Scientist at Kaunas Faculty of Humanities: experience in foreign universities

On invitation by Professor at the University of Leicester (UK) Kirsten Malmkjær, Professor Dr. Loreta Ulvydienė (Department of Germanic Philology, VU Kaunas Faculty of Humanities) whose scientific interests involve intercultural communication and translation studies went on a 3-week internship to the United Kingdom.

Could you please enlarge upon your collaboration with scientists in the United Kingdom and your acquaintance with Professor Malmkjær?

I met Prof. Malmkjær when she still worked in Middlesex University in London (UK). Kirsten Malmkjær is the founder of the European Society for Translation Studies, editor of scientific translation studies journals, a consultant and an expert. During that time (2008) I was the Vice Dean for Project Coordination at Vilnius University Kaunas Faculty of Humanities, and Prof. Malmkjær was a Vice Dean in a university in London. We started collaborating, which resulted in a letter of intent between our academic institutions and an Erasmus Exchange agreement.

Unfortunately, philological sciences experienced a difficult period throughout 2009-2010 in both Lithuania and Great Britain, which resulted in closure of the Department of Philosophy and Translation in Middlesex University due to the decreased students’ interest in foreign languages. However, as my goal was as high quality of the study process in the Faculty as possible, my project was funded by the Research Council of Lithuania, as a result of which I could invite Prof. Malmkjær to Kaunas to deliver lectures. This visit and the launch of our Faculty’s new study programme – Audiovisual Translation – was a happy coincidence.

A year later, Prof. Malmkjær invited me to work together. I am glad that this fellowship hasn’t broken off; it is exciting to work together, learn and improve. I have been a consultant of a PhD student at the University of Leicester (United Kingdom) since 2012, and I have translated into action the project “Key Cultural Texts in Translation”. In spring, I submitted an application for an additional PhD place to the Research Council of Lithuania. I invited Prof. Malmkjær to be the consultant, which leads to believe that this collaboration is going to develop into a high-level international (joint) PhD studies in Translation Studies.

What have you learnt from this particular experience and has is generated any new ideas for you?

During my visit to the global conference on Leadership at the Imperial College London, I noticed that traditional boards with chalk are still used in classrooms, which is long forgotten by us Lithuanians. The answer to my mute question was that the top-ranking universities aim at attracting acknowledged scientists and professors, which then becomes the guarantee of quality, and new technologies are only a means to ensure a successful study process.

It is interesting that the Imperial College London does not have any remaining departments of languages, yet the students have an opportunity to deepen their foreign language skills on a daily basis between 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. This opportunity for them is created by the lecturers at the Centre of Co-Curricular Studies.

During this internship, I delivered presentations in two scientific conferences at the University of Leicester and at one of the largest and oldest universities in Great Britain – University College London (UCL) with an integrated centre of foreign languages and translation which used to belong to the Imperial College London. For many years Jorge Diaz-Cintas, pioneer of audiovisual translation in Great Britain, initiator of study programmes, author of books and textbooks and director of the Centre of Translation Studies at UCL worked there. My colleague invited me to participate in seminars on the peculiarities, future and prospects of audiovisual and machine translation. During the internship, I delivered lectures on intercultural translation and the importance of cultural concepts in translation in order to develop dialogue between the East and the West.

I am especially glad to have met globally acknowledged theorists and practicians in Translation Studies, i.e. Mona Baker (University of Manchester), Maria Tymoczko (University of Massachusetts), Ferial Ghazoul (American University in Cairo), Judy Wakabayashi (Kent State University), Theo D'Haen (University of Leuven/ KU Leuven), Farzaneneh Farahzad (Allameh Tabtaba‘i University in Tehran), Defeng Li (SOAS University of London) and Jorge Diaz-Cintas (UCL) who responded to the invitation to Lithuania very well.

I have brought many new ideas, thoughts, intentions and plans for the future which, before long, I will share with the scientists, students and the entire community of Vilnius University Kaunas Faculty of Humanities by inviting everyone to seminars.

Sincere thanks to Prof. Dr. Loreta Ulvydienė for sharing her impressions from the UK. We will be waiting for the seminars.