Research of Professors
2010
Lynne Bowker, Elizabeth Marshman and Jean Quirion
Funding to develop French-language material for CERTT
Lynne Bowker conducts research in the field of translation technologies. She recently completed a study investigating the reception of machine-translated texts in official languages minority communities, which revealed that while machine translation is certainly not a “one-size fits all” solution for expanding translation services, there are nonetheless certain circumstances and text types for which it can help to fill the gap. The findings of this research have been reported in the journal Linguistica Antverpiensia Vol. 8 (2009), pp. 123-155.
Dr. Bowker’s current project, conducted in collaboration with colleagues Dr. Elizabeth Marshman and Dr. Jean Quirion, focuses on improving the way in which translation technologies are integrated into and taught as part of a translator training program. Launched in 2007, the ongoing Collection of Electronic Resources in Translation Technologies (CERTT) Project has received over $100,000 in funding from a variety of sources, including the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), the University of Ottawa’s Centre for University Teaching, the Fonds pour le développement du matériel pédagogique en français, and the Traduca Canadian Translation Internship Program. Results have been presented at the 2009 conference of the International Association for Translation and Intercultural Studies (IATIS), the 2009 Canadian Association for Translation Studies (CATS) conference, among others. Findings were also published in the journal Terminology, Vol. 15(1), pp. 60-87, and several additional papers are in preparation.
Elizabeth Marshman
SSHRC-funded project
Elizabeth Marshman and M.A. student Charissa Harms are launching a SSHRC-funded project to study the relationships of terms with one another and with other linguistic items in English and French texts. They will be investigating how these combinations can help both readers and computer tools to identify where the concepts denoted by these terms fit into specialized fields, and how the combinations and the information the convey can be presented in a way that makes them usable by human and computer users.
Luise von Flotow, Marc Charron and Hugh Hazelton
SSHRC grant to study Canada in Latin America
The SSHRC-funded research (92,000$) of Luise von Flotow and Marc Charron (both of the School of Translation and Interpretation), with Hugh Hazelton (Concordia University) traces the transfer of Canadian cultural products into Latin America. We view translation as central to this transfer, and base our research on four questions:
- Which products are translated and disseminated in/for Latin America?
- Who selects them, and how?
- How are Canadian realities (politics, culture, landscape, history, etc.) represented through this translation/dissemination?
- How are these products received in Latin America? What is their effect?
Many further questions arise such as government involvement and cultural policy, the roles played by large publishing houses in Spain and Portugal, the work of the book fairs in Guadalajara, Buenos Aires, Bogota, the influence of Canadian Studies programs and professors, the roles played by enthusiastic individuals who act as cultural envoys. Translation as THE vehicle of cultural transfer is the linchpin of this research project, which runs from April 2010 to March 2013.
Salah Basalamah
Born in Switzerland, Salah Basalamah is now Associate Professor in Translation Studies at the School of Translation and Interpretation, University of Ottawa. He’s the author of Le droit de traduire. Une politique culturelle pour la mondialisation [The Right to Translate. A Cultural Policy for Globalization] (2009) at the University of Ottawa Press, and the translator into French of Fred A. Reed’s Shattered Images (2002) [Images brisées at VLB (2010)].
His research fields of interest include: theoretical aspects of Translation Studies; intercultural communication, philosophy of translation; identity issues in relation to translation; the ethics and status of the translator; social, political, legal (copyright) and religious dimensions of translation; postcolonial and cultural studies; language and translation of sacred texts; spiritual figures of exile in Arabic and francophone literatures; and Western medieval and contemporary Islamic thoughts.
Jean Quirion
Projects involving terminometrics, i.e. on the measure of term usage. This is a rather new discipline. R&D for terminometrics software. Collaborations with the Université du Québec en Outaouais, the National Research Council of Canada, the Language Technology Research Centre, the Translation Bureau of Canada and the Office québécois de la langue française.
Design, development and implementation of a bank of electronic resources in translation technologies and terminotics: the Collection of Electronic Resources in Translation Technologies (CERTT). With Lynne Bowker, Elizabeth Marshman, and the CERTT Team at the University of Ottawa. www.certt.ca.
Project examining the gradual establishment of the word Québécois in Québec. In collaboration with Guy Chiasson (Université du Québec en Outaouais) and Marc Charron (University of Ottawa).