EE SS TT NEWSLETTER European Society for Translation Studies

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No. 8 May 1996

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Daniel GILE (Lyon/Paris) in cooperation with José LAMBERT (Leuven) All correspondence to: Daniel GILE, 10 rue Pasteur, F-92190 Meudon; ‹74463.1546@compuserve.com›

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The EST Newsletter is published twice a year, in May and November, as regularly as possible. It is

basically a vehicle for communication between EST Members and a catalyst for action rather than a

traditional Translation journal. It provides information on EST activities and on research events and

presents queries and suggestions on EST matters and on T&I research issues. If you have a question

or request regarding Translation studies, do not hesitate to send it to the Newsletter for publication,

as one of the other readers may have the information or answer you are looking for. Comments and

suggestions from readers are welcome. ─────────────────────────────────────────

EDITORIAL

Since the birth of EST, it has been our aspiration to see it grow as a mutual activation society. A number of initial ideas gave poor results (resource-persons and volunteer co--supervisors, interest groups). In this issue, we see the first concrete signs of activity in the working groups set up in Prague. Here are a few tentative impressions: - As is often the case in groups, a few active members do most of the work, while most of the other members do little. - Cooperation seems to depend on the extent of the effort required of them more than on the potential value of the project in which they are asked to coo-perate. They tend to make the effort of expressing agreement or disagreement with opinions submitted to them and fill in short questionnaires which require straight answers, but have less energy available when asked to suggest topics for collective work or to gather biblio-graphical data even when they consider the project interesting and useful. - Most of the members are far more reactive than active: while they do not take the initiative of gathering and

structuring information and ideas to share, they do tend to respond to short questions rather readily. It would therefore seem that in gene-ral, activity focussing around one person with drive who plans and structures the work and asks other members to fill in the slots has better chances of developing than activity driven by several individuals in association. Hence the important role of working group convenors, and possibly of members taking individual initiatives outside groups. Rather than complain about the mem-bers' general lack of availability and motivation, let us try to make the most out of existing talent, drive and experience. After all, as Mary Snell--Hornby rightly pointed out in a private conversation a few days ago, EST membership alone, as reflected in our Directory, is a considerable repository of knowledge and experience. Such a knowledge base is liable to provide us with sufficient input to prepare a number of information sheets, guidelines, etc. on scholarly work that should be useful to the Translation Studies community even without asking members to go into extensive preparation work to provide

EST NEWSLETTER No. 8 (May 1996) p. 2 ─────────────────────────────────────────

us with information. As an illustration of this idea, you will find in this issue a que-stionnaire on the reactions of Trans-lation conference participants to the pa-pers given in such conferences (see p. 5). This Newsletter is available for other similar (or different) initiatives. Please use it! (D. Gile)

EST Congress Proceedings

Preparations are now well under for the publi-

cation of the Proceedings of our Congress in

Prague, to be published by John Benjamins with

the title:

Translation as Intercultural Communication. Selected Papers from the EST Congress - Prague 1995.

The editors are Mary Snell-Hornby, Zuzana

Jettmarová and Klaus Kaindl.

With an Advisory Board consisting of the

members of the EST Executive Board, 30

contributions have been selected from the 53

which were submitted. The volume should appear

in 1997.

(M. Snell-Hornby)

EST Working Groups

WORKING GROUP ON CURRICULUM DEVELOP-

MENT

Convenor: Natalya BUSHMANOVA, Faculty of

Philology and Culture, Pedagogic University of

Yaroslavl, Respublikanskaya Street, 108 c, 150

000 Yaroslavl, Russia; tel. +7 0852 22 39 29, fax

+7 0852 32 98 37 or +7 0852 32 86 44; E-mail:

<smirn@delta.yaroslavl.su>

Report: The Russian working group on Curri-

culum Development made a resounding start on

March 6, 1996, with a one-day inaugural seminar

in Moscow. The hosts were the Director General

and the Secretary of the Russian State Library for

Foreign Literature, Yekaterina Genieva and

Vladimir Skorodenko, who placed the library of a

historic villa at our disposal as an inspiring and

dignified setting for our deliberations. There were

about 20 seminar participants, including Mary

Snell-Hornby and Mira Kadric from Vienna and

scholars from various parts of Russia. The

morning session consisted of a round-table

discussion based on short papers presenting the

problems facing curricular development in

translator training today, along with some of the

solutions already practised in existing courses. In

the afternoon plans were discussed for future

activities, and the Russian Committee on

Curriculum Development was formed, consisting

of the following 15 members:

Mikhail Abovyan (Vice-Rector, Moscow State

Linguistic University), Larisa Bespalova

(translator, deputy Editor-in-chief of the "Slovo"

publishing house), Olga Brodovich (Professor of

English, St. Petersburg State University), Natalya

Bushmanova (Associate Professor, Yaroslavl

Pedagogical University), Robert Vinonen (head

of the Translation Theory Department of the

Literary Institute, Moscow), Sergei Goncharenko

(Vice-Rector, Moscow State Linguistic

University), Ludmila Dudova (Associate

Professor, Moscow State Pedagogical

University), Velta Zadornova (Professor of

English, Moscow State University), Maria Kan

(translator, President of the English-Russian

Translators' Society), Leonid Kuzmin

(Vice-Rector for Research, Smolensk State

Pedagogical Institute), Aschen Mikoyan

(Associate Professor, Department of English,

Moscow State University), Nina Mikhalskaya

(Honorary Professor, Moscow State Pedagogical

University, President of the Russian Association

of English Scholars), Olga Petrova (Associate

Professor, Department of Translation Theory and

Practice, Nizhny Novgorod State Linguistic

University), Sergei Pshenitsyn (Associate

Professor, Department of English Philology,

Russian State Pedagogical University, St.

Petersburg), Pavel Toper (Senior Research

Fellow, Institute of World Literature of the

Russian Academy of Sciences).

One of the main tasks of this Committee, as

was laid down in a Final Statement at the close of

the Seminar, will be to launch a Russian Society

for Translation Studies to function in cooperation

with EST. As an initial step it is planned to

organize jointly with EST an international

research conference on the heritage of translators

from Russia and other countries of the former

Eastern bloc which was suppressed under the

totalitarian regime and is hence still largely

unknown. Meanwhile the work on curriculum

development discussed at the Seminar will go

ahead: all particpants agreed that the lists of

university course books should be updated and

library funds expanded; University curricula need

to be modernized, and as a step in that direction

EST NEWSLETTER No. 8 (May 1996) p. 3 ─────────────────────────────────────────

the Moscow State Pedagogical University has

offered to function as the basic Institute for

developing modular courses in translation.

We congratulate the Russian colleagues on

their initiative and wish them every success in

their endeavours!

(M. Snell-Hornby)

RESEARCH TRAINING COMMITTEE The Committee is coordinated by Daniel Gile, 10,

rue Pasteur, 92190 Meudon, France, answerpho-

ne/fax +33 1 45 34 83 84, E-mail:

<74463.1546@compuserve.com>. It has two

working groups (see below).

Working Group on Thesis Supervision Convenor: Christina Schäffner, Aston University,

Languages and European Studies, Aston Trian-

gle, GB-B4 7ET Birmingham, UK; fax +44 121

359 6153; e-mail: <c.schaeffner @aston.ac.uk>

QUESTIONNAIRES on PhD and MA thesis super-

vision have been designed, and a first mailing

shot has been sent off. Another mailing to EST

members is planned for early July. Anybody

interested in receiving the questionnaires can

contact Christina Schäffner at the above address.

Working Group on Research Methodology Convenor: Birgitta Englund Dimitrova, In- stitute

for Interpretation and Translation Studies,

Stockholm University, S-106 91 Stockholm,

Sweden, tel. +46 8 16 14 83, fax +46 8 16 13 96,

<birgitta.englund@tolk.su.se>

WORKING GROUP ON COMPREHENSION PRO-

CESSES IN TRANSLATION AND INTERPRETING Convenor: Paul KUSSMAUL, FASK, University of

Mainz, An der Hochschule 2, D-76711

Germersheim, Germany, fax +49-7274 508 429,

<kussmaul@nfask1.fask.uni-mainz.de>

Report: I have received information about

current research of most of the colleagues in the

working group. I am trying to give a rough sketch

of what is going on, so that members with similar

research interests may get in touch with each

other.

Some research is still in the planning stage or

has just begun with results not yet published. As

far as translation is concerned, there is a newly

established group at the Copenhagen Business

School organised by Gyde HANSEN and Arnt

LYKKE JAKOBSEN who plan to investigate mental

processes. They will use both video-TAPs and

written translations. Apart from this group there

only seem to be one-person projects. Alicja

PISARSKA (Leipzig) investigates memory based

creative and cognitive processes. Juliane HOUSE

(Hamburg) is doing a TAP pilot study on the use

of translational aids, e.g. dictionaries, and the

effect on the subjects' consciousness of their

comprehension and translation processes.

As far as interpreting is concerned, Adelina

IVANOVA (Cambridge) plans to investigate text

processing during simultaneous interpreting,

Miriam SCHLESINGER (Ramat Aviv) investigates

the effect of the input rate on cognitive overload

and processing capacity, and Tarja LEPPÄAHO

(Savonlinna) is concerned with the effect of

source-text microstructures on the target text in

simultaneous interpreting.

Then there is research with some results

already published. The colleagues concerned will,

I am sure, provide information about publications

on request. There is the Savonlinna group (which

can be contacted via Sonja TIRKKONEN-CONDIT

or Riita JÄÄSKELÄINEN) working with TAPs of

translation students and professionals. Sonja

TIRKKONEN-CONDIT aims at testing hypotheses

on the role of conscious vs. automatic processing.

She looks especially at the role of the subjects'

world knowledge and their sensitivity to the

relational structure of the source text. Riita

JÄÄSKELÄINEN looks at cognitive processing and

personal involvement. Johanna LAUKKANEN is

concerned with routine and non-routine tasks and

the affective dimensions in evaluation.

Furthermore, there are the people at Ger-

mersheim who have worked with TAPs or have

looked at comprehension processes from a more

theoretical point of view. Don KIRALY uses TAPs

for comparing students with professionals and

focuses on the distinction between conscious and

subconscious processes. Hans HÖNIG and Sigrid

KUPSCH-LOSEREIT are modelling the

comprehension process based on the findings of

cognitive psychology and neurophysiology. Paul

KUSSMAUL uses TAPs for looking at successful

translation processes. He combines cognitive

semantics and creativity research in the analysis

of the TAPs.

Then there are individual colleagues from

various places. Brigitta ENGLUND-DIMITROVA

(Stockholm) uses TAPs for investigating the role

of cultural knowledge in comprehension. Kerstin

JONASSON (Uppsala) uses video-taped TAPs and

EST NEWSLETTER No. 8 (May 1996) p. 4 ─────────────────────────────────────────

focuses on types of knowledge in comprehension.

Cay DOLLERUP (Copenhagen) uses a product

oriented approach (i.e. written translations) and

tries to form hypotheses about the causes of

errors, and Hanna RISKU (Vienna) uses written

translations in order to hypothesise about

strategies of novices and professionals.

As regards interpreting, Sylvia KALINA is

developing an experimental set-up using retro-

spective reports about simultaneous conference

interpreting.

I have reported only about current research of

EST members, and only about those who have

contacted me. There is, of course, always the

possibility of supplementing further information

and updating the report. There is also quite a large

amount of research that has already been done in

the field of mental translation processes, both by

EST members and non-members. There was no

room to report on it here. I have focused on

ongoing research.

If you want to join the group, please contact

me at the above address!

(P. Kussmaul)

EST Directory 1996

The updated list of members (EST Directory) will

be compiled over the summer. It will include all

(and only) fully paid-up members. In case you

have not yet paid the membership fee for 1996 but

would like to keep up your membership and be

listed in the Directory, please make your payment

at your earliest convenience (see instructions at

the end of this Newsletter).

To make the EST Directory as accurate and

useful as possible, p l e a s e notify the EST

Secretariat of any changes of address, phone

number, e-mail address etc. by fax (+43-1

31352-280 or 31352-287) or by e-mail to

FRANZ.POECHHACKER@UNIVIE.AC.AT.

Events

WE HAVE RECEIVED REQUESTS TO ANNOUNCE THE

FOLLOWING MEETINGS:

The 4th International Congress on Terminology

and Knowledge Engineering (TKE '96),

organized jointly by the German Society for Termi-

nology and Knowledge Transfer, Infoterm,

TermNet and the University of Technology,

Vienna, will be held in Vienna, 26-30 August 1996.

Further information from: TermNet - Inter-

national Network for Terminology, Grüngasse 9/17,

A-1050 Vienna, Austria; fax: +43-1 586 77 64;

<100423.2397@compuserve.com>

The Moscow State Pedagogic University is or-

ganizing a two-day Conference on Curriculum

Development in Translation (designing a modular

course at tertiary level) in September 1996.

Further information from: Dr Liudmila Dudova,

Philological Department, Moscow State Pedagogic

University, Malaia Pirogovskaya, 1, Moscow; fax:

+7 095 245 1518.

The Second International "Transferre necesse

est..." Conference on Current Trends in Studies

of Translation and Interpreting will be organized

in Budapest, September 5-7, 1996, by the Faculty of

Humanities, Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE)

Budapest in association with the Translation

Committee of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences

(Dr. Kinga Klaudy, Dr. Andrea Papp).

All correspondence to: Katalin KATONA,

Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Office for

International Cooperation, Nádor u. 7, H-1051

Budapest, Hungary. Fax: +36-1 117 2840.

The Czech Union of Translators and Interpreters

(JTP) will organize the IIIrd Meeting of Inter-

preters and Translators from Central and

Eastern European Countries at Budmerice on 24

- 27 April 1997.

Further information from: JTP - Jednota

tlumo_ník_ a p_ekladatel_, Senová_né nám. 23,

CZ-112 82 Praha 1, Czech Republic, fax: +42-2

2414 2312.

Publications

The Czech Union of Translators and Interpreters

(JTP) has published the Proceedings of the IInd

Meeting of Interpreters and Translators from

Central and Eastern European Countries,

Budmerice '94, edited by K. Martonová and A.

Rády. Copies of the 120-page publication with more

than 30 papers in Czech, Slovak, English, German

and Russian are available from JTP (Senová_né

nám. 23, CZ-112 82 Praha 1, Czech Republic, fax:

+42-2 2414 2312.).

Questionnaire on

Translation conference papers

The following are a few questions designed to

gather information about your reactions to papers

EST NEWSLETTER No. 8 (May 1996) p. 5 ─────────────────────────────────────────

given at Translation (translation and

interpretation) conferences. The questionnaire is

short, and answers can be written out fully, with

comments, or expressed very briefly using the

abbreviations (for instance "A2; B:IC1, MI2,

GS3, POD2, NOS3; C:RC2, LI2, PS3, UD2; D2;

E1; F:"It is very important to me that the speaker

stop chewing gum when making his

presentation"). A moderate effort on your part can

become useful to our community through the

leverage effect of the large membership of EST.

Please use snail-mail, e-mail or fax (Daniel GILE,

10, rue Pasteur, F-92190 Meudon, France; e-mail:

<74463.1546@ compuserve.com> Fax: +33-1 45

34 83 84)

Thank you for your cooperation!

A.On average, how happy are you with papers

that you hear in Translation conferences?

1. Very happy

2. Happy

3. So-so

4. Rather dissatisfied

5. Unhappy

B.What are the features of papers that do make

you happy:

- innovative content (IC)

- much information (MI)

- good structure (GS)

- pleasant oral delivery (POD)

- nice overhead transparencies or slides

(NOS)

- other - please specify

-> Please rate each according to the following

scale:

1. Very important

2. Important

3. Not particularly important

4. Rather unimportant

5. Unimportant

C.What are the features of papers that make you

unhappy:

- repetitive content (RC)

- lack of information (LI)

- poor structure (PS)

- unpleasant oral delivery (UD)

- other - please specify

-> Please rate each according to the same scale as

for question B.

D.How important is it to you that the speaker

speak extemporaneously (as opposed to

reading)?

-> Please rate according to the scale of question

B.

E.How important/useful to you are overhead

transparencies/slides?

-> Please rate according to the scale of question

B.

F.Do you have any other comments on com-

ponents of conference paper quality?

*************************************

Membership fee for 1996

The membership fee for 1996 is

DM 30,- for full (i.e. ordinary) members and

DM 145,- for supporting members (sponsors).

Payment by Euro-cheque to the order of

EST c/o Ms R. Stolze

EST Treasurer

Prinz-Christians-Weg 11

D-64287 Darmstadt

Germany

(Please send cheques to the TREASURER, NOT

to the EST Secretariat!!)

or by Bank transfer to

Sparkasse Darmstadt (bank code: 508 501 50)

account no. 500-2990 (EST)

Please make sure that bank charges "on your side"

are covered!

-> On any payment, please indicate your name

and the membership year!