Challenges of Translation Studies in a Globalized World

University of Maribor, Slovenia, October 2009

Globalization should not be seen merely as a modern buzzword with an ephemeral lifespan. We need to be aware that globalization is a way of life that we have adopted because of the society and the environment in which we live. Life in a multilingual and multicultural society is a fact; it is turning into the default mode of behaviour, a meme that we unconsciously embrace as the norm, including communicative norms. The role of the translator or interpreter in this context is one of the key issues that our joint scientific meeting, albeit only a small stone in the mosaic of contemporary translation studies, will attempt to elucidate. We will examine translation and interpreting from various perspectives in order to better understand these complicated communicative processes and develop even more successful strategies for putting things into words for other cultures. However, the contemporary cultural space of our time is compressed like none before, and ways of communicating change rapidly. How do we, translators and interpreters, respond to this? What are the tasks of modern translators and interpreters? To bridge otherness or to strengthen it? To adapt quickly or to rely on the much safer route of conventionality? How are these processes for dealing with this particularly complicated way of communication influenced by the related disciplines: neuro- and psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics, cognitive linguistics, ecolinguistics, anthropology, and others? How can we improve the processes of decision making and move towards more appropriate translates and those better adapted to the end user? How is process optimization related to ethics within translation studies? These and many other questions will be addressed and hopefully at least partially answered at the joint scientific meeting that will take place from the 15th to 17th October 2009 at the University of Maribor. Our keynote speakers include: • Professor Mary Snell-Hornby (University of Vienna) • Professor Gyde Hansen (Copenhagen Business School) • Professor Franz Pöchhacker (University of Vienna) • Professor Erich Prunè (University of Graz) • Professor Karmen Teržan Kopecky (University of Maribor) Proposals for papers (in English or German) are invited in the following subject areas: • Translation Studies as an Interdiscipline • Technical Translation • Interpreting • Literary Translation • Translator/Interpreter Training Please send an abstract of between 150 and 250 words to the symposium email address: ts.challenges2009@uni-mb.si Abstracts should be sent as Word attachments. Please mention your full name (including academic title), affiliation, postal address, e-mail address, subject area, and the title of your presentation. Due date for the submission of abstracts is 15th April 2009. E-mail notifications will be sent to authors whose papers are accepted to the symposium by 30th May 2009. Conference fee: 100 € regular 60 € students (please send proof of student status) 30 € late registration fee (to be added to all registration fees after 30th June 2009) Registration form, symposium programme and other information will be available on the symposium webpage: [url=http://events.ff.uni-mb.si/tschallenges]http://events.ff.uni-mb.si/tschallenges[/url]