Translator and interpreter training. Curriculum design. New prospects and dilemmas

GLOTTODIDACTICA XXX/XXXI ADAM MICKIEWICZ UNIVERSITY PRESS POZNAŃ TRANSLATOR AND INTERPRETER TRAINING. CURRICULUM DESIGN. NEW PROSPECTS AND DILEMMAS PIOTR KWIECINSKI, MARCIN FEDER Adam Mickiewicz University - Poznan A b str a c t . Institutional changes within universities and the challenge o f E U enlargement present translator and interpreter trainers with both new opportunities and dilemmas. The major potential tension areas that must be addressed in the curricula include the status o f retour translation and interpreting, the role of liaison interpreting in the curriculum, the separation o f interpreter and translator training, and the focus on skills and techniques vs. background knowledge. The article suggests tentative solutions in these areas, based on the authors’ own experience in curriculum design. The limitations and advantages o f a postgraduate training programme within a foreignlanguage department are also discussed. The aim of the present article is to outline the new prospects and dilemmas as well as tentative solutions in translator and interpreter (T/I) training curriculum design. While most of the issues discussed refer to the Polish context, they are likely to be valid for other Central European countries as well, since they are di rectly or indirectly related to Poland’s current status as an EU applicant country. Beyond that, we hope that some of our observations and specific ideas on training and the curriculum will be of interest for T/I trainers in general. The chief source of data is our own recent experience of designing a thoroughly re formed curriculum of translator and interpreter training at a postgraduate (Mas ter's) level in the School of English, Faculty of Modem Languages, Adam Mic kiewicz University (IFA UAM) in Poznan, Poland. 1. Translator and interpreter training within a foreign language department 1.1. The rationale There is little disagreement now that traditional degree programmes in foreign languages (such as MA or magisterium in English) offer very few, if any, of the skills needed for competent translation and interpreting. A growing awareness 58 Piotr K w ieciński, Marcin Feder of that fact in the academic community, combined with the abrupt increase in demand for interpreters and translators on the Polish market in the wake of the political and economic changes in the early 1990s1, have jointly contributed to establishing a number of postgraduate translation and interpreting schools. These schools are run by universities but are separated from language depart ments, and typically offer part-time training for a fee. Without questioning the usefulness of these developments, our own insti tution adopted a somewhat different course. More specifically, it started offering a dedicated 4 to 6-semester training programme (initially in conference interpreting only) within the traditional five-year degree scheme, thus leading to a joint quali fication of MA in English and a Diploma in Conference Interpreting. The reasons were mainly pragmatic and included: (a) the existing demand for high-quality in terpreting and translation both from and into English (b) a growing pool of IFA staff who were themselves qualified and experienced interpreters and translators, developed an interest in T/I training, and increasingly felt that their skills and in terests were underused within the traditional scheme, (c) the low course load during the final four semesters of the traditional five-year Master’s programme, whereby contact hours are highly limited and students are mainly expected to work on their theses. It was felt that the scheme could easily accommodate more intensive and more professionally oriented training, thus combining high academic standards with practical skills. Furthermore, we believed that offering a full-time foursemester programme in both (MA-level) English and interpreting represented a genuinely new quality2. By definition, the T/I training programme within our foreign-language de partment (IFA) had to fit into (or, perhaps, use creatively) the existing tradi tional institutional framework. Until 2003, the framework will continue to be based on a five-year MA in English degree scheme, out of which the three ini tial years are dedicated to common-core courses such as EFL, literature, history, institutions of English-speaking countries and linguistics, while the remaining two are devoted to seminar courses leading to an MA thesis in a selected sub discipline (such as English literature or linguistics). The T/I programme initially (1993-96) existed within that framework as an MA Seminar in Conference Interpreting. With the assistance of the TEMPUS grant, the programme was greatly expanded within the very same framework and 1 See Kwieciński (2001), Chapter 2, for an extensive analysis o f the im plications o f the Polish socio-economic transformation for translation. 2 In Poland, another full-time degree programme in translation and interpreting is offered by the Institute o f Applied Linguistics, W arsaw University (ILS UW). It involves a five-year MA programme in applied linguistics with later subdivisions into speciality areas including translation and interpreting. Translator and interpreter training 59 renamed specjalizacja magisterska (MA in English jointly with Translation and Conference Interpreting Programme)3. The limitations and drawbacks of the above arrangement are fairly clear. So far, they have mainly included: (1) difficulties in formal recognition as a T/I school due to our status as a department-internal “special option” scheme and the related restrictions on recruiting candidates outside IFA (till 2002, only students who had completed three years of common-core studies could qualify, subject to an internal admission procedure based on aptitude and competence tests); (2) the relative inflexibility and traditional nature of the language combination on offer, practically restricted to a specific AB (A. Polish B. English), supplemented by intensive training in other (specified) foreign languages4. The first of these limita tions is likely to be eliminated in 2003, as the final stage of the long-awaited in stitutional reform is implemented (see 1.2. below for details). The issue of the language combination has recently become less of a drawback, at least in the short run, due to the sustained demand of the local Polish market for a strong AB combination as well as the current needs of EU institutions (see esp. 2.1. below). On the other hand, affiliation with a foreign-language department has proven to offer some benefits as well. First, the very nature of the English department and the unavoidable rigidity of the language combination encourage the focus on de veloping a strong B. Also, because candidates are all high-performing English students having completed 3 years of common-core EFL training, they are ex pected to have a near-native command of English (including authentic-sounding near-native p (...truncated)