Translators in the Making: An Empirical Longitudinal Study on Translation Competence and its Development

ABSTRACT. In the last few decades, research on translation competence (TC) has been quite productive and fostered the conceptualisation and analysis of translation-specific skills. TC is generally assumed to be a non-innate ability (Shreve 1997, 121), which is †œqualitatively different from bilingual competence†� (PACTE 2002, 44†"45) and, as a †œbasic translation ability[,] is a necessary condition, but no guarantee, for further development of a (professional) competence as a translator†� (Englund Dimitrova 2005, 12). However, apart from these agreed-on assumptions, the definition and modelling of TC still remain open questions and have resulted in a wide variety of concurrent (near-synonymic) terms and conceptual frameworks aiming to identify the essential constitutive components of such competence. From the mid-1980s, empirical studies have considerably contributed to the investigation of TC and, in some cases, led to the development of empirically validated definitions and models (e.g. PACTE 2003; Gà¶pferich 2009). However, most empirical analyses focus on the translation process, i.e. the behavioural and procedural features of (un)experienced translators, and aim to identify possible patterns which might be conductive to high (or poor) translation quality. To provide a complementary perspective to this approach, an empirical longitudinal study was designed which is mainly product-oriented but also encompasses process-related data. The aim of the study is to observe whether different levels of competence reflect on different linguistic patterns and common procedural practices, which might be used to define TC and the stages of its development. The study monitored the performances of a sample of professional translators and BA- and MA-level translation trainees, who carried out six translation tasks over a three-year period. Each translation task involved the translation of a non-specialist English source text into the participants' L1 (i.e. Italian) as well as the compilation of a post-task questionnaire inquiring on their translation processes. The synchronic and diachronic analysis of data mainly adopted a descriptive perspective which considered both product-related data, i.e. mainly lexical and syntactical features, and the process-related data concerning delivery time and the participants' responses to the post-task questionnaires. Moreover, the assessment of translation acceptability and errors allowed for the association of specific descriptive trends with the different levels of translation quality which have been identified. The findings led to the profiling of three different stages in the acquisition of TC (i.e. novice, intermediate, and professional translator) and to the development of training guidelines, for both translation trainers and trainees, which may help anticipating and preventing possible unsuccessful behaviours and speeding up the learning process.