SU Language Centre well represented at EST Congress in Denmark

Four Language Centre staff members attended the eighth European Society for Translation Studies (EST) Congress held in Aarhus, Denmark, from 15 to 17 September this year. EST promotes research on translation, interpreting and localisation, and creates opportunities for exchange between researchers, among others by hosting a high-profile triennial academic congress.

This year, the congress theme was Translation Studies: Moving Boundaries, and three colleagues presented at the conference. Alta van Rensburg, currently busy with her PhD in translation studies, reflected on the impact of revision on the quality of a translation product in her presentation “Translation revision – a useful or redundant practice?”. Lenelle Foster put the spotlight on the educational interpreting service of the Language Centre with her presentation entitled “A matter of calibre: Developing a useful assessment gauge in an educational interpreting environment”. Susan Lotz presented a case study titled “It may be copyrighted, but it still needs help: Intralingual translation and medical research questionnaires”, by means of which she illustrated the importance of and the need for research questionnaires written in plain language.

The fourth colleague, Carmen Brewis, is also busy with a PhD in translation studies. She attended both the EST Congress and the pre-conference workshop aimed at doctoral students. Her study entails ethnographic research into educational interpreting with Stellenbosch University as a case study. While she was in Europe, she also participated in the Summer School presented by CETRA, the University of Leuven’s Centre for Translation Studies, in Antwerp, Belgium.

Apart from the Congress, other highlights in Denmark were setting eyes on the Grauballe man (a well-preserved body dating from the Iron Age and discovered in a bog in Denmark in 1952) in the Moesgaard Museum in Aarhus; seeing the enormous Boy in the ARoS Aarhus Art Museum, a 4,5 metre high sculpture of a crouching boy by Ron Mueck; a visit to the Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde housing the remains of Viking ships dating back more than a thousand years; the beautiful churches and other historic buildings; the wonder world of Legoland; and musing and watching Danes come and go on Danish squares while sipping a Danish beer.

In 2019 Stellenbosch University, represented by the Department of Afrikaans and Dutch, will be hosting the ninth EST Congress. The congress theme is Living Translation.

From left to right: Carmen Brewis, Susan Lotz, Alta van Rensburg and Lenelle Foster at Aarhus University in Denmark for the 8th EST Congress.

From left to right: Carmen Brewis, Susan Lotz, Alta van Rensburg and Lenelle Foster at Aarhus University in Denmark for the 8th EST Congress.

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