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Teaching translation in a multilingual practice class

  • Anthony Pym
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The Evolving Curriculum in Interpreter and Translator Education
This chapter is in the book The Evolving Curriculum in Interpreter and Translator Education

Abstract

Understood as a course of instruction that aims to improve translation practice in a space where the instructor does not master all the languages, the multilingual practice class may save money for training institutions but can present serious challenges to instructors, especially with respect to the assessment of translation quality. Solutions to these challenges can be found in a few pedagogical principles: it is enough to set up task-based discovery activities to focus on cognitive processes and their interaction with technologies, privileging questions to which there are no consensual answers and using peer assessment for evaluating product quality. This approach effectively brings research techniques into the teaching space. It might thus meet resistance in institutional contexts where master-apprentice models traditionally attribute authority to the instructor’s experience, rather than to the learners’ discoveries.

Abstract

Understood as a course of instruction that aims to improve translation practice in a space where the instructor does not master all the languages, the multilingual practice class may save money for training institutions but can present serious challenges to instructors, especially with respect to the assessment of translation quality. Solutions to these challenges can be found in a few pedagogical principles: it is enough to set up task-based discovery activities to focus on cognitive processes and their interaction with technologies, privileging questions to which there are no consensual answers and using peer assessment for evaluating product quality. This approach effectively brings research techniques into the teaching space. It might thus meet resistance in institutional contexts where master-apprentice models traditionally attribute authority to the instructor’s experience, rather than to the learners’ discoveries.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. The evolving curriculum in interpreter and translator education 1
  4. Part I. Conceptualizations of curricula
  5. Translation and the internationalization of higher education in the anglophone West 25
  6. “TI literacy” for general undergraduate education 53
  7. European Masters in Translation 75
  8. Doctoral training in Translation Studies 99
  9. Part II. Innovation and reform
  10. Undergraduate and graduate level interpreter education 119
  11. Structure and process 141
  12. Innovations in online interpreter education 161
  13. Bridging the gap between curricula and industry 185
  14. Part III. Technology
  15. A singular(ity) preoccupation 205
  16. The proper place of localization in translation curricula 229
  17. Technology literacy for the interpreter 259
  18. Part IV. The course and the curriculum
  19. A relevancy approach to cultural competence in translation curricula 271
  20. Knowing what and knowing how 301
  21. Teaching translation in a multilingual practice class 319
  22. Part V. Stakeholder networks
  23. The contribution of institutional recruiters to interpreter training 343
  24. Institutional cooperation in the area of training – a two-way collaboration 369
  25. The role of the European Commission’s Virtual Class Program in university curricula 379
  26. The hidden curriculum revealed in study trip reflective essays 393
  27. Notes on contributors 409
  28. Name index 417
  29. Subject index 423
https://doi.org/10.1075/ata.xix.15pym

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. The evolving curriculum in interpreter and translator education 1
  4. Part I. Conceptualizations of curricula
  5. Translation and the internationalization of higher education in the anglophone West 25
  6. “TI literacy” for general undergraduate education 53
  7. European Masters in Translation 75
  8. Doctoral training in Translation Studies 99
  9. Part II. Innovation and reform
  10. Undergraduate and graduate level interpreter education 119
  11. Structure and process 141
  12. Innovations in online interpreter education 161
  13. Bridging the gap between curricula and industry 185
  14. Part III. Technology
  15. A singular(ity) preoccupation 205
  16. The proper place of localization in translation curricula 229
  17. Technology literacy for the interpreter 259
  18. Part IV. The course and the curriculum
  19. A relevancy approach to cultural competence in translation curricula 271
  20. Knowing what and knowing how 301
  21. Teaching translation in a multilingual practice class 319
  22. Part V. Stakeholder networks
  23. The contribution of institutional recruiters to interpreter training 343
  24. Institutional cooperation in the area of training – a two-way collaboration 369
  25. The role of the European Commission’s Virtual Class Program in university curricula 379
  26. The hidden curriculum revealed in study trip reflective essays 393
  27. Notes on contributors 409
  28. Name index 417
  29. Subject index 423
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