Tag Archives: Interpretation

Found in Translation Lecture: Interpreting for the US Dept of State by David B. Sawyer

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The 7th Found in Translation lecture series

When: Monday, November 8, 6:00 – 7:30 in McGowan 102

Speaker: Dr. David B. Sawyer, Chief of the European Languages Branch and Senior Diplomatic Interpreter for German in the Office of Language Services at the United States Department of State. Previously, Sawyer was a freelance conference interpreter and Associate Professor of interpretation and translation at the Monterey Institute of International Studies, where he was head of the German program. He was on the faculty at the University of Mainz in Germersheim, Germany, where he earned graduate degrees in conference interpretation, translation, and a doctorate. He is a member of the International Association of Conference Interpreters and the author of Fundamental Aspects of Interpreter Education: Curriculum and Assessment.

Title of Lecture: Interpreting for the United States Department of State: History and Current Practice

The mission of the Office of Language Services (LS) of the United States Department of State is to facilitate communication with non-English speaking governments and people by providing high-level interpreting and translating support to the Executive Office of the President, the Department of State, and other agencies of the United States Federal Government. The Office of Language Services carries on a tradition of language support for the conduct of foreign policy that dates back to 1789, when it was founded by Thomas Jefferson, the first Secretary of State of the United States of America. This presentation outlines the history of LS, looking in particular at the development of diplomatic interpreting and its current practice. The views and opinions expressed are strictly those of the speaker and do not necessarily represent those of the U.S. Government or the U.S. Department of State.

T&I Students Interpret at Jason Scorse’s Book Talk

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Photo: amazon

International Environmental Policy Program Chair Professor Scorse will be talking about his new book What Environmentalists Need to Know About Economics on Wednesday, October 27th at 6pm in Irvine Auditorium. The talk will cover a lot of ground on U.S. and international politics and effective messaging. It will be interpreted into 4 languages by our Translation and Interpretation students, and will be followed by a wine reception in the upper McCone atrium.

MIIS Professors to Analyze Upcoming Elections

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Photo: jcolman

A panel of four MIIS International Policy Studies professors will analyze the upcoming  US elections at 12:15 Tueday, October 26 in Irvine Auditorium.

Professor Steve Garrett will speak about the foreign policy factor in the elections; Professor Moyara Ruehsen, about economic issues; Professor Jason Scorse, about environmental policy; and Professor Peter Grothe, about political aspects.  MIIS Translation and Interpretation students will be interpreting the event.

Comments and questions will follow the presentation.

The American elections are scheduled for Tuesday, November 2nd.

For more information contact Peter Grothe, at pgrothe [at] miis [dot] edu.

MIIS Fall Forum 2010: What do you know about Sex Education?

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The time has nearly come for the Fall Forum, hosted by our MIIS Translation and Interpretation Program!  This semester, Friday, November 19th, 2010, professionals will come to discuss Sex Education.

Photo: veni markovski

Fall Forum Schedule

1:30pm – 3:30pm        “How does the media shape the way we approach sex education?”

3:30pm – 3:45pm        Break

3:45pm – 5:45pm       “The birds and the bees: different versions for boys and girls”

5:45pm                        Reception

There will be guest speakers from Argentina, China, Japan, Korea, Paraguay, Russia, Taiwan and the United States.

What’s This All About?

You never know what a guest speaker might say, especially on a topic like “Sex Education.” Are we talking about China’s one child policy, teenage pregnancy in the U.S., the fact that there was “no sex” in the Soviet Union, or tourists finding racy items for sale in vending machines in Japan?

We will look at this concept from all angles from a social and cultural point of view, in a multi-language setting. Topics will include the media’s impact on our views of sex, how sex is taught in schools, child marriage in some countries, as well as other sensitive issues.

There will be two panel discussion sessions simulating an international conference. Each delegate’s comments will be interpreted consecutively by MIIS student interpreters. Each session will last approximately two hours with a short break in between.

A special reception will follow, and refreshments will be provided.

Admission to this event is FREE, so come on down, and listen to what these professionals have to say!

Pertinent Details

MIIS Fall Forum 2010: What do you know about Sex Education?

When: Friday, November 19, 2010 (1:30pm-6:00pm)

Where: MIIS Irvine Auditorium

Admission: FREE!

TIJ 25th Anniversary Symposium on Translator and Interpreter Education

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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!

MIIS Info Session in Korea

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On July 4, 2010, Professor Miryoung Sohn offered a talk in Seoul, Korea for alumni and forty-six prospective MIIS students.

Recent T&I graduate, Shihee Yu emceed the 2 hour event.  The information session began with a general introduction to MIIS and followed with testimonies from a number of MIIS alums about their degree experiences and careers since leaving the Institute.  Among those giving testimonies were two 2005 International Policy Studies graduates, Katie Klemsen and Nicola Kim and three Korean T&I graduates, Hyunsuk John Lee of class ‘03, Aeree Park of class ’02, and Jiyoung Park of class ’09 for MACII and ’10 for MATFL.


The prospective students were introduced to the T&I curriculum and the MIIS application process, and the session ended with a chance for the students to ask their questions about the Monterey Institute and its programs.  The session was well-attended, with 46 prospective students and 10 Korean T&I alumni at the event.  Following the information session, there was an alumni dinner.

7th Mini-Monterey Model Event

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Mry Model screen shot

The Monterey Institute is  renowned for our special Monterey Model courses, which are taught simultaneously in multiple language sections. The Language Studies program offers professionally-relevant language courses for our students pursuing degrees in policy and business. These sections may focus on a topic such as Challenges of Globalization, Issues in the European Union, or Green Business (to name just a few), which each group explores from their own language and cultural perspective during the semester.  These language courses, some of which are offered in our Monterey Model format, provide opportunities for our students to enhance their language skills while exploring topics relevant to their degrees. At one or two points during the semester, all languages meet in plenary sessions (interpreted by students in our Conference Interpretation program) to share their findings.

Professor Jinhuei Enya Dai, Professor Vicki Porras and Professor Jacolyn Harmer initiated the 1st Mini-Monterey Model Event back in the Spring semester of 2007, which was entitled “Business Culture Presentation” presemted in Spanish and in Chinese, and collaborated with the Translation and Interpretation Program.  Later Japanese Professor Naoko Matsuo and Spanish Professor Pablo Oliva also joined the Mini-Monterey Model events in 2009.  Currently, as of  Spring 2010, we are celebrating  the 7th Mini-Monterey Model Semester.

MIIS alumni and former advancement fellow, Rajeev Rao (Chinese  Studies, MBA and IPS joint degree), commented on the Monterey Model’s

tremendous value of enhancing language learning at the institute and to academic life at MIIS.

monterey model

The 7th Mini-Monterey Model, held on April 23th, 2010, was a collaboration between the Translation and Interpretation Program, the Chinese Studies Program and the Spanish Studies Program.  The topics ranged from China Nuclear Doctrine, Provincial Reconstruction Team, Renewable Energy, Waste Management, to Chinese Pedagogical Grammar. This Model provides and enhances learning opportunities for T & I students and Language Studies students from different majors and expertise. It also showcases the outcomes of MIIS’s signature pedagogy in Language Studies Program: Content-based Instruction and Individualization.  We will continue celebrating Mini-Monterey Model and hope you can join us soon!

The 5th session of Found in Translation: the latest in T&I research

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Who: Dr. Kayoko Takeda (delivered in Japanese, and interpreted by practicum students)

What: What interpreting teachers can learn from students: A case study

When: April 27 (Tue) 12:15 1:45

Where: Irvine Auditorium

Abstract

With the increasing number of interpreting programs in higher education worldwide, there is a growing body of research centering on interpreter training issues. Whether the topic is assessment, aptitude or teaching methods, much of the research on interpreter education involves students as providers of natural data or subjects of experiments. However, there seem to be few studies that focus on students perspectives on how they are trained. Student feedback is a valuable resource for teachers to use in reflecting on and continuously improving their practice. This paper explores the constructive use of student input to pursue effective teaching and curriculum design. It takes the form of a case study, focusing on second-year interpreting students who took an interpreting theory and research course from 2007 to 2009 at MIIS. In addition to questionnaires and course evaluations, this paper draws on student research proposals and action research reports in order to identify what the students may see as gaps in the teaching at MIIS. The place of theory and research courses in the curriculum is also discussed. Finally, possible solutions for the issues raised in the findings are suggested.

Professional associations panel: a remarkable gathering

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A recent career fair panel discussion hosted by GSTILE assembled representatives from a remarkable range of professional associations from across the interpreting spectrum.

audience members listen to panel via simultaneous interpretation

audience members listen to panel via simultaneous interpretation

Facilitator Jacolyn Harmer, Professor and Program Chair for Translation and Interpretation, noted that

Sometimes we participate in events in our lives when we don’t really fully understand the complete significance of those events.  I’m going to suggest that this might be one of them for you, because if you look at this panel, I doubt that you will ever be in a room again with this kind of expertise all assembled at one time.

Representatives from the following organizations shared their perspectives in English, Spanish and French, with simultaneous interpretation into English provided by interpretation practicum students:

Many thanks to the panelists as well as all who organized, contributed to, and participated in this event.