On September 15, Sandra Halverson gave a talk for the start of the MA program in Janapese translation at the University of Bergen. The talk was titled “Translation and translation studies in Norway. Who, what, where?” and gave a brief overview of the landscape and development of the field of Translation Studies as a backdrop to describing the field’s current status in Norway.
In line with the theme of the symposium, she also discusses some characteristics of the practice of translation in Norway, contrasting the Norwegian case with the situation in many other European countries. The underlying theme of institutionalization provides a framework for the talk, which closes by discussing whether the anomaly identified in the talk matters, and if so, how.
The beginning of the Master’s program in Translation and Professional Communication was inaugurated on the 24th and 25th of August. The students were welcomed by Professor Sandra Louise Halverson and the Head of the Department of Foreign Languages and Translation, Tale Guldal.
Our research group is continuously active in developing the only dedicated MA in Translation in Norway. You can find out more about the program here.
Two members of our research group presented at the UCCTS 2023, which was held at the University of Poznań.
Sandra Halverson’s plenary talk (“Broadening the scope: the gravitational pull hypothesis in a usage-based theory of translation”) had the aim to merge the concept of the “gravitational pull hypothesis” with the one of “default translation” within the context of a usage-based theory of translation. The focal point of her exploration lay in understanding how specific linguistic attributes in the source language exert a profound influence on the target text choices, drawing parallels with the captivating pull of gravitational forces on objects.
Jūratė Žukauskaitė’s poster presentation, titled “Investigating the Role of Entrenchment in Source Language Interference during Simultaneous Interpreting”, discussed the influence of entrenched language patterns from the source language on the process of simultaneous interpreting.
Both presentations align with the theme of the conference, which focuses on the use of corpora in contrastive and translation studies.
The recently concluded Second Summer School in Cognitive Translation and Interpreting Studies brought together scholars and students from around the world in the enchanting city of Cartagena, Spain. Organized by the Multilectal Mediated Communication & Cognition (MC2 Lab) in collaboration with EST and TREC, the event received support from the International Doctoral Schools of the University of Murcia and the Polytechnic University of Cartagena.
Among other prominent scholars, such as professors Ricardo Muñoz Martín, Sharon O’Brien, and María Rojo López, our research leader, prof. Sandra L. Halverson, was one of the instructors.
The primary objective of the school was to offer research-focused courses specifically designed for aspiring translation and interpreting researchers.
Following the conclusion of the school, the members of the Bertinoro Translation Societies convened in Cabo de Palos to discuss the future directions of Cognitive Translation and Interpreting Studies. Chiara Astrid Gebbia had the valuable opportunity to present a poster on her research on adaptability and expertise in translation.
On May 25th, the AFO research group hosted a workshop that focused on exploring the relationship between language policy and translation. The workshop was conducted by Professor Reine Meylaerts from the University of Leuven, who specializes in researching translation policies for minorities, migrants, and refugees.
During the workshop, our group had the privilege of discussing the current state of minority languages in Norway with Prof. Meylaerts. This event served as a significant milestone in advancing our research group’s efforts to map the translation landscape of the country.
Last week, Jean Nitzke participated at the 25th TransELTE conference in Budapest, Hungary. This special event celebrated not only 20 years of translation studies research on PhD level at Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, but also 50 years of translator and interpreter training in Hungary. The theme of the conference was “21st century competence in language mediation” and Jean was invited to contribute to a panel discussion on “21st century competence in translation: training and practices in the industry”. Further, she was asked to give a presentation on “Risks and decisions in the post-editing process” in the section on “Complementary competence in the light of translation technology”.
The conference also covered amongst others aspects of language mediation in public services, professional competence in public service interpreting, competence as seen by the translation industry and training institutions, and gave the PhD students the chance to present their projects. Additionally, Jean was allowed to sneak a peak at the Alumni event that preceded the conference where former students presented their work reality today. All in all, the conference was an inspiring event with a lot of new insights and thought-provoking discussions, but also stood out due to great hospitality and a stunning location.
Online Research Training Event 26 June – 9 July 2023
The 3nd International Research School for Media Translation and Digital Culture, organized by the Baker Centre for Translation and Intercultural Studies at Shanghai International Studies University (SISU), will take place from 26 June to 9 July 2023.
AFO member Prof. Luis Pérez-González has acted as Academic Director of SISU’s Media Research School since it was first launched in 2019.
The School aims to foster an open and wide-ranging take on media translation and digital culture, and to highlight the significance of both for and beyond translation studies. It encourages cross-fertilization between the two disciplinary sub-fields and addresses the new theoretical and methodological tools that translation scholars need in order to understand the strategic and catalyzing role played by translation in relation to a number of issues, including the following:
Reconfiguring the ecology of networked media – from mainstream news organizations to citizen journalism outlets; from printed written articles to multimodal assemblages; from professional reportage to amateur coverage of conflicts and natural disasters
(Re)producing shifting public discourses about cosmopolitanism, gender, nation, expertise, fandom or activism – among other core issues;
Developing more collaborative, participatory and deliberative processes of community formation, both online and on the ground;
Enabling disciplinary discourses and developments in the fields of multimodality, media sociology, cultural studies, journalism, globalization studies and critical theories of communication technology.
Like the highly successful 2021 edition, the 2023 edition will be run in virtual mode, using an advanced e-learning environment provided by SISU. This allows for the full range of activities normally included in the face-to-face delivery mode to be provided virtually, including teamwork and tutorials.
The featured theme for the third edition of the School is Translation and Sustainability in Media & Digital Culture.
Teaching staff delivering the 2023 edition of the School will include Luis Pérez-González (University of Agder), Mona Baker, Jonathan Evans, Henry Jones, Kyung Hye Kim and Neil Sadler.
The New Year started with a talk given by Prof. Sandra Halverson for the PhD program in Research Methods in Translation and Interpreting Studies (ReMeTIS) at the University of Geneva. It was delivered online on January 10th and provided future researchers with instruments to integrate different research methods so as to structure solid studies.
As the title evokes, the talk “Multimethod and Mixed Methods Research (MMMR) in Translation and Interpreting” addressed the question of whether MMMR is gaining ground because of the needs of Translation and Interpreting Studies (TIS) and delved into the possible added values it can represent.
Current issues within MMMR are also relevant in assessing the ongoing development of TIS, both in terms of a general disciplinary development and a specific methodological one.
Besides her academic work, Prof. Barbara Gawrońska Pettersson has dedicated her free time to fiction.
She has published three novels and several short stories in her mother tongue, Polish, but in 2022, her novel Alter occurred in translation into English. On the surface, the book is a fantasy adventure story, but the author regards it rather as a psychological development novel.
The most used Bible translation in Norway is under revision. Our member Morten Beckmann was interviewed on the radio show Studio 2 at NRK P2, discussing the new changes brought about by hir research and how they might affect our understanding of the Bible.
