Reine MEYLAERTS, Blijde-Inkomststraat 21, 3000 Leuven, Belgium; E-Mail s1
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 (see also the EST website: http://www.est-translationstudies.org) 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. All correspondence to:
Reine MEYLAERTS, Blijde-Inkomststraat 21, 3000 Leuven, Belgium; e-mail:
or to Barbara AHRENS, FASK der Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, An der Hochschule 2, 76726 Germersheim, Germany; e-mail:
Editorial: Quo Vadis Translation Studies?
"Doubts and directions" - the title of the 4th EST congress held in Lisbon at the end of September this year, reflects very well what is often the experience of the Translation Studies community.
An international gathering of 243 participants from all over the world; more than 140 papers, panels and posters about topics as diverse as (Multi)Media Translation, Think-Aloud Protocols, Norms in Interpreting, Technical Translation, Pragmatics of Translation, Reception, Response and Dialogue or Bibliographies, to name only a few, are a very vivid proof of the different directions translation studies is advancing in. But this diversity is not always a clearly defined one: doubts on translation studies were formulated during the opening session of the congress by Emma Wagner and her talk about My Doubts About the Direction of Translation Studies putting forward questions we have to ask ourselves: Are translation studies academics and scholars really a group that prefers talking to listening? Are they really not committed to close cooperation and contact with translation and interpreting professionals? We doubt that this reluctance is shared by many colleagues who came to Lisbon to listen and talk to other academics, scholars and practitioners. The Lisbon conference can be regarded as an indicator of translation studies' coming of age. Nowadays, translation is understood in its broader sense as any transformation of a source language text into a target language text (cf. Prunc 2003:29). On the basis of this definition, traditional forms of translation such as literary translation or the translations of user manuals of technical equipment as well as recently emerging forms, for example, software localisation, audiovisual translation and also forms that are still to come in the future can be included in the effort of analysing and understanding the translational process and its results. Since these new forms require close(r) cooperation with other disciplines, the plenary presentation of the second day in Lisbon on neurophysiological foundations of human language skills can be taken as an example for interdisciplinary approaches to the understanding of language processing and translation. Interdisciplinarity continues to play a major role in translation studies – setting out from Snell-Hornby et al.’s Translation Studies – An Interdiscipline (1984) and the 1st EST congress in Vienna 1992. It seems that the vision of EST's founding fathers is still the driving force of academics and scholars who embark on new aspects of translation and related activities. In this respect the Lisbon congress has been an enriching experience for the translation studies community.
Decisions were taken in Lisbon, decisions that have to do with the directions EST will take! The General Meeting had to hold elections for a new board which will guide EST during the three years to come. You will get to know the new board, its visions and aims as well as the first steps it has taken in this issue. The new board represents change and continuity. Continuity which will help to promote the cause of translation studies and change which will help EST to adapt for future challenges. It is also a well balanced board representing different countries as well as a variety of topics and trainers, freelancers and institutions.
EST will head East to Ljubljana, Slovenia, for the 5th EST congress in 2007. We are looking forward to see each other again in three years time. In the meantime everybody should feel free to share his/her opinion with the other members of EST in this Newsletter. Any contribution is warmly welcome. The Newsletter will also accompany us during the three years to come. We hope that they will be fruitful for translation studies and research to make Ljubljana a lively demonstration of what will have been achieved, of the direction EST will have taken – and that we will not have got lost in Translation (Studies).
New Editors for the Newsletter
Over the past 8 years, the EST Newsletter has been edited by a team of two persons, the Secretary-General, and one rank-and-file member of EST. The advantage of this set up is that it gives the editorial team the benefit of EST infrastructure and a direct link to the Executive Board, while maintaining a certain independence. This format is maintained for the new editors, Reine Meylaerts (Secretary General) and Barbara Ahrens.
The Editors
New Address of the EST Secretariat:
Reine Meylaerts
Faculty of Arts
Blijde-Inkomststraat 21
3000 Leuven
Belgium
Email:
Fax: +32 89 46 58 43
Message from the EST Presidential Team
Dear EST members,
EST was born 12 years ago under the inspired vision of Mary Snell-Hornby, who led it during its six first years of existence. During the following six years, Yves Gambier and a dedicated team of Board Members managed to strengthen it and develop its activities. The team elected in Lisbon in September will have the formidable task of following in the footsteps of its predecessors.
Since 1992, the TS scene has changed somewhat. There are more translator training programs, more TS scholars, more TS conferences and publications, more TS programs. On the technical side, electronic mail and access to Internet have become widely available. The fundamental needs of TS, however, remain the same: obtain academic recognition as a discipline, improve the quality of our scholarly output and improve general access to the literature, as many university libraries, both in rich countries and in less endowed parts of the world, have few TS publications.
With a few hundred members and little institutional support, EST is relatively small and far from rich. And yet, we are not without assets. Firstly, we are very international, an enriching factor for all of us. Secondly, we are an open society, with many experienced and well-known scholars who welcome younger scholars in a spirit of friendship and solidarity. Over the past 12 years, EST has demonstrated its ability to fulfil a cohesive function in the TS community. Our Congresses cover a wide spectrum of branches of TS and paradigms, but there is much visiting of sessions not directly related to one’s specific interests and much interaction between participants from across the spectrum. This cohesive function is linked to our apolitical position, which we need to maintain as a scholarly body. Thirdly, we have demonstrated consistency in our quest for better quality of scholarly output in TS, in particular through our links with doctoral schools, the pre-Congress workshops organized at the last two Congresses and the Young Scholar Award.
These assets need to be maintained and strengthened. New initiatives might include:
- A promotion of online publications for easier access to the literature,
- Practical and methodological guidance for beginners in online resources on the EST website (www.est-translationstudies.org),
- Support for acquisition of literature by TS centres with limited resources,
- More training initiatives.
The new Presidential Team and Board will humbly do their best to stimulate and coordinate action that will help EST serve both its members and the wider TS community. We are counting on your cooperation and hope that you will continue to be happy and proud to be on board.
Daniel Gile and Gyde Hansen
Messages from Board Members
The European Society of Translation Studies has large assets: our membership base, our tradition, our network, and our standards of excellence. All these would be the envy of many a scholarly organisation, but I feel they are not used to the full in between Congresses. We should find better ways to invest our intellectual and organisational capital to further our statutory goals and to benefit our members. This means – above all – greater recognition of the relevance of translation in the public scene and higher visibility for translation scholars in academic circles. Nobody is going to give translation its due if we don't fight for it. Our Society can engage institutional and corporate actors in a closer dialogue. The main point to put across is that we are uniquely placed to bring fresh intellectual contributions to such issues as multilingualism, integration, and mutual understanding across cultures. As to Academia, we should continue our tradition of openness and cooperation with institutes of higher education and similar organisations around the world. In the future, we should pay special attention to institutions from parts of the world that are under-represented in our membership base and to new scholarly organisations.
Ubaldo Stecconi
I would like to see EST go on working as an international platform allowing direct contact between researchers in Translation Studies and stimulating dialogue across borders for the sake of the discipline and researchers. I expect the current board to achieve this goal especially by also using online resources to keep in touch with members during the three yearly period between EST congresses and by fostering communication and exchange of ideas between more and less experienced researchers, working in all sorts of national and cultural environments. It is to this goal that I hope to contribute from my personal experience as Portuguese researcher, as former executive board member and also as member of the local organising committee of the 4th EST congress, Lisbon.
Alexandra Assis Rosa
EST ACTIVITIES
I. 4th EST Congress
The 4th EST congress took place from 26 to 29 September 2004 at the Faculty of Letters, University of Lisbon. Its topic was: Translation Studies: Doubts and Directions, and 243 participants from 27 countries attended it. The congress staged four pre-congress workshops: (Research on Screen Translation, moderated by Yves Gambier, Research on Court Interpreting, moderated by Ruth Morris, Research on Methodology, moderated by Daniel Gile and Gyde Hansen, and Luso-Brazilian Translation Links, moderated by Fábio Alves and Alexandra Lopes). There were two plenary lectures given by Emma Wagner (“My Doubts About the Direction of Translation Studies”) and Alexandre Castro Caldas (“One Brain for Two Languages”). A total of 107 papers in 28 sessions were presented; in addition, 24 papers were presented in poster format, there were 5 presentations of collective projects (TSB Online, Translation in Global News, ASSESTI Project, TRACE project, and PACTE), and 6 panel sessions (On Supervision, Directionality in Translation, Translating Institutions, The Ideology of Interpreting and the Interpreting of Ideology, Back to Translation as Language, and Norms in Interpreting). The social programme included a Dinner and Fado Evening and two post-congress tours, one to Lisbon and the other to the historical towns of Sintra and Cascais on the outskirts of Lisbon. Due to the variety and quality of the research work presented, as well as to the discussions it gave rise to, the organizers feel that the congress constituted a key contribution to the advancement of translation studies.
The Organizing Committee
II. Proceedings of the 4th EST Congress, Lisbon, September 2004
The Executive Board has decided to publish a selection of high quality contributions presented during this congress and has entrusted Yves Gambier, Miriam Shlesinger and Radegundis Stolze with the task of editing the proceedings. Their provisional title will be that of the congress: “Translation Studies: Doubts and Directions. Selected contributions from the EST Congress, Lisbon 2004.”
As previously announced, participants who have presented a poster or a paper during a congress session or pre-congress workshop may submit an article based on such presentation. Panel organizers are also invited to submit a synopsis of their session.
Manuscripts may be submitted in English, French, German, Spanish and Portuguese and each paper will be refereed by at least two persons. Acceptance criteria are based on:
1. Scholarly quality: as it is usually defined, in particular with respect to rigorous thinking, clear writing and innovation. Referees will be asked to be strict, and make constructive suggestions whenever possible to help authors improve the quality of their contributions.
2. Sub-disciplinary representativeness: if too many good papers from one sector of translation studies as opposed to other sectors are received, some of them may have to be redirected to other high-quality publications so as to leave room for papers representing other sectors.
3. Length: Papers should not exceed 5,000 words including bibliography and annexes, so that editors may select 26 or 27 articles for publication.
4. Deadline: Papers must be submitted no later than 15th February 2005.
Additionally, articles should comply with the guidelines included in the paper by Daniel Gile and Gyde Hansen, “The editorial process through the looking glass” that John Benjamins kindly accepted to publish online. See
http://www.est-translationstudies.org/Gileand%20Hansenediting.htm
The paper has also been published in Volume 50, Benjamins Translation Library (2004) edited by Gyde Hansen, Kirsten Maklmjær and Daniel Gile: Claims, changes and challenges in Translation Studies (Selection contributions from EST Congress, Copenhagen 2001), pages 297-306.
Style-sheet: recommendations will be e-mailed to all the participcants.
Contributions should be sent as Word attachments to Yves Gambier:
We look forward to receiving your contribution and thank you in advance for sending it according to these guidelines and before the deadline.
Yves Gambier, Miriam Shlesinger,
Radegundis Stolze
III. EST Congress 2004 Workshop on Supervision
Congresses of EST have always mirrored transformations that the discipline was undergoing during its formative years and they have definitely managed to encourage people with interest in translation to bring forth their ideas, observations, insights and conducted studies to this TS international platform – clichéd as it sounds. With its growth and solidification, the ambitions of the discipline to become an independent, widely recognized and advanced field of both theoretical and applied research, have led to a spread of various thoughts on how this research has been so far, currently is or should be conducted. Research paradigms are of utmost importance both to the advancement of TS and to their pedagogical implications. Many of us ‘practisearchers’ who combine theoretical (conducting own research), practical (working as translators) and didactic (teaching translation) motives look for models, hints and ideas in this very fruitful area.