Translation alumni excel in academia and private sector

August 30, 2011 – 1:39 pm

The news from our translation alumni continues to amaze us. All are getting great jobs either in academic teaching languages and translation or in the private sector at excellent firms.  I just did a brief survey of our alums in the last decade, and over twenty-four are now teaching at universities in the USA and abroad, and many have met with great success in publishing their translation work.

In the last year, several of our most recent grads were placed in tenure-track positions:  Jorge Jiménez-Bellver (MA 2009) is a new Assistant Professor of Translation Studies at University of Texas-El Paso; Loc Pham (PhD 2011)  is Assistant Professor and Director of General Education at Hoa Sen University in Ho Chih Minh City, Vietnam, and Juan Ramos (PhD 2011) is Assistant Professor, Latin American Studies, at the College of Holy Cross.  In addition, Guo Ting (MA 2005) was named Lecturer in Translation Studies at Edinburgh College, Scotland, and Jacob Dyer-Spiegel (PhD 2011) received a Fulbright to Brazil. Further, one of our current PhD students, Cristiano Mazzei (MA 2010), was hired as Program Director for the Translation and Interpreting Program at Century College in Minnesota. We are placing students in jobs before they finish their degrees!

Those teaching overseas include Daniela  Fargione (PhD 2003), Professor of American Literature and Translation at Torino, Italy; Lu Li (PhD, 2007), Professor of Chinese and Associate Dean for International Relations at Beijing Normal University; Corinne Oster (PhD 2003), Associate Professor of Trasnlation Studies at Lille 3 in France; Jón Karl Helgason (PhD 1996), Associate Professor of Icelandic and Cultural Studies at the University of Iceland; and Fernando Pérez Villalón (MA 2002), Professor of Languages and Literature at the University of Alberto Hurtado in Santiago, Chile.

Those graduates now teaching in the USA  include Liu Xiaoqing (MA 2004), Assistant Professor of Chinese at Butler College in Indiana; Anita Mannur (PhD 2005), Assistant Professor of English and Asian American Literature at Miami University in Ohio; Mariela Méndez (PhD 2008), Assistant Professor of Latin American Literature at the University of Richmond; Huda Yehia (MA 2007), Assistant Professor of Arabic at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, CA; and Bunkong Tuon (PhD 2004), Assistant Professor of Ethnic American Literature at Union College in New York. Kelly Washbourne (PhD 2002) was recently promoted to Associate Professor in Spanish Translation at Kent State University in Ohio.

For those graduates who have chosen to go into the private sector, the job placements are impressive as well. Adam LaMontagne (MA 2004)  and Lynn Prince (PhD 2000) chose to work with large multinational translation firms: Adam worked as a Project Manager for LionBridge, first in Boston, and now in Finland; Lynn worked several years for SDLX International in London, before relocating to the state of Washington, where she now works for CTS Language Link. Roberto Gracía-Garcia (MA 2003) is the head for all Spanish Translation for Intrasoft International in Athens, Greece. Maura Talmadge (2008) worked as a Project Manager for Language Connections in Boston.  Mario Ruiz Legido (MA 2002) has taken the post of Director of the Cervantes Institute in Boston.

Paulina Alenkina and Michaela Schnetzer (both 2005 grads) both have gone into the banking industry, Paulina working for FXCM-Financial Brokerage Firm in London and Michaela working for Avaloq Banking Systems in Zurich.  Revan Hedo (MA 2005) works as a translator and cultural advisor for Lexicon in California, and Elena Langdon Fortier is Supervisor, Interpreting Services, for Baystate Medical Center in Springfield. And Erika Walch (MA 2007) is owner and director of Speakeasy in Springfield, Mass., and Vice President of the World Affairs Council.

Our alumni are also quite successful in publishing translations, or, often, their own literary works.  Peter Kahn (MA 2003) just published Dread or the Memory of Childhood by Nestor Braunstein (Jorge Pinto, 2010). Carolyn Shread (MA 2007) just published two books by French philosopher Catherine Malabou: Plasticity at the Dusk of Writing: Dialectic, Destruction, Deconstruction and Changing Difference: The Question of the Feminine in Philosophy, and plans to translate a third . Clara Ronderos (PhD 2008) published her poetry anthology Estaciones en exilio (Ediciones Torremozas, 2010)  and was winner of 27th Carmen Conde poetry prize. She is translating Il Diario dei Sogni by the Italian writer Marco Candida. Chris Michalski (MA 2003) just published a selection of his translations of poems by Stanislaw Borokowski in the Mass Review and his book paper route and other poems was published by littlefishcart press.  Yehudith Heller (PhD 2007) publish her third volume of poetry Mehalekhet Al Khut shel Mayim (Pacing on a Thread of Water) (Jerusalem: Carmel, 2010). Her translation into Hebrew of the novel Giants in the Earth, a project commissioned by Hakibutz Hame’ukhad Publishing in Tel-Aviv, is scheduled for 2012.

In sum, it is with great pleasure that any teacher views the success of his/her students, and it is no exception in this case, seeing the academic, professional, and literary accomplishments of the UMass graduates.  Many ask me about the career opportunities for those with degrees in translation and translation studies, and if the success of our students is any indication, the future is bright.  Congratulations to all.

By Edwin | Posted in Alumni News, News, Translation Center News, Translation Studies News | Comments (0)

Regina Galasso joins translation faculty

August 25, 2011 – 12:49 pm

We wish to welcome Regina Galasso to the Program in Comparative Literature and MA in Translation Studies Program. She received her PhD in Romance Languages and Literatures from Johns Hopkins in 2008 and has been teaching Spanish literature, literary translation, and Hispanic writers in the United States at BMCC, City University of New York for the last two years.

Starting in the Fall 2011, Prof. Galasso will begin teaching both graduate and undergraduate courses.  Her first graduate course is International Literary Relations: Spain and New York, in which she looks at (1) New York’s early twentieth-century fascination with Spain and its impact on the city’s cultural life; (2) the contribution of Spaniards to New York’s place within the Spanish-speaking world; and (3) how physical and imaginary contact with New York led to aesthetic innovation. Authors discussed in the course include Federico García Lorca, Salvador Dalí, Felipe Alfau, and Carmen Martín Gaite.

The course reflects Regina Galasso’s ongoing research projects on Spain and New York: A Literary Relationship and the anthology Spaniards in New York: A Literary Anthology. Prof. Galasso is the translator of Miguel Barnet’s A True Story: A Cuban in New York (Jorge Pinto Books, 2010), plus stories/poems by writers such as Alicia Borkinsky, José Manuel Prieto, and Hilario Barrero.

Professor Galasso strengthens our faculty in many ways, providing support in literary translation, Spanish language and Spanish translation, and translation in world cities.  While most our classes are multilingual, more students work in Spanish than any other language, and nearly half work in literary translation. She should fit in nicely.

By Edwin | Posted in News, Translation Center News | Comments (1)

Asst. Professor of Interpreting Studies job search extended. New deadline: Aug. 15, 2011

June 13, 2011 – 12:03 pm

The Program in Comparative Literature, which houses a dynamic Translation Studies Program, and is a unit of the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, has extended its search for a tenure-track position at the rank of Assistant Professor, now to begin January, 2012, but could also begin September 2012. The successful candidate will teach consecutive and simultaneous interpreting and will also strengthen the department’s offerings in literary and cultural studies. Course assignments will include a two-semester interpreter training sequence in a language-neutral environment, plus a combination of undergraduate and graduate courses in Comparative Literature/ Translation Studies, taught in English. Language expertise in at least one of the following is required: Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, or Spanish. We seek candidates who have a strong background in interpreting studies theory and practice as well as strong scholarly promise. We welcome interdisciplinary approaches. Expertise in multimedia interpreting, prior teaching experience with international and minority students, and experience in community outreach are desirable assets. Ph.D. in hand by the time of the appointment at UMass. Salary commensurate with qualifications and experience.

Please send letter, CV, three recommendations, statement of teaching and research interests, and writing sample to: Prof. Edwin Gentzler, chair, Interpreting Studies search committee, Comparative Literature (LLC), 430 Herter Hall, 161 President’s Dr., University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst MA 01003-9312. The extended review of dossiers will begin on August 15, 2011, and continue until the position is filled. The Department is committed to developing a more diverse faculty, student body, and curriculum. The University of Massachusetts Amherst is a member of the Five College Consortium, along with Amherst, Smith, Hampshire, and Mount Holyoke Colleges and is also a member the Academic Career Network, a resource for dual career couples. The University of Massachusetts is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity employer. Women and members of minority groups are encouraged to apply.

Please feel free to email Edwin at gentzler@complit.umass.edu if you have any questions.

By Edwin | Posted in Edwin's Translation Blog, News, Translation Center News, Translation News in the USA, Translation Studies News | Comments (0)

Springfield activists call for better translation services

September 2, 2010 – 1:03 pm

A new coalition of community, labor, and religious groups in Springfield, Massachusetts, is calling for a new city ordinance establishing rules for how the police deal with non- or limited-English speaking citizens.  The coalition is called the Pioneer Valley Project, and members met with the Springfield City Council last month.

Springfield is typical of many American cities in which the non-English speaking population is  growing, but services for translation and interpreting are much the same.  Springfield his immigration groups from Russia, Vietnam, Latin America, Burundi, Somalia, and many other countries.  Over 50 percent of the students in the public schools are Hispanic. In 2006, the U.S. Justice Department filed a voting rights lawsuit against the city for inadequate translation of ballot questions during local elections.

The police claim that adequate services already exist: they subscribe to a statewide telephone translation line, they often use family members and neighbors to translate, and several officers are bilingual.

The coalition members point out that the system isn’t working very well and are collecting stories  from non-English speakers’ experiences: language and cultural barriers, improper translation, people calling but not able to communicate with the desk officers, and mistrust of situations in which family members and friends are employed in interpreting situations.

Maureen Turner published a long and well researched article on the conflict in the July 22, 2010 edition of the Valley Advocate. The goal, according to her, is to set up a system that provides fair and unbiased language services to the public and is easily accessed when and where the police need it.

Here translation studies research and education can be helpful. Studies exist on the methods currently employed in Springfield–using telephone lines, family members, and bilingual employees–which show that such as system is neither adequate nor cost-effective. Many cities, including New York City, have moved away from the older methods and have adopted more professional requirements, including mandatory provision of interpreting services and translated documents in the top six languages spoken in the city. National groups such American Translation Association (ATA) and the American Translation and Interpreting Studies Association (ATISA) are working on issues such as standards, ethics, community interpreting, racism, and equal justice.

The 1964 Civil Rights Acts guarantee equal rights to all people, regardless of race, gender, or country of national origin, which includes the right to translation and interpreting services in any institution that receives federal funding.  In many ways, translation and intepreting services are the civil rights issue of the new millennium.  Most police departments receive federal funding, and therefore are obligated to comply. Yet many questions remain as to what are the best methods to employ and how cost-effective are those measures.  The efforts by the Pioneer Valley Project in Springfield merit watching.

By Edwin | Posted in Edwin's Translation Blog, News, Translation News in the USA | Comments (1)

The Year of Translation: 2009-2010

June 4, 2010 – 2:21 pm

Whew!  This has been an exciting year for translation studies, with a flurry of conference activity, and, surprise, the field seems to have finally arrived in the United States.

I have been very busy, giving papers at over a dozen venues, from distinguished lectures and keynote addresses to papers on panel discussions. For me, the highlight came at Lessius University College in Brussels, Belgium, where the focus of a one-day conference on The Construction of Translation Studies was on my work in translation studies in the Americas and what distinguished it from translation studies in Europe.

At Lessius I gave two addresses, one on intranational translation in an increasingly multilingual United States, and the other on international trends in Canada, Brazil, the Caribbean, and Latin America.  Other participants including scholars from Belgium, South Africa, Spain, and Norway.  While some scholars from Belgium expressed concern with some new definitions emerging from the New World,  others, mostly from outside of Belgium, seemed much more receptive. A special issue of TIS has been scheduled on “Eurocentrism and the Americas in Translation Studies,” in which many of the papers will be featured.

In the United States, the big news is that translation served as the Presidential theme at both the American Comparative Literature Association (ACLA) conference held in March in Boston, and at the Modern Language Association (MLA) held in December in Philadelphia.

At the ACLA at Harvard University, the conference theme was “Global Languages, Local Cultures,” and dozens of translation-related panels were held, many on aspects of world literature, translation studies, and cultural studies.  I gave a paper on “The Writer, Translator, and Marketplace” with scholars including Suzanne Jill Levine, Susan Bernofsky, Rosemary Arrojo, Bella Brodzki, Allen Hibbard, and Alfred MacAdam, which was quite exciting and very well received.

At the MLA, the theme was “The Tasks of Translation in the Global Context.” I gave two papers: the first was titled “Developing a New Generation of Translator,” organized by  Martin Riker of the Dalkey Archive Press, with participants including Emmanuell Ertel (NYU), Bill Johnson (Indiana), Suzanne Jill Levine (UC Santa Barbara), Benjamin Paloff (Michigan), and Lawrence Venuti (Temple). Many of the schools represented are starting new translation programs; in fact, our program at UMass is now one of the oldest! My second paper was on the panel “(Re)Interpreting Translation,” in which I focused on the social and psychic costs in the absence of translation and interpreting services, non-translation also being a category for translation studies.  For more on the MLA conference, please see my blog above.

Another area that is booming involves the success of the post-graduate summer schools in translation.  I spoke for the third consecutive year at the Nida School in Misano, Italy, which has grown wonderfully over the years. In 2009 there were over 22 associates, most of whom already had their PhD’s in hand and have begun publishing.  The blend of bringing translation studies scholars with their research skills together with accomplished Bible translators with their field experience, makes for a wonderful combination. The beautiful setting on the Adriatic sea does not hurt at all. There are several flourishing summer schools in translation now, including the grand-daddy CETRA Program at Leuven, Belgium, and its offspring, including the Translation Research Summer School, with venues in London and Hong Kong, the Literary Translation Summer School at Norwich, UK, and the SummerTrans Program in Vienna.

I also gave international lectures in Macao, China, where new translation studies programs are emerging at the Instituto Politécnio de Macau, and in São Paulo, Brazil, where translation studies is thriving. In Brazil I gave a talk just last week at the Fifth Congresso Ibero-American de Tradução e Interpretação (CIATI) held at Centro Universitário Anhanguera (formerly Unibero) and a lecture at the Centro Interdepartamental de Tradução e Terminologia (CITRAT) at the University of São Paulo (USP). A proposal is in to start a PhD program in Translation Studies at the University of São Paulo, which would be quite welcome.

I also gave several individual lectures at universities in the United States, from the International Center for Writing and Translation at UC Irvine, to the Center for Portuguese Studies and Culture at UMass Dartmouth. Finally, I should also mention that I also spoke at our own American Translation and Interpreting Studies (ATISA) Association Bi-annual conference, held at NYU in New York City in April 2010.  This organization, of which I am one of the founders, is growing nicely. We had nearly 120 participants this year, with over 60 presentations on all aspects of translation studies. The topic was the “Sociological Turn in Translation and Interpreting Studies,” with the keynote speaker Michaela Wolf (Graz) giving a wonderful critical assessment of field.  At ATISA, I spoke on the “Micro-sociological Turn in TS,” focusing on translation at the community, family, and even individual level.

In sum, it gives me great pleasure to see the success and growth of the field nationally and internationally.  It has been a great year for translation, indeed.

By Edwin | Posted in Edwin's Translation Blog, News, Translation Center News, Translation News in the USA, Translation Studies News | Comments (0)

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