Tralogy conference, Paris, March 2011

Thanks to Sam B. for pointing out this interesting-looking conference which may interest our readers living in France. The deadline for paper proposals is 10 November 2010.

Translation Careers and Technologies: Convergence Points for the Future
Paris - March 3th & 4th 2011

Call for Papers

We no longer translate as we did 50, 20 or even 10 years ago. What form will the translation process take 10, 20 or 50 years from now? What will be the demand for translation and what kind of tools, what kind of approach, will we need to meet that demand? Who will be the translators – assuming they will still be called translators – of tomorrow? What skills and disciplines will they need, on what concepts will their work be based and what form will their training take? What can technology do today and what will it be able to do tomorrow? How far has research in the field of machine translation and computer-assisted translation come? If there is to be a partnership between human beings and machines, what approach to human translation will it be based on, and how will it progress?

One thing is for sure: the process of shaping the future is under way, and will move forward along the fault line that divides human translation, a translation activity that is, by nature, unsystematic, and the power of computer processing, which is, by definition, systematic. It would be impossible even to attempt to answer these questions satisfactorily without seeking, at international level, the opinions of the key protagonists, namely: translators, trainers and manufacturers of translation technologies, and researchers in these areas. We feel that such an interdisciplinary approach is the only way to overcome fears, stereotypes and narrow-minded opinion; we must address the emergence of a shared working culture by examining economic, technical, ethical and organisational issues.

We are therefore calling for papers on the way forward in translation careers and technologies, with the overall objective of taking stock of this rapidly changing world and examining how it is likely to develop. Our intention is to establish a regular forum for reflection and for professional, intellectual and scientific debate. This will take the form of a biennial international symposium intended to provide perspective on current European and world discourse, with the emphasis on a particular guest country, which in 2011 will be Canada. The aim is to provide a space in which:

* developers and researchers can gain an understanding of translators’ needs,
* translators can find out about the development of machine technologies, see where they fit in and express the profession’s expectations in relation to the changes taking place, and
* trainers can meet translators and researchers face to face and mark out the knowledge paths to which the training of future translators will be geared.