Tag Archives: lecture

Spring Speaker Series starts off strong!

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Barbara Sawhill gave an engaging two-hour interactive talk last Friday to TESOL/TFL students on the importance of renouncing a “multi-paged, intricately detailed, iron-clad syllabus” and replacing it with a student-centered, participatory class outline with collaborated class goals between the students and teacher. Barbara teaches Spanish at Oberlin College and is the Director of the Cooper International Language Center.

photo from: cogdogblog

Barbara renounces the old Factory Model of Education, which in her opinion lacks a context for students’ learning. This “Fordist” classoom is out of touch with the world around it and sees students as empty vessels who simply absorb and memorize, rather than experience and create.

As an educator, Barbara sees her job as “making this experience [in the classroom] as meaningful for you [the student] as possible”. She insists that as educators, we need to listen and model for students what we expect of them. As learners, we don’t need to simply find all of the answers, but learn how to create “really well-rounded, thoughtful questions”.

Four questions that Barbara asks her students at the beginning of each term are:

How do you learn?

Why are you here?

What do you want to learn?

How can we help you get there?

You can check out her work and ideas at  http://languages.oberlin.edu/lab-info/center-staff/ and http://languagelabunleashed.org/ and typical posts like http://languagelabunleashed.org/2010/03/15/the-backwards-syllabus/ Barbara introduces herself at http://vimeo.com/19050537 .You can read about her Spanish class at http://languages.oberlin.edu/courses/2010/spring/hisp205/ and http://languagelabunleashed.org/tag/hisp205/

Marciel Santos will be the next speaker this Spring, He will be talking on April 14 from 3-5 pm. Stay aware of fliers around campus for more information!

Found In Translation Lecture: The Case of Regional Culture in Japan

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The 9th lecture in the Found In Translation series

When: Tuesday, November 23. 12:15 – 1:45 in McGowan 102

Speaker: Dr. Andrew Murakami-Smith, Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Language and Culture at Osaka University.

After graduating from Claremont McKenna College, Andrew Murakami-Smith worked as a translator in a lawyers office in Tokyo. A Ph.D. in Modern Japanese Literature from Princeton University was followed by a year and a half translating in-house for a patent lawyer in Osaka. Currently an Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Language and Culture at Osaka University, he teaches English to Japanese undergrads, a course in modern Japanese Literature in English translation to international students, and an introductory course on translation to graduate students. His Ph.D. dissertation focused on Japanese dialects (regional varieties) in modern literary works, and he has a continuing interest in regional dialects and cultures in Japan, especially the dialect, culture, and image of Osaka.

Lecture Title: Translating Culture: The Case of Regional Culture in Japan

In literary translation, written representation of local dialects (regional varieties) in characters speech, like humor, may be something that is lost in translation. However, just as translators of Lewis Carroll cannot ignore the untranslatable bits of humor and wordplay, translators of Huckleberry Finn, for example, must somehow attempt to translate local dialects. What are some strategies that might be used? And what of other bits of local color? References to a specific region may include geographical names, names of restaurants and shops, local dishes, cultural practices or concepts, and (stereo)typical temperaments and personalities.

Photo: New York Public Library

In Japanese Literature, works set in or relating to Osaka may include (written representation of) local dialect and all or some of the above local color. What strategies have been used by translators of such works into English? Have they had some idea of translation of culture in mind as they translated the words and sentences of the source texts? Attempting a richer translation of the nuances of local color and regional culture will admittedly result in a foreignizing translation that will place a greater burden on the reader of the target text. On the other hand, what are some benefits that might justify such an attempt? These are some of the questions this talk will investigate, with specific examples of Osaka literary works and attempts at English translation.

Found In Translation Lecture: The Translation Industry and University Translation Programs in China by Benjamin Zeng

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The 8th lecture in the Found in Translation series

When: Tuesday, November 16.  12:15 – 1:45 in Irvine

Speaker: Dr. Benjamin Zeng, Professor of the College of Foreign Languages at Zhejiang Normal University.

Lecture Title: The Translation Industry and University Translation Programs in China

The lecture will give an overview of the status quo of the translation industry in China (company structure, technology use, content domain, pricing, etc.), the plight of the translator, and university translation programs.

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.