In the light of Andrew Jameson's message, it might be opportune to use this space to give some consideration to the question of British involvement with MAPRYaL. It has to be said that Britain has always had what some might see as a cheapskate approach to this organisation, in that the single subscription (currently around USD 200) was paid jointly by BUAS and ATR, with the representative being someone with a foot in both camps. Both organisations have disappeared in mergers, but while ALL has assumed ATR's responsibility (and more besides), BASEES has, intentionally or otherwise (and I strongly suspect the latter), fallen by the wayside.
There does seem in recent years to have been something of a general disengagement from MAPRYaL on the part of all West European countries. At the last Congress (Varna, 2007) I counted no more than 30-35 representatives from all the West European countries combined, and a substantial proportion of those were graduates of the Soviet/Russian education system, though this may reflect the way language is taught in most European universities. No doubt this disengagement is in part a consequence of the general decline in Russian teaching over the last 15-20 years, but it also has to be said the MAPRYaL itself has changed. For all his faults (real or presumed) V.G. Kostomarov was very successful in steering MAPRYaL into the post-Soviet era and was always concerned both with raising its international profile and with maintaining international academic standards. The present leadership of the organisation has views that can be most charitably be described as robustly neo-Stalinist, and the Varna Congress was at times marked by a worrying tone of nationalist self-sufficiency.
MAPRYaL has, however, always been close to the authorities, a stance which if nothing else does help with access to whatever funds the Russian government and other Kremlin-friendly organisations willing to put into the support of Russian teaching. And, whatever reservations one might have about particular individuals, there is presumably no longer any need for qualms about taking 'Kremlin gold'. For this reason I agree with Andrew that MAPRYaL is a useful resource, and it is better for British russianists to be involved than otherwise. I would, though, add that we will get the most out of the organisation if we have a very clear idea not only of what is available, but also of what we want and of how we might go about getting it. And if the russianists of Western Europe can co-ordinate their actions, so much the better.
John Dunn.
-----Original Message-----
From: Andrew Jameson <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Date: Wed, 8 Apr 2009 11:28:11 +0100
Subject: FW: MAPRYAL revives translation committee
Russian Translation specialists may be interested to know that the
International Association of Teachers of Russian Language and Literature
(MAPRYAL) is re-establishing a committee specialising in translation theory
and the training of translators/interpreters of Russian. The committee is
being revived to better fulfil a need for international co-operation and
joint projects. It is intended that the next MAPRYAL congress (Shanghai,
2011) will have an enhanced translation section or sections.
It is also proposed that the committee should have a standing brief
including: the exchange of experience, international theoretical and
practical projects, support for teachers of translation and for
translators/interpreters of Russian. Conferences and seminars in the
countries of the committee members are envisaged. If you would like to know
more about this, please contact the UK MAPRYAL representative, Andrew
Jameson, at <mailto:[log in to unmask]> [log in to unmask] .
All communication with the Russian side is conducted in Russian by the way.
There are now TWO websites with information about MAPRYAL,
http://www.mapryal.org/ and the "novaya versiya saita" at
http://mapryal.russkoeslovo.org/
The new version of the site has a 12pp list of hundreds of MAPRYAL members -
individuals, departments of Russian and academic associations. There is only
one member for UK, the Association for Language Learning (which deals mostly
with schools and FE). The UK is losing out by ignoring MAPRYAL.
Andrew Jameson
6 Gilbert Road
Malvern WR14 3RQ UK
01684 572466
John Dunn
Honorary Research Fellow, SMLC (Slavonic Studies)
University of Glasgow, Scotland
Address:
Via Carolina Coronedi Berti 6
40137 Bologna
Italy
Tel.: +39 051/1889 8661
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
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