1,039
Views
11
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Articles

Why not go online?: A case study of blended mode business interpreting and translation certificate program

&
Pages 444-466 | Received 03 Apr 2016, Accepted 03 Jul 2018, Published online: 30 Oct 2018
 

ABSTRACT

Because of the globalisation of business transactions and trade, the demand for translation and interpreting (T&I) services has continued to grow in South Korea. A 20-week-long Business Interpreting and Translation (BIT) Certificate Program was designed to teach basic T&I skills to people who were interested in acquiring such skills for their work or those who wanted to improve their language skills through T&I training. This paper discusses the course design of the online classes that the BIT programme offered in the first half of 2015, with a focus on the instructional design, advantages, and challenges perceived by trainees and trainers. This paper presents findings from surveys and interviews with trainees and trainers, offering insight into the effectiveness of the online T&I training course. The results indicate that trainees were generally satisfied with their online learning experiences and positively evaluated the efficacy of online translation training, whereas trainers had mixed views on online teaching and learning. Despite some limitations, this paper points to promising aspects of delivering online T&I training for specific purposes.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. In this paper, no distinction has been made between training and education.

2. Online learning is used interchangeably with e-learning in this paper, which refers to instruction delivered on a digital device that is intended to support learning (Clark and Mayer Citation2011, 8).

3. Since 2013 95% of trainees have completed the certificate programme, while some dropped out or skipped classes because of their heavy workload or frequent business trips.

4. The first author managed the BIT programme and the second author participated in teaching online.

5. The tuition for the blended mode was approximately 20% lower than the face-to-face mode for promotional purposes.

6. Reference translation and interpreting is rarely provided in face-to-face classes because it is regarded as interfering with trainees’ reflexive and critical thinking and only encourages copying, but in the online mode, it was allowed to some extent in an effort to compensate for the absence of lively discussion in classroom. For beginners in T&I training, it may help them understand what a good translation is. In this case, it is important to inform them that the reference is only one of numerous approaches to translating and interpreting.

Log in via your institution

Log in to Taylor & Francis Online

PDF download + Online access

  • 48 hours access to article PDF & online version
  • Article PDF can be downloaded
  • Article PDF can be printed
USD 53.00 Add to cart

Issue Purchase

  • 30 days online access to complete issue
  • Article PDFs can be downloaded
  • Article PDFs can be printed
USD 209.00 Add to cart

* Local tax will be added as applicable

Related Research

People also read lists articles that other readers of this article have read.

Recommended articles lists articles that we recommend and is powered by our AI driven recommendation engine.

Cited by lists all citing articles based on Crossref citations.
Articles with the Crossref icon will open in a new tab.