XVIII SYMPOSIUM ON TRANSLATION AND INTERPRETING STUDIES
KäTu2021: Translation and Interpreting: Focusing on Quality
20–22 May 2021 on Zoom
(Pre-Symposium Postgraduate Student Event 20 May 2021; Symposium proper 21–22 May 2021)
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the KäTu2021 Symposium will be organized as a virtual event on the University’s Zoom platform. IT support from the University will be accessible during the symposium.
KäTu2021 SYMPOSIUM THEME
The theme of the 2021 KäTu Symposium is: Translation and Interpreting: Focusing on Quality. This year’s theme may be approached from a number of perspectives, including the following:
- Definitions and standards for quality in different contexts, and factors determining translation and interpreting quality
- Best practices for assessment of interpreting and translation quality
- Quality problems and best practices
- Quality and its relation to associated concepts, such as usability, accuracy, and equivalence
- Quality and its relation to phenomena such as the role and agency of the translator and interpreter
- The translation and interpreting market, and competitive bidding as a factor in quality
- Translator and interpreter training programmes as a guarantee of quality
- Theory – Practice quality correlation
- Mutability vs permanence and the notion of quality (for instance, from a historical perspective)
- Human, machine, and artificial intelligence (AI)
In keeping with established KäTu tradition, presentations and posters on other topics related to translation and interpreting are also welcome.
PURPOSE
The annual KäTu symposia offer researchers, teachers and practitioners of translation and interpreting a forum where they can discuss the diverse phenomena of the field, their ongoing research projects, and the state and development of Translation Studies in general. Doctoral students, in particular, are an important KäTu target group. They are offered the opportunity to present their work in its different stages of development, and receive valuable feedback.
For seventeen years, the KäTu symposia have brought together a wide array of participants interested in the field and its research: audience members and speakers, translators and interpreters of spoken as well as sign languages, researchers and teachers of translation and interpreting. The KäTu symposia are organised as a collaborative effort between the Teachers’ and Researchers’ Section of the Finnish Association of Translators and Interpreters (SKTL), and the different Finnish universities which train future translators and interpreters. Hosting the symposium is rotated between these Finnish universities. The 2021 symposium will be held online.
2021 PLENARY PRESENTATIONS
Pamela Faber Benítez, University of Granada
Pamela Faber Benítez is Professor of Translation and Interpreting at the University of Granada, and she also leads the LexiCon Research Group. She is especially known for creating and developing Frame-Based Terminology. Professor Faber Benítez’s presentation is titled Terminological Competence and Quality in Specialized Translation.
Jörg Tiedemann, University of Helsinki
Jörg Tiedemann is Professor of Language Technology at the Department of Digital Humanities. His research focuses on cross-lingual NLP and machine translation. The title of his plenary presentation is Open and Free: Tools for Translators and the Multilingual World.
WORKSHOPS AND PANEL DISCUSSIONS
There are five workshops/panel discussions. Their working language is Finnish, except for Workshop 5, for which the working language is English. Registration is required and takes place in conjunction with symposium registration.
WORKSHOP 1: Kääntäjien aineistot arkistoissa [Translators’ Archives]. Organized by members of the Kääntämisen jäljet arkistoissa project: Laura Ivaska (University of Turku/SKS – The Finnish Literature Society) and Sakari Katajamäki (SKS).
PANEL DISCUSSION/WORKSHOP 2: Kone saavutettavuuden palveluksessa: riittääkö laatu? [Increased Accessibility through Machine Translation: Achieving a Satisfactory Level of Quality?] Organized by members of the MeMAD project: Maija Hirvonen (University of Tampere), Maarit Koponen (University of Eastern Finland), Liisa Tiittula (University of Helsinki) and Kaisa Vitikainen (Yleisradio – The Finnish Broadcasting Company).
WORKSHOP 3: Selkokieli ja kääntäminen: Kääntäjäopiskelijoiden valmiudet selkokielistäjinä [Plain Language and Translation: Translation Students’ Abilities in Crafting Easy-to-Read Texts]. Organized by Päivi Kuusi (University of Helsinki) and Leealaura Leskelä (Selkokeskus – The Finnish Centre for Easy Language).
WORKSHOP 4: Yhteistyöllä laatua (etä)opetukseen: Kääntämisen ja tulkkauksen opetusmenetelmävaranto [Better (Distance) Teaching Quality through Collaboration: The Interpreting and Translation Pedagogical Resources Platform]. Organized by Päivi Kuusi (University of Helsinki), Minna Kujamäki (University of Eastern Finland) and Minna Ruokonen (University of Eastern Finland).
WORKSHOP 5: Assessment of quality in (re)translating musicalized prose: A case study on the Finnish, Swedish, and Italian (re)translations of the ‘Sirens’ episode of James Joyce’s Ulysses. Organized by Arianna Autieri (University of Warwick) and Lauri A. Niskanen (University of Helsinki).
Full Workshop descriptions can be found here.
(The workshop Monitahoinen tulkkauksen laatu [Multiperspective Interpretive Quality] has been cancelled.)
PRESENTATIONS AND POSTERS
Presentations should last 20 minutes, after which there will be 5 minutes for questions and 5 minutes to allow for changing rooms. Presentations will be held in parallel sessions. There will be a dedicated session for poster presentations on Friday, in conjunction with the afternoon coffee break. Proposals for session presentations and posters must be submitted no later than Sunday 14th February 2021. Proposals of up to 2 500 characters, including spaces, but excluding references, should be submitted in rtf, doc, or docx format in email attachments to katu2021@helsinki.fi. The proposals must be submitted using our template, which can be found here. The subject line of the email message, and of the proposal, must specify the format of the proposal (either session presentation or poster). Please provide the additional information found with the template in your e-mail as well. When planning your presentation, please take into consideration the limitations related to the virtual mode.
If your workshop or presentation proposal was accepted for the KäTu2020 Symposium that was cancelled, it will automatically be accepted for the new Symposium, provided that it is re-submitted to us by the aforementioned deadline.
Notification of acceptance will be announced by 5 March 2021. More information concerning the process and criteria for evaluating abstracts can be found here.
POSTGRADUATE STUDENT EVENT: “POPULARIZATION OF RESEARCH AND GRANT FUND APPLICATIONS”, 20 May 2021, 12–16
A pre-Symposium student training event will be held the day before the start of the Symposium proper. This even is organized in co-operation with the Langnet network network and is funded by a Kopiosto grant from the Finnish Association of Translators and Interpreters. Although this event is aimed primarily at postgraduate students, anyone interested is welcome to attend.
The theme of the event is popularizing research and applying for grant funding. The training event includes both lectures and a workshop. The lectures deal with raising the profile of research through its popularization, applying for funding, as well as developing a research plan. During the workshop, participants will receive feedback from experienced researchers and postgraduate students on their own research plans. The working languages of the training event are Finnish and English.
More information on this event, including the registration process will be available here.
WORKING LANGUAGES
The primary working languages of the Symposium and its sections are Finnish, Swedish and English. Enquiries about the use of other languages, as well as interpreting possibilities, should be addressed to the organizers.
PRELIMINARY SCHEDULE
Thursday 20 May 2021
12.00–16.00 Postgraduate student event
(16.00–20.00 Workshop)
Friday 21 May 2021
9.00–11.00 Workshops and session presentations
11.00–12.00 Lunch break
12.00–14.00 Workshops and session presentations
14.00–15.30 Opening of the Symposium and Pamela Faber Benítez’s plenary presentation
15.30–16.00 Coffee break and poster presentations
16.00–18.00 Session presentations
Saturday 22 May 2021
9.00–9.45 Section V Meeting of the Finnish Association of Translators and Interpreters
10.00–11.00 Jörg Tiedemann’s plenary presentation
11.00–11.15 Tiedon helmi (Pearl of Wisdom) Award presentation
11.15–12.15 Lunch break
12.15–14.30 Session presentations
14.30–15.00 Coffee break
15.00–17.00 Session presentations and Closing of the Symposium
TIEDON HELMI (PEARL OF WISDOM) AWARD
The Tiedon helmi award, granted annually by the Teachers’ and Researchers’ Section of the Finnish Association of Translators and Interpreters, will be awarded at the Symposium for the sixth time. The criteria for granting the award alternates every year between research and teaching merit, and is awarded to either a person or a community, for an extraordinary undertaking, a long-term activity, or their life’s work. In 2021, the award will be granted on the basis of research merit.
The decision on the award is made by the Board of the Finnish Association of Translators and Interpreters on the basis of the proposal of the Committee of the Teachers’ and Researchers’ Section. The proposal is based on nominations received from members of that section. Members must carefully observe the nomination principles, which are available, in Finnish, on the section site. Access to the site is limited to members of the Finnish Association of Translators and Interpreters, once they have logged in.
Proposals detailing the reasons for the nomination should be sent to the Section Secretary, Sari Hokkanen, sari.hokkanen@tuni.fi, no later than Friday 19th February 2021.
PUBLICATION
Articles based on the presentations delivered at the symposium will be compiled in the 15th volume of peer-reviewed electronic MikaEL publication. All KäTu2021 speakers, poster presenters, and panel and workshop organisers are invited to submit their previously unpublished articles. The 15th volume of MikaEL will be published in March-April 2022, before the next KäTu Symposium. Publications from previous symposia can be accessed here. The editors for the 15th volume of MikaEL will be announced at the symposium, and contributor guidelines will be sent to all participants via email after the symposium; they will also be available on the MikaEL website.
REGISTRATION AND SYMPOSIUM FEE
Registration for the symposium opens in March 2021 and will be available here. A single registration form will be used to sign up for the symposium and all the workshops.
The symposium fee is 50 euros for non-members of the Finnish Association of Translators and Interpreters or 20 euros for members and doctoral students (prices include 24% VAT). The online event is free of charge for undergraduate and postgraduate students.
INFORMATION AND CONTACTS
The KäTu2021 Symposium programme will be published in May on the symposium’s website, before registration deadline. We kindly ask you to use the following e-mail address for all questions and enquiries you may have: katu2021@helsinki.fi. The Conference Secretary is Ms Aino Suoranta of the Finnish Association of Translators and Interpreters (SKTL).
ORGANISING COMMITTEE
University of Helsinki
Simo Määttä (Chair of the Local Organising Committee)
Elina Billhardt
Ritva Hartama-Heinonen
Laura Leden
Mari Pakkala-Weckström
Päivi Pasanen
The Finnish Association of Translators and Interpreters
Teachers’ and Researchers’ Section
Esa Penttilä, University of Eastern Finland (Section Chair)
Juha Eskelinen, University of Helsinki
Sari Hokkanen, Tampere University
Minna Ruokonen, University of Eastern Finland
Annukka Saarenmaa, Diaconia University of Applied Sciences
Kristiina Taivalkoski-Shilov, University of Turku
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