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Geoffrey Koby

Associate Professor of German Translation; Assistant to the Chair

Dr. Koby holds a Ph.D. in Historical Germanic Linguistics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His research interests lie in translation assessment and evaluation and translation pedagogy. He has edited and co-translated a major work on translation theory, co-authored a dictionary of translation teaching terminology, and published on Martin Luther's translation practice. Together with Dr. Brian Baer, he edited Beyond the Ivory Tower: Rethinking Translation Pedagogy, Volume XII of the ATA Monograph Series. He recently translated the book Einstein's Opponents by Milena Wazeck, which will appear in Cambridge University Press. Dr. Koby teaches undergraduate courses in German translation, phonetics, foreign language and culture, and Business German, and graduate Commercial/Legal/Financial translation, as well as occasionally teaching literary translation and a Ph.D. seminar on translation assessment. He is an ATA-certified German>English and Dutch>English translator and a certified Oral Proficiency Interview tester. He is past president of the American Translation and Interpreting Studies Association and currently Chair of the American Translators Association Certification Committee.

Educational Background

University of Wisconsin - Madison
1985-1992
Ph.D., German, 1992
    M.A., Linguistics, 1989
    M.A., German, 1986
California State University, Northridge 1979-1985 B.A., German/Music, 1985
University of Hamburg, Germany
 1982-1983
 Junior Year Abroad

Brief Employment History

Kent State University 1999-present Associate Professor
  1994-1999 Assistant Professor
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor 1992-1993 Visiting Assistant Professor
University of Kentucky, Lexington 1991-1992 Visiting Assistant Professor

Scholarly, Creative & Professional Activities

Translation: Laqua, Carsten. forthcoming. Mickey Mouse, Hitler, and Nazi Germany: How Disney's Characters Conquered the Third Reich. Book translated by Geoffrey S. Koby. 224 pp. New Castle, PA: Hermes Press. http://www.hermespress.com/ under Coming Soon.

Translation: Mecking, Christoph. 2010. "Good and Not-So-Good Governance of Non-Profit Organizations: Factual Observations from Foundations in Germany," translated by Geoffrey S. Koby. In: Comparative Corporate Governance of Nonprofit Organizations, Cambridge University Press, 39-59.

Translation: Haag, Maximilian, and Andreas Richter. 2010. "Legal Standards for Capital Investments by Foundations in Hedge Funds according to German and American Law," translated by Geoffrey S. Koby. In: Comparative Corporate Governance of Nonprofit Organizations, Cambridge University Press, 709-739.

"Computer Editing as a Translation Efficiency Skill: Summary Evidence from Keystrokes." Translation and Interpreting Studies 2.2 (2007): 93-125.

Koby, Geoffrey S. and Sue Ellen Wright. Translation: Klaus Berger and Christiane Nord, "The Nature of Translation," Translation and Interpreting Studies 1.2 (2006): 161-180.

Koby, Geoffrey S. and Brian James Baer. "From Professional Certification to the Translator Training Classroom: Adapting the ATA Error Marking Scale." Translation Watch Quarterly 1.1 (2005): 33-45.

Baer, Brian James, Geoffrey S. Koby, eds. Beyond the Ivory Tower: Rethinking Translation Pedagogy. American Translators Association Scholarly Monograph Series 12. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: Benjamins, 2003.

Baer, Brian James, and Geoffrey S. Koby. "Introduction." In Baer, Brian James, and Geoffrey S. Koby, eds. Beyond the Ivory Tower: Rethinking Translation Pedagogy. American Translators Association Scholarly Monograph Series 12. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: Benjamins, 2003.

Koby, Geoffrey S., and Brian James Baer. "Task-Based Instruction and the New Technology: Training Translators for the Modern Language Industry." In Baer, Brian James, and Geoffrey S. Koby, eds. Beyond the Ivory Tower: Rethinking Translation Pedagogy. American Translators Association Scholarly Monograph Series 12. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: Benjamins, 2003.

Arango-Keeth, Fanny and Geoffrey S. Koby. "Assessing Assessment: Translator Training Evaluation and the Needs of Industry Quality Assessment." In Baer, Brian James, and Geoffrey S. Koby, eds. Beyond the Ivory Tower: Rethinking Translation Pedagogy. American Translators Association Scholarly Monograph Series 12. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: Benjamins, 2003.

Research Areas
  • Translation Studies (Assessment and Evaluation, Process Research, Think-Aloud Protocol)
Affiliations

American Translation and Interpreting Studies Association - Founding President (2002-2010)

American Translators Association - Chair, Certification Committee

American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL)

American Association of Teachers of German (AATG)

Geoffrey Koby
OFFICE
Applied Linguistics, Institute for
Department of Modern and Classical Language Studies
109-B Satterfield Hall
OFFICE HOURS
Spring 2013: 
  • Tuesday 3:00 p.m.-4:30 p.m.
  • And by appointment
CONTACT INFO
Phone: 330-672-1814
gkoby@kent.edu
EXPERTISE
  • ATA Certified German>English, Dutch>English Translator
  • Translation Studies
  • Legal Translation
  • Translation Assessment/Evaluation
  • German Language