“The Unbearable Lightness of Being a Linguist Today”: Lecture by an Associate Professor of the University of Ljubljana

It has already become a good tradition to invite foreign experts from partner institutions to the Caspian Higher School of Interpreting and Translation. On September 26, 2018 our 1st and 2nd year MA students attended a lecture by Damjan Popič, an Associate Professor of the Department of Translation Studies of the University of Ljubljana. “The Unbearable Lightness of Being a Linguist Today” – this was an epigraph Damjan started his lecture with. His speech was dedicated to the role of modern technologies in translation and interpreting.
Damjan spoke about a significant role of information technologies in linguistics. He also discussed possible threats and disadvantages of modern translation tools.
The expert stressed that IT may facilitate translators’ professional life, but they do not do translators’ job for them. He also noted that technological breakthrough forces linguists to master digital tools in order to be competitive at the labor market. Damjan presented “Digital Linguistics”, an educational programme of the University of Ljubljana, told the students about its advantages and the skills that are necessary to enter this programme. He also highlighted the competences its alumni will get upon successful completion of the study course.
The class with Damjan Popič was very fruitful. The students asked various questions concerning application of neural network technologies in translation, as well as the future of linguistics.