Organised as a joint effort of two institutions whose focus of scholarly work is translation; namely the then UNESCO Chair for Translation and Intercultural Studies at Jagiellonian University and the Chair for Translator Education at the Pedagogical University in Kraków, the MCCTE2013 International Conference (Methodological Challenges for Contemporary Translator Educators) was an achievement in communication and understanding. 67 participants from twelve countries and 32 institutions took part in the Conference. Despite the diversity of the national, cultural and institutional backgrounds of the participants, cultural or institutional gaps were bridged to communicate on the mutual goals of enhancing translator education, improve methods of teaching translation, and to consolidate and verify educational frameworks and curricula.
We are very happy to have participated in this event, which did not only put the translator in focus but also contributed to the increase of the status of translator educators.
We have no intention of wasting the initiative and letting those important assumptions and objectives be spent on just one conference. We think the initiative is worth pursuing.
Acknowledging what has been done in the area of translator education, we would like to invite all those who have a say in it and are interested in pedagogical issues to become individual or institutional members of CTER. We wish to consolidate the experience and achievements of bodies and institutions that have focused on translator education so far. Relying on local pedagogical traditions, experience and achievements, but reaching out for more experience and expertise beyond local contexts will help us build professionalism and the academic status of Translation Studies in the area of translation pedagogy and move from a marginalized occupation, through an emerging discipline to become a fully professional and academically acknowledged field.
It is our belief that we would risk undertaking an enterprise beyond the scope of our resources and capacity if this were to be a single initiative of one member. Since consortium means ‘an agreement’, by pooling the resources of more than one individual and more than one institution towards the common goal, we can achieve better results. We need networking and an exchange of ideas. We need to learn more about one another’s research and achievements. An important consideration is to acknowledge the role of translation pedagogy in our institutions and for the market and the profession.
The rationale behind our Consortium is to create a body consolidating and enhancing research into translation pedagogy. The intended goals are:
– 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.
We would be very honoured and happy to have you and your institution as a member of the Consortium.
Kind regards,
Consortium for Translator Education Research