Špork Palace, Hybernská 3, Prague, Czech Republic

Organized by:

The Institute of Translation Studies
Faculty of Philosophy and Arts
Charles University in Prague

14 – 16 October 2009

The notion of “East and West” has been used in a variety of contexts in the past to account for or to even rationalize political, social, and cultural differences. In many cases, this has led to misunderstanding and conflict. One typical example is Central Europe and the Iron Curtain. Another fitting example on the occasion of this conference is Prague.

Owing to its position in the middle of Europe, Prague, and Czech society as a whole, has always struggled with its identity in relation to “East and West” and has been strongly influenced by foreign cultures and political regimes throughout its long history.

Accordingly, Prague has often been referred to as a crossroads of Europe between the East and the West, between Capitalism and Socialism, between Catholicism and Protestantism, and between Slavonic and Germanic culture.

However, are traditional, bipolar world views such as “East and West” valid and acceptable today?

In a world of high-tech communication, globalization, and change, we need, rather, to look beyond traditional, narrow world views, such as “East and West”, and open channels up to more productive modes of discourse. Undoubtedly, the activities of translators and interpreters play a crucial role in this ongoing process of change and in shaping our understanding of the world.

This conference aims to bring together researchers and PhD students not only to discuss these ideas but also to question the traditional frameworks associated with such concepts as “East and West”. Our attention will be focused on translation and interpreting as a means of reaching a better understanding of the world, breaking the barriers and stereotypes underlying certain traditional views, and moving beyond...

or translating beyond “East and West”.

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CALL FOR PAPERS:

We are currently accepting abstracts for papers.

Researchers, scholars, and PhD students interested in presenting at the conference should send their abstract to the following e-mail address: prague@ff.cuni.cz

Deadline for submission of abstracts: 30 March 2009.

Abstracts may be a maximum of 300 words and are to be written in English.

You will be informed of whether your abstract has been accepted by 15 May 2009 at the latest.

The topics of the conference include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Examining and critically assessing traditional world views/paradigms (e.g. East and West) with respect to translation
• Innovative or provocative theories and/or methods in translation and interpreting studies
• Translation history: documenting and narrating past world views/paradigms (e.g. East and West) through translation
• Translation studies from the viewpoint of philosophy, literary theory, sociology, cultural studies, gender studies, etc.
• Russian Formalism/Prague Structuralism as a source of western translation studies concepts and theory
• Interpreting in teams at EU institutions: interpreters from the East and the West – challenges, knowledge gained, new research in the profession, and translator training
• Community interpreting and its role in assisting foreign nationals, immigrants and asylum seekers
• Issues relating to localization, globalization and internationalization

We reserve the right not to accept abstracts received after the deadline or abstracts longer than 300 words.

Following the selection procedure, the papers will be grouped according to themes and placed in special panels or sessions at our discretion.

Regular papers should be presented in English.

Plenary session presentations may be in English, Czech, German, French, Spanish, or Russian. Interpreting services into English are available for the plenary session. If you would like to have your presentation interpreted for the plenary session, please contact our interpreting team at the following address: prague@ff.cuni.cz

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17. listopadu 2009 NA KONFERENCI NAVAZUJE

SETKÁNÍ ABSOLVENTŮ OBORU PŘEKLADATELSTVÍ A TLUMOČNICTVÍ