Kääntäjäopiskelijat selkomukauttajina

Opetuskokeilun antia

Authors

• Ritva Hartama-Heinonen Helsingin yliopisto
• Päivi Kuusi Helsingin yliopisto
• Leealaura Leskelä Helsingin yliopisto
• Kaarina Pitkänen-Heikkilä Helsingin yliopisto

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.61200/mikael.129261

Keywords:

translator education, Easy Language, Easy Language translation, translation competences, uncertainty management

Abstract

In this article, we present our two-year-experiment of integrating Easy Language into university-level translator education. In the experiment, students adapted fiction and non-fiction into Easy Language for an audience with special needs. Easy Language refers to an inclusive type of Standard Language which is modified to its special readership to enhance comprehension and accessibility. Our project focuses on how translator students adopt their new role and apply their translation competence in their adaptations. We analyze the commentaries the participants wrote about their adaptation process. As future translators, the students are familiar with textual changes. Nevertheless, the commentaries demonstrate uncertainty which arises when the adapter has to simplify the text and reduce its contents. The students also ponder how to orientate themselves to the cognitive needs of their prospective readers. The overall results of the experiment turned out to be promising, and translation and adaptation into Easy Language is gradually becoming an integral part of the curriculum of translator training at the University of Helsinki.