5th East Asian Translation Studies Conference (EATS5)

Hybrid Conference (In-person and Online)

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• Call for Papers
• Keynote speakers
• Conference Organisers
• Enquiries

Call for Papers

The East Asian Translation Studies Conference aims to provide a platform for translators and researchers working in the East Asian context to exchange ideas on issues related to translation. The 5th Conference, to be held at the University of Queensland in Brisbane (Australia) from 26 to 28 June 2024, will mark ten years since the foundation Conference at the University of East Anglia (UK). For this event celebrating a decade of East Asian Translation Studies conferences, we invite contributions from researchers and translators which investigate the topic of Negotiating the Borders of Translation in East Asia.

The beauty of translation is that it brings the unfamiliar to the familiar, transcending the boundaries between languages, cultures and polities. The translating process nevertheless has shifting parameters which depend on factors such as who commissions a translation and the intended audience. Similarly, research into translation does not encompass every significant activity in an age of (among other things) online fan communities. Furthermore, translation scholarship often encounters institutional limitations.

Mindful that translation is an art and a practice which necessarily negotiates borders of various kinds, we invite papers which address – but need not be limited to – questions such as:

• How are translations circulated and consumed in East Asia?
• How are translations circulated and consumed in the diasporic communities which speak East Asian languages?
• What are the various roles that translation plays in cultural exchange in East Asia?
• Where do linguistic issues or cultural tensions arise in translating between the languages of East Asia?
• Where do linguistic issues or cultural tensions arise in translating from or into languages other than East Asian languages?
• Does the practice of translation in East Asia have any characteristics which distinguish it from the practice of translation in other regions?
• Is the practice of translation in East Asia inflected by political or economic considerations?
• Who are translators’ audiences or clients, and how do they affect translators’ work?
• Where are the continuities and discontinuities between the work of professional translators and committed amateurs?
• What role does technology play in enhancing translation process?
• What is the value of education in translation studies?
• What are the challenges and opportunities with which university-based research on translation in East Asia needs to engage?

The language of the conference is English. Submissions for papers should consist of an abstract (max. 300 words) and biographical/professional information about the presenter (max. 200 words). Presenters will speak for 20 minutes. Proposals for three-person panels or roundtables, preferably on cross-language topics, will also be considered. Please submit proposals here by 6 November 2023; acceptances will be sent before 25 December 2023.

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Keynote Speakers

Prof Min-hua Liu is currently a Professor at the Department of Translation, Interpreting and Intercultural Studies of Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU). She is also Director of the Centre for Translation, a research centre of HKBU. She trained as a conference interpreter at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey (MIIS) and is a long-term member (now Associate Member) of AIIC since 1994, Dr. Liu once served as Convener of the AIIC Research Committee and was involved in the AIIC Lifespan Study. She received her PhD in foreign language education from the University of Texas at Austin. Her dissertation on working memory and the expertise of simultaneous interpreting won the Young Scholar Prize (for best PhD dissertation) from the European Society for Translation Studies in 2004. Before joining HKBU, she taught interpreting at MIIS and in Taiwan. Her main research interest lies in the cognitive mechanisms and processes in the task of interpreting, particularly it being a unique bilingual act. Her current project is a longitudinal study on how training in interpreting and translation may affect a bilingual’s cognitive functions. Her second major research interest is the testing and assessment of interpreting. She was the principal investigator of a six-year project to develop a certification examination for interpreters for the Taiwanese Ministry of Education. The project was twice nominated for the Outstanding Research Award of the Executive Yuan (the executive branch of the Taiwanese central government). Dr. Liu is co-editor (with Franz Pöchhacker) of the journal Interpreting.

Dr Meredith McKinney is an Honorary Associate Professor at the Australian National University who specialises in Japanese literary studies and literary translation. She has published more than 20 English translations of Japanese literary works, ranging from the earliest poetry to contemporary fiction. Her translations for Penguin Classics include The Pillow Book (Makura no sōshi ca. 1000) by Sei Shōnagon, and Kokoro and Kusamakura by the modern master Natsume Sōseki (1867–1916). In 2018 she published the translation of Iwaki Kei's award-winning novel Sayōnara orenji (2013) as Farewell, My Orange, and her most recent publication is Gazing at the Moon (2021), translations of the poetry of the medieval poet-monk Saigyō. Her forthcoming translation for Penguin Classics is A Tale Unasked (Towazugatari), the 14th-century memoir of imperial concubine and later wandering nun, Lady Nijō.

Meredith lived and worked in Japan for 20 years before returning to Australia in 1998. She is the daughter of Australian poet and environmental activist Judith Wright, whose work she has co-translated into Japanese.

Dr Adolfo Gentile is a training consultant in Interpreting and Translating and a NAATI Director, previously Adolfo Gentile was a Member of the Refugee Review Tribunal and Migration Review Tribunal and an Independent Merits Reviewer (Australia). He has been involved in the development of training and certification as well as teaching and research in the fields of Translation & Interpreting for over 40 years. He was the Head of School of Languages, Interpreting and Translating at Deakin University and the Founding Director of the University’s Centre for Research and Development in Interpreting and Translating.  He chaired the National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters (NAATI) from 1995 to 2002 and was the president of Fédération Internationale des Traducteurs (International Federation of Translators) from 1999 to 2002.  His current research interests are Translation policy and Translation Education. He has written extensively and consulted on the training and practice of translation and interpreting. He is a NAATI Certified Advanced Translator in English <> Italian and a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Interpreters and Translators (AUSIT).

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Conference Organisers

Organising Committee

• Natsuko Akagawa
• Tomoko Aoyama
• Sonia Broad
• Lucy Fraser
• Will Gatherer
• Barbara Hartley
• Mariko Kishi-Debski
• Hideaki Maruoka
• Yuki Sayeg
• Akiko Uchiyama (chair)
• Lily Wang
• Geoff Wilkes

Steering Committee

• Dr Gloria Lee (SOAS, University of London)
• Prof Nana Sato-Rossbergy (SOAS, University of London)

Scientific Committee

• Prof Sungeun Cho (Hankuk University of Foreign Studies)
• Prof Sharon Tzu-Yun Lai (National Taiwan Normal University)
• A/Prof Robert Neather (Hong Kong Baptist University)
• Prof Nicoletta Pesaro (Ca’ Foscari University of Venice)
• Prof Judy Wakabayashi (Kent State University)
• A/Prof Florence Xiangyun Zhang (Université Paris Cité)

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Enquiries

For any enquiries regarding the conference, please contact eats5@uq.edu.au

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