Why We Need CPDs: Martina Bajčić &Viktorija Osolnik Kunc Faculty of Law, Rijeka Faculty of Arts, Ljubljana Translating Europe Forum 2017
Why We Need CPDs:
Martina Bajčić &Viktorija Osolnik Kunc Faculty of Law, Rijeka
Faculty of Arts, Ljubljana
Translating Europe Forum 2017
1. CPDs – Whys and Hows
2. The Importance of CPDs (for legal translators and court interpreters)
3. CPDs of the Association of Sworn Court Interpreters and Legal Translators of Slovenia SCIT
Overview:
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The hallmarks of a profession
training knowledge
experience CPD
Expertise?
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Ongoing professional
development: formal and
informal
Life-long learning WHY: to develop
expertise
Continuous professional
development
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o Code of Conduct (for lawyers) provides that they have to carry out their profession with care and diligence
o which is interpreted by the doctrine as encompassing an obligation to undergo continuous training!
o “Judges have a duty to perform judicial work professionally and diligently, which implies that they should have great professional ability, acquired, maintained and enhanced through training.” (EP 2017)
CPDs implied for some
professions
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- allow to stay abreast of relevant changes
to:
o technology
o language
o terminology (domain)
o law/regulation of the profession
Why CPDs matter
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o profession – an occupational group that has
succeeded in controlling and manipulating the
market in such a way that they can maximize
its rewards (Weber 1947)
o criteria for a group to qualify as a profession:
inter alia, expertise, restriction of entry,
qualifications, training
CPDs boost professional status
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o T&I suffer from an inferior status (Simeoni 1998); often described as a transparent medium, or those who belong behind the scenes (Jänis 2002)
Sociology of professions:
o a semi-professional or marginal occupation
o not fully institutionalized occupation at the top of the professional prestige ladder („the success stories of professionalism“)
Translators in Disguise I
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o the low status as a profession is
paradoxical today with so much
attention devoted to cross-cultural
processes such as globalization,
migration (cf. Sela-Sheffy 2016)
Translators in Disguise II
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Lessons to learn from legal practitioners
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o in its 2011 Communication on “Building trust in EU-wide
justice”, the EC set the objective of enabling half of the legal
practitioners in the EU to participate in European judicial
training activities by 2020
o EJTN, HELP, HELP in the 28* – set the trail towards European
standards, good practices
o pilot project – study on the state of play of court staff training
o *1.6 M EUR-the largest training project within the EU for
judges, prosecutors and lawyers
Lessons to learn
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o coordinates national training activities
across the EU
o in 2016 offered judicial training to nearly
5,600 judges, prosecutors, trainers and
trainees
o continuous training also offered in most
EU countries; whereas in countries in
which it is not mandatory, training is
offered (e.g. Germany, Austria)
EJTN
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o 1) pan-European Programme of legal education based on a
pan-European HELP Network (Judiciary schools and Bar
associations of CoE 47 MS)
o 2) "A la carte" and tailor-made approach with a huge potential
for development and adaptation to national training system
o 3) focus on the enhanced capacity of national trainers (train-
the-trainers approach)
o 4) quality of the training modules merging European standards
with national law
o 5) use of modern technologies including - but not limited to -
interactive distance learning etc.
HELP
Association of Sworn Court Interpreters and Legal
Translators of Slovenia SCIT
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profile data o "sodni tolmač" – sworn court interpreter and court
translator
o examination board (judges, legal experts, academia) – Slovenian Ministry of Justice, Judicial Training Center
o one-day language and legal seminars (both optional)
o no institutionalized training for CI & CT
o candidates from linguistics, law, economics, civil engineering ...
o new Act on court experts, assessors and interpreters to be passed by the end of 2017 (ongoing negotiations between Ministry and the stakeholders)
Sworn Court Interpreters in
Slovenia
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of an Association
o to connect people of the same profession/occupation
o to educate and deliver continuous professional development courses
o to act as a professional body and respond to questions and concerns of national and public interest
o act as a learned society
Aims and goals
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members of associations (translators/interpreters)
value the most:
– financial benefits (e.g. translation/interpretation job offers)
– low-cost education opportunities
– tailor-made professional development programmes
– specialized/complex knowledge
– social events (networking as an added value)
Benefits for members
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Consumer or quality driven?
High quality
•A three-fold insight into the profession + passion & devotion
Costs
•Value and respect quality
Expert speakers
•Do excellent speakers come for free?
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Key tasks:
– adding professional value to the profile of the sworn court interpreter and court translator in Slovenia
– narrowing the gap between the academia and the T/I profession
– identifying newcomers from other professions and late career changers (“Quereinsteiger”) in the T/I profession
– understanding the benefits of academic & professional research
– quality over quantity
– instil the ethics of professionalism
Association SCIT
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o since 2006 – raising awareness of the work of CI & CT by
maintaining constant discourse with the Slovenian Ministry of
Justice
o in 2012 – Association established
o Nov. 2017 – 87 members out of appr. 660 sworn CIs
o focus on inviting experts from the academia/industry with
extensive professional experience in law and language
o being recognized because of professionalism, not lobbying
o in Jan. 2012 - CPDs mandatory by Slovenian legislation for all
CIs (in 2015 – implementation of three language specific & two
legal specific CPDs as mandatory over a five-year period per
CI lang.)
About us
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offering CPDs with experts such as:
o Prof. Dr. Miodrag Orlić, Faculty of Law, Belgrade
o David Hutchins, Lexacom, London
o Prof. Emeritus Dr.Dr. h.c. Gernot Kocher, Faculty of Law, Graz
o Prof. Dr. Borut Holcman, Faculty of Law, Maribor
o Prof. Dr. Miro Cerar, Prime Minister of Slovenia
o Assist. Prof. Dr. Martina Bajčić, Faculty of Law, Rijeka
Connecting people and
developing expertise
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Professions: judge, notary assistant, CI examiner & lecturer, notary, translator
Board of Directors
References o Opinion no 4 of the Consultative council of European Judges (CCJE) to the
attention of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on appropriate
initial and in-service training for judges at national and European levels
o The Training of Judges and Legal Practitioners. Legal and Parliamentary Affairs.
Justice, Freedom and Security. EP, 2017.
o Bajčić, M. 2015. The Way Forward for Court Interpreting in Europe. In Šarčević, S.
(ed.) Language and Culture in EU Law. Multidisciplinary Perspectives. Surrey:
Ashgate. 219-239.
o Jänis, M. 1996. „What Translators of Plays Think about Their Work.“ Target 8(2):341-64.
o Osolnik Kunc, V. 2014. Der Gerichtsdolmetscher – über Profil und Arbeit in Slowenien. In: Baur, W. et al. (ed.): Im Spannungsfeld zwischen Mensch und Maschine – Die Zukunft von Übersetzern, Dolmetschern und Terminologen. BDÜ Fachverlag: Berlin. 799-807.
o Simeoni, D. 1998. „The Pivotal Status of the Translator‘s Habitus.“ Target 10(1): 1-39.
o Sela-Sheffy, R. 2016. "Professional Identity and Status." In Researching Translation
and Interpreting, Angelelli, Claudia V. & Brian James Baer, eds. Milton Park & New
York: Routledge, pp. 131-145.
o http://www.sarahdillon.com/intro-to-cpd/
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