European Master’s in Translation (EMT) is a partnership between the Directorate-General for Translation (DGT) of the European Commission and the higher education institutions offering translation courses. This partnership takes the form of the EMT label award to satisfactory training complying quality criteria defined by the DGT. Universities and institutions that receive this label become members of the EMT network.
European Master’s in Translation
The EMT project was launched in 2006, at a conference of the DGT in Brussels on the training of translators and the evolution of the profession. It was created, among others, to meet the increase in demand for translation and related services to quality. Ultimately, the main objective is to enhance the translation profession within the European Union.
Organization of EMT
The EMT sets quality standards for the training of translators. They represent the professional competencies and skills required by students at the end of their two-year master. However, these skills are a global framework. The EMT focuses on a minimum set of professional skills required rather than on the specific content of a program or a specific training method. These are left to the discretion of the universities. Institutions may also customize their program to meet local market needs. In addition, other linking training programs with the translation can apply provided they meet certain criteria defined in the base skills.
Core skills
The set of skills is based on six “areas of expertise.” If training programs allow students to acquire these skills, they receive the EMT quality label. Competence areas are interdependent and any of these areas predominates over the others. The six areas of expertise are:
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Expertise in translation service delivery. These skills have both an interpersonal and production dimensions. Future translators must know how to manage customer relationships, but also, with their staff (project manager and other translators), adapt to market needs, and be organized (time management, stress, budget and continuous training). The production dimension concerns the translation itself. Future translators must master all stages of the translation of the document appropriately to customer requests. This is the core competence of the set.
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Language skills. This is the control of source and target languages. EMT students must master two working languages to level C1 of the Common European Framework for Languages, in addition to a perfect command of their mother tongue.
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Intercultural skills. The ability to summarize a text and understand information containing cultural references is one of those skills, which also require to know the conventions and standards writing in the target languages.
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Expertise in information extraction. This is the ability to search for information and to cross several sources of information. For this, the future translators are able to identify their needs for information and documentation and process information in assessing the reliability of documents. They must have a perfect command of research tools (dictionaries, search engines, databases, etc.).
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Technology skills. Mastery of technology (translation tools, information retrieval, office software) is also important for future translators. Translators must adapt to the different formats of technical documents and media. They must also know the possibilities and limitations of machine translation.
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Thematic expertise. Future translators need to specialize in one area to become a professional translator, and thus develop their knowledge in their area of specialty.
The courses that meet these quality standards are being allocated EMT label.
The EMT label
The EMT label is a quality label awarded to translation masters meeting the quality criteria of the skills set developed by the DGT. This label is a recognition of the high quality of translation training program. EMT logo and symbol are registered trademarks since October 14, 2011. Only 54 programs were awarded the label and can use the logo and the words “member/observer of EMT Network”. They also receive an EMT membership certificate.
EMT Network
The launch of the EMT network was in 2009. A second selection process took place in 2010 and third in 2014. After the selection process, 20 translation training programs have joined the EMT network. Universities join the network for a period of five years. Members can renew their membership application after this period. The next selection process will take place in 2019.
The aim of the network is cooperation and promoting esxchange between its members. Members discussed the evolution of the network, the EMT and the future of translation. EMT conferences are held and EMT network has its own wiki, which allows its members to exchange ideas.
Eligibility
Translation training programs corresponding to the EMT criteria and member countries of the European Union are full members of the EMT network after the selection. Eligible programs from countries outside the European Union may be granted observer status if selected at the end of the selection procedure. Eligible countries not belonging to the European Union are candidate countries and potential candidates for EU membership, the countries participating in the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP), the countries of the European Economic Area (EEA), Switzerland and Russia.
In 2010, 93 higher education institutions have responded to the call for applications which was closing in December (two schools from a non-EU country). 53 of them have become full members of the EMT network, the master in translation from the University of Geneva (Switzerland) joining the network with the observer status.
In 2014, 114 établisssment from 28 countries (25 member states of the European Union and 3 others) have postulated (members should represent an application); 64 candidates were selected, of which 2 as observers.
Translated from Wikipedia
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