In Memoriam: Moustafa Gabr

1964 - 2004

 
oustafa Gabr, a student in the Tarragona (Spain) doctoral program, was tragically killed in a car accident in Kuwait on June 9, 2004.

Everyone who knew Moustafa here in Tarragona is deeply shocked by the news.

Moustafa's personal qualities impressed all who came into contact with him. He was kind, charming, attentive and thoughtful. As a scholar, he was serious, resourceful and full of promise.

He will be much missed.

Our hearts go out to Moustafa's wife Manal and his young son.

Oxford-Duden Pictorial English Dictionary with Arabic Index. Oxford University Press, Oxford, United Kingdom (2003).

The Legal Translator's Guide, Achievement for Consultancy and Training, Kuwait (2003)

Daliil Al-Mutarjim (Translator's Guide). Centre for Research, Counseling and Training, Faculty of Arts, Ain Shams University, Cairo (1996 & 1999)

Illustrated Dictionary of Military Terms and Weapon systems (unpublished).

Papers

Toward Re-Professionalization of Translation Teaching. Paper to have been presented at the First Conference of the International Association for Translation & Intercultural StudiesTranslation and the Construction of Identity, on 12-14 August 2004, Sookmyung Women's University, Seoul, Korea.

A TQM Approach to Translator Training: Balancing Stakeholders' Needs and Responsibilities. Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on the Translation Industry Today: Communication, Standardization, Education. 10 -11 October 2003, Bologna, Italy.

Quality Assurance in Translator Training. Translation Journal (Vol.6, No. 3, July 2002).

The Challenges of Translation in the 3rd Millennium—A Bi-focal Approach. Proceedings of the International Conference on the Challenges of Translation & Interpretation in the Third Millennium, May 17-19, 2002, Notre Dame University, Beirut, Lebanon.

A Skeleton in the Closet: Teaching Translation in Egyptian National Universities. Translation Journal (Vol.6, No. 1, January 2002).

Trial and Error or Experimentation or Both: Readings in the Training of Translator Trainer Seminars at Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Monterey Institute, and Universite de Rennes 2. Translation Journal (Vol.5, No. 4, October 2001).

Toward A Model approach to Translation Curriculum Development. Translation Journal (Vol.5, No. 2, April 2001).

Translation Program Evaluation: A Missing Critical Link in Translator Training. Paper presented at Rennes 2000 Conference on Translator Training and published in the Translation Journal (Vol. 5, No. 1, January 2001).

Moustafa was part of the Translation Studies world.

The first time I really got to know him was in Rennes, France, in 2000. For some reason we had missed the bus to the official dinner, so we were all alone in a sad student residence, sharing a can of tuna. That was our meal. But our minds fed on the problems of training translators, and exciting phrases like "human resource development", which came from Moustafa's professional world.

We later met in other places (I recall Beirut, where he was with his beautiful wife). But I remember the tuna dinner most.

One of Moustafa's many qualities was his straighforwardness. In an article published in 2001 he lambasted attempts by Pym and Gouadec to set up programs for training translation teachers. His critique was direct and well-meant. We were able to talk about it, to build on it, to the point where he paid me the great honour of asking me to direct his doctoral thesis in the field of translator training.

Moustafa's academic work was considerable and impressive. Even more impressive, however, is what it promised to become in the future.

Moustafa was a play-maker. That's what he said when I asked him what position he played in football. And when we played football (five-a-side that day, just among the doctoral students), he was indeed a play-maker, scoring our first and only goal. In our wider life, he was ready to make a lot more play, and to score many more goals.

Moustafa was generous and resourceful. When other students panicked about finding professors to supervise work, he came up with solutions that effectively solved their problems.

Moustafa was thoughtful. He bought flowers for my partner Dolors, when she was nervous because of an uncertain pregnancy. "Moustafa," I said, "You put us to shame—if you give her flowers, she will expect flowers from me too!". I was joking at the time. But no, in all seriousness, his kindness put many of us to shame.

Editor's comment: Moustafa Gabr was a repeat contributor to the Translation Journal.