In this post, I aim to explore the future of translation and interpreting education in academia, particularly the trajectory of translation departments and faculties. In short, my prediction is that translation departments and faculties will gradually lose relevance and, ultimately, at least some of them, sadly, disappear. Translation as a discipline will undoubtedly survive, as…
Category: Education
Enhance Interpreting Training with YouTube
Interpreting training relies on teachers providing students with suitable speeches to practice. Many times, trainers offer background information for preparation and transcripts of the originals for checking the quality of the rendition. The importance of training materials is demonstrated by the so-called repositories of speech curated by international organizations such as the European Union, with…
Leadership in Machine Interpreting
Machine interpreting is quickly becoming a part of our reality. It is expected to see broader adoption in the years ahead, driven by significant improvements in translation quality and other factors such as economic and societal changes. In this new era, it’s important to come to terms with a new state of affairs: spoken multilingual…
Education: Focus on what stays the same, rather than what changes
I had the great opportunity to serve as a member of the advisory board for the new MA in Translation, Interpreting, and Technology at York University. I give my input on the curriculum design, focusing especially on the role of technology in university training. The new MA is now open and accepts applications. When I…
Empowering Autonomous Learning Through AI
I recently developed a tool that gave birth to the first interpreting lesson entirely generated by Artificial Intelligence. The material (example available here) showcases the potential of Generative AI to transform teaching methods across various subjects, placing students at the heart of the learning experience by making them more autonomous. The dream of shifting the…
Having a professor at your fingertips? Is it possible?
I couldn’t resist the temptation and created a digital clone of myself, or more precisely, of the knowledge from my publications on #interpreting and #technology. Now, people can engage in natural language conversations with this virtual counterpart, asking questions about the few topics where I possess some expertise. From what I can discern, as the…
New Chapter: Towards AI-enhanced computer-assisted interpreting
I am thrilled to announce my chapter for an upcoming publication on Interpreting and Technology. The chapter titled “Towards AI-enhanced computer-assisted interpreting” delves into the evolution of digital tools for interpreters and the rising influence of artificial intelligence (AI) on Computer-Assisted Interpreting (CAI). As a researcher and practitioner in the field, I have spent the…
The Rise of AI: Reimagining Research Frontiers in Translation and Interpreting Studies
Recently I had the incredible honor of delivering a keynote speech titled “The Rise of AI: Reimagining Research Frontiers in Translation and Interpreting Studies” at the XIII International Symposium for Young Researchers held at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Second time at this university in only 2 weeks. This time however in person. These are…
Narrow specialization is not a fit for the future of education
I had the privilege of delivering an invited talk at Universitat Autònoma Barcelona recently. I have been asked to address a topic that I feel very connected with, being myself involved in the training of young people at postgraduate level. The central theme revolved around the changing landscape of Higher Education due to the transformative…