internships, traineeships, stages, work placements

It's the time of year when completing students begin to think about translation placements. There's a work placements tag on this blog with some suggestions, and I thought it might be helpful to post a few more links, some of them to regularly recurring positions, some seen in passing on the web.

The usual caveats apply. Remember that internships should benefit you at least as much as the company. Check the conditions carefully. Find out about the company; check that you are going to get useful experience and supervision, not just tea-brewing and photocopying. Be a bit cautious about internships with no remuneration (though be warned that not all internships are paid). Be wary of internship advertisements which have linguistic errors/are written badly; these are unlikely to be serious companies. Steer clear of companies who ask for payment of any sort for internship schemes.

There are translation traineeships at the Directorate-General for Translation at the European Commission.

These pay a living allowance of about 1000 euro a month. There are also paid and unpaid translation traineeships in the European Parliament. These have quite specific requirements.

SDL advertise regularly for interns for their Sheffield office. The scheme is open to students whose first language is French, German, Italian, Dutch, European Spanish, Latin American Spanish, and European Portuguese. The FAQs are here. Applications for the next batch of placements in October will be accepted from early June to mid-July.

You could keep an eye on the Euractiv website, which sometimes has useful-looking internships: currently advertising an English to French translation internship (seems unpaid but with some expenses reimbursed).

Argos Translations in Poland advertise an internship scheme for students and graduates of Krakow universities.

Some more links that you might find worth following up, depending on your location/interests/language combinations:

http://www.wolfestone.co.uk/translation_internships.php

http://www.alternatives.ca/en/opportunity/translation-internship

http://www.equinux.com/us/company/jobdetails.html?-recid=140 (DE-EN, based in Munich)

http://www.cris.unu.edu/fileadmin/user_upload/Translation_internship.pdf

This videogame localisation company in Berlin is looking for interns working from English into Czech, Polish, German, Italian and Spanish:

http://www.anakan.de/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=33&Itemid=91

http://www.ctsll.com/about_internship.php (US company)

http://www.crellin.de/deutsch/jobs/internships.htm (German to English; includes translation test as part of the application)

http://www.englishpen.org/aboutenglishpen/vacancies/volunteeringandinternships/ (for students with an interest in literary translation)

http://www.internshipinlondon.com/translation/internship-in-translation/176 (currently open to speakers of French, Spanish, Italian, German and Dutch).

Please note that the information above is presented in good faith, and neither the University of Portsmouth nor the writer of this blog makes any claims or accepts any liability in regard to any of these links.

(A vague disclaimer is nobody's friend.)

Anyone considering volunteer translation as a way of gaining experience might also like to keep an eye on the volunteering tag.

DE-EN in-house position, Credit Suisse, New York

I have just seen a link on the TranslationTimes blog to a job advertisement with Credit Suisse who are looking for a 'Senior Specialist Language Services' for the English department of its Language Services unit in New York. More information here. The job ID is 1041495.

applications closing for EST summer school scholarship (1 May)

Dear all, 

Just in case any readers were intending to put in at the last minute for the EST Summer School Scholarship, the deadline is 1 May. 

Students preparing a doctoral dissertation in the field of translation studies who are paid-up EST members are invited to apply for this scholarship of 1,000 euros.

The applications will be scrutinized by the committee, who will base their judgement on the application as a whole, taking into account all information asked for: the technical quality of the project, the applicant's competences and needs, and the relationship between the project and the summer school programme intended to follow.

To apply, please fill in the application form (including the attachments) and send it to Iwona Mazur –  imazur at ifa.amu.edu.pl. Along with the form, applicants are asked to send a letter of recommendation from their dissertation advisor as a PDF or scanned attachment.

Receipt of complete applications will be acknowledged by e-mail.

The name of the scholarship recipient will be announced on the Society's website in the second week of June each year and notice will also be sent (by e-mail) to each of the candidates.

Previous scholarship holders:
2006: Cristina Valentini (Forlì)
2008: Elisabet Tiselius (Stockholm), Alberto Fernández Costales (Oviedo)
2009: Hanna Pięta (Lisbon), Maria Tymczyńska (Poznań), Alice Leal (Vienna)
2010: Sabina Tcaciuc (Aston)

PhD fee waiver scholarships for UK/EU students, Leicester

Have just come across this advertisement for fee waivers for PhD research in translation studies and modern languages at the University of Leicester, which may be of interest to some readers.

job with Spanish or French and another language, Kiva, San Francisco.

Dear all,  

I have just seen this ad for a translation project manager with a difference with the microlender Kiva. You need two Kiva languages including Spanish or French, and the job is based in San Francisco. Deadline is 4 May. More details below.  (Kiva also has a network of volunteer translators which may be of interest.) 

 

Review and Translation Coordinator

Position: Review and Translation Coordinator

Reports to: Review and Translation Manager, Program Operations

Location: San Francisco, CA – Downtown/Mission District

Job Type: Contractor, full-time

The Company

Kiva (http://www.kiva.org) lets everyday people on the web lend small amounts of money to the working poor worldwide. Since launching in 2005, Kiva has connected over 1 million people through lending to alleviate poverty in 57 countries, including the United States. We aim to democratize capital through the power of small actions, technology and believing in each other. Kiva, a San Francisco based non-profit with offices worldwide, has 75 people and 500+ volunteers.

The Job

The Review and Translation Coordinator helps manage the preparation of loan content for the Kiva website, supporting program staff and working with a large team of skilled volunteers to deliver translated and verified loan profiles for funding by Kiva lenders. The Review and Translation Coordinator is responsible for directly managing the volunteer Team Leaders of several teams of translators; coordinating the screening, testing, and onboarding of new volunteers; supporting established procedures for volunteer recognition and community development; and handling various other tasks to support overall program effectiveness.

Your Responsibilities

• Loan Review Team Leader management
• Monitor unreviewed loan volume and motivate teams to translate/review required volume
• Manage up to 10 Loan Review Team Leaders (corresponds to team of  250+ volunteers)
• Provide regular recognition for participation and feedback as required
• Support Team Leader responses to volunteer queries on loan policy, Kiva processes, translation techniques, terminology, and volunteer involvement
• Lead initial trainings, along with other Review & Translation Program staff
• Manage format for monthly conference calls and schedule calls
• Provide technical support for Viva and other Kiva systems to Team Leaders

• Translator & Editor recruitment, testing, and onboarding
• Develop recruitment network that can be leveraged to increase flow of volunteers for specific language needs
• Manage recruitment & screening messages in all Kiva systems
• Oversee screening process for translator applications
• Manage test evaluation process with internal & external test evaluators
• Manage onboarding process for translation volunteers, including accepted, rejected, and wait listed applicants

• Volunteer support and community engagement
• Provide technical support for Kiva’s review and translation systems to volunteers
• Develop volunteer and team leader wiki, creating and modifying content, monitoring usage, and developing leadership on wiki among volunteer teams
• Develop and monitor volunteer and team leader discussion forums
• Plan and coordinate volunteer recognition events, work parties, and trainings

Required Skills and Qualifications

• Native or near-native English speaker with fluency in Spanish and/or French
• 2+ years professional translation experience and/or a certificate or degree in translation
• 2+ years of professional experience, including project management
• Excellent people skills, with friendly and motivational communication style
• Adept with new technologies
• Creative problem-solver who is interested in innovation and enjoys a high-growth environment

Preferred

• Experience managing volunteers or remote teams
• Knowledge of more than one Kiva language (Spanish, French, Russian, Portuguese, Arabic)

To Apply

• Email cover letter and resume to jobs at viva.kiva.org by May 4, 2011.
• Please do not contact the office directly with any questions or follow-up inquiries

L'autore invisibile: literary translation events at the Turin Book Fair (in Italian)

Dear all,
Those of you in Italy might be interested in a fascinating range of events being organised at the Turin Book Fair this May as part of the long running translation strand entitled 'L'autore invisibile'. The press release is below, and there is also a Facebook page with more information:

Anche il Salone 2011 avrà tra i suoi punti di forza gli appuntamenti sulla traduzione curati da Ilide Carmignani.

Ospite d’onore è lo scrittore cileno Luis Sepúlveda, che ci parlerà di Letteratura e traduzione (venerdì 13 maggio, ore 18.00).

Gian Arturo Ferrari, presidente del Centro per il libro, illustrerà i versanti istituzionali di un’attività che non solo tocca oltre un quarto dei libri stampati in Italia ma esporta la nostra cultura nel mondo (giovedì 12 maggio, ore 18.00). Nell’ambito dell’incontro verrà inoltre presentata la Banca Dati Internazionale dei Traduttori Editoriali con Umberto D’Angelo (Centro per il Libro) e Simona Cives (Biblioteche di Roma).

Renata Colorni, direttrice dei Meridiani Mondadori, racconterà la difficile arte di reinterpretare un classico nella sua lectio magistralis Tradurre La montagna magica (sabato 14 maggio, ore 17.30). La lectio sarà preceduta dall’annuncio del vincitore del Premio Fedrigoni-Giornate della Traduzione 2011 con Ernesto Ferrero e Chiara Medioli.

C’è chi sostiene che con l’ebook tipografi, distributori, rappresentanti, librai sono destinati all’estinzione. E i traduttori? Come si configurerà il loro mestiere in un mondo editoriale sempre più elettronico? Ne discuteranno Stefano Mauri (Presidente GeMS), Marco Vigevani, agente letterario e Alessandra Repossi (SNS Sezione Traduttori) nella tavola rotonda Come il digitale cambierà il mondo del libro (giovedì 12 maggio, ore 16.30).

Chi e cosa guida le scelte dei romanzi che leggiamo in traduzione? Perché oggi spopolano i nordici che fino a ieri quasi ignoravamo? E in che modo i traduttori affrontano la sfida di portare mondi nuovi e lontani al lettore italiano? Luigi Brioschi (Guanda), Helena Lozano (Università di Trieste), Lorenzo Ribaldi (La Nuova Frontiera) e Maria Antonietta Saracino (Università di Roma) analizzeranno queste complesse dinamiche in Tradurre testi, tradurre culture (sabato 14 maggio, ore 12.30).

Gianfranco Petrillo, Enrico Ganni (Einaudi) e Susanna Basso presentano una nuovissima rivista elettronica:  "Tradurre. Pratiche Teorie Strumenti" (sabato 14 maggio, ore 16.00).

Tornano, infine, i consueti incontri sul laboratorio del traduttore.

Da qualche tempo il soprannaturale attraversa i generi più impensati coniugandosi in modo assai vario. Alessandra Bazardi (Harlequin Mondadori), Cristina Brambilla (Piemme), Luca Fusari, Chiara Marmugi e Cristina Prasso (Nord) ci spiegheranno le diverse strategie di mediazione adottate nella tavola rotonda Tradurre vampiri e mutaforme: dal fantasy ai romanzi rosa (domenica 15 maggio, ore 12.00).

Maurizia Balmelli e Grazia Giua (Einaudi), Laura Frausin Guarino ed Ena Marchi (Adelphi) ci racconteranno il loro lavoro comune nell’incontro Traduttore e revisore a confronto: McCarthy, Némirovsky e Simenon (venerdì 13 maggio, ore 15.00), mentre Franca Cavagnoli, Margherita Crepax e Davide Rondoni ci illustreranno le loro fatiche “classiche” in A volte ritornano: Fitzgerald, Bulgakov, Baudelaire (domenica 15 maggio, ore 14.00).

Infine, un’incursione in territori limitrofi: come lavorano i traduttori che si dedicano al cinema e alla televisione? Ce lo spiegheranno Eleonora Di Fortunato e  Mario Paolinelli dell’AIDAC nel loro seminario Gli altri mestieri della traduzione: adattamento e sottotitoli (giovedì 12 maggio, ore 12.00).

Tutti gli incontri si terranno nella Sala Professionali.

Ufficio stampa: 328.7638937

Funded PhD fellowship in Translating for the Minorities, Leuven, Belgium

For anyone looking for PhD funding in translation studies, there is a PhD Fellowship opening at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium:

Applications are invited for one Early Stage Researcher (ESR) Fellowship (2011-2014) for subproject 3 of TIME: Translation Research Training: An integrated and intersectoral model for Europe

“Translating for the Minorities: Linguistic Diversity and Integration in Europe”

Coordinator: Reine Meylaerts (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium)
Partners: Yves Gambier (University of Turku, Finland), Anthony Pym (Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Spain) and Christina Schaeffner (Aston University, UK)

Associated partners: Amnesty International Vlaanderen, Lionbridge International, Logoscript and Observatoire social européen

Applications for the position should consist of:

• Reading carefully the criteria for eligibility (http://www.kuleuven.be/cetra/TIME/eligibility.html)
• Filling in the application form (http://www.kuleuven.be/cetra/TIME/applicationform.html)
• A letter of motivation
• A curriculum vitae
• A 3-page PhD proposal "Translating for the Minorities": research hypothesis, corpus, methodology, expected results, timing, ...
• A letter of recommendation and/or the name and contact details of at least two academic references

Please send your application (CV, letter of motivation, letter of recommendation and/or the names and contact details of at least two academic references, project outline) by email to steven.dewallens at hubrussel.be

Application deadline: 30 April 2011

For further information, candidates:
• are invited to visit http://www.kuleuven.be/cetra/TIME/index.html and are asked to read carefully the criteria for eligibility;
• can contact Reine Meylaerts (reine.meylaerts at arts.kuleuven.be) or Steven Dewallens

post for technical translator, German-English, Offenbach, Germany

I have just seen this advertisement for an experienced technical translator from German to English (I think - it's a little bit fuzzy) at Siemens.

short courses in audiovisual translation, London

I sometimes get asked about possible short courses in subtitling/audiovisual translation. Here is a digest of some recent communications from the translation group at Imperial College London which may be of interest. 

Translation Group at Imperial College London
Saturday 14 May

ADVANCED SUBTITLING WORKSHOP

There are still places available for the Advanced Subtitling workshop being held by the Translation Group at Imperial College on the 14^th May. This is open to professionals as well as students.

Course Content

From the European Parliament to Walt Disney, from film dialogue to song: a hands-on workshop on interlingual subtitling. The course will start with a brief review of the main theoretical and practical issues concerning interlingual subtitling, as well as of the main features of the subtitling software in use (WinCAPS), as a reminder to those who participated in the previous workshop and an introduction to those who did not. This will be followed by a more hands-on workshop during which the participants will have the opportunity to work with a number of different audiovisual texts. 

Some of the time will be devoted to working on the English texts, practising segmentation, condensation and other relevant techniques, while some of the time will be devoted to their translation into the target language of choice. Depending on the language pairs chosen by the participants, some material might be provided in other languages for translation into English. Some time will be left at the end for questions. A list of useful websites and other sources of information will be given to all the participants.

Course Trainer

Adriana Tortoriello
Lecturer in Translation and Audiovisual Translation at Imperial College London

To apply for a place email Tom Barbanneau at t.barbanneau at ic.ac.uk. 

There are also places left on the intensive summer courses in audiovisual translation in Polish, Italian and Spanish. These courses take place as follows:

English into Italian

4th - 29th July 2011

English into Polish

5th - 22nd July 2011

English into Spanish

5th - 29th July 2011

For more information see http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/humanities/translationgroup/summertranslationcourses.

translation journal seeks submissions (deadline 1 June 2011)

This may be of interest to some of our readers who work with literary texts:

Inventory publishes thoughtful translations and focuses critical attention on translation theory and practice. Based in Princeton University’s Department of Comparative Literature, Inventory finds and catalogues original translations of poetry and prose from any language into English, provides critical texts on the subject of translation, and offers suggestions by leaders in various fields of translation work left to be done.

Submission deadline for our next issue is June 1, 2011

Call for Submissions:

Seeking original translations of poetry and prose, as well as critical essays on translation.
We consider translations of poetry and prose from any language – ancient or modern – into English. We welcome new translations of previously translated work, and we encourage our translators to engage imaginatively with the conventions and possibilities of literary translation. We regret that we are unable to accept translations into languages other than English.
Poetry submissions should include 3-6 poems (no more than five pages), and fiction submissions should not exceed 2000 words. We do accept excerpts, but request that you include a single-paragraph summary of the full work. Please attach a copy of all pieces in their first language.
We also consider critical work, submissions of which should not exceed 2000 words and should focus on the topic of translation. Writers are encouraged not to limit their focus to the work of a single writer, but rather to address themselves to a larger conversation on contemporary artistic translation.
Submissions should be directed to invent at princeton.edu, indicating in the subject line the genre and first language of the submission, if applicable. We ask that you include in the body of your email a brief paragraph describing the piece's translation history, as well any relevant information about why you have chosen to translate the piece at this time.
Published writers retain copyright of their material and are free to publish again elsewhere.
We regret that we can accept unsolicited submissions by email only.
Thank you for your interest, and please contact the editors at invent at princeton.edu with any questions.

Harvill Secker Young Translators' Prize 2011 (Arabic-English)

It's great news to hear that the Harvill Secker Young Translators' Prize is going to continue for a second year. This year's prize will be for translation from Arabic to English:

The Harvill Secker Young Translators’ Prize was launched in 2010 as part of Harvill Secker's centenary celebrations. It is an annual prize, which focuses on a different language each year, with the aim of recognising the achievements of young translators at the start of their careers. For the 2011 prize Harvill Secker has teamed up with Foyles, and the prize is kindly supported by Banipal. This year’s chosen language is Arabic, and the prize will centre on the short story ‘Layl Qouti' by Mansoura Ez Eldin.
 
Egyptian novelist and journalist Mansoura Ez Eldin was born in Delta Egypt in 1976. She studied journalism at the Faculty of Media, Cairo University and has since published short stories in various newspapers and magazines: she published her first collection of short stories, Shaken Light, in 2001. This was followed by two novels, Maryam's Maze in 2004 and Beyond Paradise in 2009. Her work has been translated into a number of languages, including an English translation of Maryam's Maze by the American University in Cairo (AUC) Press. In 2010, she was selected for the Beirut39, as one of the 39 best Arab authors below the age of 40. Her second novel Wara’a al-Fardoos (Beyond Paradise) was shortlisted for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction (the Arabic Booker) 2010. She was also a participant of the inaugural nadwa (writers’ workshop) held by the International Prize for Arabic Fiction in Abu Dhabi in 2009 and was a mentor at the second nadwa in October 2010.

The winning translator will receive £1,000, a selection of Harvill Secker titles and Foyles tokens.

---

How to enter

Deadline for entries: Friday 29 July 2011
You must be between 18 and 34 years of age on the submission deadline. For further terms and conditions please see the entry form.
Download and print the entry form here (you will need Acrobat Reader to do so)
Download or print the Arabic text here (you will need Acrobat Reader to do so)
Simply send your completed entry form with your translated text to the postal address provided on the entry form. Please note that we are unable to consider entries submitted by email.
If you have any queries, please contact us on:
youngtranslatorsprize at randomhouse.co.uk

Rome, 17 April: AITI workshop (Lazio section) on IT for translators

For readers in Italy, the AITI is holding a workshop on IT for translation which looks useful. The workshop leader is Jost Zetsche. The registration deadline is 10 April. Further details here:

L’ABC del computer 
per i traduttori professionisti

(The Computer ABC for Translation Professionals)

Domenica 17 aprile 2011

c/o Hotel Mercure Delta Colosseo – Via Labicana 144 -  Roma

 

La Sezione AITI Lazio è lieta di ospitare a Roma Jost Zetsche, un collega traduttore, famoso tra gli addetti ai lavori per la sua esperienza nelle tecnologie e soluzioni informatiche per la traduzione e la localizzazione: un vero Guru nel campo del software applicato alla traduzione e per i traduttori, speaker in tutti i più importanti convegni internazionali dedicati ai traduttori. I contenuti del seminario sono di sicuro interesse per tutti i traduttori che usano il computer, indipendentemente dal settore di lavoro.
 
Jost scrive di sé:
 
Jost is an EN>DE translator and a translation consultant and he likes to write about technical aspects of translation. He does that because he himself is very untechnical (ask his kids about his use of the TV remote control or a cell phone) but interested in the things that make him and others more productive -- and once he finds out he is good about explaining them. He lives in Oregon from where he publishes the Tool Kit, a technical newsletter for translation professionals. He has also written an ebook about how to use the computer most effectively as a translator, The Translator's Tool Box (currently in its 9th edition) and has partnered with some Italian folks in launching TranslatorsTraining.com. He is also good friends with the Patron Saint of the modern translator, Jeromobot.
 
Info su Jost disponibili su www.internationalwriters.com/aboutus/jost.html e www.translatorstraining.com. "Jeromobot" è la simpatica e ironica mascotte creata da Jost che lo accompagna in ogni occasione.

Il seminario si terrà in inglese (ma il nostro socio Giuseppe Nuzzolese farà da interprete) e sarà videoregistrato su autorizzazione del relatore. È stato strutturato in due sessioni distinte per permettere ai soci di scegliere a quale sessione partecipare.

 

Sessione Mattutina (9.30 - 13.00) sugli strumenti informatici utili ai traduttori

Computers are complex creatures. They consist of an operating system that creates the platform on which most other programs run; large—and often expensive—applications for word processing, project tracking, and translation assistance; but also many thousands of smaller—often free programs—called utilities. Many utilities have very powerful capabilities that can make your life easier and more efficient. The first part of the workshop will focus on a selection of these utilities that are specifically helpful for translators. It will also offer tips on how to make sure that your (Windows) operating system is set up in a way that optimally supports multi-language handling and translation.

Sessione Pomeridiana (14.00 - 18.30) sui cat tool
The second part of the presentation will focus on computer-assisted translation (CAT) tools, which can be more accurately referred to as "translation environment tools." Attendees will see that tools like Trados, Déjà Vu, MemoQ, and OmegaT (or any of the other dozen-plus tools) are not only CAT tools, but truly have an environment that allows translators to also manage terminology, provide quality assurance, work in complex file formats, cooperate with others, and much more. Attendees will be provided with strategies to make a wise choice to use at least one of the numerous tools on the market and find the necessary training. This positive, fun-filled presentation is a necessary investment for your business as a translator.

Il seminario è eccezionalmente aperto anche ai non Soci AITI.  

Literary translation snippets

Two excellent pieces of literary translation news this week. Andotherstories, a grassroots, collaborative publisher which uses reading groups to identify and promote exciting new fiction, has released its first catalogue. It operates partly on a subscription model whereby you can subscribe to the next two or four books published, at a discounted rate. It is a brilliant way of supporting literary translation. At a time when arts funding in the UK is under tremendous strain, it's well worth supporting, by subscribing and/or by getting involved and joining one of the reading groups.

Speaking of the arts being under strain, I was happy to hear that funding for the British Centre for Literary Translation is safe. The BCLT has just announced the full line-up for this summer's literary translation summer school, which is one of the best hands-on translation events in the UK. It includes workshops into English from Arabic, Chinese, German, Japanese and Spanish, and into Italian from English. The BCLT is also involved in the imminent Literary Translation Centre at this year's London Book Fair which may be of interest to readers in or near London.

Legal Translation Workshop, Portsmouth 27 May 2011

 
Dear all,

Please note some edits to this post including the registration fee, URL and contact details (edits dated 6 April and 7 April).

As part of a new series of translation CPD events held at the University of Portsmouth, we are organising a day-long introduction to legal translation. The workshop will be led by Richard Delaney, barrister, practising translator and translator trainer. The workshop will begin at 10.30 and finish at 16.00. Lunch will be provided. The cost is £45 for the day, and there is a discounted fee of £40 for ITI members. Students are welcome and there is a discounted student rate of £20. The course will suit students and practising translators wishing to build up a specialism in legal translation.

To register for the workshop please contact translation at port.ac.uk. Further details and a link to online registration are available at http://www.port.ac.uk/research/translation/eventsandseminars/engagingwiththeprofessionworkshops/.