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Abstract
The understanding of the role of the contemporary translator is fraught with contradictions and idealistic visions of individuals who, by definition, should be fully competent and versatile. In spite of the fact that lots of translation researchers have probed into the identification and exploration of the concept of translator competence, relatively little study has been devoted to training specialised translators and its metacognitive aspects. Due to the dynamic nature of the translator's occupation, it is difficult to predict what specific skills will prove useful for novice specialised translators in their professional career. The article aims to stress the importance of self-study in the specialised translator competence development. First, the author briefly discusses the nature of specialised translator competence in relation to medical translation and then analyses the principles of and approaches to specialised translator training. With the assumption that it is vital for the translator to be a reliable and self-reliant mediator in specialised service environment, the author poses the question of how to implement self-study strategies in specialised translator training. The article demonstrates a number of task-based terminological activities which exemplify the implementation of self-study strategies into project-based specialised translator training.
practice of translator training. More precisely, we have analysed the relationship among autonomy support, amotivation, critical thinking, and strategic competence as perceived by student translators. Translators' strategic competence has been understood as
responses of the main employment groups. As mentioned, the graduates were asked “what skills do you wish you had acquired more of in your translator training at the University of Melbourne?”. The responses were on a five-point scale from 1 = not at all to 5
As Guadec correctly remarked,1 “the job of a translator tends to become more and more of a team job”. Anyone observing current tendencies in the translation market cannot but agree with this statement. Even a brief glance at modern CAT technology solutions available shows beyond doubt that the tendency towards group translation rather than individual translation is already a matter of fact. This state of affairs opens a very interesting domain of theoretically-oriented studies on the meaning of the term “group translation”, its boundary criteria, measurements of success and its logistical background. The present paper is an introductory study marking my first steps in this research direction. I start by defining distinctive constituents of the group translation process, then reflect on modes of their interaction - observed during the group translation sessions of the Warsztaty Translatorskie/Workshop on Translation conference - and discuss the process's influences on students of translation and translators in general.
Although not always labeled as such, information literacy has been implicitly recognized as a key aspect of translation competence by practitioners, teachers, and scholars. Yet, researchers have only recently begun to systematically examine information behavior in the translation processes of students and professionals to determine how translation-centered information literacy develops. The questions of how and whether translators use the tools and resources at their disposal and how students, novices, and professionals differ in this regard remain to be investigated in detail. The multi-method approach we use to analyze translation competence and information behavior combines data from ethnographic observation of the translation situation, surveys, semi-structured interviews, keystroke logging, computer screenshot recordings, concurrent and cue-based retrospective verbalizations of recorded translation processes, and eye-tracking. We report on the initial phases and results of a study on translators’ information behavior to indicate how this type of research can contribute to understanding the development of translation competence and to improving information literacy teaching.
Az egységes terminushasználat rendkívüli jelentősséggel bír a szakmai nyelvhasználatban, mivel megkönnyíti a szakemberek közötti kommunikációt. Tapasztalatunk szerint a szaknyelvoktatásban és a szakfordító képzésben a terminológiai problémák egyik fő oka, hogy az oktatók, illetve a hallgatók ugyanarra a fogalomra eltérő terminusokat használnak. Ez különösen igaz a marketing szaknyelvre. Tanulmányunk célja, hogy ismertessük a consumer goods (fogyasztási cikkek) és hiponimáinak használatáról végzett vizsgálat eredményeit. Hipotézisünk szerint ezen terminusok használata mindmáig nem egységes az angolról magyarra fordított marketing tankönyvekben, valamint az angol–magyar szakszótárakban. Elemzésünket autentikus angol és magyar nyelvű szakkönyvek, fordítások, illetve szakszótárak alapján végeztük el. A tanulmányban rámutatunk arra, hogy míg az angol nyelvű terminológia egységes, addig a magyar fordítók és szerzők számos esetben ad hoc jelleggel használják a terminusokat, ami terminológiai problémákhoz vezethet mind a szaknyelvoktatásban, mind pedig a fordítóképzésben.
The aim of this article is to demonstrate how the achievements of the behavioural approach to competences may enhance the study of translation competence. The first section sets out the basic premises of the behavioural approach to studying competences in the workplace from its US origins in the field of work psychology to its present application in human resources management. The second section describes four translation studies which fall within the behavioural approach to studying competences: a competence model proposal for identifying good translators; two surveys carried out with the aim to draw up competence repertoires according to professional profiles of translators and interpreters; and a study of translator competence in a business context. The article concludes with a discussion on the minor impact of behavioural studies in Translation Studies; proposes that behavioural studies should be developed further marking out possible lines of research; underlines the complementary nature of behavioural and cognitive studies applied to research into translation competence; stresses the need to describe professional profiles with an eye to optimising translator training and, finally, draws up development perspectives of behavioural studies in our field.
Time pressure is a challenge for professional translators and deserves systematic consideration in translator training. Until now, time pressure has played only a marginal role in translation studies: To my knowledge, there are only three (series of) studies, of limited scope, conducted by Hönig/Hansen, Jensen and de Rooze. Their experimental designs are analysed in this paper and compared to the author’s own methodological findings. It was found that, in order to obtain valid research results, research results from several disciplines, especially from time-pressure research and endocrinology, must be consistently applied. The main challenges of time-pressure studies are (1) adequately measuring timepressure and (2) creating a situation with no more than one variable parameter. This paper reflects on how the time-pressure variable can be operationalised in order to establish experimental situations where acute and moderate time-pressure is experienced by the subjects. The question of which parameters must remain constant in a valid experimental design is also discussed. The paper concludes by arguing that, at present, no time-pressure study can attempt to obtain more than tentative correlations between time pressure and translation performance. Neuroscientific methods may, however, provide us with a more suitable methodological framework for assessing perceived time pressure in the near future.
Accurate assessment of a text’s level of translation difficulty is critical for translator training, accreditation and research. Traditionally, people rely on their general impression to gauge a text’s translation difficulty level. If the evaluation process is to be more effective and the results more objective, an instrument needs to be developed. Then two basic research questions must be answered: what to measure and how to measure it. The potential sources of translation difficulty include translation factors (i.e., text difficulty and translation-specific difficulty) and translator factors. Accordingly, to measure translation difficulty, we need to measure text difficulty, identify translation-specific difficulty, and assess translation difficulty (i.e., mental workload) for the translator. Readability formulas are often used to measure text difficulty. The means for identifying translation-specific difficulty include grading translations, analyzing verbal protocols, and recording and analyzing translation behavior. For measuring mental workload, we can adopt subjective measures (e.g., a multidimensional rating scale), performance measures, or physiological measures. This article intends to provide a theoretical and methodological overview of translation difficulty and serve as a foundation for this line of inquiry.
Autonomous learning is a complex and multi-faceted construct. It can be defined as the learners’ capacity to self-direct their own learning, which means taking responsibility for the decisions concerning the different aspects of the learning process. However, there is more to autonomous learning than its purely management aspect. Autonomous learning, first of all, means critical thinking, planning and evaluating learning, and reflection, a conscious effort on the part of the learner to continuously monitor the learning process from beginning to end. This is the cognitive side of autonomous learning. This paper reports on the findings of an empirical investigation conducted at the Interpreter and Translator Training Centre (ITTC) of ELTE University, Budapest, Hungary. ITTC offers post-graduate translator and interpreting training. The current research focuses on the role of autonomous learning in interpreter training in particular. The study explores the research question whether interpreter training at ITTC develops the students’ capacity to carry out autonomous learning. It also intends to ascertain what makes autonomous learning work in the context of postgraduate interpreter training.
