Doctoral work in translation studies as an interdisciplinary mutual learning process:how a translator, teacher educator and linguistic typologist worked together

The focus of this paper is on the doctoral research training experienced by one of the authors and the ways in which the diverse linguistic and disciplinary perspectives of her two supervisors (co-authors of this paper) mediated the completion of her study. The doctoral candidate is a professional translator/interpreter and translation teacher. The paper describes why and how she identified her research area and then focused on the major research questions in collaboration with her two supervisors, who brought their differing perspectives from the field of linguistics to this translation research, even though they are not translators by profession or disciplinary background and do not speak Korean. In addition, the discussion considers the focus, purpose and theoretical orientation of the research itself (which addressed questions of readability in translated English-Korean texts through detailed analysis of a corpus and implications for professional translator training) as well as the supervisory and conceptual processes and practices involved. The authors contend that doctoral research of this kind can be seen as a mutual learning process and that inter-disciplinary research can make a contribution not only to the development of rigorous research in the field of translation studies but also to the other disciplinary fields involved.

Translating specialised texts:an overview of key factors involved in translator training for specialized translation

Translators wishing to work on translating specialised texts are traditionally recommended to spend much time and effort acquiring specialist knowledge of the domain involved, and for some areas of specialised activity, this is clearly essential. For other types of translation-based, domain-specific of communication, however, it is possible to develop a systematic approach to the task which will allow for the production of target texts which are adequate for purpose, in a range of specialised domains, without necessarily having formal qualifications in those areas. For Esselink (2000) translation agencies, and individual clients, would tend to prefer a subject expert who also happens to have competence in one or more languages over a trained translator with a high degree of translation competence, including the ability to deal with specialised translation tasks. The problem, for the would-be translator, is persuading prospective clients that he or she is capable of this. This paper will offer an overview of the principles used to design training intended to teach trainee translators how to use a systematic approach to specialised translation, in order to extend the range of areas in which they can tackle translation, without compromising quality or reliability. This approach will be described within the context of the functionalist approach developed in particular by Reiss and Vermeer (1984), Nord (1991, 1997) inter alia.