Lost in translation? : A half-centenary of translator and interpreter training in Czech universities (1963–2013)
Abstract
A 26-panel exhibition to commemorate the 50th anniversary of translator and interpreter university training in the Czech Republic (1963–2013). The scenario of the exhibition evolves along 3 main lines: (1) the history of the translator and interpreter training as an academic discipline; (2) translation and interpreting in the context of the totalitarian regime in former Czechoslovakia; (3) the graduates’ recollections of their years of study.
The first two lines are complementary, showing how the development of the discipline in Czech universities (University of 17th November and Charles University in Prague) was interconnected with economic and ideological needs and accents of the communist regime. The third line adds a personal touch to the “big history” of the academic and professional discipline of translation and interpreting.
The author of the scenario has gathered a plethora of archival materials as well as a number of pictures, covering the history of the discipline from its founding fathers (and some of the predecessors) up to the present. The documents and pictures come from the Czech National Archive, the Archive of Charles University in Prague, the Czech Press Agency and from a number of personal archives of the former and current teachers and graduates of the Institute of Translation Studies, Faculty of Arts, Charles university in Prague.
The exhibition consists of 25 standard panels (75 x 100 cm) and 1 larger panel (75 x 120 cm) which can be hanged on walls or arranged on stands. Opening of the exhibition took place on the 10th November, 2013, in the premises of Charles University, gathering around 300 graduates, students as well as current and former teachers and representatives of different professional organizations in the field.
The exhibition is designed to be displayed permanently at the Institute of Translation Studies in Prague.