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Multilingualism and Globalization in Translation: Trends and Challenges

Published: 23 March 2010

"Canada's language industry needs a wakeup call," says Dr. James Archibald, Director of Translation Studies at McGill's Centre for Continuing Education. "It needs to discard the outdated bilingual country model to play a more proactive role on the world stage. Translators must act as multilingual and strategic thinkers whose expertise is increasingly valued because of the quality of their interpretation and cultural analysis. One has only to look at countries like India or Pakistan to see why multilingualism, not bilingualism, is the new buzz word."

March 25 - 27, McGill will host a symposium titled Multilingualism and Globalization in Translation: Trends and Challenges, that will explore new trends and challenges in the global translation market that are necessitating the wake-up call to which Dr. Archibald refers.

"On the humanitarian side, for example, NGOs may have to communicate with illiterate farmers in regions where four or five different languages are spoken," Dr. Archibald explains. "The political side is, of course, of more serious concern because there is even less tolerance for misunderstanding."

WHO: Translation Studies, McGill's Centre for Continuing Education, McGill University

WHAT: Multilingualism and Globalization in Translation: Trends and Challenges

WHEN: Thursday, March 25, 2010, 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Friday, March 26, 2010, 2:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Saturday, March 27, 2010, 9:30 a.m. - 12:00 noon

WHERE: Trottier Building, Room 1100, 3630 University Street
McConnell Engineering Building, Room 204, 3480 University Street

FULL PROGRAMME: https://www.mcgill.ca/files/conted/Programme_Colloque_Mars_2010.pdf

With specific emphasis on monitoring, mediation and participative decision-making, the symposium will attempt to clarify trends affecting both translation practice and future needs in translator education.

Following upon recently published studies focusing on multilingual monitoring, translation as communication and strategic decision-making in multilingual contexts, this symposium will showcase opportunities in multilingual translation in international organizations, highlighting the many changes which favor polyglots in the language industry.

The symposium will be open to educators, professional translators, students and administrators in the public, parapublic and private sectors. Registration fees are $70 for academics and professionals in the language industry, $35 for students, and $125 for the general public. While the symposium will be conducted in French, leading presenters in the translation field will respond to participants' questions in Arabic, English, French and Spanish during ensuing round-table discussions.

Enseignants, traducteurs professionnels, étudiants et administrateurs des secteurs public, parapublic et privé sont conviés à ce symposium. Les frais d'inscription sont de 70 dollars pour les universitaires et les professionnels de l'industrie langagière, de 35 dollars pour les étudiants et de 125 dollars pour le grand public. Le symposium se déroulera en français et les principaux présentateurs répondront aux questions des participants en arabe, en anglais, en français et en espagnol au cours des tables rondes qui concluront l'événement.

 

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