Final Report Summary - TIME (Translation Research Training: An integrated and intersectoral model for Europe)
1. Objectives: TIME aimed to
• Train four Early Stage Researchers (ESR) and one Experienced Researcher (ER) to become experts in translation and multilingual/multimedia communication;
• Create a network that is able to produce a new generation of doctoral graduates;
• Increase the involvement of private/public institutions in research training in Translation Studies by kick-starting joint research training, which will lead to sustainable cooperation;
• Raise awareness of the industry of the scope and relevance of translation research and, in turn, raise awareness within academia of the needs of private and public institutions;
• Establish the foundations for academic/private sector joint PhD training and a joint doctoral degree.
TIME also aimed to achieve these specific objectives:
• Provide insight into the state and evolution of the European translation market, i.e. knowledge about the future demand and supply for translation services other than from a purely economic viewpoint;
• Provide insight into the benefits for private/public institutions of a long-term strategic approach to translation and multilingual/multimedia communication, which will facilitate all forms of exchange and integration and promote linguistic diversity.
The TIME network therefore has trained researchers in the following areas:
• Project 1: Translation technologies: for a humanization of efficiencies and usability: ESR: C. Teixeira, sup. Dr. A. Pym (Universitat Rovira I Virgili)
• Project 2: Multimedia and multimodal translation: accessibility and reception: ESR: M. Miquel Iriarte, ER: S. Ramos Pinto; sup. Dr. Y. Gambier (University of Turku)
• Project 3: Translating for the minorities: linguistic diversity and integration in Europe: ESR: G. González Nuñez; sup. Dr. R. Meylaerts (KU Leuven)
• Project 4: Transformation through translation: translation policies in political institutions: ESR: W. Tesseur; sup. Dr. C. Schäffner (Aston University)
2. Results, conclusions and socio-economic impact
Project 1: Carlos da Silva Cardoso Teixeira (Universitat Rovira i Virgili): “Translation Technologies: For a Humanization of Efficiencies and Usability”. Carlos’s thesis offers a contribution to the knowledge of translation and post-editing processes. This contribution can help improve workflows and practices, which among other benefits can increase the volume of text that can be processed. In general, the knowledge acquired in Carlos’s research has the potential to benefit all parties involved in the translation scene, from translators to translation companies, translation-tool manufacturers, translation customers and translation users. For translation professionals, Carlos has explored possibilities of how to optimise the translation process in ways that could help increase not only productivity (and earnings) but also job satisfaction. His results suggest optimal workflows for different scenarios and indicate the need to advance research on the effects of metadata for machine translation, as well as on other aspects related to the usability and ergonomics of translation tools.
Project 2: Marta Miquel Iriarte (University of Turku): Multimedia and Multimodal Translation: Accessibility and Reception: The study investigated how the communication/ hearing background of the viewers and the speed of the subtitles affect the reception of the audiovisual information. Tendencies have been identified, and the consequent statistical analysis will measure its significance. Results indicate that differences among groups are more due to communication rather than to hearing aspects. However, further research is required with native deaf sign language users. Results also indicate that the visual information supports comprehension for the deaf users. However, reading the subtitles takes control over viewing the images. It is expected that the consequent results on subtitling speed will help to find exposure times more adequate for the cognitive needs of this group. It is expected to find a balance to provide time to read the subtitles (and extract the relevant narrative information) and time to view the image (and benefit from its support for comprehension) in a way that the interplay between reading and viewing guarantees the integration of the visual and verbal sources of information.
Project 3: Gabriel González (KU Leuven): Translating for the Minorities: Linguistic Diversity and Integration in Europe: The main output of this project was a thesis which has helped fill a gap in our understanding of multicultural societies. In fact, very little had been said by scholars in terms of the policies that regulate translation in multilingual societies. The thesis project resulted in an interdisciplinary study that maps out such policies in the UK, with particular concern for their complex relationship with issues of integration. What was evident from it is that there has been an uneven development of translation policies based on non-discrimination, equality, and human rights legislation as well as specific language acts and policies. These policies developed also as a result of demographic pressures and historical considerations. Further, the thesis signals that translation for speakers of new minority languages (i.e. “immigrant languages”) and for speakers of old minority languages developed along two largely different lines.
Project 4: Wine Tesseur (Aston University): Transformation through Translation: Media Representation of Political Discourse in Europe: The study focuses on translation policy at Amnesty International and aims to contribute to a knowledge gap in Translation Studies, where little research has been carried out on translation at NGOs. The research concludes that even though Amnesty is one worldwide organisation, Amnesty sections, staff and volunteers worldwide hold different views and expectations about translation, which results in different translation policies. These policies not only differ from language to language, but also depend on the local section and the text genre. The thesis describes a comparative analysis of translations from English into French and Dutch, and demonstrates how varying policies lead to differences in the translations, and that this also influences the way in which Amnesty’s message and voice are represented. The research found that Amnesty staff were not aware of these significant differences in the translations they produced, and of the varying beliefs staff hold about translation. The thesis concludes by suggesting that an increased awareness of these issues will enable Amnesty to make more effective use of translation in its fight against human rights violations. Organising opportunities where translation can be discussed (meetings, workshops, online platforms) can help in reducing such differences.
II. Wider societal implications of TIME
Project 1: Carlos has maintained contact with the company where he did his first secondment (MSS). A collaboration has been set up to start in January 2015, involving their use of machine translation (tuning their existing system and improving their workflows). A presentation of the research results is also scheduled to take place in January 2015. This is expected to help the company improve some of their current working practices. The cooperation with the second industrial partner Symantec was not continued, in part because of the lack of common research interests, but also because the company went through a deep restructuration and as a result, our main contact left the company in the second half of 2013.
Project 2: One of the overall objectives was to strengthen links between academia, industry and society. For the development of the reception study, Marta benefited from a eight-month secondment at the company Multisignes and established connections with other associations and organizations for deaf people. The collaboration with the associated industry partner enlarged her future career possibilities and the fact of working with users led to establish a social networking. This helped Marta to better understand the needs of both the industry and the target community. Multisignes, the different associations and the researcher will continue collaborating in the future. A report with the results will be distributed among them and the conclusions will be presented in talks to be held at the company/ associations, who could be able to disseminate them into the local and national TV, film and accessibility industry.
Project 3: The main implication of this research is that translation policy is handled differently depending mainly on whether the target group is composed of immigrants and their descendants or of autochthonous minorities. The study argues that that it need not be so, that translation policies could be developed for different groups of speakers based on their specific local circumstances and not so much on whether the language is autochthonous to the UK or the level of political support it can get. It also calls into question the assumption that language acquisition and translation provision are essentially at odds. These are no small claims, and further research can be carried out regarding several issues raised by the study.
Project 4: Apart from contributing to Translation Studies, the research project also contributes to the organisation of translation at Amnesty. First of all, the results discussed in the thesis allow Amnesty better insight into its translation services and the thesis contains some suggestions on how to improve these. Secondly, Wine succeeded in creating a number of opportunities to increase the discussion of translation issues and translation training. Concrete examples are the brochure she developed with translation tips for Flemish volunteers, and a workshop she delivered in October 2013 to some forty Flemish volunteer translators. Furthermore, the research results also allow other NGOs to gain new insights about translation policy. Overall, the research can be seen as a first step towards setting up a wider network of non-governmental institutions that exchange best-practices and share research data. As a final dissemination event, Wine plans to organise a workshop at Aston University in February, for which both staff from Amnesty and other NGOs will be invited. The aim of the workshop is to disseminate the research results, to increase awareness of the importance of translation and translation policy, and to discuss possibilities for future research collaboration.
• Train four Early Stage Researchers (ESR) and one Experienced Researcher (ER) to become experts in translation and multilingual/multimedia communication;
• Create a network that is able to produce a new generation of doctoral graduates;
• Increase the involvement of private/public institutions in research training in Translation Studies by kick-starting joint research training, which will lead to sustainable cooperation;
• Raise awareness of the industry of the scope and relevance of translation research and, in turn, raise awareness within academia of the needs of private and public institutions;
• Establish the foundations for academic/private sector joint PhD training and a joint doctoral degree.
TIME also aimed to achieve these specific objectives:
• Provide insight into the state and evolution of the European translation market, i.e. knowledge about the future demand and supply for translation services other than from a purely economic viewpoint;
• Provide insight into the benefits for private/public institutions of a long-term strategic approach to translation and multilingual/multimedia communication, which will facilitate all forms of exchange and integration and promote linguistic diversity.
The TIME network therefore has trained researchers in the following areas:
• Project 1: Translation technologies: for a humanization of efficiencies and usability: ESR: C. Teixeira, sup. Dr. A. Pym (Universitat Rovira I Virgili)
• Project 2: Multimedia and multimodal translation: accessibility and reception: ESR: M. Miquel Iriarte, ER: S. Ramos Pinto; sup. Dr. Y. Gambier (University of Turku)
• Project 3: Translating for the minorities: linguistic diversity and integration in Europe: ESR: G. González Nuñez; sup. Dr. R. Meylaerts (KU Leuven)
• Project 4: Transformation through translation: translation policies in political institutions: ESR: W. Tesseur; sup. Dr. C. Schäffner (Aston University)
2. Results, conclusions and socio-economic impact
Project 1: Carlos da Silva Cardoso Teixeira (Universitat Rovira i Virgili): “Translation Technologies: For a Humanization of Efficiencies and Usability”. Carlos’s thesis offers a contribution to the knowledge of translation and post-editing processes. This contribution can help improve workflows and practices, which among other benefits can increase the volume of text that can be processed. In general, the knowledge acquired in Carlos’s research has the potential to benefit all parties involved in the translation scene, from translators to translation companies, translation-tool manufacturers, translation customers and translation users. For translation professionals, Carlos has explored possibilities of how to optimise the translation process in ways that could help increase not only productivity (and earnings) but also job satisfaction. His results suggest optimal workflows for different scenarios and indicate the need to advance research on the effects of metadata for machine translation, as well as on other aspects related to the usability and ergonomics of translation tools.
Project 2: Marta Miquel Iriarte (University of Turku): Multimedia and Multimodal Translation: Accessibility and Reception: The study investigated how the communication/ hearing background of the viewers and the speed of the subtitles affect the reception of the audiovisual information. Tendencies have been identified, and the consequent statistical analysis will measure its significance. Results indicate that differences among groups are more due to communication rather than to hearing aspects. However, further research is required with native deaf sign language users. Results also indicate that the visual information supports comprehension for the deaf users. However, reading the subtitles takes control over viewing the images. It is expected that the consequent results on subtitling speed will help to find exposure times more adequate for the cognitive needs of this group. It is expected to find a balance to provide time to read the subtitles (and extract the relevant narrative information) and time to view the image (and benefit from its support for comprehension) in a way that the interplay between reading and viewing guarantees the integration of the visual and verbal sources of information.
Project 3: Gabriel González (KU Leuven): Translating for the Minorities: Linguistic Diversity and Integration in Europe: The main output of this project was a thesis which has helped fill a gap in our understanding of multicultural societies. In fact, very little had been said by scholars in terms of the policies that regulate translation in multilingual societies. The thesis project resulted in an interdisciplinary study that maps out such policies in the UK, with particular concern for their complex relationship with issues of integration. What was evident from it is that there has been an uneven development of translation policies based on non-discrimination, equality, and human rights legislation as well as specific language acts and policies. These policies developed also as a result of demographic pressures and historical considerations. Further, the thesis signals that translation for speakers of new minority languages (i.e. “immigrant languages”) and for speakers of old minority languages developed along two largely different lines.
Project 4: Wine Tesseur (Aston University): Transformation through Translation: Media Representation of Political Discourse in Europe: The study focuses on translation policy at Amnesty International and aims to contribute to a knowledge gap in Translation Studies, where little research has been carried out on translation at NGOs. The research concludes that even though Amnesty is one worldwide organisation, Amnesty sections, staff and volunteers worldwide hold different views and expectations about translation, which results in different translation policies. These policies not only differ from language to language, but also depend on the local section and the text genre. The thesis describes a comparative analysis of translations from English into French and Dutch, and demonstrates how varying policies lead to differences in the translations, and that this also influences the way in which Amnesty’s message and voice are represented. The research found that Amnesty staff were not aware of these significant differences in the translations they produced, and of the varying beliefs staff hold about translation. The thesis concludes by suggesting that an increased awareness of these issues will enable Amnesty to make more effective use of translation in its fight against human rights violations. Organising opportunities where translation can be discussed (meetings, workshops, online platforms) can help in reducing such differences.
II. Wider societal implications of TIME
Project 1: Carlos has maintained contact with the company where he did his first secondment (MSS). A collaboration has been set up to start in January 2015, involving their use of machine translation (tuning their existing system and improving their workflows). A presentation of the research results is also scheduled to take place in January 2015. This is expected to help the company improve some of their current working practices. The cooperation with the second industrial partner Symantec was not continued, in part because of the lack of common research interests, but also because the company went through a deep restructuration and as a result, our main contact left the company in the second half of 2013.
Project 2: One of the overall objectives was to strengthen links between academia, industry and society. For the development of the reception study, Marta benefited from a eight-month secondment at the company Multisignes and established connections with other associations and organizations for deaf people. The collaboration with the associated industry partner enlarged her future career possibilities and the fact of working with users led to establish a social networking. This helped Marta to better understand the needs of both the industry and the target community. Multisignes, the different associations and the researcher will continue collaborating in the future. A report with the results will be distributed among them and the conclusions will be presented in talks to be held at the company/ associations, who could be able to disseminate them into the local and national TV, film and accessibility industry.
Project 3: The main implication of this research is that translation policy is handled differently depending mainly on whether the target group is composed of immigrants and their descendants or of autochthonous minorities. The study argues that that it need not be so, that translation policies could be developed for different groups of speakers based on their specific local circumstances and not so much on whether the language is autochthonous to the UK or the level of political support it can get. It also calls into question the assumption that language acquisition and translation provision are essentially at odds. These are no small claims, and further research can be carried out regarding several issues raised by the study.
Project 4: Apart from contributing to Translation Studies, the research project also contributes to the organisation of translation at Amnesty. First of all, the results discussed in the thesis allow Amnesty better insight into its translation services and the thesis contains some suggestions on how to improve these. Secondly, Wine succeeded in creating a number of opportunities to increase the discussion of translation issues and translation training. Concrete examples are the brochure she developed with translation tips for Flemish volunteers, and a workshop she delivered in October 2013 to some forty Flemish volunteer translators. Furthermore, the research results also allow other NGOs to gain new insights about translation policy. Overall, the research can be seen as a first step towards setting up a wider network of non-governmental institutions that exchange best-practices and share research data. As a final dissemination event, Wine plans to organise a workshop at Aston University in February, for which both staff from Amnesty and other NGOs will be invited. The aim of the workshop is to disseminate the research results, to increase awareness of the importance of translation and translation policy, and to discuss possibilities for future research collaboration.