This September marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the establishment of the Department of Translation Studies at the Faculty of Philology of Vilnius University. On this occasion, the exhibition 25 Years of the Department of Translation Studies in Books: Our Research and Translations will be on display at the Small Exposition of VU Library from 22nd September. The exhibition features research publications by the department's researchers as well as translations of scientific, humanities and literary works by its lecturers and graduates.
The need for professional translators and interpreters increased dramatically after Lithuania regained its independence in 1990 and in the run-up to accession to the EU. Not only was it important to provide information to the world about events in Lithuania, communicate with politicians and business partners in other countries, but also to translate the entire EU acquis communautaire, which comprised thousands of pages of documents. In order to meet the rising demand for translators, the Faculty of Philology offered the basics of translation theory and specialised translation courses to students of foreign languages (e.g., at the Departments of English and Russian studies), but only with the establishment of the Department of Translation and Interpretation Studies in 1997, VU began offering master’s degree programmes and professional studies in interpreting and translation.
In the early days of the department, students were taught lecturers who were practicing translators and interpreters, drawing on their own experience and that of their colleagues in Denmark, the UK, and Germany. The huge demand made translation and interpreting a very alluring career choice and translation studies attracted many students, which meant that the development of individual study programmes for master’s degree and professional studies in interpreting and translation became a urgent need.
Lithuania's accession to the EU in 2004 brought with it another task of national importance – to ensure the equal use of the Lithuanian language in the European institutions. Efforts were made to harmonise translation studies programmes with respective training programmes of institutions training translators and interpreters in the European Union and in line with respective qualification and quality requirements, by taking into consideration the demand and career prospects for interpreters and translators at EU institutions and in the Lithuanian labour market. In 2011, the Department’s master’s degree programme was admitted to the European Network of Master in Translation (EMT). A bachelor's degree programme in translation and interpreting was launched in 2012.
In 2008, the annual academic journal Vertimo studijos (Translation Studies) was launched in an attempt to provide a forum for Lithuanian and foreign scholars to discuss the theory and practice of translation, to introduce the latest findings in translation research to its readership, to encourage scholarly discussion.
In the run-up to the Lithuanian Presidency of the Council of Europe in 2013, the Department of Translation Studies implemented several major projects, including the construction of a state-of-the-art conference interpreter training centre at the Faculty of Philology, the acquisition and continuous updating of technical and software equipment for translators, and the enrichment of the department's library. Researchers at the Department of Translation Studies published monographs, textbooks, specialised dictionaries. Some of these works are on display at the exhibition.
Currently, researchers at the Department of Translation Studies are working on a number of research projects, including a study on translation and censorship in the Soviet era, supported by the Lithuanian Research Council, an international project based on corpus technologies in collaboration with colleagues from Belgium (MUST), and the international interdisciplinary project Mental health for all, which involves 13 partners from 9 countries and aims to create an open digital platform with multilingual resources for mental health service providers.
In its twenty-five years of activity, the Department of Translation Studies has trained around 600 translators and interpreters, who currently work in foreign policy and business sectors and in EU institutions. Around 60% of translators into Lithuanian employed by the European Commission's Directorate-General for Translation (DGT) are graduates of the Translation Studies Department.
The Department of Translation Studies is recognised by the European Commission's Directorate-General for Interpretation (SCIC) as the only interpreter training centre in Lithuania that meets the EU professional requirements for interpreters. Professionals employed by interpretation bodies of the European Commission and the European Parliament provide pedagogical assistance to the Department in training interpreters by participating in the process of training, seminars, mock conferences, and examinations.
The exhibition takes place in the Small Exposition XXI–XXII of Vilnius University Library (Universiteto st. 3, the 3rd floor) until October 15, 2022.
2022-09-28