Amparo Hurtado Albir

Competence-based Curriculum Design for Training Translators

Abstract This article situates the concept of translation competence and its acquisition in the context of recent competence-based approaches to teaching and learning in general in higher education. It begins with the challenges posed by present-day curricula, the re-form of university systems and corresponding changes in teaching requirements, in particular with reference to the European Higher Education Area. It then outlines the basic concepts of competence-based training, following Lasnier (2000), and proceeds to apply the concept specifically to translator training, building on the holistic and dynamic models of translation competence developed by the PACTE research group over recent years. The teaching and learning approach adopted is a translation task-based approach, organized in teaching units. Issues such as the establishment of objectives, task design, sequencing and assessment are all addressed. Finally, the entire approach is illustrated with a practical example. The course module chosen as an illustration is an introductory module to translation into students A language or mother tongue, structured around six categories of competences, each with their own teaching and learning objectives and curricular content.

La competencia traductora y su adquisición. un modelo holístico y dinámico

Abstract Many disciplines have studied the characteristics of expert knowledge and how it is acquired (e.g. Applied Linguistics research into communicative competence and language learning). However, Translation Studies does not yet have an empirically based description of translation competence and how it is acquired. The purpose of this article is: (a) to analyse the work done to date in relation to translation competence for written translation and how it is acquired; (b) to describe the dynamic, holistic model proposed by the PACTE group and to present the empirical‐experimental research this group is carrying out. Members of the PACTE group are: A. Beeby, L. Berenguer, D. Ensinguer, O. Fox, A. Hurtado Albir, N. Martinez Melis, W. Neunzig, M. Orozco y M. Presas.

Competence assessment procedures in translator training

The aim of this article is to present assessment procedures, instruments and assessment tasks, for use in translation teaching. First, we establish the current conception of assessment in teaching and the different types of assessment that exist, and indicate the aspects involved in assessment planning. Second, we provide a brief overview of assessment in translation teaching. Last, we propose instruments for such assessment and, taking competence-based training as a starting point, set out a number of tasks for assessing the specific competences involved in the learning process of translation. With the procedures we describe, great importance can be attributed to formative assessment, and assessment can be regarded as a tool that aids learning rather than as a mere grading system. The procedures in question also highlight that assessment in translation teaching should not consist solely of appraising a translation, but rather of performing a variety of tasks to assess the process and not just its end product.

A retrospective and prospective view of translation research from an empirical, experimental, and cognitive perspective : the TREC network

This is an exploratory inquiry into signed language interpreters’ perceptions of interpreter e-professionalism on social media, specifically Facebook. Given the global pervasiveness of Facebook, this study presents an international perspective, and reports on findings of focus groups held with a total of 12 professional signed language interpreters from the United States of America, the United Kingdom, and Denmark, all of whom are also Facebook users. The findings reveal that Facebook is seen to blur the traditional boundaries between personal and professional realms – an overlap which is perceived to be compounded by the nature of the small community in which signed language interpreters typically work –necessitating boundary management strategies in order to maintain perceptions of professionalism on the site. Facebook is considered a valuable professional resource to leverage for networking, professional development, problem solving and assignment preparation, but it is also perceived as a potential professional liability for both individual interpreters and the profession at large. Maintaining client confidentiality was found to be the most pressing challenge Facebook brings to the profession. Educational measures to raise awareness about e-professionalism were generally viewed favourably.The study probes into translation students’ perception of the value of online peer feedback in improving translation skills. Students enrolled in a translation degree in Australia translated a 250-word text on two separate occasions. On each occasion, the students were given another fellow student’s translation of the same text to mark and provide anonymous peer feedback. The original translations from all the students, together with any peer feedback, were uploaded onto an online forum. The students were encouraged to download their own translation to review the peer feedback in it. They were also encouraged to download and peruse other students’ peer reviewed translations for comparison. Upon completion of the project, the students were surveyed about their perceptions and appreciation of their engagement in the process in the following three capacities: (i) as a feedback provider, (ii) as a feedback recipient, and (iii) as a peruser of other students’ work and the peer feedback therein. Results suggest that translation students appreciate online peer feedback as a valuable activity that facilitates improvement. The students found receiving peer feedback on their own translation especially rewarding, as it offered alternative approaches and perspectives on tackling linguistic/translation issues. In comparing the three capacities, students perceived reviewing feedback on their own work and perusing other students’ work as more beneficial than engaging in giving feedback to others.Title: Tarjamat al-khadamaat al-’aammah ( Community Interpreting and Translation) Author: Dr. Mustapha Taibi (University of Western Sydney) Year of publication: 2011 Publisher: Dar Assalam , Rabat (Morocco) ISBN: 978-9954-22-088-7 191 pagesAccent is known to cause comprehension difficulty, but empirical interpreting studies on its specific impact have been sporadic. According to Mazzetti (1999), an accent is composed of deviated phonemics and prosody, both discussed extensively in the TESL discipline. The current study seeks to examine, in the interpreting setting, the applicability of Anderson-Hsieh, Johnson and Koehlers (1992) finding that deviated prosody hinders comprehension more than problematic phonemics and syllable structure do. Thirty-seven graduate-level interpreting majors, assigned randomly to four groups, rendered four versions of a text read by the same speaker and then filled out a questionnaire while playing back their own renditions. Renditions were later rated for accuracy by two freelance interpreters, whereas the questionnaires analysed qualitatively. Results of analyses indicated that 1) both phonemics and prosody deteriorated comprehension, but prosody had a greater impact; 2) deviated North American English post-vowel /r/, intonation and rhythm were comprehension problem triggers. The finding may be of use to interpreting trainers, trainees and professionals by contributing to their knowledge of accent.The title Conference of the Tongues at first sight raises questions as to the particularities of its pertinence to translation studies, i.e. the range of possible subject matters subsumed, and is somewhat loosely explained in the preface by a short and factual hint to its historical origins (in sixteenth-century Spain in a paratext to a translation of Aesop). There is no further elaboration on the motivation for the choice of this title however.The market for translation services provided by individuals is currently characterized by significant uncertainty because buyers lack clear ways to identify qualified providers from amongst the total pool of translators. Certification and educational diplomas both serve to reduce the resulting information asymmetry, but both suffer from potential drawbacks: translator training programs are currently oversupplying the market with graduates who may lack the specific skills needed in the market and no certification program enjoys universal recognition. In addition, the two may be seen as competing means of establishing qualification. The resulting situation, in which potential clients are uncertain about which signal to trust, is known as a signal jam . In order to overcome this jam and provide more consistent signaling, translator-training programs and professional associations offering certification need to collaborate more closely to harmonize their requirements and deliver continuing professional development (CPD) that help align the outcomes from training and certification.Interpreting is rather like scuba diving. With just a bit of protective equipment, we interpreters plunge for a short time into an often alien world, where a mistake can be very serious, not only for ourselves but for the other divers who are depending on us to understand their surroundings. And as all who dive, we interpreters find this daily foray into a new environment fascinating, exhilarating, but also at times, challenging. One of the high-risk dive sites into which we venture often is the sea of healthcare, where the strange whale-song of medical dialogue, the often incomprehensible behavior of local denizens such as doctors, and the tricky currents of the healthcare system itself require special knowledge and skill to navigate successfully. Did you ever wish for a dive manual for unique world of healthcare? Well, here’s a good one, from linguist, RN and interpreter trainer, Dr. Ineke Crezee of New Zealand.Among all the difficulties inherent in interpreting, numbers stand out as a common and complex problem trigger. This experimental study contributes to research on the causes of errors in the passive simultaneous interpretation (SI) of numbers. Two groups of Italian Master’s degree students (one for English and one for German) were asked to interpret simultaneously a number-dense speech from their respective B language into their mother tongue, Italian. Note-taking was allowed during the test and both the study participants and their lecturers completed a questionnaire afterwards. Data analysis was conducted with statistical and qualitative methods, combining the cognitivist and contextualist approach. The objective was to ascertain whether one main variable may be held responsible for the high error rate related to interpreting numbers and the difficulty perceived by students in the task. The analysis quantifies the relative impact of different causes of difficulties on participants’ delivery of numbers. It stresses the crucial role of the subjective variable represented by interpreters’ skills. Didactic implications and directions for future research are discussed in the conclusion.

Blended learning in translator training

Abstract This article presents research which aims to evaluate the validity of two teaching proposals for translator training in a blended learning mode: Introduction to translation and Technical-scientific translation. Details are given of the teaching theory from which the design of the proposals is drawn (competence-based training and task based approach), of the concept of blended learning, and of the tools that might be used. Next, the methodology employed to conduct the research and the selection process for the teaching units under investigation is presented. Finally, the research phases are described (pilot study and experiment), along with the data collection instruments, data analysis and results obtained. The validity of the teaching proposal and the multiple advantages of blended learning are established by the research: it permits timetable flexibility and the freedom to organize the workload, it encourages group work and promotes student autonomy and responsibility.

How to define good professional translators and interpreters: Applying the behavioural approach to studying competences in the field of translation studies1

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 behaviour...

Procedures for assessing the acquisition of cultural competence in translator training

ABSTRACT The aim of this article is to present different procedures (instruments and tasks) for assessing the acquisition of cultural competence in translator training. First, we outline the basis of competence assessment in translator training, advocating a dynamic, multidimensional, criteria-based approach to assessment and explaining the need to use a wide variety of assessment tasks and instruments. Second, we define the concepts of culture and cultural competence and set out different proposals, before breaking cultural competence down into four sub-competences (cultural knowledge, cultural knowledge acquisition abilities, culture-related contrastive abilities, and attitudinal sub-competence) and specifying their respective components, which can be used as indicators for assessment purposes. Lastly, we put forward various procedures for assessing the acquisition of cultural competence. We organise these procedures on the basis of nine instruments, such as translation reports, catalogues of cultural references, translation process recordings and cultural portfolios. For each instrument we describe possible assessment tasks, identify assessable aspects, and state which sub-competences of cultural competence it can be used to assess.

Competence levels in translation : working towards a European framework

ABSTRACT This paper presents the research project the PACTE group is carrying out on ‘Establishing Competence Levels in the Acquisition of Translation Competence in Written Translation’. A continuation of PACTE’s previous experimental research on translation competence and its acquisition, the project aims to propose level descriptors as a first step towards developing a common European framework of reference for translation’s academic and professional arenas, both of which are represented among its participants. The project is organized into three stages, the first of which involved the production of a first level descriptor proposal, including a three-level scale with sub-levels and five descriptive categories (language competence; cultural, world knowledge and thematic competence; instrumental competence; translation service provision competence; and translation problem solving competence). In the second stage, the proposal produced is to be evaluated by experts from the academic and professional arenas. In the third stage, the data obtained through the expert judgement process will be analysed and the proposal revised. This paper sets out the project’s objectives, our grounds for undertaking it, its conceptual framework and its methodology, as well as the results obtained in the first stage and the future direction of the research.

Investigating translation competence

The PACTE group uses empirical-experimental research methods to investigate translation competence and how it is acquired. This article presents the design of our Translation Competence research project and the first results of a pilot test carried out to evaluate our research design and the instruments that will be used in the experiment. The first results of the pilot test are related to decision-taking in the translation process and the interrelation between the use of internal and external support. The results point to differences in the processes followed by professional translators and other language professionals. Furthermore, the pilot test has proved the reliability of our instruments