Josefína Zubáková and Jitka Zehnalová

In Search of Balance: Incorporating Translation Theory into a Graduate TandI Study Programme

The paper discusses the role of translation theory in TandI study programmes in general, and the amount of theoretical and practical workload involved in the curriculum of the Translation and Interpreting study programme at Palacký University in Olomouc, Czech Republic, in particular. While the seminars concerned with translation theory are not recognized by the students of TandI study programmes as “the most helpful seminars” with respect to their future professional careers, the role of translation theory in the overall curriculum is indispensable (see also Woodsworth 1996, Chesterman and Wagner 2002, Gutt 2005). The theoretical seminars are integrated into the curriculum of the TandI study programme at Palacký University Olomouc both at the undergraduate and graduate level deriving from the premise that there “can be no practice without theory” (Chesterman 1994, 93). While at the undergraduate level the main focus of the translation theory seminars is on the basic theoretical, terminological and methodological issues of translation and translation practice (further supported by the theoretical and practical workload in the practical seminars), at the graduate level, already more intricate theoretical concepts and research areas are introduced, namely translation history, contemporary translation theories, translation criticism, interrelation of translation and closely related disciplines – semiotics, pragmatics, textual linguistics, etc. The description of the curriculum of the TandI study programme at Palacký University Olomouc at the undergraduate and graduate levels is followed by a more detailed outline of the seminars concerned with translation theory and translation research at graduate level. The core topics introduced in the theoretical seminars in the MA study programme and the applicability of the theoretical aspects to the practical issues of translation are further elaborated on.

Keywords: translation, translator education, translation theory, translation history, MA study programme

Josefína Zubáková is an assistant professor at the Department of English and American Studies at Palacký University Olomouc, Czech Republic. She holds an MA degree in English and Russian Philology and a PhD degree in English Philology. Her PhD thesis entitled Between Centre and Periphery: Plays Translated from English in the Czech Theatrical System (1989-2009) deals with translation practices in the Czech Republic in the postcommunist period and concentrates particularly on the quantitative and qualitative analysis of theatrical plays translated from English into Czech. Apart from her interest in drama and theatre translation, she has conducted research in the areas of translation history, translation theory and translator´s training. She has presented the findings of her research at several international conferences, e.g. at 4th IATIS conference at Queen´s University of Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK, 2012, at 6th international conference New Research in Translation and
Interpreting Studies, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona, Spain, 2013, or at 8th EST Congress, Aarhus, Denmark, 2016.

Jitka Zehnalová is an assistant professor at the Department of English and American Studies at Palacký University Olomouc, Czech Republic. She holds an MA degree in English and German Philology and a PhD degree in English Philology. Her research interests include translation quality assessment, translation criticism, translation theory, literary translation, sociology of translation and translator´s training. She is the main author of the collective monograph Translation Quality and Assessment: Models and Applications (2015) and has published extensively in various journals and peer-reviewed series, e.g. Folia Translatologica, Brno Studies in English, Olomouc Modern Language Series, etc. She has presented the findings of her research at several international conferences, e.g. at 5th International Language in the Media Conference, London, UK 2013, at conference Researching Translation and Interpreting I: The Challenge and Promise of Interdisciplinary, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China, 2017, or at the workshop Corpus Semiotics: Reassessing Context, University of Manchester, UK, 2017.