1. MAASTRICHT SCHOOL OF TRANSLATION AND INTERPETING
Localisation training for translators
and the professional field of translation:
MAASTRICHT SCHOOL OF TRANSLATION AND INTERPETING
The Dutch connection
Marcel Thelen & Han van de Staay

2. MAASTRICHT SCHOOL OF TRANSLATION AND INTERPETING
Maastricht School of Translation and Interpreting (MSTI)
Outline of presentation:
General characteristics of MSTI
Mode of instruction and types of learning
Subject areas and specialisations
Basic IT programme
Localisation programme
Skills lab (general)
Workshop
Detailed description of skills lab
MAASTRICHT SCHOOL OF TRANSLATION AND INTERPETING

3. MAASTRICHT SCHOOL OF TRANSLATION AND INTERPETING
Maastricht School of Translation and Interpreting (MSTI)
University of professional education
4-year fulltime programme
objective: Training students to become professional translators
MAASTRICHT SCHOOL OF TRANSLATION AND INTERPETING
Languages:
Dutch + English*
Either: German
French or Spanish
possibly 3rd language
* English: compulsory in years 1 and 2
optional as major foreign language in years 3 and 4

4. MAASTRICHT SCHOOL OF TRANSLATION AND INTERPETING
Close collaboration between University and professional field
Committee of external advisors from the professional field
Collaboration with /participation in (International) professional bodies
MAASTRICHT SCHOOL OF TRANSLATION AND INTERPETING

5. MAASTRICHT SCHOOL OF TRANSLATION AND INTERPETING
Mode of instruction and type(s) of learning:
Periodical instruction and feedback + immediate application to concurrent and future projects/ assignments
Integration of IT in all parts of programme
Integration of language and subject field
Semi-autonomous learning (in sub-groups / individually) + use of electronic learning environments + formal lectures + workshops
Shorter (repetitive) assignments and longer projects
MAASTRICHT SCHOOL OF TRANSLATION AND INTERPETING

6. MAASTRICHT SCHOOL OF TRANSLATION AND INTERPETING
Emphasis on: quality complying with instructions meeting deadlines speed working under stress
Instruction by: language specialists translation / interpreting specialists working translators / interpreters subject field specialists guest lecturers
MAASTRICHT SCHOOL OF TRANSLATION AND INTERPETING

7. MAASTRICHT SCHOOL OF TRANSLATION AND INTERPETING
3 subject areas:
Economics
Law Science/Technology/IT
5 specialisations:
Subject field specific translation
(liaison) interpreting
technical writing
subtitling localisation
MAASTRICHT SCHOOL OF TRANSLATION AND INTERPETING

8. MAASTRICHT SCHOOL OF TRANSLATION AND INTERPETING
Basic IT programme for all 5 specialisations:
Years
Localisation programme
Year 4
MAASTRICHT SCHOOL OF TRANSLATION AND INTERPETING
Selection of 2 subject areas for year 3
Selection of 1 subject areas out of these 2 for year 4

9. MAASTRICHT SCHOOL OF TRANSLATION AND INTERPETING
Basic IT programme for all five specialisations:
Year 1:
General computer programmes:
- Windows XP
- MS-Office products (Outlook, Word, IE)
- Searching techniques
Year 2:
Translation tools
HTML
Tools for text analysis at word level
Tools for web translating
MAASTRICHT SCHOOL OF TRANSLATION AND INTERPETING
Selection of 2 specialisations for year 3
Selection of 1 specialisation out of these 2 for year 4
Year 3:
Internet for translators
Advanced searching techniques on the Internet for translators
Advantages/disadvantages and problems of types of Internet

10. MAASTRICHT SCHOOL OF TRANSLATION AND INTERPETING
Year 3 (basic IT programme)
Internet for Translators:
Working with communication tools
Internet Locator Server (ILS) + Netmeeting
Instant Messaging clients:
ICQ + MSN Messenger
FTP
Newsgroups
Discussion Boards
MAASTRICHT SCHOOL OF TRANSLATION AND INTERPETING

11. Year 3 (basic IT programme continued )
Advanced searching techniques on the Internet for Translators
Search engines
Search indexes
Meta Crawlers
Typical mistakes
Quality assessment:
 Dictionaries + Glossaries
 Term banks
 Parallel Texts
 Background Texts
 Translated Texts
 * Corpora
MAASTRICHT SCHOOL OF TRANSLATION AND INTERPETING
MAASTRICHT SCHOOL OF TRANSLATION AND INTERPETING

12. Year 3 (basic IT programme continued )
Advantages/disadvantages and problems of types of Internet connections
Non-permanent connections
Permanent connections
Security and encryption
Viruses, trojan horses, hoaxes, worms
e-commerce
Internet standards
MAASTRICHT SCHOOL OF TRANSLATION AND INTERPETING
MAASTRICHT SCHOOL OF TRANSLATION AND INTERPETING
MAASTRICHT SCHOOL OF TRANSLATION AND INTERPETING

13. Localisation programme
Year 3 (Localisation for translators )
Year 4 (Localisation/IT specialisation )
Passolo
Choice from:
Active Server Pages
Visual Basic
Workspace
Wordfast
Web design (Flash, Frontpage)
MultiTerm (developing/adjusting databases)
XML
Programmes for Project Management
MAASTRICHT SCHOOL OF TRANSLATION AND INTERPETING
MAASTRICHT SCHOOL OF TRANSLATION AND INTERPETING
MAASTRICHT SCHOOL OF TRANSLATION AND INTERPETING
MAASTRICHT SCHOOL OF TRANSLATION AND INTERPETING

14. MAASTRICHT SCHOOL OF TRANSLATION AND INTERPETING
Skills lab
MSTI = University of professional education
 vocational training:
close co-operation between University and professional world
3rd - year placement, career preparation, 4th – year placement, th -year skills lab
MAASTRICHT SCHOOL OF TRANSLATION AND INTERPETING

15. MAASTRICHT SCHOOL OF TRANSLATION AND INTERPETING
Skills lab (continued)
Student objectives:
Organisation:
Bring into practice knowledge and skills acquired during training,
get feedback from the profession and MSTI, and
test c.q. adjust own performance on the basis of the feedback
Similar to that of a professional translation
agency, i.e. with professional tools, job
handling, administration and filing systems,
etc
MAASTRICHT SCHOOL OF TRANSLATION AND INTERPETING

16. MAASTRICHT SCHOOL OF TRANSLATION AND INTERPETING
Workshop (Now it is your turn)
Set up your own ideal skills lab for English, German, French, Spanish and Dutch
MAASTRICHT SCHOOL OF TRANSLATION AND INTERPETING

17. MAASTRICHT SCHOOL OF TRANSLATION AND INTERPETING
Leading questions:
Technology, facilities:
Translations and revisions:
What are the minimum requirements (equipment, software, workplace, resources, etc.) to guarantee optimal and smooth job handling?
What are the minimum requirements (resources, internal organisation, quality control, staff, etc.) to guarantee optimal quality of work delivered?
MAASTRICHT SCHOOL OF TRANSLATION AND INTERPETING

18. MAASTRICHT SCHOOL OF TRANSLATION AND INTERPETING
Leading questions (continued):
3. Filing / administration:
Relation between training and the professional world:
What are the minimum requirements for optimal filing / administration of: jobs, revenues and expenditures, relations (e.g. customers, freelancers), etc.?
What are the minimum requirements to guarantee an optimal link between training and professional practice (e.g. types of jobs, number of words to be translated / revised per day with(out) the help of localisation tools) etc.?
MAASTRICHT SCHOOL OF TRANSLATION AND INTERPETING

19. MAASTRICHT SCHOOL OF TRANSLATION AND INTERPETING
Detailed description of skills lab at MSTI
General: Duration of skills lab and minimal production per translator/ reviser (in ):
Introduction:
1 day (8 hours)
Translation:
Min words p/day* = 28,000 words
23 days (184 days)
Revision:
Min words p/day* = 20,000 words
5 days (40 hours)
Meetings with coach:
4 days (32 hours)
Total:
33 days (264 hours) in period of 9 weeks
MAASTRICHT SCHOOL OF TRANSLATION AND INTERPETING

20. MAASTRICHT SCHOOL OF TRANSLATION AND INTERPETING
Detailed description of skills lab at MSTI (continued)
General: Income per translator/reviser (in ) - fictitious:
Translation:
€ 0.09 p/word (x 28,000)
Min. €
Revision:
€ p/word (x 20,000)
Min. €
Total:
Min. €
MAASTRICHT SCHOOL OF TRANSLATION AND INTERPETING

21. MAASTRICHT SCHOOL OF TRANSLATION AND INTERPETING
Detailed description of skills lab at MSTI (continued)
General: Conditions on income:
For every translation assessed with 6 or more out of 10 pts
For every revision assessed with 6 or more out of 10 pts
For every translation/revision assessed with 5 out of 10 pts
For every translation/revision assessed with 4 out of 10 pts
For every translation/revision assessed with less than 4 out of 10 pts
€ 0.09 p/word credited to (fictitious) account of translator
€ p/word credited to (fictitious) account of reviser
1/3 deducted from total amount earned for translation/revision
2/3 deducted from total amount earned for translation/revision
€ 0.00 credited to (fictitious) account of translator/reviser
MAASTRICHT SCHOOL OF TRANSLATION AND INTERPETING

22. MAASTRICHT SCHOOL OF TRANSLATION AND INTERPETING
Detailed description of skills lab at MSTI (continued)
General:
translations/revisions in area of:
subject field specific translation,
subtitling, and
localisation
translation/revision jobs come from (situation of ):
MSTI lecturers (ca.87%)
MSTI/Hogeschool Zuyd as an organisation (ca. 2%)
cooperating translation bureaus (ca. 10%)
other (ca. 1%)
MAASTRICHT SCHOOL OF TRANSLATION AND INTERPETING

23. MAASTRICHT SCHOOL OF TRANSLATION AND INTERPETING
Detailed description of skills lab at MSTI (continued)
technology, facilities:
Hardware:
Local computer network
Peripherals: printer, telephone, scanner, etc.
Software:
MS Office products
Translation tools (Trados products, Passolo)
Tailor-made administration and filing system
Other:
Subtitling facilities
Internet connection, etc.
Office facilities (overhead, whiteboard, etc.)
MAASTRICHT SCHOOL OF TRANSLATION AND INTERPETING

24. MAASTRICHT SCHOOL OF TRANSLATION AND INTERPETING
Detailed description of skills lab at MSTI (continued)
translations and revisions:  Organisational structure
General Management
Office Manager
MAASTRICHT SCHOOL OF TRANSLATION AND INTERPETING
Assistant Office Manager
Language Leads
Coaches
Translators
Revisers

25. MAASTRICHT SCHOOL OF TRANSLATION AND INTERPETING
Detailed description of skills lab at MSTI (continued)
Customer
translations and revisions:
 Workflow in skills lab:
General Management
MAASTRICHT SCHOOL OF TRANSLATION AND INTERPETING
Office Manager
Assistant Office Manager
Language Lead
Reviser
Translator

26. MAASTRICHT SCHOOL OF TRANSLATION AND INTERPETING
Skills lab in action
MAASTRICHT SCHOOL OF TRANSLATION AND INTERPETING

27. MAASTRICHT SCHOOL OF TRANSLATION AND INTERPETING
Skills lab in action
MAASTRICHT SCHOOL OF TRANSLATION AND INTERPETING

28. MAASTRICHT SCHOOL OF TRANSLATION AND INTERPETING
Skills lab in action
MAASTRICHT SCHOOL OF TRANSLATION AND INTERPETING

29. MAASTRICHT SCHOOL OF TRANSLATION AND INTERPETING
Detailed description of skills lab at MSTI (continued)
translations and revisions:
 quality control:
- work checked
- rules and regulations
- real-life application procedure
- selection committee
- refreshment courses
- 1 or 2 students set free (ca. 20%) to spot and register problems
MAASTRICHT SCHOOL OF TRANSLATION AND INTERPETING

30. MAASTRICHT SCHOOL OF TRANSLATION AND INTERPETING
Detailed description of skills lab at MSTI (continued)
translations and revisions:
 relation between training and the professional world:
number of words to be translated/revised established in consultation with external translation bureaus
jobs:
(given by MSTI lecturers) as realistic as possible;
(from MSTI/Hogeschool Zuyd as an organisation and from other
sources) real-life jobs;
(from translation bureaus) real-life jobs accepted and finished by translation bureaus
regular consultation with translation bureaus
external audit of programme as a whole
MAASTRICHT SCHOOL OF TRANSLATION AND INTERPETING

31. Localisation training for translators
and the professional field of translation:
The Dutch connection
MAASTRICHT SCHOOL OF TRANSLATION AND INTERPETING
MAASTRICHT SCHOOL OF TRANSLATION AND INTERPETING
Marcel Thelen & Han van de Staay