At a time when we aim to be an information society and a full member of the EU, TRANSLATION, though not on top of our country’s agenda, plays a key role in attaining these aims.
* TRANSLATION is needed by everyone engaged in cultural and social activities, from our statesmen and diplomats to foreign trade representatives and on through businessmen and sportspeople.
* TRANSLATION is a stand-alone profession, bridging the gap between different languages and cultures, both orally and in writing, in every phase of international relations, and requiring field-specific expertise and professional approach.
* Based on the recent technological developments and on our country’s efforts to import technology and innovative goods and to open its doors to the world, the need for high quality translation has increased considerably.
* The need for translations particularly in the areas of technology and law, requiring knowledge of many newly created concepts and terms, has been increasing alarmingly.
Both public and private organisations have lately been trying to meet their constantly increasing need for translation services either by hiring full-time translators, freelancers or translation companies.
Due to the lack of sufficient expert translators in the translation market, translators from various professions have been trying meet the need for translation services for the purpose of earning some extra money. Yet, these efforts are still far from satisfying the need in full and, more importantly, failing to produce the high quality translations to meet global standards.
For that reason, our country, aiming to improve its population into an information society and to be a full member of the EU, is now in need of many more expert translators than ever. The fact that translation companies are looking for translators, specialising in various languages (not only in the most commonly used languages of English, German and French, but also in other less commonly used European and Asian ones) and in specific domains, shows us how great the need is.
Considering the ranking of the translation profession among other professions, and in their respective service charge scales, in developed countries, one can easily realise the value attributed to translators and translation in those countries. This is obviously due mainly to the positive translation education policies that have long since been adopted by those countries.
Translation education in our country began in 1983 at the English Translation and Interpreting Department of Boğaziçi University and in 1984 at Hacettepe University Ankara. Taking into account also the Translation and Interpreting departments formed by some other universities in Turkey in the following years, we can say that a total of 7 universities provide Translation and Interpreting education in English, German and French to nearly 400 students every year. The graduates of these departments meet a portion of the need of the translation sector for translators and interpreters.
We expect these universities, which are a part of Turkey’s adolescent Translation and Interpreting education system, to specialise in various industry segments and take into account the specific translation needs of the business world. In other words, these universities should cooperate and establish close relations with the business sectors/markets wishing to employ their graduates. Though there have been some positive developments in this respect, there is unfortunately a long way yet to go.
The problems of the translation sector could only be solved through professional organisations and solidarity among the stakeholders of the sector. However, no such organisation could be formed to bring together some of the leading figures and businesses in the sector until 1999 when the ASSOCIATION OF TRANSLATION was founded. Considering the founders and the founding process of the ASSOCIATION OF TRANSLATION, an important step was taken to that end. The translation academicians, translation companies, freelance translators and supporters of translation have joined hands under the roof of the ASSOCIATION OF TRANSLATION, because they have good relations, and this alone has been an important progress in the sector. The fact that we have achieved such a long-awaited progress under the roof of the ASSOCIATION OF TRANSLATION is giving us more hope that the challenges facing the translation sector will be dealt with.
Many unqualified translators working in the sector assume a responsibility they cannot in fact afford, on the one hand, and keep damaging both translation companies and the sector, on the other hand. The loss amount incurred by translation companies due to both translation errors and poor quality translations is much higher than that many think it to be and is worth taking into account in our national economy. After some considerable delay, the sector has realised that it must have its own regulations and thus started to formulate a series of standards, norms, ethical principles and professional requirements applicable to translation and translators.
The immensely varying rates charged for translation services in the market show us that we seriously lack pricing standards and balance. To give an example, the rate charged for one page (1000 byte) of translation in English or French or German ranges between $ 4 and $ 30. This problem becomes more evident as we compare these rates with those (ranging between $ 20 and $ 40) charged for a similar translation service in the EU-member countries. This lack of pricing standards protects neither qualified translators nor translation companies. The only thing that one needs to do to earn the title of a “sworn translator” in this profession, which requires specific knowledge and experience, is to have his knowledge of a foreign language certified by a notary public. In the face of all these problems, establishing the ASSOCIATION OF TRANSLATION was a good start in our country where there is a huge need for institutionalisation.
The ASSOCIATION OF TRANSLATION mainly aims to formulate professional standards, protecting translators, translation companies and translation clients; develop a Code of Professional Ethics for the translation profession; promote cooperation between the sector and relevant academic organisations; offer professional training; support solidarity and communication among the Association’s members; and act as an intermediate in disputes involving the Association’s members. All these aims have already been included in the agendas of the Association’s Committees. The ASSOCIATION OF TRANSLATION will be capable of achieving these goals with the support of qualified and experienced translators, translation academicians, translation researchers and highly-reputed and reliable translation companies operating in the sector.
The ASSOCIATION OF TRANSLATION held a meeting on December 16, 2000 and thus called on all these stakeholders to join it. During the meeting, Prof. Tahsin Yücel, a lecturer and a leading literary critique, who has spent long years both writing and translating books, teaching translation and role modelling for translators, was elected Honorary Member of the Association. Delivering a speech at the meeting, the Association’s Chairman, Prof. Hasan Anamur, said that Tahsin Yücel's honorary membership would help the Association enhance its recognition across the country and help carry out its projects more efficiently.
As a scientific and educational discipline translation studies and their applications require an encompassing meta-view not only in terms of multilingualism and supralingualism but also due to their applicability to all areas of specialization. The phenomenon of translation or in the more comprehensive sense the phenomenon of communication between languages and cultures has a close association with foreign language education and literature studies, but also draws upon such disciplines as sociology, psychology and history and the inspection and the learning of the phenomenon of translation requires a perspective in its own right. For this reason Translation Studies has been recognized as a separate discipline for the last 30 years.
The applicability of the phenomenon of translation to all areas also brings about an interaction between our Department and all scientific and educational disciplines. While some areas (law, economics, medicine, technical etc.) stand out in our education, translation training can be associated with all areas with respect to the student’s fields of interest.
The field of translation studies is both a door that opens to all areas of knowledge and an area of perception and cogitation focuses on the interchange between communities and cultures and the common advancement of civilization. In our country that bases its modernization essentially on the fact of translation and that distinguishes itself on its openness to the world, it is of particular significance to have knowledge and skill in the area of translation. While translation is not yet among the protected vocations like medicine, law or teaching, translators with a high level of awareness and a strong background have significant social positions and functions. Translation studies signify an area that may offer a distinctive contribution to the comprehension of cultural structures and development, finding the common language and surpassing the disconnectedness of the world.