Wallace Chen
Assistant Professor & Language Coordinator Chinese T & I
I specialize in English-Chinese conference interpreting, translation, and using corpus methodology in translation teaching and research. My published translations cover a wide range of topics, including biology, patent and intellectual property, computing, environmental protection, psychology, Internet, online commerce, history, anthropology, and science and technology. I taught translation and interpreting at National Taiwan Normal University and Soochow University in Taiwan. I also taught interpreting to staff interpreters of state-owned enterprises in China, as well as holding workshops on corpus-assisted translation teaching and studies in Training-of-Trainers programs in Beijing. I am a permanent member of Taiwan Association of Translation and Interpretation (TATI). I have given keynote speeches and presentations on Corpus-based Translation Studies in conferences and seminars held in Taiwan, Beijing and the United Kingdom. I am currently building a number of translation corpora for use in text selection and T&I teaching.
Expertise
Interpreting and translation of English and Chinese, corpus-based translation studies
Education
PhD, Corpus-based Translation Studies, University of Manchester, U.K.
MA, Translation and Interpretation (Chinese and English), Monterey Institute of International Studies, U.S.A.
BA, English, Soochow University, Taiwan
Courses
Courses offered in the past four years.
▲ indicates offered in the current term
▹ indicates offered in the upcoming term[s]
TIAG 8604 - Practicum in Interpretation
Facilitates the transition from the classroom to the first professional assignment by offering students a wide range of interpretation experiences. Advanced interpreting students become comfortable with working in settings in which different modes of interpretation are called for and where relay interpretation is the norm. Students provide simultaneous and consecutive interpretation at Monterey Institute public events and taped conferences, for Institute interdisciplinary courses, and as part of community outreach; they also work intensively together in multilingual practice groups during the semester. Reinforces the concept of reflective practice, requiring students to evaluate their own performance as well as that of their peers. Students are expected to complete an interpretation portfolio.
Fall 2009 - MIIS
TIAG 8605 - Translation Practicum ▲
The Translation Practicum creates a space where students from different language groups experiment with their own individual translator styles and explore the complexities of working together on large-scale projects. Using screen-recording technology and peer review, students learn to adapt their existing translation skills to real world constraints. They also develop professional skills such as project management, speed translation, and the efficient use of machine translation and new technologies.
Prerequisites: Completion of first-year MAT coursework.
Spring 2010 - MIIS, Spring 2011 - MIIS, Spring 2012 - MIIS
TICH 8501 - Intro to Interp into English
Introduces students to conference interpretation in general and consecutive interpretation in particular. 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. Develops students’ ability to identify, analyze, and paraphrase the meaning in the SL and establish logical relations between its components. Emphasis is placed on active listening and concentration skills, memory, the ability to abstract information for subsequent recall, and basic elements of note-taking. At the end of the course, students are able to interpret extemporaneous passages that are on topics familiar to them and are between three and five minutes in length.
In language-specific sessions and joint sessions with other language programs, students are introduced to the skill of consecutive interpreting in both theory and practice. They practice listening to and repeating the content of passages of increasing length and difficulty. Students hone their public-speaking skills by developing and delivering speeches. Content is interpreted on topics from daily life, current events and the media, and general areas of personal interest to students.
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.
Fall 2009 - MIIS
TICH 8513 - Intro Sight Trans to English
Introduces students to the basic theory and practice of translation, both written and sight. Students will learn to apply text analysis, text typology, and contrastive analysis of their working languages to identify, analyze, and resolve translation problems while independently developing an efficient and rational approach to the process of translation. The appropriate application of electronic translation tools will also be introduced. Fundamental translation theory will be emphasized at the beginning of the course and will be conveyed in the form of assigned readings, lectures, class discussions, and independent research. In addition, course assignments will include practice and graded exercises in sight and written translation, utilizing authentic texts drawn from an extensive variety of text categories that include, but are not limited to, current events, general political economy, general legal documents, and scientific and technical topics for general audiences. As the term progresses, student time and effort will increasingly be spent on the preparation and evaluation of written translation assignments. Students will be expected to take at least one midterm exam and one final exam, to be assigned at the discretion of the instructor(s) of record.
Fall 2010 - MIIS
TICH 8514 - Intro Sight Trans to Chinese
Introduces students to the basic theory and practice of translation, both written and sight. Students will learn to apply text analysis, text typology, and contrastive analysis of their working languages to identify, analyze, and resolve translation problems while independently developing an efficient and rational approach to the process of translation. The appropriate application of electronic translation tools will also be introduced. Fundamental translation theory will be emphasized at the beginning of the course and will be conveyed in the form of assigned readings, lectures, class discussions, and independent research. In addition, course assignments will include practice and graded exercises in sight and written translation, utilizing authentic texts drawn from an extensive variety of text categories that include, but are not limited to, current events, general political economy, general legal documents, and scientific and technical topics for general audiences. As the term progresses, student time and effort will increasingly be spent on the preparation and evaluation of written translation assignments. Students will be expected to take at least one midterm exam and one final exam, to be assigned at the discretion of the instructor(s) of record.
Fall 2010 - MIIS
TICH 8525 - Intrm Intrp-Consc into English
TICH 8528 - Intrm Intrp-Siml into Chinese ▲
The Intermediate Interpretation – Simultaneous into Chinese course is designed to give first-year students the basic skills for simultaneous interpretation (SI) from English into Chinese. The focus of this course is on multitasking (i.e. the ability to split the attention), the acquisition of an adequate time lag, interpretation of short texts, and the development of stamina.
Through the extensive use of audio/video files in English and Chinese, students will learn to:
• develop good lag by shadowing on audio/video files of varying length and speed
• multitask
• cope with numbers
• interpret short texts
• start addressing specific linguistic difficulties when working from English into Chinese (sentence structures / word order)
• self-monitor voice and interpretation
Students will learn the basic techniques needed to perform SI from English into Chinese. By the end of the course, they should be able to interpret without undue fatigue a speech of 5-7 minutes in length, as required for the final examinations.
Spring 2011 - MIIS, Spring 2012 - MIIS
TICH 8636 - Adv Intrp I Consc into Chinese
This is the first of two complementary courses designed to bring interpretation knowledge and skills up to the professional level. Students are expected to apply the knowledge and skills acquired during the first-year interpretation courses to produce interpretations that would be of acceptable quality in a professional setting. Content on a wide range of topics and current events is interpreted, with emphasis placed on business, economics, science, technology, and other topics congruent with current market demand for interpretation in the language combination in question. Course assignments include readings and research on class topics, presentations, practice, graded exercises, and peer and self-assessment.
In consecutive interpretation, students prepare by researching topics before each session, with emphasis on sequential logic in notetaking and accurate terminology in delivery. Students continue to hone their skills by diagnosing and correcting problems at all stages from listening through delivery, while progressing to increasingly difficult and challenging material. In simultaneous interpretation, the techniques learned in the previous semester are consolidated, which enables students to polish their delivery and language register. Focuses on nuance of meaning, accuracy of interpretation, research and preparation for conferences, and glossary development. Special attention is given to maintaining concentration while under significant psychological stress. Students learn to recognize SL discourse patterns and render them effectively in TL.
At the end of the course, students are able to interpret difficult passages that are derived from professional settings. In consecutive, students are able to interpret passages up to several paragraphs in length. In simultaneous interpretation, students are able to interpret passages that are between fifteen and twenty minutes in length. The frequency, nature, and structure of course assignments and examinations are at the discretion of the instructor(s) of record.
Fall 2009 - MIIS, Fall 2010 - MIIS, Fall 2011 - MIIS
TICH 8646 - Adv Intrp II-Consc to Chinese
Assuming that students have already learned the basic skills of consecutive interpreting after three semesters, the focus of this course will be on: 1) honing CI skills to achieve greater fidelity to the original content while understanding the gist of the message, 2) developing more precise terminology, 3) achieving better comprehensibility to allow easier listening for the audience, and 4) creating a smoother delivery. To allow students to become familiar with talks on different topics involving more technical terms and requiring more in-depth background knowledge, authentic English texts and talks on a variety of topics involving technology and politics will be used as course materials.
Spring 2010 - MIIS
