Future-proofing the translation profession: watch the videos, take the survey

Back in July, the Chartered Institute of Linguists (CIOL), the Institute of Translation and Interpreting (ITI) and the European Commission’s Directorate General for Translation (DGT) organised a joint event entitled “Future-proofing the profession: Equipping the next generation of translators“.

The event posed the following questions:

Are translators being trained to meet the future expectations of work providers and users of translation services?

Are they equipped with the skills they need to deal intelligently with technological change?

What part can academic institutions, professional bodies and international organisations play in preparing new and current practitioners for the challenges facing the profession?

I attended the event and to my mind it completely missed the very important question of basic employability/self-employability skills – a lack of which is a problem for all school- and university-leavers, not just translators. But no less important for that. My own question would have been:

As a work-experience provider, I find language graduates lack employability skills (marketing, business, targeted social media, web-savviness, IT (even MS Office!)) for employment/self-employment. Who, if anyone, is addressing this gap?

The ITI addresses some of these training issues in its Setting Up as a Freelance Translator course. At a more basic level, I think schools and universities should be providing young people with a sort of tool-kit or “leavers’ pack” telling them what skills they need to enter the world of work as it is today and, most important, where to obtain them (including information on grants and training available from government agencies, local authorities and organisations such as the Prince’s Trust).

Watch the videos and take the survey

You can watch the videos of the “Future-proofing the profession presentations”. And, if you’ve got 5-10 minutes to spare and ideas to share, you can take the follow-up survey (you don’t need to have attended the event to do so). I think today (2 October) is the deadline, unless it’s been extended.

If you do have ideas on how best to equip translators for the future, don’t forget to share them here in the comments too!

Other posts you might like:

Translation Studies MSc: a student’s perspective

Life’s a beach? Great! But please, not on LinkedIn…

101 things a translator needs to know but doesn’t necessarily think to ask

By Marian Dougan

Published by Marian Dougan

Marian is a translator and editor (specialising in web content) currently based in Glasgow, Scotland. Marian previously lived in Italy for over 20 years, working as a language teacher, translator and policy analyst with the British Embassy in Rome. A qualified member of the Institute of Translation and Interpreting (ITI) and its Italian-language and ITI Scotnet networks, she is currently Scotnet's Convenor and Deputy Webmaster. From 2003 to 2006 Marian taught translation skills at the Italian Department of Glasgow University and now gives Master Classes as part of the new Masters in Translation Studies course. She also conducts web-writing and usability workshops to help people improve their websites and communicate more effectively with their readers, users and customers. In September 2014 Marian obtained User Experience Certification, with specialisation in Web Design, from the Nielsen Norman Group. She loves language, especially English, and is convinced that learning languages opens up people’s minds and horizons (and increases their brainpower!). To share her enthusiasm, she advises schools and educational authorities on language skills and enterprise. She gives talks to pupils on how to combine language studies with other subjects and so enhance their potential and increase their career options. Marian is an active member of organisations such as: Scottish Council Development and Industry (SCDI); Association of Scottish Businesswomen; Dunbartonshire Chamber of Commerce and the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Scotland. She also loves architecture, design, fashion (British Vogue!), cities and chocolate. She’s a great fan of Twitter and you can also find her on Linkedin.

Leave a comment

Have your say!

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.