Hermeneutics and Translation Studies
Conference on May 26 and 27, 2011
ITMK, University of Applied Sciences in Cologne

With speakers from various European countries, USA, and China, the first Hermeneutics and Translation Studies Conference, held on the 26th and 27th of May, 2011, was a ground breaking event.
With a rich conference program, the papers presented covered a wide range of topics including literary and specialized translation, the place of individual knowledge and experience in translational hermeneutics, the role of hermeneutics in the Muslim tradition of exegetics and translation, the question concerning the possibility of an hermeneutical method, the role of any given “pre-understanding” of history and/or culture in the process of interpreting and translating, etc. In particular questions concerning the proper place and definition of “subjectivity”, "phenomenology" and “method” in translational hermeneutics emerged as the primary points of contention. The conference also provided ample opportunity for networking – especially at the evening dinner  at the Stanley residence – and thus fostered continued research in the area of translational hermeneutics.

Prof. Salah Basalamah
from the University of Ottawa, Canada, spoke on “Translating Ethos.”

Dr. Radegundis Stolze,
a well-known proponent for Translational Hermeneutics from the Darmstadt University of Technology, delivered an essay entitled “Faktoren einer hermeneutischen Übersetzungskompetenz.”

The venerable Prof. Marianne Lederer
from the Université Paris III-Sorbonne Nouvelle discussed the issue of “Translation Studies and Translation of Culture.”

Dr. Brian O’Keeffe
from Bernard College, USA, explicated the important and intricate relationship between “Fore-knowledge and the Translator’s Foreward.”

Prof. Doug Robinson
made the long journey from Lingnan University in Hong Kong to relate his thoughts to us on “Translation and Hermeneutics – Problems and Opportunites.”

Prof. Rainer Kohlmayer
from the University of Mainz (Germersheim) closed the conference with an invigorating talk on “Die Stimme im Text als tertium comparationis bem Literaturübersetzen.”