IATIS Training Event: Training Meets Practice – Getting Started in the Translation Profession

Today, most university programmes in translation manage to strike a sound balance between the theoretical and applied requirements to be met by translator training curricula. Also, special attention is given to the imparting of translation competencies as are described, for example, in the EMT and PACTE competence models.

Due account is taken of the requirements of professional practice by incorporating specific courses on translation as a profession into the translation programmes. Such courses include translation project management, translation quality assessment, professional seminars and workshops, principles of professional practice that introduce students to the financial, managerial, ethical and other aspects of the profession, DTP and MT seminars, copy editing, obligatory internships and the use of translation tools in the translation classroom. Also, so-called "simulated translation bureaus" that simulate professional practice all the way from client contact, via project preparation and translation process down to delivery of the final project, have now entered the curricula of some university programmes.

Certainly, the introduction of professional courses has successfully reduced the formerly often lamented gap between the two spheres of  training and practice. However sound the professional approach in curricula planning may be, there always remains, as in all other professions, some tension between training and practice which will entail the constant need for adapting our programmes to rapidly changing market requirements and for keeping them up to date.

In view of the above, this training event will focus on the requirements to be met and competencies needed by translation graduates when they start out on their careers as professional translators and will provide more detailed insight into three settings that can be considered typical settings of professional practice:

1) The freelance translator
2) The translation agency
3) The in-house translation/language department

The event leaders (Bettina Moegelin, Berlin; Christine Hofmeister, Würzburg; Janet Carter-Sigglow, Jülich) will

• discuss the requirements and challenges facing freelance translators in the economics, finance and banking sectors (B. Moegelin),
• present the Eurotext Academy, a further education programme offered by the Eurotext translation agency and aimed at providing translation/language graduates with on-the-job experience (C. Hofmeister), and
• highlight the specific requirements of the in-house translation/language department of one of the largest national research centres in Europe, i.e. the Forschungszentrum Jülich, which hosts an array of international researchers who develop cutting-edge technologies in the energy and environment area and in the field of information and the brain (J. Carter-Sigglow).

The event leaders will present position papers (ca. 30 min each) covering a number of professional issues and then invite discussion from participants.

Accessing the presentation room

To access the virtual presentation room, click the following  link.

On the login page, choose "Enter as a Guest". Enter a name and click "Enter Room". In the presentation room, close the popup window "Tips for using Adobe Connect for Participants" (if it is displayed). You can use the Chat window in the lower right of the screen to ask questions during the general discussion.

NOTE: We recommend using Google Chrome for accessing the virtual presentation room. If you use another browser, you may need to install the current version of Adobe Flash Player (available  here).