Using Mini Team Projects in Translation Classes to Achieve Competences Defined in the EMT Reference Framework Jelena Pralas, PhD Assistant Professor Institute of Foreign Languages University of Montenegro

 Literary texts  Teaching translation techniques Old practice in Teaching Translation

 Montenegrin market changes  Demand: - not literary translation, but technical (law, economics, tourism, agriculture, environment…)  Supply: – not rich enough, graduates proficient In general English, but have problems with concepts in technical translation Market changes

 2000s – Institute of Foreign Languages introduced Specialist Studies of Translation in the University of Montenegro  Based on the situation in the market  Curriculum designed by experienced translators  Teachers – experienced translators – scholars and researchers in linguistics, translation studies, economics and law Translation Studies - ISJ

Term 1 Translation of Legal Texts to English (1+1) 6 credits Translation of Legal Texts from English (1+1) 6 credits Discourse Analysis (2+0) 5 credits Communication (1+1) 5 credits Translation Theory (2+0) 4 credits Basics of Law (2+0) 4 credits Structure of the Programme

Term 2 Translation of Business Texts to English (1+1) 5 credits Translation of Business Texts from English (1+1) 5 credits Basics of Consecutive Interpretation (0+3) 4 credits Academic Writing (1+1) 4 credits Basics of Economics (2+0) 4 credits Semantics (2+0) 4 credits Final Paper ( - ) 4 credits

 ISJ started implementing the Translation Programme in 2004  Similar in other countries in the region  Similar in EU

 Market requires more translation training  Universities open translation programmes  Diversity “In 2006 there were at least 285 translation 'programmes' in European higher education, leading to a bachelor's and/or a master's degree”

 EMT – 60 members (University programmes)  Established to:  search for convergence between training for translators in Europe  search for and apply criteria of excellence; EMT

 2009  Competences for professional translators, experts in multilingual and multimedia communication By EMT Expert Group

 “competence - the combination of aptitudes, knowledge, behaviour and know- how necessary to carry out a given task under given conditions.”  “competences applied to language professions or to translation over a wide semantic or professional range, including various modes of interpreting”  These competences are interdependant Translators’ Competences

 Competences grouped:  TRANSLATION SERVICE PROVISION COMPETENCE  LANGUAGE COMPETENCE  INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE  INFORMATION MINING COMPETENCE  THEMATIC COMPETENCE  TECHNOLOGICAL COMPETENCE COMPETENCES

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 ISJ uses EMT competences as a reference  Analysis of our curriculum against it  Identification of gaps  Strategies to bridge the gaps  On the level of individual subjects  On the level of the programme curriculum  Ongoing process –constraints EMT competences as a reference framework

 1 of the strategies to bridge the gap  Mini Team Projects in Translation classes  Reason:  Translation Services Provision competences (Interpersonal dimension):  - Knowing how to comply with instructions, deadlines, commitments, interpersonal competences, team organisation  - Knowing how to work in a team, including a virtual team, and  - Knowing how to work under pressure and with other experts, with a project head (capabilities for making contacts, for cooperation and collaboration), including in a multilingual situation Mini team translation project

 Very simple in the beginning  Additions – making it more complex, but more useful  More competences  In both terms History

 Stages of the mini team translation projects:  Selects appropriate material  Forming the groups  Translation process  Final products submitted  Students present their work in teams  Students assess each other and themselves  Teacher assesses the final product/presentations/team work Stages

 Select appropriate materials (Teacher):  Beginning – any text in the thematic field  Now - articles about translation of technical texts in the fields we work on  To develop meta language (Translation Services Provision Competence (Production dimension):  Mastering the appropriate metalanguage (to talk about one's work, strategies and decisions)  To prepare students for final papers Select appropriate material

 The European Union and its Future Languages. Questions for Language Policies and Translation Theories (Anthony Pym)  The Journal of Specialised Translation  Caveat Translator: Understanding the Legal Consequences of Errors in Professional Translation (Jody Byrne, University of Sheffield)  Dealing with cultural elements in technical texts for translation (Radegundis Stolze, Darmstadt University of Technology)  Lost and Found in Translating Tourist Texts - Domesticating, Foreignising or Neutralising Approach ( He Sanning, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology )  Beyond Translation Memory: Computers and the Professional Translator (Ignacio Garcia, University of Western Sydney) Select appropriate material

 Publishing students’ translations? Material

 Forming groups  their choice/teacher’s choice  Two projects per year – different/same choices?  Groups of five  They decide on every aspect of their work - teacher wants the final product and assesses the final product  They decide on the roles/division of the material/tasks Forming groups

 Translation process  Final product submitted Stages

 Presentations (interview)  Structured (students given questions)  Explanation how they divided the roles/tasks/material  Using meta-language (Competence: - Mastering the appropriate metalanguage (to talk about one's work, strategies and decisions  Analyzing their approach, habits, organization (Competence: Knowing how to self-evaluate (questioning one's habits; being open to innovations; being concerned with quality; being ready to adapt to new situations/conditions) and take responsibility) Presentations

 Presentations  Explaining stages in their team translation project  (competence: - Knowing how to define stages and strategies for the translation of a document)  Identifying translation problems/solutions  (competences:  - Knowing how to define and evaluate translation problems and find appropriate solutions  - Knowing how to justify one's translation choices and decisions )

 Focusing on the need to achieve coherence of the text and consistency in terminology  Focusing on the revision of the text (how they did it)  Lessons learnt  Cooperation/dependence  Ethics  Who not to work with

 Students assess themselves and each other  (COMPETENCE: Knowing how to self-evaluate (questioning one's habits; being open to innovations; being concerned with quality; being ready to adapt to new situations/conditions) and take responsibility)

 Teacher uses students’ assessments and decides on the final grade (number of points)