Translation as a profession: training the new generation

By Ewa Kościałkowska-Okońska (Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun, Poland)

Abstract

The past few decades have seen a dynamic change in the translator's profession combined with a growing need to define it both in terms of a service and a profession. With more and more companies going global, the challenges that translators have always faced seem to be bigger: there is a constant demand for highly-trained and reliable professionals. Therefore, the training provisions for translators and interpreters must be carefully considered. As the demand for translation services increases, the need arises to educate new generations of translators, and help them to become market-desired professionals. The number of universities offering translation courses has increased dramatically, yet the situation on the translation market is dynamically changing as well. This paper tries to find an answer to the question how to train our students – as the new generation of translators – to make them capable of facing these new challenges.

Keywords: translator training, translation competence, adult learning, professional translators

©inTRAlinea & Ewa Kościałkowska-Okońska (2019).
"Translation as a profession: training the new generation"
inTRAlinea Special Issue: New Insights into Translator Training
Edited by: Paulina Pietrzak
This article can be freely reproduced under Creative Commons License.
Stable URL: https://www.intralinea.org/specials/article/2426

“Without a new generation of trained linguists and  professionals with language skills, international  organisations will be unable to perform their vital tasks” (the Paris Declaration, June 2010). This statement that was published under the UN banner and released by the International Annual  Meeting on Language Arrangements, Documentation and Publications (IAMLADP) emphasises an urgent need for educating and training competent translators and  interpreters.

1. Translator’s status

The first question that students have to ask themselves pertains to the role they want to perform in their own eyes and in the community. In other words: what is the translator’s status? The profession of the translator, their status as well as translators considered as a social and professional group are discussed in the field literature. Yet, those references seem to be formulated on a rather pessimistic note: translation has been referred to as a peripheral, low-status, unskilled and poorly paid occupation (see Dam and Zethsen 2008), and translators are viewed as isolated, invisible, unappreciated and powerless. This study was performed on the group of Danish translators, but certain trends tend to be more universal. For instance, Pym et al. (2012: 88) estimates that translators work part-time as translators (in addition to other professions they perform) at the level of about 60%, and any variations are related to the market sector analysed or types of questions asked. The percentage rate of freelancers ranges from 50% to 89%, depending on the country and the sector (Pym et al. 2012: 89); the proportion of translators who are women generally seems to be about 70% or above, again with variations depending on the sector (Pym et al. 2012: 85).

Dam and Zethsen in another research (2014) analysed a group of translators, mostly working on business texts. Translators perceive their status as relatively low: they regard themselves experts to a large extent, yet they do not feel appreciated as ones. The self-image of translators as experts and professionals differs from what they view as the recognition of their clients and the society in general in terms of their expertise and values attributed to it. In other words, they feel that their professional status is relatively low. Yet, translators investigated in the research take pride in the challenges that translation poses, a vast list of competences and skills they need to perform the job, their extensive education and training and their experience. Moreover, as Dam and Zethsen conclude, ““business translators seem to have a habitus of proud, but unappreciated and unrecognised, experts” (Dam and Zethsen 2014: 274).

It must be, however, stated that empirical research on the status of the translator is not extensive yet inspirational. It covers: perceptions of the translators status (e.g. Dam and Zethsen 2008, 2011, 2014; Katan 2009), parameters that affect the perceptions of translators’ recognition (e.g. Dam and Zethsen 2009) and examples of strategies that may enhance the status (e.g. Sela-Sheffy 2010). The concept of status occurs in the translation research in three perspectives (Wadensjö 2011; Ruokonen 2013: 328): the first one is the perspective of professionalisation (see also Katan 2009), i.e., whether the translator’s profession has the status of a recognised profession. The second perspective is occupational prestige and, finally, the third perspective concerns the position of a professional in a given situation. The parameters to empirically measure the status in the research, first presented in the output of  Dam and Zethsen (2008, 2009, 2011), include income, expertise, visibility and power. These parameters shall not be discussed here due to limitations of this paper, yet they seem to be universally significant for the overall perception of the profession, and to the way translators perceive themselves and develop their self-concept.

2. Professional translator and their self-concepts

The translator’s self-concept is one of vital aspects in cognitive models of translation competence.  For instance, Göpferich (2008) claims that translators’ self-concepts affect their translation performance due to the fact that self-concept as such is one of the components of her model of translation competence and she  sees it as being closely related to the translator’s education and training, social role of the translator and the social responsibility that is imposed on him/her (Göpferich 2008: 155). The model of psycholinguistic translation process of Kiraly (1995) assumes the central position to be occupied by self-concept as it covers a sense of the translation purpose, self-evaluation of the individual translator’s capability to fulfill a certain task, the awareness of information-related requirements of a given translation task and the capacity to monitor and assess products of the translation process with a view to their adequacy and appropriateness (Kiraly 1995: 100).

Muñoz Martín (2014: 28), however, claims that self-concept is not a fixed image of oneself, but it is rather a dynamic image that is determined by a given task the translator is to fulfill, i.e. “[w]e understand and handle situations and face difficulties in ways coherent with our current activated self-concept and avoid courses of action that are not consistent with it” (2014: 31). Thus one may see a shared property between self-concept and translation competence in the context of the PACTE group research manifested as strategic sub-competence; this type of competence is in the centre stage of the PACTE’s competence model (PACTE 2003; the model is discussed further in the paper).

On the other hand, in the view of Ehrensberger-Dow and Massey (2013: 106) translator self-concept is “the awareness of the multiple responsibilities and loyalties imposed by both the act and the event of translation”. In their study they analysed trained translation professionals and translation students (at various stages of  training); the former had presumably higher, and the latter presumably lower translation competence. The comparison of self-concepts of the study subjects was based on the notion of self-concept developed by Kiraly and intended to be a continuum “extending from the simple retrieval of spontaneous associations at the word level to a complex, multistage, problem-solving process in which extra-linguistic factors are taken into consideration” (Kiraly 1997: 152). The results of the study by Ehrensberger-Dow and Massey (2013: 113-119) demonstrate that in the case of professionals attention and responsibilities are spread along the entire continuum and focus on textual and pragmatic issues, whereas translation students’ attention and responsibilities have a tendency to focus on issues related with a lower level of translation competence such as e.g., word-for-word transfer. The suggestion propounded is that the level of translation competence may be related to the level of the translators’ self-concept development.

The translation profession exists yet it has not reached a full professional status in the sense of not always being performed in professional settings. Moreover, translation as such is undergoing a dynamic and concurrently important restructuring process due to the emergence and application of new technological tools that might change the profession to the extent we are not currently aware of. One question that needs to be answered is whether translator training is an indispensable element of being a professional translator. To add a voice to this discussion, Dam and Zethsen (2016) claim that translator training combined with the staff status and at least five years of experience are factors identifying the real and core members of the translation profession. For Bundgaard et al. (2016) the authorisation of the state (on the basis of training) symbolises professionalisation. In general, the role of the translator training in the professionalisation context is slightly fuzzy, probably due to the fact that a range of translation and translator training courses is so extensive and concerns various sectors. What is interesting, Pym, Orrego-Carmona and Torres-Simon (2016) observe that professional experience is more appreciated and recognised – market-wise – than (formal) academic qualifications. They also emphasise that translator trainers are a key component in the translator training process. With a view to the key issue of this paper, namely the emerging generation of translators, it must be noticed that the research has been focusing rather on professionals (and their status perception, see Dam and Zethsen 2011) rather than on translation students (however, cf. Sela-Sheffy 2008 and Katan 2009). But students are assumingly future professionals; their views, perceptions and opinions will be a contributive factor towards establishing  the concept and meaning of translation as a profession in our times and in the globalised world we live.

3. Training

Translation training has been extensively covered in the Translation Studies literature; new approaches, paradigms, models, views and perspectives were widely demonstrated by scholars. Therefore, the aim of this section of the paper shall not be recapitulating all the above because this has been done during the last decades. The focus shall be placed on one element that relatively frequently is not discussed, or discussed only fleetingly, namely, on adult learning. Our students are adults, and for that reason their learning process is determined by factors inherent to adult learning; these factors shall be presented below.

Adult learning conceptually is derived from the works of Malcolm Knowles who also promoted and propagated the term “andragogy”, i.e., the science behind teaching adults. The key postulate of andragogy is that adults learn differently than children and thus should be treated differently in the classroom. In his classical work, Knowles (1973) identified four core assumptions concerning adult learning and later (Knowles 1984) extended this list by another two. As an entirety, these assumptions can be specified as follows:

  1. Adults, before learning something, must first understand the significance of it
  2. Adults have their self-concepts and are not willing to accept any imposition of the will of other persons on them
  3. Adults need the recognition of their knowledge and experience
  4. Adults are more willing to learn when they are sure that learning will help them in coping with a real problem.
  5. Adults need to know whether and how learning can help them in their own lives.
  6. Adults recognise and react to external motivation (e.g. remuneration increase, potential promotion)

Another pivotal view on adult learning is more cognitively oriented and was developed by Dreyfus (2004) as the model of skill acquisition; this model consists of five levels that the individual is to go through during the learning process. The model was started by initial research as early as in the 1980s by H. Dreyfus and S. Dreyfus; their research was based on studies of chess players, car drivers, airplane pilots and, last but certainly not least, adult learners of a second language (Dreyfus and Dreyfus 1980). The underlying concept behind the model is the acquisition of new skills while gradual going through the continuum of progression. However, their findings were not published, probably due to the fact that the research was supported by the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research and confidentiality issues could play  a role here.

Yet, it was Stuart Dreyfus who decided to work again on the model and published the research results in 2004. The five aforementioned levels of skills acquisition are then novice, advanced beginner, competent, proficient and expert.

Novices have a tendency to think in analytical terms and to decompose a given task into its core elements; these elements are taken out of their context. It is relatively difficult for novices to establish priorities, they are not personally involved in the task and make their decisions consciously, not intuitively, thus do not rely on their experience and knowledge. As they learn, as they experience and observe new situations and new rules, they progress into the advanced beginner stage. In this stage they are able to see similarities between present and past situations and occurrences, and thus they are building a capacity to make associations between facts, situations and rules with the contexts. After progressing to the competent stage, the individual is capable of recognising the relative importance of elements related to situational contexts as well as those devoid of context, and is able to use the optimal ones to solve emerging problems. At this stage learners manifest a certain degree of creativity and ability to improvise, or, in the words of Dreyfus, emotional investment as “only at the level of competence is there an emotional investment in the choice of the perspective leading to an action” (Dreyfus 2004: /179) which results in problem solving. The last two stages of the model are the proficient and expert stages. In the proficient stage the learner finds similarities with previous  experiences and shows unproblematic and effortless understanding. What is more, the degree of risk taking increases together with personal commitment to the outcome. The key features of the expert stage are decisions taken and solutions arrived at unconsciously. The individual acknowledges a given situation, recognises the existence of a problem and effectively takes subconscious decisions in order to develop the most required, or the optimal, outcome for the situations.

This model demonstrates that reaching the expert stage entails gradual going through subsequent stages of the process of  skill acquisition, accumulating experience and, as Dreyfus mentioned, emotional investment. What should be stressed, too, is the fact that contemporary teaching strategies for professions based on skills have a tendency to be oriented towards experiential and situated learning. These methods have been successfully applied in translator and interpreting programmes and their objective is to enable students to compensate the gap between theory and practice, between classroom instruction-based teaching and practical application of knowledge and skills accumulated in real-life contexts and situations, thus preparing students to effectively face the challenges of the profession and the professional world. This modern world relies on modern technologies, thus information and communication technologies (ICT) should be integrated in the training process. Kiraly (2000), for instance, suggests using computer-based classroom in his constructivist approach to make students more familiar with modern technologies used by translators on a daily basis, and these technologies certainly can be utilised to support the learning process of students.  Gibbs (1988) and Kolb (2005) emphasised the significance of experience in the learning as the learners, especially adult ones, learn by doing. Yet, for this learning to be effective it must occur in context; as McLellan (1994) writes this context – and related activities – should be authentic, should be based on real-life situations (also Kościałkowska-Okońska 2017). As Kolb (2005) said, experience is essential in the learning process as learners learn by doing, by accruing experience. Yet, this learning must be contextually-based to be valid and, even more importantly, experience is not always a predictor of high quality performance (see Ericsson 2006).

The research on translation teaching has been oriented towards professionalisation of teaching manifested through exposing students to translation challenges as they may be encountered in real life; this approach was emphasised by such scholars as e.g. Gouadec (2007), Kiraly (2000) or Vienne (2000) in their support for project-based learning or situated learning and teaching.

Profesionalisation of teaching requires the change of perspective as to the translator education and shifting the focus of considerations onto the concept that belongs to key ones in translation in general, i.e., translation competence. For our present considerations whose focus is particularly on translation teaching, three models of translation competence – out of an entire repertoire of competence models -  shall be of interest. These are models developed by the PACTE, TransComp and EMT research groups as results of their research tend to be highly applicable to translation teaching.

4. Translation competence models

The PACTE research group (that was established in the 1990s) has ever since been working on potential ways of integrating research results in studies on the development of competence (see PACTE 2000, 2003, 2009). The researchers considered such studies as indispensable since any holistic research into translation competence components was practically scarce (PACTE 2009). Initially, the operation of translation competence was investigated by such scholars as Bell (1991), Pym (1992), Kiraly (1995), Hansen (1997), and later by Risku (1998), Neubert (2000), Shreve (2006), Alves and Gonçalves (2007). Their findings rather focus on the componential character of translation competence; only a limited amount of research is devoted to attempts as empirical validation of results (e.g. Alves and Gonçalves 2007, etc.). The PACTE group came to the fore with a number of components that are regarded as “the underlying knowledge system needed to translate” (PACTE 2005: 610). Thus, the PACTE’s translation competence model embraces five interrelated subcompetences and psycho-physiological components that shall be briefly described below.

The bilingual sub-competence covers textual,  lexical-grammatical, pragmatic and socio-linguistic knowledge in each language. The extra-linguistic sub-competence denotes encyclopaedic, bicultural and thematic knowledge. The translation knowledge sub-competence is the knowledge of translation principles (including procedures, methods and the rules vital for professional practice). The instrumental sub-competence covers knowledge related to using documentation resources as well as communication and information technologies that are applied to translation (e.g., dictionaries, parallel texts, online and electronic corpora, etc.). The strategic sub-competence is the most essential one: it safeguards the efficiency of the translation process. It  is aimed to secure planning and performing the translation task, evaluating the translation process in its entirety and in parts. It also triggers other subcompetences and compensates for potential deficits. Its another essential function is to identify translation problems and apply specific procedures to solve these problems.  

The psycho-physiological components refer to cognitive, attitudinal  components and psychomotor mechanisms which include “(1) cognitive components such as memory, perception, and attention and emotion; (2) attitudinal aspects such as intellectual curiosity, perseverance, rigor, critical spirit, knowledge of and confidence in one’s own abilities, the ability to measure one’s own abilities, motivation, etc.; (3) abilities such as creativity, logical reasoning, analysis and synthesis, etc. (PACTE 2003: 93).

The second important model – the TransComp model – was developed by Göpferich (2009) as a result of a TransComp longitudinal study. Göpferich in this model (2009: 21–23) divides competence into six sub-categories: domain competence, communicative competence (in at least two languages), tools and research competence, psychomotor competence, translation routine activation competence, and strategic competence.

Domain competence resembles in a way PACTE’s extralinguistic subcompetence as it covers general and domain-specific knowledge; this knowledge, combined with the extralinguistic knowledge, is essential to understand the source text and produce the target text or, Göpferich’s words “at least the sensitivity to recognise what additional knowledge is needed from external sources of information to fill one’s knowledge gaps” (Göpferich 2009: 21-22). Communicative competence is similar to the bilingual subcompetence of the PACTE group since it covers lexical, grammatical and pragmatic knowledge, the knowledge of genres and conventions specific for a given culture. The third category of tools and research competence corresponds to the PACTE group’s instrumental sub-competence (2009: 208); it is the ability to use translation-specific tools (both conventional and electronic) such as dictionaries, encyclopaedias (online or printed), databases or term banks, parallel texts, search engines and corpora, as well as machine translation systems. Psychomotor competence denotes abilities necessary for reading and writing with electronic tools. The more developed these competences are, the less cognitive capacity is needed, and thus more cognitive efforts are invested in other cognitive tasks. Then, translation routine activation competence integrates the knowledge and abilities to recall and use certain standard shifts that result in acceptable equivalents in the target language. And, finally, strategic competence in a certain way resembles strategic competence of the PACTE group and coordinates the operation of other subcompetences. Because it is a meta-cognitive competence, it “sets priorities and defines hierarchies between the individual sub-competences, leads to the development of a macro-strategy in the sense of Hönig (1995), and ideally subjects all decisions to this macro-strategy” (Göpferich 2009: 22).  This model views, and this is of relevance to the teaching and training process, the development of translation competence as a continuous progress. In the translation process the most important sub-categories are strategic competence, tools and research competence, and translation routine activation competence, and they allow to distinguish translation competence from the bilingual person’s competence without any dedicated translation training.

The multicomponential models of translation competence attempt at specifications and systematisation of those activities that are performed and subsequently analysed. What is worth stressing is the fact that in a plethora of discussions on translation competence and its gradual teaching-and-training-related development, references are made also to the description and specification of profiles of (prospective) professionals in degree programmes, importance of learning outcomes to fulfill certain degree requirements and integration of syllabi and curricula-related aspects (cf. Hurtado Albir 2007: 166). This particular coordinating approach is aptly manifested in the European Master’s in Translation (EMT; a joint project of the European Commission, Directorate General for Translation and European universities that are accepted and approved to become partners in the programme) reference framework, whose aim is to outline quality requirements for a given professional profile. This setting of requirements aims at avoiding a situation when a part of translation training programmes “may exist in name only, owing to a lack of analysis of requirements, a lack of understanding of the demands of the profession, and a lack of qualified teachers” (EMT Expert Group 2009: 1). A rationale to be followed is that competences that are the result of theoretical models and are theoretical constructs (this issue also refers to curricula that heavily rely on those theoretical models) and then are applied in a university environment should correspond to requirements as observed and experienced on the professional translation market.

Under this specific conceptual and organisational framework competence is defined as “the combination of aptitudes, knowledge, behaviour and know-how necessary to carry out a given task under given conditions”. The EMT model distinguishes six interdependent competences (EMT 2009:4-7):

Figure 1. EMT model of translation competence

(1) Translation service provision competence is sub-divided into interpersonal and production dimensions. The interpersonal dimension covers the awareness of the social role of the translator, knowledge of market requirements and specific job profiles, marketing, negotiations with clients (and specifying e.g. working conditions, contracts, tender specifications, deadlines or rates), specifying objectives and requirements of clients and other parties. It also addresses time and stress management, workload management and training, working under pressure as well as the ability of self-evaluation; these factors are combined with the knowledge of applicable standards, principles of professional ethics, and the ability to cooperate in teams and with experts. The production dimension denotes being knowledgeable about satisfying clients’ requirements and objectives,  ability to specify strategies for translating documents, to find and solve translation problems, to revise translations as well as to monitor and implement applicable quality standards.

(2) Language competence embraces the knowledge of grammar, lexis and semantics, the knowledge of graphic and typographic conventions of language A and (an)other working language(s), as well as the knowledge of using them in both languages. 

(3) Intercultural competence refers to sociolinguistic and textual dimensions. The sociolinguistic dimension is the knowledge of recognising functions and meanings in language variations (e.g., historical or social), of identifying interaction rules that are valid for a given community (e.g. non-verbal communication) and of generating a register (in translated texts) relevant to a specific situation or a document. The textual dimension embraces the knowledge of textual macrostructure, intertextuality, identification of culture-related items, genre and rhetorics, as well as the ability of post-editing.

(4) Information mining competence is the ability to search for and find relevant information, to use tools and search engines and to critically evaluate the reliability of resources.

(5) Thematic competence embraces the knowledge used to seek relevant information to understand issues connected with a given document (thus it resembles information mining competence in this respect). It also covers broadening one’s knowledge in specialist areas and mastering analytical skills.

(6) Technological competence is the knowledge “how to use effectively and rapidly and to integrate a range of software to assist in correction, translation, terminology, layout,  documentary research (for example text processing, spell and grammar check, the internet, translation memory, terminology database, voice recognition software” (EMT Expert Group 2009:7) further combined with the ability to develop and manage databases, and to produce various translation formats that could be used in various media.

The EMT competence model clearly stresses the professionalised ‘vision’ of the prospective translator: they must be knowledgeable about market mechanisms, translator’s status in the industry and IT tools. Being a translator denotes simply a wider range of skills than a decade ago. Certain components present in the EMT model are not considered in other models: they are practical skills manifested in the translation service provision competence and information mining competence. This model aims at improving the authentic quality of translator training so that prospective professionals – our students upon their graduation – could be easily integrated in the labour market. Therefore, the EMT model seems to be core model to be followed while designing and developing translation teaching programmes and curricula. What absolutely needs stressing is the fact that teaching and training skilled, competent and knowledgeable professionals would contribute to enhancing the status of the profession of the translator.

The ever-returning problem with models of translation competence – as it is also the case of the three aforementioned constructs – is that the more specific the model is intended to be seen, the higher the number of sub-competences, sub-components, sub-sub competences and sub-sub components, etc. it has to include. For example, the EMT model generates over forty sub-competencies out of six core interdependent and ahierarchical ones. The absolutely key and central role is played by translation service provision competence (which in itself closely corresponds to PACTE’s concept of strategic competence; see also Ramos 2011). Another aspect worth considering in the context of this article is the possibility of identifying features inherent to legal translation competence and its components that are required for this competence to develop and operate effectively. The EMT, PACTE and TransComp models allow to identify skills essential for any type of translation (and specialist translation as well, as it is the main objective of translators’ activity in professional settings). The outcomes, findings and achievements of these teaching-oriented models could be effectively incorporated into methodological frameworks that rely on gradual competence development. Yet, as Klimkowski (2015) aptly writes, none of the above concepts provides teachers or curriculum designers with any potential tools to be used in planning or implementing effective programmes oriented towards helping student translators to develop as professionals. These outlines or suggestions can be treated as a starting point for the development of a plethora of educational solutions that would respond to the needs of a certain group concerned, be it students, teachers, universities or higher education institutions in general or, last but not least,  representatives of the local market. The main goal of translation teaching is educating future professionals who would either set up their own firms, work as freelancers or in-house translators. Therefore, the core of training relies on the education and preparation of future professionals to know the market and strategies indispensable for business survival. The continuum of translation competence, starting from education, preparation and then training is also related to strategies and techniques that are relevant to high quality performance, development, accrual of experience and  broadening of knowledge.

The translation training process then requires fulfilling certain goals. First of all, our students must be aware of specific stages and the very importance of the translation process; they have to develop effective translation strategies and be knowledgeable about translation theory to support their practice in translation operations with theoretical knowledge, not to mention their mastery in the knowledge of both source and target languages, the use of specialist terminology and information mining skills. We as teachers and trainers have to affect our students and change their attitudes from more passive, knowledge-absorbing participants in the teaching process to more proactive learners who are motivated, willing to learn and acutely aware of their responsibility for the text produced and for intercultural communication they enable.

4. Concluding remarks

What needs to be stressed is an obvious fact that the profession of the translator (and interpreter, too) is in a constant state of flux and dynamic change, just as any other (specialist) profession in the contemporary world facing challenges of modern times. These times impose certain requirements on translators: they are to perform not only translation activities in the conventional sense but also other related ones that could be subsumed under the general heading of  (translation) service provision. For instance, the translator of medical texts (see Kościałkowska-Okońska 2017) translates texts both for internal use and for publication, improves and adapts texts, translates and updates websites (medical and related content), translates software manuals, translates academic and research articles, corrects and edits translations, develops terminological databases, plans and manages translation projects and, finally, translates in hospitals and other healthcare institutions (providing community interpreting services). The issue of skills required from prospective translators is also addressed by Pym (2010: 123-126) when he discusses the use of localisation in translation and the fact that texts are localised being determined by local cultures, linguistic determinants or expectations of users. Thus the volume and range of potential skills to be acquired substantially exceeds the assumed objectives of a translation course that would conventionally be focused on linguistic and extra-linguistic issues (these extra-linguistic issues refer to cultural aspects). This shift in the range of potential responsibilities requires, not only from the student but also from the teacher, a change of perspective from implementing course contents and learning outcomes, from sheer compliance with binding credit regulations to a more entrepreneurial orientation towards developing new skills that would be of avail in business contexts and in professional careers of students after they graduate. It also covers the incorporation in study programmes of cooperation with (not only translation) industry that would make students consider and realise the needs of local markets combined with general global observable trends as well as labour market requirements. The above would also entail the development of a new attitude on the part of students who should manifest more proactive approaches not only towards their classroom tasks but also towards a new philosophy of learning that would require from them a lot more effort and involvement in their personal development as learners, as students and as the next generation of translators. Being proactive means in this case being ready to face problems and control them by finding adequate solutions, to plan and develop strategies in performing translations, to be open to cooperation, decisive and willing to work on a given problem or task and, what is important, to be able to justify and stand behind one’s decisions. Involving students in real-life translation commissions or projects carried out in collaboration with translation agencies, enterprises operating on the (local) market as well as encouraging them to apply for and participate in internships in various branches of industry where they could offer their linguistic skills and to benefit from real-market challenges would certainly be an added value.

References

Alves, Fabio and Jose Luis Gonçalves (2007) “Modelling Translator’s Competence: Relevance and Expertise under Scrutiny” in Doubts and Directions in Translation Studies: Selected Contributions from the EST Congress, Lisbon 2004,  Radegundis Stolze, Miriam Shlesinger and Yves Gambier (eds), Amsterdam/ Philadelphia, John Benjamins Publishing Company: 41-55.

Bell, Roger (1991) Translation and Translating. Theory and Practice, London and New York, Longman.

Bundgaard, Kristine, Tina Paulsen Christensen and Anne Schjoldager (2016) “Translator-Computer Interaction in Action — an Observational Process Study of Computer-Aided Translation”, The Journal of Specialised Translation, Issue  25: 106-130

Dam, Helle and Karen Korning Zethsen (2008) “Translator status – a study of Danish company translators”, The Translator 14(1): 71–96.

---- (2009) “Who Said Low Status? A study on factors affecting the perception of translator status”, The Journal of Specialised Translation 12: 2–36.

---- (2011) “The status of professional business translators on the Danish market: A comparative study of company, agency and freelance translators”, Meta. The Translators' Journal 56(4): 976–997.

---- (2014) “The translator as expert - a realistic or an idealistic model? How recent empirical findings fit into existing models of translation”, Across Languages and Cultures 15(2): 261-278.

---- (2016) “‘I think it is a wonderful job.’ On the solidity of the translation profession”, The Journal of Specialised Translation 25: 174–187.

Declaration of Paris, 23rd June 2010, [url=http://ec.europa.eu/commission_2010-]http://ec.europa.eu/commission_2010-[/url]

2014/vassiliou/multimedia/pdf/crp.2_paris_declaration_2010.pdf

Dreyfus, Stuart E., and H. Dreyfus (1980), A five-stage model of the mental activities involved in directed skill acquisition, California: University of California-Berkeley Operations Research Center.

Dreyfus, Stuart E. (2004), “The five-stage model of adult skill acquisition”, Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society, 24(3): 177–181.

Ehrensberger-Dow, Maureen and Gary Massey (2013), “Indicators of translation competence: Translators’ self-concepts and the translation of titles”, Journal of Writing Research 5(1): 103–131

Ericsson, K.Anders (ed.) (2006) The Cambridge Handbook of Expertise and Expert Performance,  Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.

European Master's in Translation Expert Group (EMT). 2009. Competences for professional translators, experts in multilingual and multimedia communication. Brussels: European Commission, [url=http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/translation/programmes/emt/key_documents/]http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/translation/programmes/emt/key_documents/[/url] emt_competences_translators_en.pdf

Gibbs, Graham (1988) Learning By Doing: a guide to teaching and learning methods, Further Education Unit -Oxford Polytechnic: Oxford.

Gouadec, Daniel (2007), Translation as a profession, Amsterdam/Philadelphia, John Benjamins.

Göpferich, Susanne (2008) Translationsprozessforschung: Stand – Methoden – Perspektiven, (Translationswissenschaft 4), Tübingen: Narr.

---- (2009) “Towards a model of translation competence and its acquisition: the longitudinal study TransComp” in Behind the mind: Methods, models and results in translation process research, Susanne Gopferich, Arnt Lykke Jakobsen and Inger Mees (eds), Vol. 37, Copenhagen Studies in Language 37, Samfundslitteratur: 11-38.

Hansen, Gyde, (1997) “Success in Translation” in  Perspectives: Studies in Translatology,  London, Routledge, 5(2): 201-210.

Hurtado Albir, Amparo (2007) “Competence-based Curriculum Design for Training Translators” in The Interpreter and Translator Trainer 1(2): 163-195.

Katan, David (2009) “Translation theory and professional practice: A global survey of the great divide”, Hermes – Journal of Language and Communication Studies 42: 111–153.

Kiraly, Donald (1995) Pathways to Translation, Pedagogy and Process, Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press.

Kiraly, Donald (1997) “Think-Aloud Protocols and the Construction of a Professional Translator Self-Concept” in Cognitive Processes in Translation and Interpreting, Joseph H. Danks et al. (eds), Thousand Oaks, London, New Delhi, Sage, 137-160.

Kiraly, Donald (2000) A Social Constructivist Approach to Translator Education. Empowerment from Theory to Practice, Manchester, St. Jerome Publishing.

Klimkowski, Konrad (2015) “Entrepreneurial Training in Translator and Interpreter  Education”, ROCZNIKI HUMANISTYCZNE LXIII (11), DOI: http:// dx.doi.org/10.18290/rh.2015.63.11-5

Knowles, Malcolm (1973) The Adult Learner: A Neglected Species, Houston, TX, Gulf Publishing Company.

Knowles, Malcolm (1984) Andragogy In Action: Applying Modern Principles Of Adult Learning, San Francisco, CA, Jossey-Bass.

Kolb Alice and David A. Kolb (2005),” Learning styles and learning spaces: Enhancing experiential learning in higher education”, Academy of Management Learning and Education, 4(2): 193-212

Kościałkowska-Okońska, Ewa (2017) Implications of translation competence in the legal context: a didactic perspective”, Comparative Legilinguistics. International Journal for Legal Communication, Vol. 27, Poznań, Wydawnictwo UAM: 33-48

---- (2017) “Na ścieżce kariery: tłumacz tekstów medycznych w kontekście wymagań zawodowych”, Rocznik Przekładoznawczy, Vol. 12: 189-199.

McLellan, Hillary (1994) “Situated Learning: Continuing the conversation”, Educational Technology, Vol 34, n°10: 7-8.

Muñoz Martín, Ricardo (2014) “Situating translation expertise: A review with a sketch of a construct” in The Development of Translation Competence: Theories and Methodologies from Psycholinguistics and Cognitive Science, John W. Schwieter and Aline Ferreira (eds), Newcastle upon Tyne, Cambridge Scholars Publishing: 2–56.

Neubert, Albrecht (2000) “Competence in language, in languages, and in translation” in Developing Translation Competence, Christina Schäffner and Beverly Adab (eds),  Amsterdam/Philadelphia, John Benjamins Publishing Company: 3-18

PACTE (2000) “Acquiring translation competence: hypotheses and methodological problems of a research project” in Investigating Translation, Allison Beeby, Doris Ensinger and Marisa Presas (eds), Amsterdam/Philadelphia, John Benjamins Publishing Company: 99-106.

PACTE (2003) “Building a Translation Competence Model” in Triangulating Translation: Perspectives in Process Oriented Research, Fabio Alves (ed), Amsterdam/Philadelphia, John Benjamins Publishing Company: 43-66.

PACTE (2005) “Investigating Translation Competence: Conceptual and Methodological Issues” , META 50(2): 609-619.

PACTE (2009) “Results of the Validation of the PACTE Translation Competence Model: Acceptability and Decision Making”, Across Languages and Cultures, Vol. 10, No 2: 207-230.

Prieto Ramos, Fernando (2011) “Developing Legal Translation Competence: an Integrative Process-oriented Approach”, Comparative Legilinguistics - International Journal for Legal  Communication 5: 7-21.

Pym, Anthony (1992) Translation and Text Transfer, Frankfurt am Main, Peter Lang.

Pym, Anthony (2010) Exploring translation theories, London/ New York, Routledge.

Pym Anthony, François Grin,  Claudio Sfreddo, and  Andy Lung Jan Chan (2012) The status of the translation profession in  the European  Union, European Commission, Luxembourg

Pym, Anthony, David Orrego-Carmona and Esther Torres-Simón (2016) “Status and technology in the professionalisation of translators. Market disorder and the return of hierarchy” The Journal of Specialised Translation, Issue 25:33-53.

Risku, Hanne (1998) Translatorische Kompetenz. Kognitive Grundlagen des Übersetzens als Expertentätigkeit, Tubingen, Stauffenburg Verlag.

Ruokonen, Minna (2013). “Studying translator status: three points of view”, in Haasteena näkökulma: Point of View as Challenge, Maria Eronen and Marinella Rodi-Risberg (eds), VAKKI Publications 2, Vaasa, University of Vaasa: 327–338.

Sela-Sheffy, Rakefet (2008) “The translators’ personae: marketing translatorial images as pursuit of capital”, META. Translators' Journal 53(3): 609–622.

---- (2010) “Stars’ or ‘professionals’: the imagined vocation and exclusive knowledge of translators in Israel”, in MonTI 2: Applied Sociology in Translation Studies, Oscar Diaz Fouces and Esther Monzó (eds), Alicante, Publicaciones de la Universidad de Alicante: 131–152.

Shreve, Gregory M. (2006) “The deliberate practice: Translation and expertise”, Journal of Translation Studies 9 (1): 27-42.

Vienne, Jean (2000) “Which Competence Should We Teach to Future Translators, and How?” in Developing Translation Competence, Christine. Schäffner and Beverly Adab (eds), Amsterdam/Philadelpia, John Benjamins: 91-100.

Wadensjö, Cecilia (2011) “Status of interpreters”, in  Handbook of Translation Studies 2, Yves Gambier and Luc van Doorslaer (eds) Amsterdam/Philadelphia, John Benjamins: 140–145.

About the author(s)

PhD, a graduate of English Studies at the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, head of the Department of Translation Studies at the Department of English (Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń). A graduate of postgraduate studies at the School of Translators, Interpreting and Foreign Languages (Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań), of postgraduate studies in English law, and a business coach. Authored many publications in translation studies. Active sworn court translator and simultaneous interpreter since 1998.

Email: [please login or register to view author's email address]

©inTRAlinea & Ewa Kościałkowska-Okońska (2019).
"Translation as a profession: training the new generation"
inTRAlinea Special Issue: New Insights into Translator Training
Edited by: Paulina Pietrzak
This article can be freely reproduced under Creative Commons License.
Stable URL: https://www.intralinea.org/specials/article/2426

Go to top of page