History of The Department of Theory and Practice of Translation

History of the Department

The Department of Theory and Practice of the Translation was founded in 1996 as a structural unit of the Faculty of Romance-Germanic Philology (now the Faculty of Foreign Languages), which is responsible for training specialists in the area of “Translation”. Then, the specialty was named “The English Language and Translation”. It allows students to obtain a bachelor’s degree in translation from English and a master’s degree in translation from two foreign languages (English and German), and also a teacher of translation in high school.

The Department of Theory and Practice of the Translation is relatively young, so the issue of continuous improvement of professional skills and training is one of the highest priorities for the teaching staff of the department. This work is carried out in such areas as postgraduate studies, the use of creative leave, internships in higher educational institutions of Ukraine and abroad, participation in various seminars and courses. The scientific and scientific-methodical internships of the teachers gained a special value at the Institute of Languages and Translation (Germany, Munich), at the Summer School “Interpretation” of the University of Mainez (Germany, Germersheim), at the Teacher Training Center IH Wroclaw (Poland, m. Wroclaw).

The professional level of teachers is also upgraded by their practical translation activities. From year to year the teachers and graduate students of the department have consecutive and simultaneous kinds of translation at conferences and meetings of different levels.

The Department of Theory and Practice of the Translation has modern computer equipment. In the computer translation labs the laptops are connected to a single network, and it plays an important role in improving the process of studying. The department takes care of the acquisition of computer programs for the study of various aspects in translation, which are implemented in the educational process by teachers who have undergone special training.

In 2004 the interpretation laboratory was opened to master the skills of simultaneous translation. In 2016, teachers of the department and 15 students-translators were trained and passed the exam on the use of the program “CAT for GRADES”.

The teachers of the department work in order to improve the information and technical support of the educational process: all teachers have the opportunity to use laptops, audio and video materials, materials of the Internet and telecommunications systems, multimedia projectors.

Multimedia technologies are introduced into the methods of teaching for practical and theoretical disciplines of the department, which contributes to the growth of the quality of educational activities. Multimedia support is used in such lecture courses as “Introduction to German Philology”, “Comparative Grammar of the English and Ukrainian Languages”, “Theory and Practice of Translation”, “Lexical and Grammatical Problems of Translation”, etc.

The department was headed by Ph.D., associate professor Iryna Pidhaiska. After the relocation of the university in 2014 the heads of the department were candidates of philological sciences Mariana Oleniak, Marta Kondratiuk, Yaroslava Hryhoshkina, Svitlana Kryshtal, Anna Volovyk. Today, the acting head of the department is Iryna Zapukhliak  – Cand. Sc. (Philological) Ph.D., Senior Lecturer of the Department of Theory and Practice of Translation, Faculty of Foreign Languages, Vasyl’ Stus Donetsk National University.