New Short Course on Note-Taking for Consecutive Interpreting
| by Sierra Abukins
The self-paced online course is taught by Professor Laura Burian and helps you build the foundation to build a strong note-taking practice over time.
Dean of Teaching, Learning, and Faculty Development
Laura Burian is the Dean of Teaching, Learning, and Faculty Development, and professor of Chinese/English translation and interpretation.
After graduating from the Institute’s Chinese Translation and Interpretation program in the 1990s, Dean Burian moved to China where she first served as Assistant Director of the Duke Study in China Program, then became an in-house Chinese/English translator/interpreter/legal assistant in the Beijing office of a New York law firm, and then became a freelancer. She maintains a dynamic portfolio of high-profile translation and interpretation clients in both the public and private sector.
After joining the faculty at MIIS in 2000, Dean Burian received several prestigious teaching awards, including the Eliason Teacher of Excellence Award and the Outstanding Teacher of the Year Award. Her pedagogy aims to inspire her students to quickly become full partners in shaping the trajectory of their own professional and personal development.
Dean Burian is also deeply engaged in school service, having served two terms as Faculty Senate President, and is a frequently invited guest speaker at conferences, workshops, and seminars worldwide. Her TEDx talk (co-presented with MIIS Professor Barry Olsen) is often used as a primer for students, teacher, and end-users of translation and interpretation, and earned a TED “Editor’s Pick” accolade in 2014.
CHNS 6606
Intro to Chns/Eng TranslationCourse Description
Introduction to Chinese/ English Translation and Interpretation
Students will engage in exercises to learn about and put into practice Chinese to English and English to Chinese written and speaking translation and oral interpretation. After 5 weeks the students will have general familiarity with the processes and practices of written and sight translation and consecutive interpretation. Very high proficiency levels (native or near-native) in both Chinese and English is required.
Instructor: Laura Burian, Dean and Professor of Chinese/ English translation and interpretation, Graduate School of Translation, Interpretation, and Language Education, Middlebury Institute of International Studies.
[Meets M.A. Special Topics requirement.]
Terms Taught
Requirements
TIAG 8505 Current
Foundations in InterpretationCourse Description
Introduction to Interpretation
This multilingual course introduces students to the basic theories and practices of interpretation in general, and consecutive interpretation in particular. It lays a foundation for the development of professional skills in consecutive interpretation, emphasizing the ability to understand and analyze a message in the source language (SL) and convey it in the target language (TL) in a straightforward and clear manner. Students will hone their public-speaking skills by developing and delivering speeches, and will practice listening to and interpreting the content of passages of increasing length and difficulty as they develop the ability to identify, analyze, and paraphrase the meaning of an oral source text and establish logical relations between its components. Content is interpreted on topics from daily life, current events and the media, and general areas of personal interest to students.
Activities will include discussions and readings to build related knowledge, and practical hands-on exercises to build interpretation skills and to explore the purposes of interpretation and decisions made when approaching an interpretation assignment, including protocol, context, speaker intention, audience needs, public speaking, delivery, rhetorical style, deverbalization, equivalency, definitions of accuracy and faithful conveyance of the message, and the use of tools and resources to support interpretation.
Course assignments include readings and research on class topics, presentations, practice, graded exercises, and peer and self-assessment. The frequency, nature, and structure of course assignments and examinations are at the discretion of the instructor(s) of record.
This course is complementary to language-specific Introduction to Interpretation courses 8501 and 8502.
Terms Taught
Aware that today’s translation and interpretation markets are ultra-dynamic, Dean Burian is determined to maintain her professional currency so that she can share new insights and trends with her students. Her recent translations include corporate legal documents, academic papers, and texts on Chinese culture. Her recent interpretation assignments include conferences on new internet technologies and energies, venture capital, paleontology, human rights, education and government.
Dean Burian’s research interests center around expertise acquisition, effective pedagogical approaches for the consecutive and simultaneous interpretation classroom, and learner autonomy. As an accomplished violinist, she enjoys drawing on musical analogies to make her teaching more meaningful.
Dean Burian has been teaching at the Institute since 2000.
| by Sierra Abukins
The self-paced online course is taught by Professor Laura Burian and helps you build the foundation to build a strong note-taking practice over time.
| by Charles Cai and Xiaohui Hu
Second-year interpretation students organized and led the annual Fall Forum, which was not only centered on a food theme this year, but featured seven local restaurants serving different cuisines.
| by Laura Burian, Charles Cai, and Xiaohui Hu
First-year translation and interpretation students from across multiple languages came together and broke down cultural barriers as they put their growing interpretation skills to test.