Analyses of Internet—based technologies incorporation in T&I classroom

By SHUYUN LI

Abstract ： In the last several decades， a general concern about the way translation and interpreting are taught has triggered off and a boom of published course books for translation and interpreting students （e.g. Bell 1991， Nord 1991， Baker 1992）. It is a right direction towards the design of better teaching methodologies. On the one hand， a lot of work still remains to be done on the issue of evaluating traditional model of translation and interpreting pedagogy； on the other hand， creating and implementing new ones is becoming necessary， mainly because of the increasing demand for translation and interpreting degrees on the market. This may be added to the fact that it is increasingly recognized by scholars and translation companies that formal training in T&I; training schools is the most practical way to teach and test abilities to supply the market with reliable professionals （Mariona Sabate Carrove 1999：16）. T&I; teaching classes do not require students to acquire knowledge on computer skills. This result will disadvantage T&I; students mismatching their skills and expertise that the real market experts from them. In this easy， I would like to express my opinion by explicating advantages of having incorporation internet-based technologies into T&I; classes with providing some specific examples how internet-based technologies can assist T&I; teaching.

Keywords ： Internet-based Technologies， Audio and Video Recorded Assistance Mode， Blogs

Over the past years， T&I; students spending fewer hours in class with a teacher's assistance because of several reasons， for example budget cutting. In order to compensate the reduction of teacher's assistance and guarantee the students' self-improvement， new strategies are required to come out. Internet-based technology， one of those strategies， focus on motivating students to spend more time on translating and interpreting activities. Kiraly says that 'new technologies help students not to travel the teacher's path， but to build viable roads of their own' （Kiraly 2000：46）. Traditional methodologies based on the teacher-centered class are no longer seen as adequate.

Although traditional methods and skills have some advantages， internet-based technologies like computer-aid teaching in the T&I; classes would be more beneficial than harmful for students. For example， the traditional tools to the teaching of translation include dictionaries， grammatical books， parallel texts， glossaries， etc. All of them occupy a lot of space on the students' desk and become hard to deal with after a while. This is where translation students could receive more benefit from using material which is more associated professional translators， such as word processors， on-line dictionaries， grammar checks and even machine-assist translation. As suggested by Edwin Gentzler 'It is always preferable to provide translation students with systematic training on the latest off-the-shelf technologies and techniques available on the market in order to upgrade their knowledge and their future careers to professional standards and position translation pedagogy at a competent and competitive level in nowadays society' （2001：37）. That is to say， Internet-based technologies can enhance the professional level of T&I; students， which includes the acquisition of skills like the use of translation memories， databases as the Internet is like information source pools.

Improving T&I; pedagogy is the constant aim of any diligent teacher.

With the incursion of new technologies， teachers are expected to change their mind and to design their classes for optimum use of current information technologies which enable T&I; students to learn the skills they will need in their professional career （Maria Jose Varela Salinas 2007 at http：//accurapid.com/journal/42technology.htm）. Alan Melby says that 'computer-aid technologies can help trainees in the dimension of terminology management and also in order to ensure consistency. Since translators have formed a partnership with computers， they would build on the basis of word processing and use computers in new ways as tools to extend memory， reduce drudgery， and improve communication （1995：183）.

Teachers also need to learn how to integrate these technologies adequately into teaching processes. Some tasks can be best implemented with the help of computers while other skills require the hand and expertise of translation teachers. Teaching through computers is becoming a popular and widespread practice in foreign language teaching. It seems quite reasonable to think that same principle should apply to other areas of knowledge such as translation teaching. Albrecht Neubert states that ' The more one finds out about the chances of computerizing significant part of the translation process the more the remaining more human aspects of translation are brought into new focus' （1992：24）.

Why is it important to incorporating internet-based technologies such as computer-aid in T&I; teaching classes？

The first reason is that computer-assisted tools and softwares are becoming an integral part of the training of translators and interpreters （Mariona Sabate Carrove 1999：27）.

It is acknowledged that the entry of computers into all fields of knowledge has change the way we work， study or even thinking. But the field of translation and interpreting is the area which has experienced the strongest impact with incorporation of computers. Hugh Keith （1989：169） said 'Probably the most useful contribution to the translation profession made by computers in recent years has been the development of various aids which fall short of actual fully automated machine translation'. Students should be familiar with how to use the data and the word-processing equipment. Many translation schools， colleges and universities are still using traditional methods to teach their students but this practice for training translators is becoming more and more acceptable （Mariona Sabate Carrove 1999：29）.

The second reason is that this combination has a great efficiency in translation classes. New technologies and globalization and internationalization have great impact in translation and interpreting teaching methodology. Society is now expecting the way of training would-be professionals to respond to those challenges. Since T&I; courses should prepare students to become professional translators and interpreters， these courses need to make them aware of the requirements that future clients expect from them and develop the necessary skills. Internet-based technologies can help to adapt to a new pedagogy both teaching and self-learning， where every learner can achieve the skills necessary for his or her profession.

How to apply internet-based technologies into T&I; classes： case studies

Technology in T&I; pedagogy： audio and video recorded assistance mode in interpreting class

In the program of interpreting training of RMIT， we are equipped with a new multimedia lab which named SANAKO. It has several separated workstations， each equipped with a personal computer， an LCD and a headset with microphone. The teacher can monitor and interact with any student at any time via control console. This program allows the students to access in the form of audio and video recorded sources and to record their own outputs immediately for themselves monitoring or in-class discussion or teacher's assessment. This program also offers students an option of listening to the master dub or their own recording for self-monitoring and self-leaning.

Dialogue interpreting is a central component of the interpreting training classroom. Take my interpreting training class as an example， we have been using video-based dialogues in which two teachers perform a role-play and speak different language in each part and then in turn. Topics derive from real-world setting and are selected for the relevance to the tasks that students will be expected to perform on their exams and in the future careers as interpreting professionals. Specifically， students may follow the procedure with a video-taped role-play on the personal computer when practicing interpreting：

-students open a new file in the student's personal folder in accordance with the teacher's instruction-the teacher plays a test recording at first and make sure that every student adjust a proper volume and right position of the microphone-the teacher starts playing the video via the teacher's control console-students listen to part one spoken by speaker A in language A-then interpret and record part one into language B by clicking pause button on the interface

-listen to part two spoken by speaker B in language B

-interpret and record part two into language A like previous operation

-listen to part three spoken by speaker A in language A

-interpret and record part three into language B like previous operation

-（etc.） until to the end

-students save the file in their personal folder

This folder can also be accessed by the teacher for assessing students' output and giving a proper feedback. During in-class practices， each student has an equal time to practice as more topics as they can. This internet-base technology not only provides an effective way to improve students' real-world interpreting skills， but also saves a lot of costing of teaching materials change as they can be used circularly. When the video materials were first introduced， students also invariably used them for self-study in the multimedia lab.

Technology in T&I; pedagogy： blogs in translation class

Moghaddam says that 'An traditional translation workshop is one while a translator teacher， sometimes with a professional translator， divides the translation students into small groups of four or five people and gives them the same source text to translate into their mother language or target language. The teacher and the professional translator take part in the process of translation and help the translation students to produce a translation that is faithful and acceptable. In the… web log as an on-line translation workshop， the translator substitutes for the teacher and the web visitors play the role of the translation students. The interaction of the translator and the web log visitors is through the posts the translators makes and the comments the visitors send by using different services that are available for commenting in a web log' （Esmaeil Haddasian Moghaddam， 'The Manesake in Prsian： An on-line translation workshop'，2008：132）.

One of the advantages of using an on-line translation workshop is that 'the translator receives a comment from someone who is familiar with issue or has had personal contact with it…interaction through web log between the translator and his web log's visitor helps him to record the correct translation in his final translation manuscript' （Esmaeil Haddadian Moghaddam 2008：134）

Take translation studying program at RMIT as an example， there is an on-line platform named Blackboard and each student has a personal username and password for logging on Blackboard and downloading document （both written， audio and video） teachers unloaded them before. Students can also find a discussion board on Blackboard. They can post every translation on it and wait for the teacher's feedback as the teacher can keep track of individual participation. This mode is similar like the blog as students and the teacher play roles of translators and web log visitor respectively. The teacher can supervise each student modifying their outcomes while students also get benefit from their teacher's comment.

Pedagogical limitation of internet-based technologies incorporating in T&I; class

The use of internet-based technologies permit us to overcome time and space barriers， to design new methods and instruments of teaching， tutoring. However， challenges remain. Internet application is only a delivery mechanism which can help T&I; teaching processes. It requires careful attention to instructional design specifically for on-line learning before it will lead to improved educational outcomes. Both teachers and students need to learn and master how to use the new technologies first before they can be applied correctly and to everyone's benefit. Therefore they need technical and pedagogical advice that should be provided by the schools. Besides， internet-based technologies are also required to be invested for equipping the T&I; classes. Therefore， not every classroom can afford to it. However， all these changes are not always easy and need time and patience and fund to allow for adaptation

Conclusion：

Internet-based technologies have great advantages in assistant with translation and interpreting teaching progresses as not only offset the problems which caused by fewer contact hours between teachers and students， but also provide wider platform to them with communication and plan activities without space and tome limitation. Students and teachers can work and communicate whenever or wherever they are. In accordance with two cases I listed above， it is not difficult to see that internet-based technologies play a pivotal role in both translation and interpreting teaching classroom， although there are still some shortcomings need to be addressed.

References：

Baker， M. （1992）， In other words： a Coursebook on Translation， Routledge， London.

Bell， R. T. （1991）， Translation and translating： theory and practice， Longman， London.

Carrove， M.S. （1999）， 'Towards a theory of translation pedagogy： based on CAT tools for Catalan and English non-literary texts'， Universitat de Lleida， pp.16/27.

Gentzler， E. （2001）， Contemporary Translation Theories， Routledge， London & New York.

Keith， H. （1989）， Some Thoughts of Universities and the Translating Profession， University Press， Aberdeen.

Kiraly， D. （2000）， A social constructivist approach to translator education. Empowerment from theory to practice， St. Jerome， Manchester.

Melby， A. （1995）， 'The Possibility of Language： a discussion of the nature of language with implications for human and machine translation'. PhD dissertation. pp.183.

Moghaddam， E. H. （2008）， 'The Manesake in Prisian： An om-line translation workshop'， Babel 54：2， pp.132-134.

Neubert， A. & Shreve， G.M. （1992）， Translation as Text， Kent State University Press， Ohio.

Nord， C. （1991）， Text Analysis in Translation： theory， methodology， and didactic application of a model for translation-oriented text analysis， Rodopi， Amsterdam.

Salinas， M. J. V.： （2007）， How new technology improve translation pedagogy ，

Author's Profile：SHUYUN LI， master of Social Science of Translation and Interpreting Studies， from RMIT University in Australia.

作者简介：李姝昀，社会科学翻译与口译研究硕士，毕业于澳大利亚皇家墨尔本理工大学。

（Unit of work：RMITUniversity in Australia3000）