I am the head of translation studies at the Department of Modern Languages. I am glad that we have a great community where enthusiastic and knowledgeable teachers represent expertise in own fields and build a varied educational and research environment. The students are motivated and interested in translation. The central aim of teaching has been to meet the changing demands of working life. Accordingly, in the degree programme on translation studies and multilingual communication emphasis is also placed on translation technology. A directive requiring all member states of the European Union to organise training for court interpreters and to ensure that such interpreters are available in turn sets the direction for interpretation teaching.

Collaboration with people actually employed in the field is needed in teaching as well as in developing said teaching further. An example of this was a course organised by translation companies that covered topics such as global translation markets, employment opportunities in the field, translation technology tools, and project management. Another example was a course on audio-visual translation where students created subtitles for the hard of hearing and audio descriptions for theatrical productions. The course shows how the field of translation and interpreting are changing: it is all about making communication possible over various boundaries, and the important thing is the accessibility of the message.

Finnish literary translation is another area where collaboration with professional translators is not only fruitful but necessary. Masterful Finnish translators have given translation courses and shared their expertise at lectures. An example of this is a lecture series in the autumn of 2015 titled Landscapes of Translation and Cultures.