The First WITTA Congress: Translation in Education and Education in Translation

Human civilization in today’s world poises between two poles: one is globalization and the other localization. In either direction translation plays a pivotal role and hence has profound implications for social and cultural development. As such, translation education is becoming increasingly a concern of global significance. And in view of the rapid development of translation programmes in higher education as well as other professional sectors across the world, two issues concerning translation as an integral part of education stand out for more critical attention. One is translation in education: how translation should position itself in the existing education system to facilitate the training of competent translators and interpreters. And the other can be seen in a broad sense as education in translation. That is, how education as a whole in different countries and regions has drawn upon translation in cultivating desirable qualities in a student. To speak to these matters of common interest, WITTA, a newly founded international association dedicated to promoting translation education, is inviting translation scholars and practitioners, education policy planners, and language and education service providers to participate in its First Congress and present papers on topics including (but not limited to) the following: · Translation in an educational setting: past, present and future · New approaches to translation education and research · Corpus, computer technology and translation education · Language service industry and translation education · Language policies and translation education · Translation and the cultivation of identity and global awareness · Translation and the cultivation of critical and creative thinking.