Featuring an unusually interdisciplinary schedule, the 2007 Caxton Club/Newberry Library Symposium will be held on March 31, 2007, under the title "Remodeling the Tower of Babel: The Translator's Role in a Shrinking World." The program is available at the website of the Caxton Club of Chicago. Translators and others with a professional interest in translation who would like to discuss the possibility of a caravan expedition from Boston to Chicago, are encouraged to contact the Blumies by email.
Of particular interest to this Blumie is the panel discussion to explore "the future of translation and translation studies, which seem inevitably linked to the ongoing development of the Internet and of digital translation technologies. This question will also be taken up in the Fall 2007 issue of the Journal, by Chuan Summers at the University of Leeds. In his article, Summers considers the merging methodologies of machine translation, corpus tools, and the traditional exertions of the human practitioner. He advocates ultimately for the integration of these disparate elements. As the demand for translation of print and digital works continues to rise, translators can either embrace all available methods in order to provide efficient and competent versions, or can stake out differing claims on "legitimacy" that impede the collective effort to disseminate literature across linguistic and culture boundaries.
