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Teaching Localisation in Spanish UniversitiesMontserrat Bermúdez BauselaUniversidad Alfonso X el Sabio (Madrid)Originally published in September 2005 issue of Localisation Focus. To learn more about Localisation Focus, click here.Montserrat Bermúdez Bausela discusses her experience of teaching localisation in Spain, and suggests how to bridge the gap between industry requirements and the training on offer there. Localisation is currently a growing industry in Spain. Most translation agencies have had to adapt to meet the demands and requirements of emerging markets. According to the Spanish market registers, there are approximately 775 translation agencies in Spain and it is estimated that 50% of them offer localisation services. However, there is still a disparity between the industry requirements and the training offered by Universities. From the perspective of Spanish academia, this disparity poses an important challenge; namely that of building a bridge between the industry requirements and the training on offer, in order to compensate for the current lack of training. Juan José Arevalillo Doval, Managing Director of Hermes Traducciones y Servicios Lingüísticos, denounces this situation in Spain in his article Introducción a la localización, su presencia en el Mercado y su formación específica, published in La linterna del traductor nº 8 – March, 2004. He mentions that in 2001 there were 775 translation companies in Spain that collectively declared an income of €71,055,133.58, of which over €24m corresponded to one multinational localisation company. Also, according to the information provided by the American Translators Association (ATA), only 10% of world production in translation goes to literary translation, while the rest goes to technical, scientific, audiovisual, legal, economic translation and localisation. Taking these figures into account, it is quite puzzling that, up to now, Universities have not paid much attention to providing the skills and specific industry knowledge — concepts, methods and tools — to train future localisation experts. Another issue is to determine which University degree or degrees should aim to provide localisation training. In Spain, university degree courses in Translation and Interpreting have recently begun teaching specific localisation-related subjects. On successful completion of such a degree, a Masters in Localisation can be pursued. Software localisers in Spain mainly deal with the translation (as opposed to other technical issues) of software products, so this degree in Translation and Interpreting is a course which equips future employees of this job profile with necessary skills. Localisation is usually part of the course programme in Universities that offer a degree in Translation and Interpreting (they may also offer Masters or Postgraduate courses in Technical and Translation topics). Localisation studies are also, in an incipient way, becoming an integral part of the syllabus of some undergraduate subjects. The seed for the new academic demands can be found in the localisation industry itself. The needs of software developers forced them to look beyond their own frontiers if profits were to increase. Initially, it was in-house linguists, translators and technicians who worked on the localisation tasks. But as the increased workload became too heavy to remain in-house, software developers started to outsource the translation and localisation parts of the projects — so it then became the turn of the translation companies to adapt themselves to the new market demands. However, there was no formal training defined in University subjects or course syllabi to meet these new demands. The degree in Translation and Interpreting is relatively new in Spain. The first Spanish University that offered this degree was The Universidad de Granada in 1979 — even though in 1974 the Universidad Complutense in Madrid created the Instituto Universitario de Lenguas Modernas y Traductores (University Institute of Modern Languages and Translators). It was around this time that the localisation industry also came into existence. However, translation students from that period were probably unaware of localisation and what it involved. Nowadays, on the contrary, improvements have been made in order to build the aforementioned bridge between the industry requirements and the training on offer so that students end up with the appropriate skills and knowledge needed in their future careers as localisation professionals. Such skills and knowledge are mainly acquired by pursuing Postgraduate Diploma and Masters courses which are beginning to include the basics of localisation — as evidenced by the syllabus of specific subjects, usually under names such as ‘Translation and New Technologies’, or ‘Computing and Translation’. But more than the basics of localisation, it is still the translation of texts — both software and technical — which is mainly taught, thereby placing more emphasis on linguistic and translation aspects at the expense of activities that are specific to the localisation process. Localisation studies are, for the most part, included in Masters and Postgraduate Diplomas. It is not my intention to provide a comprehensive list of all Spanish Universities that offer training in localisation, but I would like to mention a few significant examples: Universitat Rovira i Virgili (Tarragona) offers a Masters in Translation and Localisation over two academic years, and is running since 2000. It also offers a Postgraduate Diploma in Translation and Localisation over one academic year; the Universitat Pompeu Fabra (Barcelona) offers a Postgraduate Diploma in Translation and Computing Processing Information, lasting one academic year; the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) has recently started to offer a Masters in Tradumática, specifically aimed at professional translators; the Universitat Jaume I (Castellón) offers postgraduate studies in Translation and Localisation technologies, also for a duration of one academic year. The Universidad Alfonso X el Sabio will begin offering a Postgraduate Diploma in Tradumática in November 2005. This course will consist of three modules: software localisation (which includes localisation, translation tools and videogame localisation), audiovisual translation (both dubbing and subtitling), and project management. The goal of all these courses is to produce localisation experts who are fully competent in using translation and localisation tools, as well as in project management. The target audience in all these Postgraduate Diploma and Masters courses consists mainly of translators, teachers and technical writers working with Spanish and English. Other Universities organise localisation training through summer courses, as well as conferences and congresses, e.g. this year the Universidad Alfonso X el Sabio organised their second series of conferences focused on localisation and new technologies. The Universidad Europea de Madrid, and the Universitat de Vic (Barcelona) also organise courses of this type. Some universities include localisation specific training as part of an undergraduate course syllabus. Such is the case at the Universidad Alfonso X el Sabio (Madrid). I have been teaching software localisation for three years as part of the subject entitled ‘Professional Translation BA’ in which B always stands for English (the second and compulsory working language) and A stands for Spanish (the first and native working language). It is a year-long module included in the 4th year of the degree and is one of three electives — the two other choices being ‘Legal Translation’ and ‘Interpreting’. Although the course runs over a year, localisation is only taught during the first semester, while in the second semester scientific and technical translation, literary translation and audiovisual translation is taught. In total, the amount of time devoted to localisation is approximately 80 hours. What follows is a brief account of the objectives, content topics, specific tools covered by the syllabus, and the methodology of teaching; all of which take into account the specific audience of the course — final (4th) year translation students. The objectives established in the course syllabus include: • introducing students to the main concepts of software localisation • familiarising students with new terminology related to a typical localisation project • providing hands-on experience with some of the localisation and translation tools available in the marketplace • studying the specific difficulties of localising from English into Spanish • translating and localising part of a software product • introducing students to the main concepts of project management. The syllabus is divided into the following content topics: • an overview of the history of localisation, as well as other introductory topics • an introduction to the main concepts • the difference between translation and localisation • localisation models One of the most important units of the module deals with internationalisation — including the importance of resource files for effective internationalisation. This is followed by a unit on the localisation process, where students view a typical localisation process and are given instruction in the use of localisation tools, such as Catalyst, PASSOLO and SDL Insight. It is important to cover locales and teach students about linguistic, cultural and character code issues as well as local conventions and localisation engineering issues in the process of localising from an English market to a Spanish one. Students then translate a software application and its documentation, and are made aware of the elements in the graphical user interface that need to be localised: In doing this they learn about graphical issues and the importance of cultural differences and local conventions. Some of the applications students have localised in the past include Concapp (a lexicographical tool) and WordPad. In the final stage of the course, students investigate the principles of Project Management — both for the purpose of learning how to use MS Project and so they have a chance to put into practice their newly acquired knowledge of the typical localisation process. Translation tools — such as translation memory tools, alignment tools, machine translation tools, terminology and lexicographical tools — are not taught in the ‘Professional Translation BA’ module. Instead they are taught in another module I teach (entitled ‘Translation and New Technologies’), which is also included in the 4th year programme. Regarding the teaching methodology, I organise the module into detailed tutorials — which are half way between tutorials and lectures in style — and laboratory sessions. I consider the labs to be of the utmost importance because it is here that the students learn how to use the various localisation tools and put into practice the knowledge acquired in the more theoretical classes. Students also have the opportunity to gain practical experience by working in translation companies, some of which also specialise in software localisation. This is a great opportunity for them to complement their studies while getting hands-on experience of the industry. Work experience is aimed at 3rd and 4th year students. It may take place during either the academic year or the summer holidays and the amount of working hours is flexible, depending on the needs of both the employer and students. Each student is assigned a supervisor from the translation company who acts as a mentor. From the outset the student is required to fulfil translation and linguistic tasks and, before the final translation draft is delivered to the client, their work is assessed by an editor (a senior translator or a senior editor who is, in most cases, the supervisor) who provides the student with all the necessary feedback to improve his or her skills. Students receive specific training in translation and localisation tools if the supervisor considers it to be necessary. As we have seen, localisation is a growing industry in Spain. However, when one examines the training that future localisation experts receive in Spanish Universities, there emerges a gap — due to the lack of a specific syllabus that focuses on providing students with the appropriate knowledge of methods, concepts and tools. Such a syllabus is the keystone of a bridge that would close this gap between the industry requirements and the training on offer. For the moment this gap is being filled, albeit in a somewhat disjointed manner, by the emergence of Masters Degrees, Postgraduate Diplomas and undergraduate subjects that include training and tuition in software localisation. Monserrat Bermúdez Bausela is a lecturer at the University Alfonso X el Sabio (Madrid, Spain), teaching English-Spanish Professional Translation and Translation and New Technologies amongst other subjects. Prior to this Monserrat worked for the University of Valladolid (Spain). Her education includes a five-year degree in English Studies obtained from the University of Valladolid (Spain), followed by an MSc in Software Localisation from the University of Limerick (Ireland) and an MA in Specialised Translation from the University of Valladolid (Spain). She is currently pursuing a PhD in Textual Linguistics, Translation and English for Specific Purposes. Monserrat can be contacted at: mbermbauNOSPAM@uax.es (remove NOSPAM to email).
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