Innovation in Language Learning

Italy is the world’s largest wine producer¹, and Veneto was Italy’s leading wine exporter by value in 2022, accounting for 35% of the total value of Italian wine exports². Prosecco is the region’s most popular exported wine, representing 43.9% of its overall wine exports³, with Conegliano Valdobbiadene, the Prosecco DOCG region, attracting almost 96,000 visitors from January to July 2023, 46% from abroad⁴. It is therefore important that Italy’s trainee translators and interpreters understand grape-growing and winemaking procedures, as well as wine-tasting language, and can use the related terminology appropriately in a professional setting. In order to introduce students to translation and interpreting as a professional enterprise, authentic collaborative work, in the classroom, laboratory and literally in-the-field, is the perfect introduction^5,6,7. To this end, first-year postgraduate students of Specialised Translation and Interpreting into English at the University of Padova, Italy, were given experiential training in the classroom, culminating in a simulated liaison interpreting event at a Prosecco producer. Classroom preparation was divided into three synergic parts, simulating a real-world assignment: translation/revision of the winery’s publicity materials⁸, wine sheets and sustainability report; use of CAT tools Trados Studio and MultiTerm to extract terminology from the translated/revised materials to create a termbase⁹; and simulation of an interpreting event in a classroom setting. The parts were developed by three professionals: a  translator, a terminologist and an interpreter. The objective was to provide students with first-hand experience of a real-world assignment (from preparation and briefing to debriefing post-assignment¹⁰). Results of classroom learning were that students engaged with authentic material, gained experience of using translation technology, and had interpreting guidance and practice before the event. At the winery, they were provided with hands-on experience in a "safe space", interacted with a real client in a real situation, employed wine-making terms, and implemented their interpreting skills in a real-world context. Furthermore, the winery received professionally translated material. This presentation outlines a lesson plan for an activity that can be replicated in individual teaching contexts and customised to needs, as well as to a wide range of specialised topics.