Translation as a Profession (Benjamins Translation Library)

352 Translation as a Profession4. emulation of professional practise – by carrying out translation serviceprovision tasks under exactly the same conditions as in a standard professionalcontext.5. immersion in real-life working environments – particularly through workplacements.The above university training should involve professionals and the use of theirexclusive resources (corporate translation memories and proprietary translationsoftware tools) and work placements should be provided so that future translatorscan be confronted with real-life professional environments.Ideally, such work placements should be adapted to each stage in thecourse and allow students to discover different fields and specialisms (localisation,multimedia production, technical or specialised translation, terminology,technical writing, etc.) and different working environments, so that all ofthem can get a comprehensive and realistic picture of the industry. Where internshipsare not common practise, training institutions should offer help inorganising effective work placements for their students.A logical progression of internships over three years would be: (1) a relativelyshort ‘passive’ period spent simply learning what it is like to work in aprofessional context, (2) a period of three months learning basic professionalskills, and (3) a five- to eight-month placement – if possible in various environments– where all the skills and competences acquired over the full periodof training can be implemented. Ideally, work placements should enable studentsto experience what translating entails in an in-house service, on the onehand, and in a translation company or an agency, on the other hand. If this isnot possible as a hands-on experience, there should at least be an opportunityto observe work organisation and practises in both environments.There are four types of internships or work placements: the ‘ideal’ experience, thestandard work placement, the sub-standard work placement and the pseudo workplacement (neither of the last two types being at all desirable).– The ideal work placement is beneficial to the trainee in every respect, bothfrom the point of view of interpersonal relationships and professional experience.The ideal context for this kind of placement is either a major translationservice, a well organised translation company, or a small network of freelancers,but individual freelance translators may also be able to provide thenecessary environment. During this kind of work placement, the future translatoris closely supervised and constantly given useful tips and advice, and alltranslations are revised and assessed by a placement tutor in the company. Inother words, the student receives proper, comprehensive, practical training.