Consortium for Translation Education Research

The history of CTER goes back to the international conference Methodological Challenges for Contemporary Translator Educators. Organised as a joint effort of two institutions whose scholarly focus was translation, namely the then UNESCO Chair for Translation and Intercultural Studies at Jagiellonian University (currently renamed as the Chair for Translation Studies) and the Chair for Translator Education at the Pedagogical University in Kraków, MCCTE 2013 was an achievement in communication and understanding. Sixty-seven participants from twelve countries and thirty-two institutions took part in the conference and despite the considerable diversity of national, cultural and institutional backgrounds which they represented, they successfully negotiated any cultural or institutional gaps while communicating on the mutual goals of enhancing translator education, improving methods in teaching translation, as well as consolidating and verifying educational frameworks and curricula.MCCTE2013To continue the initiative, which contributed to the increase of the status of translator educators, and to promote the important assumptions and objectives of MCCTE2013 beyond the event, the Consortium for Translation Education Research (CTER) was established in Kraków in 2013.

As an acknowledgment of what had already been done in the area of translator education, the founding members, Prof. Maria Piotrowska and Prof. Don Kiraly, invited individuals and institutions with an interest in translation pedagogy to join CTER with a view to consolidating their experience and achievements. The underlying idea beyond the establishment of CTER was to rely on local pedagogical traditions, experience and achievements, and reach out beyond them for more experience and expertise with which to build professionalism and strengthen the academic status of Translation Studies so that it could become a fully professional and academically acknowledged field.

At the same time, the founding members believed to materialise the ideals of CTER would be far beyond the capacity of a single entity. Hence, the Consortium was established. Since consortium means ‘an agreement’, the founders believed that by pooling the resources of multiple individuals and institutions to contribute to the common goal, CTER would achieve better results and that networking and an exchange of ideas would be highly beneficial.

The rationale behind the Consortium was to create a body which would consolidate and enhance research into translation pedagogy through the following goals:

  • to connect translator trainers by creating a communication platform;
  • to link local professional environments with European and global ones through a network between existing bodies and organisations (like EST, IATIS, TEPIS);
  • to consolidate and disseminate knowledge on translation education;
  • to communicate and promote new research on translator training;
  • to conduct training seminars / workshops / round table discussions and provide scholarly assistance;
  • to develop standards to ensure pedagogical quality in translator training;
  • to work towards better teaching procedures, methods and materials;
  • to create a forum for translation teachers who have not been trained in any systematic framework and with scattered methodological motives;
  • to promote the status of the translation teacher;
  • to create a network system and international education community;
  •  to build a repository of ideas and studies in the target area.

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