Cross-curricular Training of Specialized Translators: an Interdisciplinary Didactic Experience in Economic and Technical Translation

Abstract

The recent changes in the translation market call for a review of the teaching and learning methods used to train new professionals. The rigid traditional division of specialized translation into fields of knowledge does not correspond to market needs, which often involve working with texts that combine content from different disciplines. In this paper, we present an interdisciplinary didactic experience carried out during two consecutive academic years in which students and teachers of two specialized translation modules cooperated in an economic and technical translation project. Specifically, a research article on economic growth and human capital that combined economic content with statistical analysis methods was chosen as the source text. The design of the project required considering the competencies and learning outcomes planned for each module in order to enhance the establishment of connections between specialties. In addition, it was necessary to consider a variety of aspects related to the planning and development of the different project phases, because not all students were enrolled in both modules. For evaluation, a rubric was constructed with five criteria that were adjusted to the requirements of specialized translation and the translated genre. For each criterion, five levels of achievement were defined, four associated with the levels of evaluation of research articles, and a fifth one aimed at rewarding excellence. Both the academic results of students and their evaluation of the learning experience suggest that the method used could be a good option for meeting their interdisciplinary training needs and enhancing their motivation and involvement in learning. For the above reasons, the relevance of including modules based on the development of cross-curricular translation projects in future translation and interpreting curricula should be assessed.
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Author Biographies

Maite Veiga Díaz

,
Universidade de Vigo
Degree and PhD in Translation and Interpreting by the University of Vigo. She worked as a professional translator from 1997 to 2011, mainly in the field of scientific translation. Since 2003 she has been a lecturer of scientific translation at the Faculty of Philology and Translation of the University of Vigo. Currently, she is the Director of the MA in Multimedia Translation and a member of the teaching staff of the PhD Program in Communication. She is a member of the ESTILOS research group and of the GRETTEL Educational Innovation group and her research interests include scientific translation, translation pedagogy, and multimedia translation and minorized languages.      

Marta García González

,
University of Vigo
Degree and PhD in Translation and Interpreting by the University of Vigo. MA in Foreign Trade and MA in Economics by the University of Vigo. She was a professional translator from 1997 to 2010, specializing in legal and business Translation. Since 2001, she has been a lecturer of legal and business translation at the Faculty of Philology and Translation of the University of Vigo, where she was the Director of the faculty’s MA in Multimedia Translation of that university from 2010 and 2012. Currently, she is the Secretary of the Academic Commission of the PhD Program in Communication. She is a member of the ESTILOS research group and of the GRETTEL Educational Innovation group and her research interests are legal and business translation, translation pedagogy, translation from and into minorized languages, and screen translation.  
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