Luke Liebzie

Thank you for that question!  We absolutely would and welcome any discussion around what this might look like in practice.  Did you have any thoughts on that?

Thank you for the response. I am thinking of the following: 

1. In-person workshops (training of trainers) on Trados and other important tools for translators; 

2. In-person conferences for discussions relating to technology in the training of translators in general. At such events, there could be plenary sessions where partner universities will share best practices and offer relevant recommendations from the perspective of Academia. Such events will also serve as platforms for more effective networking, as communication on virtual platforms is sometimes rather impersonal.

Luke Liebzie

ok - so wo different ideas here and both would be great.  A few thoughts on these:

Luke Liebzie said:

1. In-person workshops (training of trainers) on Trados and other important tools for translators; 

These we already do around the world as paid offerings via our training teams.  Doing it for free for academia is a very different discussion and one that would be quite difficult for RWS do host at scale and for free.  However, if universities were to organise events like this and host them, I'm sure we could support them and provide the appropriate training required.

Luke Liebzie said:

2. In-person conferences for discussions relating to technology in the training of translators in general.

We often cover these topics when we do our Trados roadshows every year and there are always training sessions and ample opportunity to discuss these things.  In the last couple of year, for obvious reasons, we haven't done in-person events but I imagine as restrictions lift they will probably start again.

Luke Liebzie said:

At such events, there could be plenary sessions where partner universities will share best practices and offer relevant recommendations from the perspective of Academia.

Typically the overall attendance at these events, which are already great opportunities for networking, are poorly attended by academia even though they could attend and they are always free. So based on what we have witnessed year after year I don't see the demand for a focus on this even though I do think it's a great idea.

Luke Liebzie said:

uch events will also serve as platforms for more effective networking, as communication on virtual platforms is sometimes rather impersonal.

Agree.  And to date probably an opportunity wasted by academia in general.  I do think many universities probably see these events more as a marketing play and in general I think most (there are exceptions of course) don't keep up to date with what opportunities there are for students and universities in this space because the use of CAT tools is normally quite a small part of the overall curriculum for many courses.  There is also the "problem" of preference, so if a lecturer prefers other tools that may also lessen the likelihood of them being aware of what opportunities are already out there.

But for freelance translators and larger companies these events are definitely a networking opportunity.

In general I probably sound quite negative to your ideas, but really I'm not.  I think for these sort of things to work they need to be driven by academia and I'm sure we, and other vendors will be really willing to participate given the importance of supporting future generations entering our industry.