assisted translation course at LUSPIO starts by presenting the
basic concepts of computer-assisted translation and the basic functions of a
translation tool through increasingly challenging exercises where attention
is focused entirely on technical aspects.
The next step consists in reviewing a ready-made work with a
translation tool. The translation is chosen from those done during the
course of specialized translation. Pros and cons of computer-assisted
Chapter One
8
translation are discussed, together with the texts that are best suited for
processing with translation tools. Working strategies are finally evaluated
that would have been faster and convenient. At this stage the development
of termbases, translation memories, and specialized corpora is also
suggested.


The project

Once the introductory lessons are over, students are called to
participate in a translation project under the teacher’s guidance, who will
set deadlines and assign tasks. Students are requested to team up and
develop a time plan, while respecting the (virtual) customer’s instructions,
starting with the style guide, to handle communications with all the parties
involved, and solve any problems with terminology and translation
memories. The student teams will have to deal also with any technical and
logistic issues that could occur.
To help a contrastive analysis, the project is chosen from a bunch
kindly granted for academic purposes, to anticipate problems and
“challenges” that students must then confront and win.
One of the projects was run on materials developed by Lou Cremers

during his office at Océ Technologies in Venlo, the Netherlands. Océ
materials proved particularly suitable for training purposes for their
relative simplicity and the thorough compilation (style guides,
instructions, files, and memories). Such “realia” allowed for the
arrangement of a “real-world” working environment, and to “plan” a few
incidents to stimulate technical abilities and problem-solving talent.
In this respect, the course is a convenient introduction to the
localization course where a real project will be run, in a controlled
environment.


Benefits

After a five-year experience, the use of a ready-made translation
project proved to allow the teacher to have definite references and goals,
while students can work freely and with full autonomy. In the same way,
the teacher can reproduce the typical issues that students will find in the
workplace and give them the chance to cope safely in a sheltered
environment. These issues will be repurposed, in a harder setting, to the
students that will attend the localization course.
Teaching Computer-Assisted Translation And Localization

9
The teacher can exploit the students’ curiosity to prevent them to
approach translation tools in the future to mechanically reproduce a few
tasks with no apparent convenience.
The most immediate and rewarding achievement is the abandonment of
the exams-and-grades logic: the students’ efforts turn to be goal-oriented.
Running a translation project requires students to waive mechanical or
mnemonic learning: translation tools alone are not enough to solve the

problems arising and fulfill the assignments; students must understand the
business and operation logic behind them to use them actively and
usefully.
The most ambitious goal, which results in greater satisfaction and
durability, is the development of an integrated approach to translation
tools and language and technical and management issues.


Assessments

Having experienced some traditional assessment systems with ongoing
evaluation, the best way to assess the students’ achievements is to test the
different skills they should have developed during the course. Therefore,
the final exam consists of three parts:
− a short essay presenting the features of a translation tool reviewed
during the course or a project done using a set of translation tools;
− a working session where students must demonstrate to know how
to manage a small translation project;
− an academic session where students must answer a multiple-choice
questions test; students are also given the chance to receive
certification of their knowledge from tool vendors.
In many cases, the effort required to write the essay has led students to
deepen the subject in their final dissertation.
The way the exam is broken down reflects the comprehensive
combination of skills that students must develop for a profitable working
strategy with translation tools. The final exam is aimed at assessing the
integration of computer-assisted translation with the translation process
and the working methodology, and the absence of any mnemonic and
mechanical use of the programs addressed during the year.
In a five-year experience, even though the basic structure of the course

has remained unchanged, small adjustments have been made to the final
exam as to topics and duration. Only 15% of students fail when taking the
exam at the end of the course, and only 10% run out of time. Typically,
Chapter One
10
this is the case of students who have erratically attended lessons or with
poor IT skills.


The localization course

The course is aimed at teaching localization basics to translation
students in order to provide them with some of the skills and competences
needed to work in the localization industry.
Students are trained in translation techniques for localization, in the
localization process, and in project management principles.
The PBL model in teaching localization is pivoted on the course
program, its instructional goals, and its themes to facilitate student
autonomy, and includes a syllabus and examination procedure, small
classes, teacher-fronted lessons for basics, and teacher-students
interaction.
Project contents are aimed at giving students the opportunity to
become confident in participating in localization projects.
At the beginning of the course, students receive basic instructions to
enable them to use their skills and knowledge confidently, flexibly,
appropriately, and autonomously.
During the course, students are taught to devise and implement an
overall project strategy that makes translation requirements easier to
collect and understand and even apparent, although they are not, and help
disambiguation.

Finally, every time, in every project, something unanticipated happens.
Collaborative learning helps students forge a contingency strategy.


The business game for “real world” connections

In an applied localization program, assignments should mirror the
kinds of job students will do in the workplace.
Connections are made with the “real world” in having students
participate in a business game around an actual localization project. Most
of the project is run completely out of the class as coursework to give
students the opportunity to learn from experience.
At the end of the teacher-fronted lessons on localization basics,
students team up. The teacher chooses the product to be localized, and
plays the service provider’s role thus appointing a student as the project
leader who will allocate role and assignments, and coordinate the
Teaching Computer-Assisted Translation And Localization

11
localization student team. The environment of a typical localization project
is then replicated to simulate a workplace situation. The teacher will
integrate experiences with further training during two or more project
status meetings. During these meetings, the teacher can train students on
specific points as the need arises. Assisting students with some aspects of
the production allow them not to be overwhelmed by problem-solving
tasks ahead of them.
Students are urged to report any problems and queries to the teacher,
and to use a bulletin board system to post messages, queries, documents,
and training material.
In running the project, students are asked to build an environment for

the application of translation, computation, planning, and communication
skills. They also get accustomed with the complex processes and
procedures that are typical of “real-world” jobs.
Teamwork could prove very hard, especially for students who have
secured high grades in exams, do not feel at ease in sharing their
knowledge, and are usual at ruling.
Teamwork skills are pivotal in a traditional localization project made
up of hundred thousands of words and limited time, and it is what market
is requiring: not only does collaborative learning help students learn from
each other, it helps students develop problem-solving attitudes, and
become more creative. Group assignments bring “free riders” and slackers
to emerge and team members face them and cope with their ability to
exploit the extra efforts of peers, especially when groups are fairly small.
The teacher needs to know his students and be prepared to help them
adjust to this kind of learning. Some students forge ahead with self-
directed learning, while others need guidance.
The project impacts mainly on students’ time, and the first lesson
learned is on time management to accommodate assignments of different
subjects and run the project, especially if students have never undertaken a
lengthy project before.
During the production stage of the project, students learn to monitor
progress and make changes to improve their work; they also discover
spaces for product enhancement.
Finally, students are asked to give an open-ended written reflection on
their experience. This offers the chance to give them a view on a typical
project management task: writing a post-mortem report.

Chapter One
12
Benefits

The transition from dependence to independence for trainee translators
is not an easy process, especially in an educational Italian system where
spoon-feeding and rote-learning are common strategies.
The project approach encourages students to use their specialized skills
and talents on individual tasks and responsibilities, but also to develop
problem solving, and self-management abilities.
Since student groups perform best when they have common goals and
joint rewards, students are told how the teacher will evaluate the group and
the effect group performance will have on grades before any activity
begins.
Students also know from the beginning that their performance will be
assessed on content and skills using criteria similar to those in the work
world. Teamwork is then encouraged to create products that are better than
one individual could achieve on their own, peer review is used to improve
planning, translating, and revising processes, and students are trained to
view editors or reviewers in a collaborative endeavor to improve their
work. At the same time, student editors are prevented from the unpleasant
attitude to make changes purely to demonstrate their authority.
This helps create positive communication and collaborative
relationships, and engages and motivates bashful or indifferent students.
Students are encouraged to take risks and fight frustrations; their
responses and enthusiasm can be overwhelming, but their increased output
and productivity become a reward in itself; at the same time autonomy
help them build confidence and consciousness of skills learnt.
Finally, translation courses generally lack of an “economic” approach
with the associated investigation of the cost of errors, thus eluding the

problem of translation sustainability. Tools are increasingly spreading that
reduce translation costs, therefore students are taught to take full
advantage of appropriate technology to improve efficiency, use of
resources, costs, and guarantee economic sustainability by standardization
and large-scale use, reliability, and affordability.
During the years a few adjustments have been made, based on the cues
given by students through the questionnaires they are asked to fill
anonymously at the end of courses. These adjustments mostly relate to IT
and translation skills. IT and computer-assisted translation skills are now a
(non-binding) prerequisite for the course.
Since its establishment, no abandonment has been recorded, with a
satisfaction index of 99% over the period. The students expressing
Teaching Computer-Assisted Translation And Localization

13
discontent have ascribed it to a faulty self-assessment of their compliance
with the requirements for participation and with the program.


Assessments

A schedule and firm deadlines are established, missed deadlines are
penalized. Periodic meetings are setup where progress, problems,
strategies and solutions are discussed. These meetings are also useful to
help students work to meet the deadlines and to catch up if they fall
behind.
Most students still judge their educational experience by their grades.
In this case, assessment is used mainly to improve the product and occurs
at stages throughout the project. Students are involved in the development
of assessment criteria and are actively engaged in the evaluation of their

own work. Therefore, they must have a clear understanding of the
project’s goals and the ways in which they will be assessed before
beginning.
Performance is assessed on an individual basis: quality of deliverables,
content understanding, and the contributions made to the ongoing process
of project realization are taken into account. Students will be assessed also
on the strategies and skills that are needed to complete the task
successfully.


Future scenario

LSP’s are interested primarily in productivity and sales, and this
should really matter to translators as well. Time to market is an important
issue, and the demand for faster production times is increasing. Speed has
becoming a larger pressure than quality — provided quality means the
same for all.
Keeping costs under budget is a major, if not the prime challenge.
Efficiency, global economics, and tools are a means to get those costs
under control, and are leading to a collaborative, interactive, real-time
production environment. Translation tools are evolving fast. Many free
technologies are available now to manage huge projects in a much more
efficient way than using standard tools. One is machine translation, and
the big factor for making machine translation systems profitable and
convenient is reducing ambiguity in the source text. In the coming future,
Chapter One
14

translators that are not using machine translation to pre-process their jobs
are doing too much work.

1

As the translation and communication industries continue to be
confronted with new technologies, the next step consists in educating
translators in being conversant in the more “spendable” skills, to exploit
the same tacit knowledge that people in the field tend to share through
discussion and personal interactions. Special attention should then be
given to social aspects (collaboration and sharing through social networks,
wikis and blogs) in a “Wikinomics”
2
or crowdsourcing
3
perspective, and
translation students should be introduced to web-based translation
environments, controlled languages, content management, and workflow
management systems.


References

Barkley E., K. P. Cross and Major C. Howell. 2004. Collaborative
Learning Techniques: A Handbook for College Faculty, Jossey-Bass
Markham T. 2003. Project Based Learning Handbook, Buck Institute for
Education

1
This paper has been partly written in Italian and translated in English with a little help from
Google Translate.
2
The use of mass collaboration (also called peer production) and open-source technology

such as wikis in a business environment to be successful.
3
The act of taking a task traditionally performed by an employee or contractor, and
outsourcing it to an undefined, generally large group of people, in the form of an open call.
CHAPTER TWO
T
EACHING “COMPUTER TRANSLATION
SKILLS” TO ENGLISH PHILOLOGY STUDENTS
AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ŁÓDŹ
M
ICHAŁ KORNACKI


Introduction

The profession of a translator has no strict definition in Poland.
Virtually anyone can translate a text and call themselves translators. But is
it enough just to translate to claim that one knows the trade? Or maybe
there is something more to it, hidden beneath the glamorous cover of
sophisticated language skills that make us, translators, professionals?
Having been a teacher of translation for some time, I think I can try to
answer these questions, at least partly. Of course, language skills are vital
in this profession – without the knowledge how to render a body of text
into another language, no other skills will make us translators. Yet, those
“other” skills are important, too, since they make us efficient in what we
do, and efficiency is one of the factors that the number of jobs we have
depends on.
I use these words as an opening to the translation course I conduct at
the Institute of English Studies, University of Łódź. Since our students
have the opportunity to attend various classes on translation, such as

English-Polish or Polish-English translation, ESP (English for Specific
Purposes) or literary translation, my primary concern in to make them
aware that being a successful translator does not only mean to translate
properly. I try to show them that developing and applying a number of
skills, which many would refer to as “technical”, is equally important.
Translating is one thing, but working up to the standards of the market is
something else. My goal is to make them at least partly ready for the
challenges they will face in their professional life, especially that the pace
of technological progress increases and it is often the case that, as Celia
Rico Pérez puts it, “an individual translator cannot carry out the task of
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managing an entire project alone in a reasonable amount of time unless he
or she works in a team; ( ) translators need to adapt themselves to this
[changing translation market] new environment and learn new skills”
(Pérez 2001).
The purpose of this paper is to present some of my experience and
methods of teaching computer translation skills, which I used as teacher of
translation (EN-PL. PL-EN, ESP) at the Institute of English, University of
Łódź.


Definition of “computer translation skills”

It is nothing new to say that global computerisation, visible in almost
every aspect of our lives, resulted in the need for translators to use
computers. It is generally perceived as an advantage, since it is easier to
create, edit and send translations over to our customers; however, it also
forces everyone to use the same (or at least very similar) applications and
document formats. Using computers in translation is so obvious today that

very few people do stop to think about it. How do I translate using a
computer? What skills and applications do I use? Asking such questions
and answering them not only will give us a better idea of our efficiency
when using a computer but also it will enable us to help others in this
respect.
Generally, “computer translation skills”, as I regard them, include such
trivial issues as general use of computers, handling e-mail applications or
communicating via internet messengers. What is more, they include a
number of other things such as the use of word-processing software,
computer-aided translation (CAT) tools, optical character recognition
(OCR) and other relevant software. The final skill that needs mentioning,
and probably one of the most important ones, is related to searching for
information on the internet. Although mentioning “such” skills may seem
obvious at first, it is worth to think about them for a minute. My
experience with 1
st
and 2
nd
year students (2
nd
-year MA course) shows that
having mentioned abilities is generally taken for granted by them. It is
only when someone points out the gaps in their knowledge that they see
them. This applies also to regular freelance translators who often have
problems with document formatting or searching for data on the internet. I
do not mention more major issues like project management since my aim
is only to introduce students to some technical aspects of translation,
leaving more complex issues for classes (i.e. post-graduate translation
courses) strictly devoted to highly advanced aspects of the trade.
Teaching “Computer Translation Skills” to English Philology Students

17
Computer knowledge that students have vs. computer
knowledge they should possess

There is a huge discrepancy between students’ actual knowledge and
the knowledge they should possess. When asked about tools they use in
translation, the majority of answers were “a dictionary.” The fact is that
most people do not recognise the computer itself as a translation tool. It
has become a part of our everyday lives to such an extent that nobody
bothers to think about it. Even when it was pointed out to the students,
they were unable to specify which computer tools in particular are helpful.
A number of supporting questions revealed that a vast majority of students
used MS Word as their primary word-processor and Google for internet
browsing. However, their knowledge of MS Word software and of Google
was very basic. One or two students mentioned OCR software – which
was totally unknown to the rest of the group. Nobody used CAT tools,
which was not that much of a surprise since they were just starting as
translators and CAT software is quite expensive and mostly useful for
more advanced professionals.
Our role as teachers of translation should be to introduce our students
to the trade and to show them how the market works. Students generally
do not know what to expect in regards to translation requirements, i.e. they
do not know which computer skills, if any, will be useful to them while
translating. A really gifted translator will face many problems in the
beginning of his/her career if he will be unaware of, for example, the
requirements of translation agencies regarding the final form of a
document. This is only one example, but dozens could be mentioned.
Once, when I was beginning to work as a translator, I received series of
scanned documents which contained stamps at the end of each document.
Since I did not know what to do with it, I used graphic software to cut the

stamp and the signature from the original and paste it onto my translation.
Nobody taught me that the standard is to describe the stamp and put the
description into “/ /”, i.e.:

/stamp reading: XXX/
/signature illegible/

In most cases, translation agencies require translators to write that a
handwritten signature is illegible, unless it is in capital letters or followed
by name and surname in print. Why do I bring this example up? Recently,
I have noticed that my own students do the same mistake, trying to
reproduce graphical form of the original stamp. How are they supposed to
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know what to do? Sometimes the knowledge when not to use our
advanced computer skills and do something in a simple way is a skill in
itself.
Yet, first of all, I believe we should explain to them what they will
need in translation as far as computers are concerned. The first thing, the
most basic one, is rather obvious: a computer. Can it be any kind of a
computer? Not exactly. If they are serious about translating, we should
give them advice regarding configuration of their workstation. To start
with, any up-to-date CPU will be sufficient – computational power of
modern processors is more than a successful translator will ever need.
Hard drive – two smaller drives seem to be better than one large one due
to the need for backup copy storage. As translators, we are often required
to use our older translations for whatever reasons, which is why keeping
an archive is so vital. It is also important to backup such archive in case of
primary hard drive failure. If students ask about memory, the answer is
simple: the more, the better. Display unit we work on should be large

enough not to exhaust our eyes too quickly, at the same time enabling
resolutions which will allow us to display two windows side by side so
that we can read a text from one and translate into the other one. Last but
not least, we should mention the keyboard. It is very important to buy one
which is comfortable and relatively silent, which again has an effect on
how fast we get tired while working. Though such issues seem to be
obvious and only vaguely related to translation at first, they are an
invaluable piece of advice for people whom we train to be translators.


Teaching computer translation skills – theory and practise

Today, teaching translation involves much more than focusing on how
to put one thing into another language in the best way. Technological
progress forces us to devote a portion of our time to strictly technical
aspects of translation. That is why my first step in a new translation-
focused group is to interview them, check what they know and to give
them theoretical base for later practical activities.


The Internet

The theoretical base should include general information regarding the
translator’s workshop and the issues one should be familiar with. I always
start with websites devoted to translation, which are available on the
Teaching “Computer Translation Skills” to English Philology Students
19
Internet, i.e. ProZ (www.proz.com), Globtra (www.globtra.org), Branżowe
Forum Tłumaczy (www.forumtlumaczy.com), etc., which will help them
advance in their career. Such sites contain a lot of information about

translators’ everyday work and they unveil many problematic issues a
young translator may experience.
The next thing worth discussing is the role of the Internet as a source
of information. More and more often we need to verify if a given notion
was translated before, and if yes – how. It is important to use the
translations which have been on the market for some time and are
recognised by other people. This is where the internet becomes very useful
for it allows us to search for a given information (google.com, yahoo.com,
altavista.com, etc.), use online dictionaries and corpora, or compare
different language versions of the same site (Wikipedia the Free
Encyclopaedia and the ability to switch between different languages
defining a given notion – www.wikipedia.org). Google itself is a powerful
tool since it allows us not only to search for information on webpages, but
also it indexes *.doc and *.pdf files stored on servers, allowing us to
browse through their contents in search for a context.


Software

A successful translator needs to know how to handle various computer
applications in his/her work. That is why basic software used to compress
and decompress files should be mentioned (WinZip, WinRAR). Do not
forget about PDF and multimedia files readers (images, audio). Discuss
differences in using different word processors and the (remote) need for
audio recording software. Describe how an OCR (Abbyy Fine Reader) and
localisation (Alchemy Catalyst) software work. It is important to mention
CAT tools, how they work and whether a beginner translator should invest
money in them. And finally, above all, great attention should be paid to the
word-processor which, in fact, is our primary working environment.
In Poland, most people use MS Word (versions XP, 2003 or 2007).

Other software is also present (OpenOffice), but their use is marginal,
which may be partly attributed to Microsoft software superiority and its
general popularity. The more people use it, the less frequent compatibility
issues become.
Due to primary and secondary school requirements, as well as thanks
to informatics classes, most people are familiar enough with the software
to create new documents, open and edit existing ones and change basic
formatting types. However, interviews with students revealed that it was