WORKSHOP 0 |
Corpus-driven translation and editing of specialist texts
PLEASE
NOTE: This
workshop: a) is not included in the MET07 registration fee, and b)
cannot be chosen as the second optional workshop. Translators/editors
often feel constrained by their lack of specialist knowledge of the
fields in which they work, whether it happens to be medicine, engineering,
finance, etc. Yet there is increasing demand for specialist translators
and editors—who invariably command higher rates. Although the
WWW can be a valuable source of field knowledge, undisciplined/uninformed
research can lead to register violations, patchy style, real error,
or simply translationese. Our workshop will raise awareness of issues of relevance to specialist (potential specialist) translators/editors, describes the corpus-driven approach, and informs you about free or inexpensive tools that will ultimately enhance the quality of your work. You’ll get hands-on practice with tools in a computer lab, receive several specialist corpora to take home, and learn how to create your own. Ailish Maher, Stephen Waller and Mary Ellen Kerans are all freelance translators and editors based in or near Barcelona, Spain. Purpose
| Description | Structure
| Who should attend? | Outcome
skills |
PurposeTo raise awareness of language-choice issues of relevance to specialist (and potential specialist) translators/editors. To describe the corpus-driven approach to translation/editing. To give hands-on experience of tools that will enhance the quality of your work. To show how to create your own specialist corpus efficiently. |
DescriptionOur workshop has a minimal but necessary theoretical content—but you’ll soon be working through practical examples with the tools on your own computer. Discussion of your experience of the tools will be part of your learning. Our examples are based on real translation/editing problems arising in the medicine, engineering, rock mechanics, finance and legal-institutional fields. |
Structure
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Who should attend?Anyone doing or planning to eventually do serious specialty translation or editing who is interested in honing research and field-knowledge acquisition skills. This workshop is also useful for teachers of English for special or academic purposes who need to keep abreast of knowledge in their specialism. |
Outcome skillsOn the basis of practical examples, hands-on experience and discussion, participants will:
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Pre-meeting informationWhat the corpus-driven approach can do for you Look at this example of informal “quick research questions.” A translator was able to answer quickly by using a simple “KWIC”—key word in context—output from the AntConc program, which you’ll use in the workshop. This conference poster by Mary Ellen Kerans and Ailish Maher shows examples of applying the “corpus-driven” approach applied to editing problems. See how an instructor in English for Academic Purposes can use corpus linguistics tools to talk about word usage to advanced language students—such as our author/clients often are. Go to Tim Johns’ home page: http://www.eisu2.bham.ac.uk/johnstf/timeap3.htm Try exploring a corpus yourself To get a foretaste of this approach, experiment with this site: http://www.lextutor.ca/concordancers/concord_e.html. Use the default values for all fields EXCEPT the field “in corpus” for which you should choose BNC Written. Now enter the word “physician” in the “keyword” field and click on the “get concordance” field (yellow). Have a look at the output (copy and save into a Word doc if you wish). Now scroll back and follow the same procedure for “doctor”. Can you come to any conclusions about USAGE? For example, think about which you think you might prefer to use if talking to your partner, if translating a medical article, or if writing a novel set in the last century. How does this approach differ from others?
The
Write Stuff is the journal of the European Medical Writers Association.
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About the developers and facilitatorAilish Maher, a freelance translator, has a master's degree in Translation Studies, a first degree in Business, and the Institute of Linguist's Diploma in Translation. She is training chair of MET. e-mail: gaebolga@gmail.com Mary Ellen Kerans, a specific-purposes English instructor, biomedical translator and author’s editor, received her MA in TESOL. She is the MET council chair. e-mail: METworks@gmail.com Stephen
Waller, a freelance translator specialising in business
and finance, has a degree in German and French and has worked as a
lexicographer, copyeditor and EFL teacher. |