MOSTOVI 1/1994/XXIX 19
XIII FIT VVORLD CONGRESS
M. G. Davis
The Training of English Language Translators
in Slovenia
Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures, Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana,
Slovenia
The need for accurate translations in ali possible fields has become even greater
since Slovenia gained independence. Details are given of translator training in
English Language (undergraduate level) currently available at Ljubljana University's
Arts Faculty. An inter-university Institute of Translating and Interpreting is to be
established in the near future. The activities of translators' societies, etc. also make
a useful contribution for professional translators.
Introduction
Slovenia (area 20,256 sq. km., population 2,020.000) occupies a very favourable geo-
graphical position at a significant crossroads betvveen north and south, east and west (bordered
by ltaly, Austria, Hungary and Croatia). The northemmost republic of former Yugoslavia,
Slovenia declared independence in June 1991 (follovved by the "10 day war" against the
Yugoslav Federal Army) and was recognized (together vvith Croatia and Bosnia) by the EC in
January 1992. So far it has been recognized by over a hundred countries around the world.
In May 1993 it became a full member of the Council of Europe, and is aiming at inclusion vvithin
the EC in the foreseeable future.
With the loss of the ex-Yugoslav market, Western Europe, to which Slovenia has historically
looked (considering itself as culturally belonging to Central Europe and not to the Balkans), has
become even more important. Efforts are constantly being made to maintain the necessary high
standards of production and to qualify for joining various international bodies. Although
information on current developments of this nature are soon dated, I might mention a
Memorandum on Scientific and Technical Cooperation signed betvveen Slovenia and the USA
in late April 1993, the first inter-state agreement betvveen these two countries. About 50 projects
are operating, vvith more expected soon, as well as proposals for joint conferences, exchanges,
etc. Moreover, the second PHARE programme vvas signed in May 1993, which vvill provide 10
million ECUs for economic reforms (the increase from 6.7 million ECUs in 1992 reflects
confidence in Slovenia's capacity for development). The money allotted vvill help to finance
privatization, bank reforms, restructuring of the public sector, the social netvvork and a project
concerning EC entry. Of special interest are funds allocated to a TEMPUS project for training
academic staff and implementing university programmes.
20 MOSTOVI 1/1994/XXIX
Since Slovene is a language of limited diffusion (LLD), knowledge of foreign languages has
always been a necessity; historical as well as geographical factors have also conditioned this
(Slovenia was a province of the Austro-Hungarian Empire; in former Yugoslavia the main
languages - in north to South order - were Slovene, Croatian, Serbian and Macedonian). At
present English is the leading vvorld language in use, followed by German. The Arts Faculty of
Ljubljana University has ali the usual European language departments as vvell as a Department
of Comparative and General Linguistics and Oriental Studies. This paper will focus on the
training of English Language translators.
University training
Atwo-year postgraduate specialization course (extra-mural) in English Language translation
was introduced at the Ljubljana Arts Faculty in autumn 1982 and had three intakes before
terminating in spring 1988 for financial reasons. The candidates, mostly those already
employed as professional translators, had 7.5 hours of instruction weekly in four 1 2-week
semesters, totalling 360 hours. The title of "translation specialist" was awarded on the basis
of examinations and a dissertation. In fact very few achieved the title, partly because of little
time for preparing a dissertation (many candidates were married women in full-time
employment) and partly because the qualification brought little if any financial or promotional
improvement anyway.*
At undergraduate level, the 4-year Honours degree course in English is identical for ali
students in the first two years.** The students then choose among three options: 1) the long-
established pedagogical, 2) the fairly recent non-pedagogical (i.e. omitting methodology
lectures and teaching practice) and 3) the translation option, introduced in autumn 1986 (the
first language department to offer such an option). This third option is open to students vvho
have achieved an average examination result of 70% (categorized as "good" compared with
"very good" and "excellent" grades) in their first two years. The študent intake has varied
considerably from 15 in 1986-87, 26 in 1987- 88 to 36 in 1988-90, 23 in 1990-91,8 in 1991-
92 and again 15 in 1992-93. (The sudden drop after 1991 was due to an additional condition
laid down - that students must have as their subsidiary subject another language and not any
other subsidiary subject available at the Faculty; in general, ali possible combinations of main
and subsidiary subjects are allovved.) This restriction was introduced to avoid overburdening the
teaching staff (only one colleague teaches full-time in the translation option, the other two teach
in ali three options) but it is rather artificial; a more appropriate one might be to raise the
required examination performance to 80% in the first two years. With this present staffing, an
intake of 15 is considered optimal.
* The title 'specialist" (graded betv/een the bachelor's and master's degrees) is available in a variety of
professions and is not restricted to medicine, as in Britain. The lack of effect in this profession reflects
the somewhat low status of translators in firms, institutions, etc.
** In this outline I omif a further option, introduced in 1991-92, in which students take English as a single
subject, compared with the usual two-subject study, as these students are excluded from the translation
option.
MOSTOVI 1/1994/XXIX 21
The specialization syllabus formed the basis of the undergraduate translation programme,
with the exclusion of "Special practical classes in technical translation" and "Introduction to
business English" and the addition of other subjects. The full syllabus is as follov/s:
3rd year
□ English sentence syntax O
□ Practical classes in Eng. Language III O
Translation into English I
□ Contrastive analysis I
□ Slovene language I
□ Idioms and stylistics
O courses with examinations
4th year
□ English word-formation O
□ Practical classes in Eng. Language IV O
Translation into English II
□ Contrastive analysis II
□ Slovene language II
□ Culture and society (1 semester)
□ Theory of translation (1 semester)
O obligatory course for ali students of English
Ali the above courses are obligatory; an optional non-examination course "Theory of
language" offered by the Linguistics Department for ali language departments at the Faculty
has been follov/ed by only a few students. The degree examination is taken in two stages: the
first part consists of translating an English text into Slovene (2 hours), follovved by oral
examinations taken by ali students of English, and the second part of translating a Slovene text
into English (3 hours), plus a viva voce before the 3-member examining board. Between these
two parts (usually when students have the status of "absolvent") a dissertation on some
contrastive Slovene-English topič is submitted and defended. Some of these dissertations have
provided material for articles in Slovene journals for the teaching and translating professions,
or have won a Prešeren Prize - the highest avvard at Slovene universities for undergraduate
dissertations. More could perhaps be done to bring the best results of such research to the
attention of translators and teachers.
Since the qualification gained by students specializing in translation is a university Honours
degree, the syllabus should - and I think does - satisfy the demands of "academic discipline",
while the attention obviously paid to practical translation (in both directions, Slovene <-> English)
is of "vocational" usefulness. (In the entire syllabus only Theory of translation consists purely
of lectures; several courses are a combination of lectures and practical work.) It will be observed
that the syllabus deals exclusively with English language (and Slovene) and not at ali with
literature. Curriculum reform throughout the Faculty is about to take plače and one area of
improvement might be to make the separation between the (non-)pedagogical and translation
options less rigid, giving ali students more freedom to choose and combine courses.
Traditionally, the English language courses throughout the four-year syllabus have been
obligatory; only for English literature are there options, especially regarding British/American/
Australian literature and also different literary genres. An optional seminar on literary
translation into Slovene has recently been added to the (non) pedagogical syllabus.
In the translation option, the approach in teaching is predominantly "contrastive", and dravvs
from the teachers' translation experience and their own investigations. So far there is no
established full-scale Contrastive Analysis research project (Slovene o English) similar to those
for Croatian <-> English and Polish English, though some MA and PhD theses completed in
recent years by the teaching staff have involved contrastive themes (primarily in syntax and
22 MOSTOVI 1/1994/XXIX
phonetics). Were such a project launched, undergraduate dissertations, too, could be planned
more systematically to fit into an appropriate framevvork. Six graduates from the translation
option are currently registered for an MA course in English Language and Didactics (vvith
examinations and a thesis) initiated in autumn 1989. Seminar courses at this level include
Theory of language, General linguistics, Contrastive analysis and Lexicology; professors trom
other universities (in Austria and ltaly) are invited to fully carry out (and partly extend) the
programme.
Apart from these MA candidates, the percentage of students completing their studies vvith the
title "graduate translator" is somevvhat small, though grovving, vvhile some have gained
employment in teaching, despite their lack of teacher training theory and practice. Thus the
departmenfs efforts to produce good quality graduate translators cannot, so far, manage to
satisfy the entire need. This, of course, is not to decry the vvork of many older translators (vvith
a degree in English), the quality of vvhose vvork is based on years of experience and attendance
at continuing education seminars, etc. (Some of our undergraduate students also attend
speciaiized summer schools in Britain or study at an appropriate institution abroad - on their
ovvn initiative. Študent exchange through official channels is something stili to be explored and
implemented, if possible.)
Hovvever, a statement in the previously published Abstract must now be updated. Discussions
are already underway for setting up an Institute of Translating and Interpreting under the aegis
of the Arts Faculty. This vvill function not only in Ljubljana but also at Maribor University and
at Koper, vvhere the Institute will signal the commencement of Slovenia's third university. To
qualify for TEMPUS funding, the Institute vvill have links vvith the Institut Libre Marie Haps,
Brussels and the Institut fur Ubersetzer und Dolmetscherausbildung, Graz. (Such an institute has
been established in Timisoara, Romania with the help of the Marie Haps Institute, and initial
experiences there should prove illuminating for us; another possible organizational model is
the lnter-University Summer School in Dubrovnik.) So far our closest links have been betvveen
the Graz Institute (founded in 1946, c. 1400 students currently registered, with 12 languages
offered for study, including Slovene) and the Ljubljana German department, v/hich introduced
its translation option in 1991. The preliminary proposals and locations should be finalized by
December 1993 and if TEMPUS funds are made available, the Institute vvill be launched in the
academic year 1994-95, initially offering English, German, Italian and French, vvhile other
languages vvill be added later (including Chinese and Arabic, which are already taught at the
Faculty).
Translation societies
Translators' interests are catered for by tvvo main societies, the Association of Scientific and
Technical Translators of Slovenia and the Association of Literary Translators of Slovenia, vvhich
have a membership of c.600 (with c.340 for English) and c. 170 respectively. The former
periodically organizes seminars/workshops for various European languages, publishes a bi-
annual periodical (Mostovi) and offers various other Services, including vetting the acceptability
of translations. In October 1992 it organized the first translators' conference vvithin the Alps-
Adriatic Community (6 countries). (One year previous to this, professional translating v/as
unanimously accepted as a relevant field of activity by the Economic Commission of the Alps-
Adriatic Community.) The conference papers were grouped according to translator training,
Computer aspects of translating, interpreting, terminology and links betvveen translators. An
Information Bulletin for Alps-Adriatic translators is to be prepared (the first issue is planned for
autumn 1993) by an international editorial board, giving details of publication of speciaiized
bi-lingual and multi-lingual dictionaries, etc., of training seminars/vvorkshops, etc. The Literary
Translators' Association organizes monthly lectures on topical themes, vvhich are published in
annual volumes.
MOSTOVI 1/1994/XXIX 23
In Slovenia the quality of professional translations varies greatly, and the necessary task of
raising standards may seem somevvhat daunting when financial problems (especially in this
transitional period) are added to the comparative lack of training facilities and of qualified
teaching and research personnel that obtain at present. Nevertheless there is scope for personal
initiative, e.g. the Economics Faculty in Ljubliana has organized weil-attended translator
seminars over several years. An International Translator Training Centre was set up in early
1992 and ran a number of effective seminars in various professional fields until economic
problems dominated, vvhile participation in various TEMPUS and PHARE programmes has
started.
Conclusion
The desire and need to succeed in today's competitive world provides a strong incentive to
improve and expand our translator training activities. The proposed Institute of Translating and
Interpreting wili have a vital role to play alongside the education of translators at the Arts Faculty
and the short, more specialized in-service training sessions mentioned just above. It is hoped
that the exchange of ideas and experience made possible by a conference of this scope
(especially with its specific LLD section) vvill prove helpful in furthering our aims.
Addenum
To update this article, further information is here given concerning the current planning at
the Ljubljana Arts Faculty (see pp. 21-22). The originally proposed "Institute" will, in fact, be
a new department at the Faculty, to be named the Department for Translation and Interpreting,
eventually offering 4-year degree courses. The preparation for such a department (part of
Ljubljana University's developmental strategy) has been accepted as a 3-year TEMPUS
Structural Joint European Project (1994-97), in which the collaborating institutions are based
at: Louvain Catholic University, Brussels (Institut Libre Marie Haps, legally the "contractor"),
Copenhagen University, Ruprecht-Karl University, Heidelberg, Heriot-Watt University, Edin-
burgh, Karl Franzen University, Graz and Bologna University as well as the Slovene Chamber
of Economy and the Ministry of Education and Šport. The project coordinator is Prof. Meta
Grosman.
The objective of the project is to set up this department and to design its curriculum in terms
of a core programme for ali the relevant languages - initially English, German, French, Italian,
and in the second year Spanish - and specific programmes for the individual languages. The
latter part vvill include pilot courses to be tested out on students in the already vvell-established
English and German translation orientation (prevajalska smer). Special attention will also be
paid to the teaching of Slovene. Ali the programmes vvill have to conform to the requirements
of the recently passed Lavv on University Education and be approved by the Ministry of
Education.
The Faculty teaching staff vvill be supplemented by practising translators and interpreters, vvho
vvill also collaborate in producing teaching materials. Both course design and teacher training
vvill benefit from scheduled exchange visits (due to start in the current academic year, 1994-
95) betvveen the Arts Faculty and the participating institutions in other countries enumerated
above. The necessary equipment vvill be financed from the project funds. The first full intake
of undergraduate students is planned for 1997-98.
It is hoped that this nevv department vvill go a considerable vvay tov/ards meeting the ever-
grovving demand for fully competent translators and interpreters arising from embassies,
international organizations and Slovene firms and institutions.
(The above information is summarized from the TEMPUS Project document.)