Classroom simulation of an automated translation workflow.

The paper reports on our didactic approach to a language technology course for graduate students in the Department of Applied Linguistics (School for Translation and Interpreting) of the Erasmushogeschool in Brussels. In this optional course, trainee translators move chronologically through the different steps of a complete multilingual translation project. At each step they are given the means to attain the following objectives: (1) to master and assess the impact of different computerized tools used in a professional setting, such as word processors, DTP-systems, terminology extractors, terminology management systems, translation memories, machine translation systems, revision tools, and translation workflow systems, and (2) to understand and experience different task-related roles in a fragmented translation process, such as the roles of account manager, vendor manager, client, project manager, terminologist, translator, reviewer, DTP-operator, and system administrator. In combining hands-on experience with different computerized tools and different roles and responsibilities in a multilingual translation setting we aim to facilitate students' transition to the translation industry and to prepare them for their professional life either as a freelance translator or as an employee in a translation agency or a company's translation department.