Translation as a Profession (Benjamins Translation Library)

Chapter 17. Training translators 331To give a complete picture, it must be said that whole market segments now tendto exclude beginner freelancers altogether because revision has become so costlythat only autonomous translators (i.e. translators requiring no or extremely littlerevision) get the jobs or contracts. This started with translation agencies and isnow spreading fast. Beginners thus have little choice but to try and find theirway into agencies where they are confined to LSO (Linguistic Sign Off) and filemanagement. Consequently, training institutions whose graduates head for thefreelance markets are now under pressure, not only to equip students with allthe knowledge, skills, and know-how that ‘autonomy’ requires, but to give themthe opportunity to acquire experience and a range of special skills during theircourse, in particular through protracted skills labs and long work placements. Thisagain raises the question of which special skills to introduce and the degree ofspecialisation possible and desirable in university translator training programmes.By combining the results of the two above surveys, the following translatorqualification and competence profile emerges. A trained translator should besomeone who:– has graduated from an institution whose alumni have a good track record inthe field of professional translation,– has actually begun to specialise in one of the areas in demand (as substantiatedby work actually done at university or in the course of skills labs and workplacements and not simply by just a few translations done to satisfy courserequirements);– is proficient in technical writing and ‘content management’;– is proficient in terminology applied to translation, and in particular in the useof terminology management systems;– has a good knowledge of specialised phraseology and controlled languagedesign and implementation, in particular in the context of translationmemory systems;– knows where and how to find the relevant information needed for any giventranslation;– is proficient in the use of office IT and desktop-publishing applications;– is at home with Internet-related tools (e-mail, Web sites, file managementservers, Web forums, search engines, referencing protocols, etc.);– knows how to use and even adapt and develop data base management systems;– is familiar with Electronic Data Management, mark-up languages and datamodelling protocols (XML/XSL/SML);– is proficient in the use of translation memory management systems;– is familiar with proof-reading and revision techniques (including post-editingof computer assisted translations);