Olgierda Furmanek

Olgierda Furmanek, Ph.D. is a Professor of Spanish and a founding director of the Graduate Program in Interpreting and Translation Studies at Wake Forest University. For over 15 years she has been teaching Spanish-English interpreting and translation as well as courses in applied interpreting studies and methodology of teaching interpreting at a graduate and undergraduate level. She has also taught translation at Yale University. Since 1988 she has been working as a free-lance interpreter, translator, terminologist and cultural consultant in Polish, Spanish, English, French as her main working languages and several others as her C languages.

Her research and publications focus on professionalization of interpreting, psychological and socio-institutional contexts of interpreters’ work, curriculum development and languages in contact. She is particularly interested in the collaborative dimensions of the interpreter’s work in terms of expectations management, event coordination, users’ education and organizational work, in healthcare settings but also in less traditional domains of dialogue interpreting, such as faith-related, educational and sports interpreting.

• SPA 381: Spanish Translation
• SPA 382: Spanish/English Interpreting
• SPA 384: Internships for STL & SI

Furmanek CV

BOOKS/ BOOK TRANSLATIONS

Człowiek z gór. Misja w Państwie Środka. E.J. Edwards. Translation into Polish of Man from the mountain (2022) Górna Grupa: Verbinum. Publisher website

Iskry Miłosiedzia na Łączach. Sparks of Divine Mercy along the Wires: Historie tłumaczy symultanicznych. Simultaneous Interpreters’ Stories (2017), co-edited with Ślusarczyk H., Górna Grupa: Verbinum. Video overview

Dialogue Interpreting: A Guide to Interpreting in Public Services and the Community (2016), co-authored with Tipton, R., London and New York: Routledge. Publisher website

Emotions and Language Choices in Multilingual Discourse (2005), Kraków: Księgarnia Akademicka. Publisher website

RECENT PROFESSIONAL ARTICLES

Faith-related interpreting: Simultaneous interpreters’ team at World Youth Day Krakow 2016 (2020), with S.M. Bałdyga. In B. Marczuk & I. Piechnik (Eds) Discours religieux : langages, textes, traductions, Kraków, Biblioteka Jagiellońska, 2020. [PDF] uj.edu.pl

The Different Faces of Interpreting Education in the United States (2013). In C.V. Angelelli & C. Gala (Eds.), Cuidado con los vacíos: la universidad y los estudios de traducción e interpretación. Cuadernos de ALDEEU, Vol. 25.

Graduate Level Internships in Interpreting and Translation: Research-Based, Research Oriented or Purely Professional? (2012). In I. Piechnik, J. Górnikiewicz & M. Świątkowska. Le petit prince et les amis au pays des traductions. Etudes dediées a Urszula Dąmbska-Prokop. Kraków: Księgarnia Akademicka.

Professionalization of Interpreters (2012). In C.A. Chapelle, The Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics. Oxford, UK: Wiley-Blackwell.

Applied Interpreting Studies at the core of teaching the instructors: a proposal of solutions (2010). Journal of Specialised Translation, Issue 14, July. https://jostrans.soap2.ch/issue14/art_furmanek.php

RECENT INVITED LECTURES AND PANELS

Mixed teams of semi-professional and professional interpreters for specialized and unusual contexts, Interpreter Practice, Research and Training: the Impact of Context, InDialog3 Conference, University of Antwerp/KU Leuven, Antwerp, Belgium, November 2019; Panel organizer

Transmisiones en directo: Workshop on simultaneous interpreting in the media and on intercultural medication in the Catholic context (with Fr. Henryk Ślusarczyk),  Diakonia, Escuela Superior de Comunicación Audiovisual, Universidad Católica Boliviana “San Pablo”, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, May 2018; Invited workshop

Religious interpreting in new geo-political and social contexts, XXI World Congress, International Federation of Translators, Brisbane, Australia, August 2017; Panel organizer

Current Trends in Interpreting Studies, Wyższa Szkoła Filologiczna, Wrocław, Poland, December 2016; Invited lecture

Current Trends in Interpreting Studies, Department of Languages and Culture Studies, University of North Carolina-Charlotte, NC, USA, November 2016; Invited lecture

Professional Medical Interpreters’ Role Conflict; Learning How to Work with Interpreters in Healthcare; Equity Research and Innovation Center (ERIC), Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA, October 2015
Highlight: Invited by the Yale School of Medicine faculty and Curriculum Committee to give a two-day series of lectures, teaching and workshop on how to include intercultural and interlinguistic healthcare services in their revised Medical School curriculum

The State of Translator Training in the US Today, 6th American Translation and Interpreting Association Conference, University of Texas, Brownsville and Texas Southmost College, TX, USA, March 2012; Invited panelist

Applied Interpreting Studies at the core of teaching the instructors: a proposal of solutions, Mastering Public Service Interpreting Conference, London, UK, July 2009; Plenary speaker

RECENT CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS

Hearing confessions through interpreters. European Society for Translation Studies Congress, Oslo, Norway, June 2022

Fusion interpreters: A valid approach for traditional and less-traditional domains in dialogue interpreting, XXI World Congress, International Federation of Translators, Brisbane, Australia, August 2017

Liturgical interpreting: canonical rigor and intended impact, with Bałdyga S.M., European Society for Translation Studies Congress, Aarhus, Denmark, September 2016

Faith-related interpreting, with Bałdyga S.M., Future-proofing interpreting, Critical Link 8, 8th International Conference on Interpreting in the Community, Edinburgh, UK, June 2016

Hybrid approaches in educational interpreting, with Tipton R., Future-proofing interpreting, Critical Link 8, 8th International Conference on Interpreting in the Community, Edinburgh, UK, June 2016

The Dialogue Interpreter’s Learning Trajectory: Holism, Reflection and Collaborative Dimensions, with Tipton R., Community Interpreting In Dialogue with Technology, InDialog2 Conference, Berlin, Germany, November 2015 

PUBLIC IMPACT

Trained and, as chief-interpreter, co-led a team of non-professional and professional religious interpreters for Pope Francis’ visit at the World Youth Day, Panama, January 2019, Pro Bono work

Dialogue Interpreting was selected as the primary resource by the TIME consortium for the Trainers of Intercultural Mediators’, highly prestigious program supported by the European Union, in particular designed and aiming to help with the current refugees crisis in Europe, October 2016. http://mediation-time.eu/index.php?lang=en

Recruited, trained and, as chief-interpreter, co-led a team of non-professional and professional religious interpreters for Pope Francis’ visit at the World Youth Day, Kraków, Poland, May-July 2016, Pro bono work
Highlight: Simultaneous interpreting was provided for 1.8 million pilgrims into 10 languages

Organized and led the first session in the new Domain-Specific Interpreting Series 2015-2017 at Wake Forest University, Faith-related interpreting, November 2015;
Highlight: The series present strategies, practices and protocols characteristic of specialized settings where dialogue interpreting is provided such as law enforcement, healthcare, faith, military, social care, education, etc.

Co-managed a joint project with the WFU School of Medicine; Enterprise Management, Wake Forest Problem-Based Learning Cases K-12; educational translation of Math and Science problems into Spanish; pilot part completed; tested in Spring of 2015 and implemented for the school years 2015-2018

Organized and led a Task Force to address linguistics needs of Limited-English Proficiency researchers and post-docs at the WFU School of Medicine through designing a Scientific Communication for Non-native English Speakers course; the group included faculty from the Romance Languages Department, English Department and members of External Partnerships at the Translational Science Institute, 2014

Co-designed a translation/localization position and co-managed projects for WFU Medical School Institutional Review Board; medical translation – trials, consents, reports, 2013-2014

Co-organized the conference of Carolina Association of Translators and Interpreters, a regional chapter of the American Translators Association on WFU campus, 2012 and 2017

Led the team that developed an Associate Degree Program for North Carolina community colleges, approved by NC Community Colleges State Board in July 2010.
Highlights:

• Niche program, developed in collaboration with Davidson County Community College, offers broader educational opportunities to bilingual/bicultural individuals who are interested in aiding to transform the way healthcare is presently provided to Limited-English Proficiency patients
• Well-trained Spanish medical interpreters will have a significant impact on the structure and delivery of healthcare to the entire population of the Piedmont Triad region
• Professional internships offered as an integral part of the program

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE 

Professor of Spanish, 2017-present
Department of Spanish
Associate Professor of Spanish, 2005-2017
Department of Romance Languages
Assistant Professor of Spanish, 1999-2005
Department of Romance Languages

Director of the Interpreting and Translation Studies Graduate Program, 2009-present
Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC

Lecturer of Spanish, 1998-1999
Department of Spanish and Portuguese,
Yale University, New Haven, CT

Teaching Assistant of Spanish, 1992-1997
Department of Modern Languages
University of Nebraska-Lincoln, NE

Interpreter (simultaneous/consecutive/bilateral/escort), translator, localization specialist, proofreader, reviewer, reviser, terminologist; multilingual simultaneous interpreting team coordinator and chief interpreter, interpreters’ team supervisor, translation team manager; since 1988
Highlight: telecommunications, development of cellular phone industry terminology in Polish – successful bid for currently the largest cellular phone company in Poland, Plus GSM, 1994

EDUCATION

Ph.D. Spanish, Translation Theory
University of Nebraska, Lincoln
Dissertation: Palabra en diálogo en la obra de Ana María Fagundo y en sus traducciones al inglés y polaco

M.A. French Linguistics
Jagiellonian University, Cracow, Poland
Thesis: Les processus mentaux en interprétation simultanée

M.A. Spanish Linguistics
Jagiellonian University, Cracow, Poland
Thesis: El aspecto extralingüístico de la interpretación consecutiva

Localization Research Center;
University of Limerick, Ireland, International Localization Summer School

Ecole de Traduction et d’Interprétation;
Geneve, Switzerland, One week Conference Interpreting Enhancement Seminar

Ecole Supérieure d’Interprètes et de Traducteurs;
Sorbonne XII, Paris, France, postgraduate courses in simultaneous interpreting

Universidad Internacional Menendez Pelayo;
Santander, Spain, scholarship in translation theory

Universidad de La Habana, Cuba; scholarship in pragmatics

Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México; cultural studies

EDITORSHIP

Book and Book Proposal Reviewer for Taylor & Francis Group: Routledge
Gillies, A., Consecutive Interpreting: a short course, 2015
Gillies, A., Note Taking for Consecutive Interpreting, 2015
Hsieh, E., Provider-Patient Communication in Bilingual Health Care: Medical Interpreting as a Coordinated Communicative Activity, 2014
Hubscher-Davidson, S., Translation and Emotionality: Psychological Perspective, 2014

Member of the Editorial Committee, Comité de lecture, Romanica Cracoviensia, Jagellonian University, Kraków, 2012-present