'Voyages' in translation studies
Anick Beaulieu, above, who is taking the Graduate Diploma in Translation, presented a paper on ancient Greek thought and the Arab world.
The Graduate Students Associ-ation in Translation, or GSAT, held a conference on March 17 at the new Grande Bibliothèque du Québec in Montreal under the title Odyssée de la traductologie, or Voyages in Translation Studies.
This was the fifth such conference organized by the graduate students at Concordia, with financial support from the Graduate Students Association (GSA), the Dean of Arts and Science, and the département d’Études françaises.
The featured guest speaker was Anthony Pym, a traductologist from Rovira i Virgili de Tarragone University, in Spain.
A traductologist studies theories of translation; Concordia’s graduate program in Translation Studies focuses on the process as well as the practice of translation.
GSAT comprises graduate students in Translation Studies, the Graduate Diploma in Translation, and the Certificate in Localisation.
AnneMarie Taravella, a master’s student who is on the organizing committee, said the annual event is a great opportunity for students to present their work. For many, it is their first academic presentation.
Three Concordia students were among the seven who presented papers at the conference.
Philippe Cardinal presented a paper on the problems faced by aboriginal storytellers. In order to preserve their oral traditions and maintain control over the representation of their stories, they do their own translation before handing them over to specialized translators. He used the example of a collaboration among Yukon elders and the ethnologist Julie Cruikshank.
Jo-Anne Hadley, a master’s student, discussed a little-known historical fact: that the Navajo language was used as a secret code during the Second World War.
Anick Beaulieu, a diploma student, also talked about history. She told of the influence of Greek philosophy on the Arab world in the ninth century, before the European Renaissance.
The daylong conference included a round table discussion on the future of graduate diplomas in translation, in which the discussants were Anthony Pym, Concordia professor Pier-Pascale Boulanger and Nicola Danby, of McGill. It was moderated by AnneMarie Taravella.