New academic journal for translators and interpreters
31.01.2012
Translators and interpreters who are interested in learning about the latest academic developments in their profession can now access the new journal "TC3 – Translation: Computation, Corpora, Cognition," which is dedicated to presenting current insights from within the world of translation and interpreting. As a so-called Open Access journal, it is publicly available on the Internet, free of charge. "With TC3, we are filling in a gap in the field of translation studies," comments Professor Dr. Silvia Hansen-Schirra from Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU). "In contrast to other journals in this discipline that are either more theoretical or didactic-oriented, our focus is on empirical research." Hansen-Schirra, Professor for English Linguistics and Translation Studies in Germersheim, is publishing the journal in cooperation with Professor Dr. Stella Neumann from RWTH Aachen University and Dr. Oliver Čulo from the International Computer Science Institute in Berkeley, California, USA.
The title "TC3 – Translation: Computation, Corpora, Cognition" outlines the journal's main thematic areas:
"Computation" refers to machine and computer-supported translation which first gained a foothold in professional translation and interpreting work about twenty years ago and is now considered standard everyday practice. According to Hansen-Schirra, every aspect that helps a translator or interpreter work more quickly and more reliably will be covered in the new journal. Examples include tools and online resources as well as new platforms and human-machine interfaces.
"Corpora" alludes to the corpus linguistics approach which emerged in translation studies in the mid-1990s. Interpreters and translators working with this method use a compilation of parallel texts on a specific theme to analyze terminology and syntax. Originally, texts were collected on paper, but today there are corpus programs that can be used to search and archive material electronically.
Lastly, "cognition" refers to the assimilation of information and the thought processes which underlie translation. For example, within the framework of research on the writing process, keyboard movements are observed and analyzed to trace the development of a first draft of a translation and its subsequent revision. Hansen-Schirra has established her own eye-tracking laboratory at JGU’s Faculty 06: Translation Studies, Linguistics, and Cultural Studies in Germersheim for the purpose of conducting empirical research on the translation process and the comprehensibility of texts.
For the first issue of TC3, the editors chose to focus on "corpora" so that they could incorporate contributions from the Corpus Linguistics 2009 conference held in Liverpool. The second issue, which is to appear in the first half of 2012, will revolve around the theme of "computation" to mark the GSCL computer linguistics conference that took place in Hamburg in 2011. The quality of the contributions is of utmost importance to the journal's editors. "We have gotten renowned international experts on board for this project as reviewers and we will try to maintain the highest standards for articles," Hansen-Schirra pronounces. Every submission will go through a blind review process whereby the author does not know the reviewer and vice-versa.
The journal will be published in English as is standard practice in the discipline. But, as a special feature, one article in each issue will be printed in another language. And this can be in just about any language as the expert reviewers for TC3 come from places as far away as China and Brazil and can evaluate submissions in all kinds of different languages. The journal is free for both readers and authors as it receives its financial support from the faculties and departments in Germersheim and Aachen.
The journal is published in cooperation with the University Library of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, marking this institution's foray into the world of Open Access journal publication. The Library is planning to further expand its efforts in this area in the future.