Simultaneous Translation students experimenting with their skills at Llandeilo Literature Festival.
Students on the Simultaneous Translation course at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David have recently been busy assisting with the provision of simultaneous translation at the Llandeilo Literature Festival.
This festival offers an excellent line-up of authors, poets, storytellers, biographers and playwrights. Creative practical workshops were held, along with storytelling sessions for children, and a range of talks in Welsh and English by some of Wales’s most famous writers of fiction and non-fiction.
Over 1350 people attended the event, travelling from across south and west Wales to enjoy the weekend.
Christoph Fischer, one of the Chairs of the festival, had this to say:
“We are very grateful for the professional translation service we received from the students of the University of Wales Trinity Saint David this year at Llandeilo Literature Festival. The feedback received both from the feedback forms and from personal comments was very positive.
“The students were very helpful and open to assisting and offering advice, adding to the excellent atmosphere at our events. With their help, we were able to offer a simultaneous translation service in 100% of the Welsh sessions, enabling us to offer all the Welsh-medium events to our entire audience. This has increased our attendance figures, and numbers have grown significantly compared to previous years. We cannot thank you enough for your support.”
One of the authors who took part in a Welsh only session was Dafydd Iwan, and he received support from the students to reach out to the non-Welsh speaking audience. He said:
“The art of good translation is not to draw attention to it, but to allow those who rely on translation to do so. Too often, someone complains that they can’t hear, or don’t understand the headsets, or another reason for delaying for long minutes before starting the work.
“If the preparation is right, and the translator understands the procedure, good translation adds a great deal to the success of a presentation in Welsh. The best sign for me is that nobody complained or said they couldn’t follow.
“As I was mainly talking about the fortunes of the language itself, I was keen to convey the message clearly, to the non-Welsh speakers and Welsh speakers. So thank you again for the experience, and a big thank you to the students for their effective work.”
One of the students who took the opportunity to shadow and provide the service was Bethan Griffiths. She said:
“Attending such an event was an invaluable experience to learn more about the simultaneous translation profession. I had a fantastic opportunity to shadow an experienced translator as well as practise the art of simultaneous translation during some of the live sessions. This opportunity was undoubtedly a great way to familiarise with the demands of the field.”
Course lecturer Lynwen Davies added:
“With Llandeilo Literature Festival fast becoming an established part of the annual calendar, and with the increasing number of Welsh language sessions at the festival, the provision of a simultaneous translation service is becoming more and more important. The provision of this service is important not only to offer non-Welsh speakers access to the rich publishing world and culture of Wales, but also in order to offer equality of opportunity to all those who wish to attend the festival. Alongside this it offers invaluable opportunities for students at the University, and in particular students of the Postgraduate Certificate in Simultaneous Translation, to practice the art in a real-life situation. It was a pleasure to meet and provide simultaneous translation for people such as Dafydd Iwan.”
If you would like more information about the Postgraduate Certificate in Simultaneous Translation please e-mail rhagoriaith@pcydds.ac.uk
Further Information
Lowri Thomas
Principal Communications and PR Officer
Corporate Communications and PR
Email: lowri.thomas@uwtsd.ac.uk
Phone: 07449 998476