Fit-For-Market Translator and Interpreter Training in a Digital Age

This book is worth reading. It is the result of eTransFair (2016-2019), an Erasmus+ Strategic Partnership research project, and the corresponding closing conference (Budapest, 29 September 2018). The whole undertaking is unique because it represents one of the few rare cases where academia and profession worked together on the realisation of a common goal, viz. how to design both a translation and an interpreting programme that meets the desires and expectations of the market and profession and at the same time provides enough of a theoretical basis to deliver professional, employable, fit-for-market translators and interpreters who are able to make use of the latest digital products available in the market. Initiator and coordinator of the project and conference was the Centre for Modern Languages of the Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BME). Partners were the Centre for Translation Studies of the University of Vienna (Univie) and Hermes Traducciones, a major Spanish translation company. The common goal is approached from different angles: the most appropriate curriculum; the competences needed (e.g. terminology competence and post-editing competence) and how to teach and practise them; e-learning materials and their impact on training and work of translators and interpreters as well as on T&I trainers; how to create, test and implement such e-learning materials; as well as various aspects of neural machine translation and post-editing. The book contains fresh and revealing contributions on these perspectives by a number of expert scholars and practitioners. It is a must for trainers, students and professionals.

Dr. Marcel Thelen

Zuyd University of Applied Sciences, Netherlands

The book “Fit-For-Market Translator and Interpreter Training in a Digital Age” gives a very good future-oriented outlook on the translation market. The wide range of contributions reflects the multi-faceted configuration of the profession. Thanks to the practice-oriented approach, the book will become an indispensable guide for all translation didacticians.

Dr. Alexandra Krause

University of Vienna, Austria

The translation and interpreting market is changing at an unprecedented rate which affects all the actors and stakeholders in the market. The eTransFair project and the authors and editors of the volume entitled ‘Fit-For-Market Translator Training in a Digital Age’ were quick to react to these changes and have transformed their training programs to meet the demands of the digital age.

A special strength of this volume is to bring together experts and stakeholders with valuable insights and viewpoints from different institutions and countries with different translator and interpreter experiences in the digital age.

The chapters in this volume discuss how training institutions can meet market demands, revisit the issues of competence development, and explore how the latest digital trends and their implications for machine translation and new technologies impact the profession.

I strongly recommend this book to translator and interpreter trainers and trainees, researchers, practicing translators and interpreters and agencies.

Prof. Maria Bakti

Institute of Applied Humanities,

University of Szeged, Hungary