Dr. John Balcom, a professor in the Translation and Interpretation department at the Monterey Institute of International Studies and a translator of Chinese Literature, recently translated “After Many Autumns: A Collection of Chinese Buddhist Literature” into English.
Professor Jinhuei Dai hosted four workshops from December 22, 2011 – January 12, 2012 in Taiwan. The workshops were held at the Graduate Institute of Teaching Chinese as a Second Language at the National Taiwan Normal University. The following topics were discussed: Whose “Culture” is it Anyway: Introduction to Critical Content-Based Instruction; Chinese History Through Cinema and Cross-talk; Topics on Cognition in Chinese Language and Culture; and Standard-based Instruction, Backward Design Principle and its Application on Pedagogical Sequences.
On December 18, 2011 the MIIS event at the NTNU (National Taiwan Normal University) event in Taipei, Taiwan was a success! It was hosted by Marsha Chou and the keynote speaker was Jason Yeh. The event was titled: “What can I do with my 2 languages? An interdisciplinary approach to cross-cultural understanding. ” Thanks to the alumni speakers Ruby Lai (10), Ted Lynch (09), Jodie Lee (09). Additional thanks was given to Lawrence Hsu (2010) for helping with refreshments, and for Irene Chen for reserving the auditorium.
On June 20, 2010, the MIIS Translation and Interpretation Program in Japanese (TIJ) program held its 25th Anniversary Symposium on Translator and Interpreter Education at the International House of Japan in Tokyo.
The 4-hour symposium began with greetings and a presentation by Professor Kayoko Takeda, entitled “The Future of Translator/Interpreter Training at Higher Education” and included the history of TIJ. Dr. Winter then gave a short talk about how TIJ began at the Monterey Institute.
Following the presentation, an Interpreter Panel consisting of three alumni and one former visiting scholar and moderated by Takeda discussed the current interpreting markets and what they expect of interpreter education programs in the future.
The was also a Translator Panel moderated by Professor Tanya Pound, consisting of three alumni and one former visiting scholar, which similarly discussed the current translation markets and what they expect of translator education programs.
A teacher panel was also moderated by Takeda, which included four current and former MIIS faculty members, an alumnus, and a Translation and Interpretation agency rep. They discussed the future of translator/interpreter education in response to the discussions by the previous panels.
The symposium resulted in many good discussions, including an interesting discussion of how machine translation, translation tools, and crowd sourcing may affect the practice and training of translators.
The 108 attendees were comprised of 44 alumni, 3 faculty (Takeda, Pound, and Winter), 9 prospective students, 1 staff member (Leah Gowron), and 51 guests, including former faculty members and visiting scholars, university professors, translators and interpreters, and TI agencies. One notable attended was Mr. Koichi Ishiyama (Midd 1969), a renowned author of very popular Japanese – English dictionaries.
Many of the attendees enjoyed the symposium so much that they asked when another similar event would be hosted, and some alumni started discussing the possibility of organizing a TI seminar series in Japan. After the symposium was completed, more than 50 people attended a reception at a restaurant in Roppongi.
The symposium could not have been such a success without the help of sponsors Honda Kaihatsu Kogyo and Creer and Communicators and we thank them for their support!
Who: Ulrike Irmler, Microsoft
When: Monday, April 5, 2010 from 2-4pm
Where: Irvine Auditorium, MIIS
Microsoft Windows covers a breadth of audiences from consumer, to IT professionals to developers. With more than 1 billion customers worldwide and 100 target languages, translation and localization activities span from user interface localization to digital marketing, developer kits, licensing agreements, and many other text and domain types.
Ulrike Irmler, who manages Window’s localization team, will give an overview of the Windows business by presenting several end-to-end localization scenarios (user interface, web content, developer and consumer). She will focus on market-strategy, translation challenges, standards and linguistic quality. Ulrike will also discuss the latest translation paradigms such as machine translation and crowd sourcing in the context of large-scale enterprise localization.
Christina Baldarelli is currently serving as a Peace Corps Masters International (PCMI) candidate in Kazakhstan. She recently sent an update back to her colleagues at MIIS along with her thanks for a PCMI care package. She writes,
Christina Baldarelli, PCMI in the field
I have to tell you … having spent two semesters at MIIS prior to joining the Peace Corps has basically made me a rock star over here. I live and work in a small city surrounded by different villages that are home to 8 other volunteers who are first-time teachers right out of various non-education related undergraduate programs. Not a weekend goes by without one of them coming in to the city to talk about lesson plans or vent about administrative frustrations, and I feel so equipped and empowered to listen to them and try to help. Sometimes I get frustrated that I’m not living the typical ‘Peace Corps’ life (i.e. there are BMWs on the streets and all of my students have expensive cell phones, etc), but I feel like some of the best work that I’m doing is actually just helping the other volunteers be more effective, which feels good.
You can read further about her adventures via her personal blog.