|
College of Letters and Science Faculty Document No. 628 October 17, 2002 Graduate Certificate Program in Translation Annual Report, 2001-2002 1. Enrollments At the start of its fifth year the program officially had 17 students, 11 in Spanish, 5 in French and 1 in German. 10 students were pursuing an MA and 7 the Certificate. In the course of the year (through August 20, 2002), 18 qualifying exams were administered and 13 students were accepted into the program. 2 students dropped out of the program to pursue a literature MA and a third is unsure as to whether she wants to begin. Three students graduated, one in May and 2 in August. The program is entering its sixth year with 24 students: 4 in French, 4 in German, 1 in French & German, 1 in Italian and 14 in Spanish. 11 are MA students, 6 are in the process of applying to MAFLL and 7 are Certificate students. 2. MA exams, graduation and employment Students Renée Beaudot, (Spanish > English), Marie Shine (Spanish > English) and David Santori (English > French) successfully took comprehensive examinations for the MA. David was offered a position as project manager by the local translation company with which he interned, Renée plans to begin free-lance translating while she continues at her current job with UMOS and Marie is trying to decide between "several options." 3. Annual meeting The Translation Program Coordinating Committee held its annual meeting electronically in December 2001. 4. Program courses offered
Students could also take Introduction to Reference Services and Resources (SLIS 510). 5. New courses In the fall session the Department of Spanish and Portuguese introduced Introduction to Interpreting, taught by Assistant Professor Susan Rascón. Emphasis was on court interpreting, since there is a great need for trained court interpreters in Wisconsin and throughout the nation. An attorney, Professor Rascón attended the University of Arizona's Agnese Haury Institute for Court Interpretation in the summer of 2001 to prepare for teaching the course. We plan to introduce additional interpreting courses in the future. In the spring lecturer Hélène Wimmerlin, a Senior Project Manager with Iverson Language Associates, taught a much-needed and valuable course on the Business and Professional Aspects of Translation. 6. Presentations Madeleine Velguth gave presentations on translation to the class on International Careers (April 5) and represented the Translation Program at an informative table at the annual German Day at UWM (November 16). In October, at a conference in California, Susan Rascon was on a panel ("La Literatura Maya desde tres puntos de vista") with an author whose work she's translated and the editor who published it. Madeleine Velguth gave a presentation at the annual American Translators Association (ATA) conference in Los Angeles, November 1-3, 2001. She also presented "Careers in Translation" at the annual conference of the American Association of Teachers of French (AATF) in Boston, July 11-13, 2002. 7. Special achievements Susan Rascon successfully took the rigorous written and oral Federal Court Interpreters' examination, making her one of only two federally certified court interpreter in the state of Wisconsin. She also was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure. Madeleine Velguth was appointed to a one-year term on the Board of Directors of the ATA. Published translations by Susan Rascón included collaborations with students in the Translation Program: The Town of the Silent People and Other Stories by Norma Garcia Mainieri, self-published by S. Rascón includes the story "Maclovia" translated by student Paula Loubier and Weaving Events in Time, a bilingual collection of poetry by Guatemalan Maya poet Calixta Gabriel (Yax Te' Foundation, 2002) was co-translated with student Suzanne Strugalla. Students in the Advanced Spanish Translation class also participated in transcribing and translating interviews for a documentary. 8. Interpreting Susan Rascon continues to be active on the State Court Interpreters Panel. She is currently one of three people selected to train interpreters in the State Panel's program. 9. Program needs The Translation Program badly needs a dedicated translation professor in German as well as someone to replace Madeleine Velguth, who will retire at the end of the 2003-04 academic year, in French and as coordinator. With increasing numbers of students, the course in Literary and Cultural Translation (a subtitled offering of the Seminar in Language and Communication, MAFLL 703) will have to be offered every year rather than every other year. Last spring it enrolled 20 students, really too large for a seminar. Provision should be made to fund offering it annually, since it shouldn't crowd out other MAFLL offerings. Another course that should be offered annually if the program grows much larger is Translation Theory (COMPLIT 820). |
