Face and humility- intercultural competence in the professional translator

About the Event

The importance of intercultural competence in the professional translator is already known and has been discussed at length. House (2017) in particular has examined the central concept of transfer competence, and all that it entails, in detail. But what are some of the key aspects of transfer competence for the translator working between East Asian languages and English in the 2020s? How important are the very attitude and identity of the translator in determining the effectiveness of a translator and a translation? Using practical examples from the speaker’s own experiences from his journey as a student, academic, and translator, this seminar will provide some food for thought to help us become more humble, self-aware, effective translators.

Reference

House, J., 2017. Translation: the basics. Routledge.

About the Speaker

Martin Ward (PhD, Hiroshima) FHEA PGCAP is an Associate Professor of Chinese and Japanese Translation at the University of Leeds, UK. He has published several China-related translations from Chinese and Japanese into English of historical documents, Chinese political discourse (such as Chapters 7 & 8 of J. Bian, The Communist Party of China: A Concise History: ACA Publishing Ltd, 2021), and literature, and also conducts research into the translation of the Kempeitai documents, Chinese political discourse, translation pedagogy and international telecollaboration. He is currently a Fellow of the Leeds Institute for Teaching Excellence, researching barriers to COIL-type interventions, and also employs international telecollaboration in his translation pedagogy. He is also the founder of the East Asian Translation Pedagogy Advance (EATPA) network, which brings together educators teaching East Asian language translation at HE level across the globe to share best practice and advance pedagogic methodologies.