CSULB translation program applauded
By Johnna Walker
Daily Forty-Niner
Cal State Long Beach was acknowledged last
weekend for its ongoing attempt to establish a bachelorís degree program
in translation and interpretation at this yearís California Court Interpreters
Association conference.
The event, held Oct. 9 and Oct. 10 in
the University Student Union and hosted for the first time by CSULB and
the College of Liberal Arts, featured speakers and activities addressing
current issues in language interpretation.
"This conference helps you to learn to
dissect language from literature to linguistics, and get perspective from
people who have experience in the field," said Monrique Ramirez, who earned
a bachelor of arts in Spanish at CSULB.
The association, made up of court interpreters
and other professional translators, holds this annual conference to update
members on multiple aspects of language translation, said Lourdes Campbell,
director of continuing education for the association.
This year, Alexander Rainof, CSULB professor
of Romance, German, Russian languages and literatures, spoke at the conference
Sunday.
Association President Carl Cerecedo thanked
Rainof and CSULB for their efforts to establish the first translation and
interpretation bachelorís degree in the United States, in a letter he wrote
to attendees of the conference.
This program would make it possible for
students to obtain their bachelorís degree in this field and apply it not
only to court interpretation but also to medical interviews, business affairs
and conference settings, Rainof said.
Rainof has been involved in the preliminary
stages of the translation and interpretation major program.
CSULB currently offers an interpretation
and translation option for Spanish majors and also offers general courses
in interpretation and translation.
When the program becomes official, these
courses will be counted toward the new major, said Claire Martin, chairwoman
of Romance, German, Russian languages and literatures department at CSULB.
Another speaker at Sundayís conference,
Raoul Rizik, gave his presentation on acting techniques, which may be applied
to interpreters.
Rizik, an actor himself, gave the audience
information on topics including the use of tone to convey meaning and emotions
while interpreting.
"Interpreters have to be mirrors to the
plaintiff, or defendant, or the witness they are translating for, but is
it possible for that translator to do more by adding emotion to the testimony?"
Rizik asked the audience.
Some interpreters believe that adding this
kind of emotion is not part of the interpreter's job, but others believe
it is part of their job to convey the emotions of the person they are working
with, Rizik said. |
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