XV SYMPOSIUM ON TRANSLATION AND INTERPRETING STUDIES
KäTu2017: THE POWER OF DIVERSITY
University of Vaasa, 21–22 April, 2017
THEME
The theme of KäTu2017 is The Power of Diversity. With this theme we want to emphasize the nature of translation and interpreting as increasingly multifaceted and important phenomena.
Current changes in society at large and at universities have an effect on the field of translation and interpreting. With our theme of The Power of Diversity we want to draw attention to the central position and importance of translation and interpreting in a rapidly changing and diversifying world.
The theme can be approached, for example, from the following angles:
- Translation and interpretation at a turning point – diversity in the past, now and in the future
- The interface between multiculturalism and multilingualism
- The interface between professionals and non-professionals
- The various definitions of quality: who and what defines it?
- The levels of interaction and power
- The need for agency and power in translation and interpreting
- Power, empowerment and well-being
As always, topics in translation and interpretation other than those on the above list are more than welcome.
PURPOSE
The purpose of the annual KäTu Symposia is to offer a common forum for researchers, translators and interpreters to exchange ideas and discuss developments in the field, present ongoing research and survey the state and status of Translation Studies. PhD students are an important target audience of the symposia as they offer doctoral candidates opportunities to receive feedback during the various stages of their research.
For fourteen years, the KäTu Symposia have gathered together professionals and scholars from all corners of the fields of translation and interpreting, both as audience and speakers. Each symposium is organized in turn by a Finnish university offering training for translators and interpreters together with the Teachers’ and Researchers’ Section of the Finnish Association of Translators and Interpreters (SKTL). This year the symposium is organized, for the last time, at the University of Vaasa, the birthplace of the symposium series. As of the 1st of August, 2017, language-related research and degree education will be transferred from the University of Vaasa to the University of Jyväskylä.
PLENARY PRESENTATIONS
The speakers of the 2017 plenary presentations are Professor Jorge Díaz-Cintas (University College London) and University Lecturer, PhD Kristiina Abdallah (University of Vaasa). Díaz-Cintas’ speaks about Power Dynamics in Subtitling and Abdallah’s Finnish-language speech deals with Kokonaisvaltainen laatu: mitä, miksi, miten? (Comprehensive quality: what, why, how?).
WORKSHOPS
The workshops will be allocated two-hour sessions, which makes them well-suited for addressing a broad topic in general terms (as panel discussions or in small groups) or for investigating a specific subject together from a problem-solving standpoint. The symposium features three workshops, and their working language is either Finnish or English according to the description of the workshop. Please note that registration is required via the symposium’s electronic registration form.
Workshop 1
Hankala asiakas? Joukkoäly ja vertaistuki apuun!
Tämä työpaja tarjoaa mahdollisuuden kokeilla haastavia asiakasviestintätilanteita roolipelissä, jakaa kokemuksia neuvottelusta ja asiakkaista ja miettiä toimivia neuvottelutekniikoita yhdessä muiden työpajaan osallistuvien kanssa. Työpaja on tarkoitettu kaikille aiheesta kiinnostuneille kääntäjistä ja tulkeista alan opettajiin ja opiskelijoihin. Työpajasta vastaavat Tiina Kinnunen, Minna Ruokonen ja Erja Vottonen (Itä-Suomen yliopisto).
Workshop 2
Professional and/vs. Non-Professional: Is translation at risk?
This workshop will provide a space to openly discuss professional and non-professional translation, considering perspectives coming from the translation profession and academia. An initial literature review will be used to open the panel. This review will include research on fansubbing, crowdsourcing, volunteer translation, among other areas of non-professional translation. This will serve to highlight the most salient issues and the progress that has been made in the conceptualization of professional and non-professional translation. The workshop is convened by David Orrego-Carmona (Aston University, UK / University of the Free State, South Africa).
Workshop 3
Riittämättömyydestä voimaantumiseen: kääntämisen ja tulkkauksen opettajat moninaisten vaatimusten ristipaineessa
Työpajassa pohditaan yliopistojen kääntämisen ja tulkkauksen opettajiin kohdistuvia monenlaisia vaatimuksia työhyvinvoinnin näkökulmasta ja etsitään yhdessä selviytymiskeinoja. Työpajasta vastaavat Päivi Kuusi, Anne Rautiainen ja Minna Ruokonen (Itä-Suomen yliopisto).
SECTION PRESENTATIONS AND POSTERS
The length of section presentations is 20 + 10 minutes and they will be arranged in parallel sections. A separate, one-hour session on Friday afternoon will be reserved for posters, and the best poster will be awarded.
We ask that proposals for section papers and posters be sent by January 20, 2017. All proposals (max. 300 words) are to be sent as email attachments in rtf, doc or docx format to katu2017(at)uva.fi. Please mention both in the subject heading of the email and in the proposal itself whether the proposal is for a section presentation or a poster.
The approval of section papers and posters will be announced by February 20, 2017.
TRAINING EVENT “RESEARCHER IN THE MEDIA’S SPOTLIGHT” FOR PhD STUDENTS ON APRIL 20, 2017
A training event will be arranged in connection with the symposium on Thursday, April 20, 2017 from 4 pm to 7 pm. The event is especially aimed at PhD students and their supervisors, but it is open to all symposium participants. The topic of this year’s event is how to act in the media as a researcher. An expert in science communication, M.Soc.Sci Riikka Kalmi from the University of Vaasa talks about how to represent one’s own research, academic field and university in different media channels as well as on how to encounter publicity as a researcher. In addition, Professor Emerita Sirkku Aaltonen from the University of Vaasa tells how she has operated at the interface between science and media during her own academic career. Time will be reserved for a concluding discussion. The working language of the training event is Finnish.
Programme of the training event in full
LANGUAGES
Finnish, Swedish and English are the primary working languages at the symposium and its sections. Please contact the organizers regarding the possibility to use other languages and the availability of interpreting services.
PRELIMINARY SCHEDULE
Please note that changes are possible.
Friday, 21 April: Registration will commence at 9 am in the main lobby of the University’s Tervahovi building (street address: Wolffintie 34). The first workshops possibly take place already from 9 am to 11 am. The symposium will be opened at 12 o’clock, and the opening will be followed by Jorge Díaz-Cintas’ plenary lecture at 12.30. The afternoon is dedicated to section papers and the early evening to poster presentations and refreshments. Also the Tiedon helmi award will be presented in the afternoon. The symposium dinner will be served at 7 pm.
Saturday, 22 April: The meeting of Section V of the Finnish Association of Translators and Interpreters takes place from 9 am to 10 am. Kristiina Abdallah’s plenary lecture takes place between 10 am and 11 am. This is followed by a lunch break, after which the symposium continues with workshops and section papers in parallel sessions. The symposium will close by 4 pm.
TIEDON HELMI (PEARL OF KNOWLEDGE) AWARD
Tiedon helmi award, granted annually by the Teachers’ and Researchers’ Section of the Finnish Association of Translators and Interpreters, will this year be awarded in the symposium for the second time. The award is granted on alternating years to a person or a community either for research or teaching merits related to a single act, long-term activity or life’s work. In 2017 the award will be granted for research merits.
The decision about the award is made by the board of the Finnish Association of Translators and Interpreters on the basis of the proposal of the Teachers’ and Researchers’ Section, which acts as the jury. The proposal is based on nominations from the members of the Teachers’ and Researchers’ Section. Members must carefully observe the principles of nomination, which are available in Finnish at https://sktl-fi.directo.fi/jasenet/opettajat-ja-tutkijat/toiminta/tiedon-helmi-palkinto/.
Proposals explicating the reasons for the nomination are to be sent by February 15 to the Section’s secretary, Turo Rautaoja, e-mail: turo.rautaoja(at)utu.fi
PUBLICATION
Articles based on the presentations given at the symposium will be compiled into the 11th volume of the electronic publication MikaEL. All speakers, poster presenters and organisers of workshops and panels are invited to contribute with a previously unpublished article. The 11th volume will be published in March-February 2018 before the next KäTu symposium. The previous publications can be found at http://www.sktl.fi/liitto/seminaarit/mikael-verkkojulkaisu/. The editors of the 11th volume will be announced at the symposium, and contributor guidelines will be sent to all participants via e-mail after the symposium.
REGISTRATION AND SYMPOSIUM FEE
Registration for the KäTu2017 symposium is done via an electronic form available at https://eforms.uwasa.fi/lomakkeet/4559/lomake.html?rinnakkaislomake=English. Registration opens on February 17, 2017, and closes on March 17, 2017, and it is binding. You can sign up for all the events of your choosing through this single registration form; Thursday’s training event for PhD students, workshops, poster event and the symposium dinner. More information on the symposium dinner can be found on the symposium website before the registration closes.
The symposium fee is 70 euros, with reduced prices for members of the Finnish Association of Translators and Interpreters and postgraduate students (40 euros) and graduate students (20 euros). The fee includes the symposium material, coffee and refreshments during Friday’s poster session.
The organizers will send an electronic invoice to all those who have registered, for the participation fee and any possible dinner payments.
ACCOMMODATION
The organizers have reserved a quota of rooms in Sokos Hotel Vaakuna from April 20 to April 22. Please make your booking directly with the hotel and remember to provide the booking code BKATU1704. Please note that the room quota expires on March 20, 2017.
Other accommodation possibilities in Vaasa can be found at http://www.visitvaasa.fi/en/search/pages/sites.aspx?paikka=&pakti=6&a1akti=82.
INFORMATION AND CONTACT DETAILS
Circulars, workshop descriptions, presentation abstracts as well as information on other practical details pertaining to the KäTu2017 Symposium will be published on the symposium’s website at https://katu-symposiumi.com/xv/. The symposium programme will be published in March before the closing of registration.
Kindly use the email address katu2017(at)uva.fi for all correspondence about the symposium.
ORGANIZERS
University of Vaasa
Nestori Siponkoski (chair of the local organizing committee)
Kristiina Abdallah
Anu Heino
Siru Lamminpää
Jaana Puskala
Gun-Viol Vik (until March 30)
The Finnish Association of Translators and Interpreters,
Teachers’ and Researchers’ Section
Ritva Hartama-Heinonen, University of Helsinki (chair of the section)
Juha Eskelinen, University of Helsinki
Minna Ruokonen, University of Eastern Finland
Dieter Hermann Schmitz, University of Tampere
Turo Rautaoja, University of Turku
Nestori Siponkoski, University of Vaasa
WELCOME TO VAASA!
Kääntämisen ja tulkkauksen tutkimuksen symposiumi 