The EMT Translator

Trainer Profile
Competences of the trainer in translation

EMT expert group

Optimale Plovdiv workshop
February 21-22 2013
 Competences

European Masters in Translation network:

2009: competences for professional translators,

experts in multilingual and multimedia
communication

2012: competences for translation teachers/trainers

(training as a sub-component of a wider conception
of education).
 Group Effort

Daniel Gouadec

Federico Federici, Nike K. Pokorn, Yves Gambier

KaisaKoskinen, OutiPaloposki, Dorothy Kelly,

Michaela Wolf, Alison Beeby

Dorothy Kenny

EMT board
General Reference Framework

Training courses for teachers/trainers may vary

depending on the needs and profiles of the particular
target groups (e.g. language teachers, professional
translators, Translation Studies academics, full-time
university lecturers, or subject-field experts (lawyers,
engineers, etc.))

Careful attention must be paid to institutional and

local contexts.
The Competences and
Requirements
 Fundamental Requirements
Academic qualification in university training (e.g. formal
requirements depending on national regulations)

Relevant professional practice (e.g. work experience in

translation)

Appropriate teacher training (depending on national

regulations: either as a formal qualification or additional
teacher training)

Knowledge of Translation Studies (TS) scholarship and

research relevant for a particular course

Ability to perform tasks assigned to students according to

professional quality standards
 Competences

Field Competence

Interpersonal Competence

Organizational Competence

Instructional Competence

Assessment Competence
 Field competences 1
Knowledge of the professional field including:
Translation-related professions
Constraints of translation projects (e.g.
time/budget/qualities)
Specialization in translation-related professions
Market requirements
Operating procedures and tools used in
professional translation
TS scholarship and research relevant for the course
Foreseeable development of the professions
 Field competences 2
Translation-service provision competence (see
Appendix):
Knowledge of the existing standards and specifications
Ability to critically analyze these standards and
specifications
Ability to perform the tasks and sub-tasks involved in
the translation-service provision (including planning,
preparing the material for translation, quality
assurance, document management, terminology
management, etc.)
Interpersonal competence 1
Ability to integrate into a teaching team and work as
part of a team

Ability to coordinate teaching staff

Ability to teach students how to apply and critically

assess codes of professional ethics in translation

Ability to establish suitable learning environments

for students
Interpersonal competence 2
Ability to teach students time and resource
management

Ability to teach students how to manage stress

Ability to train students in decision-making and how

to prioritize

Ability to introduce students to the relevant

constraints depending on the situation
(specifications, deadlines, budgets, etc.)
Organizational competence
Ability to understand students needs and expectations in
relation to the overall programme

Ability to design or understand the rationale for a translation-

training curriculum

Ability to define the learning progression for the programme

(order in which modules are taught)

Ability to design a course syllabus in relation to the EMT

competence benchmark

Ability to update programme or course in anticipation of and

in response to changes to the profession
Instructional competence 1

Ability to specify the tasks to be performed in relation to each

course or module component
Ability to explain the learning objectives of the subjects
taught
Ability to break down the educational components into tasks
and sub-tasks (e.g.: terminography, document mining, quality
control) drawing on the relevant theoretical knowledge
Ability to encourage students to become aware of the
challenges and issues involved in the task and sub-task in the
relevant field(s)
Instructional competence 2
Ability to draw up a lesson plan by integrating TS
scholarship and research relevant into teaching:
Ability to create a list of all the tasks relevant for a
given lesson and organize them in terms of priorities,
sequences, time available and overall syllabus

Ability to create the course or module materials

Ability to create content and choose the appropriate

teaching method (e.g. virtual learning environments,
seminars, tutorials etc.)
Instructional competence 3
Knowledge of translation didactics and the ability to
use appropriate methods for teaching and learning

Ability to use existing professional and specialist

tools and integrate them into training

Ability to motivate students

Ability to encourage students to develop: precision, a

focus on quality, curiosity, learning strategies, etc.

Ability to encourage students to develop a critical

approach during the execution of tasks
 Assessment competence
Ability to define assessment methods and criteria for
tasks relevant to the course

Ability to assess students entry level

Ability to assess students level of attainment

(competences they have acquired and competences
they lack in relation to the EMT benchmark)

Ability to evaluate a curriculum, syllabus and lesson

Ability to adapt to the results of the evaluation of a

curriculum, syllabus and a lesson
 Not Prescriptive

Translation teachers/trainers should acquire the

competences proposed in each of the five areas and
meet the fundamental requirements specified =
minimum requirement leading to the qualification of
teachers/trainers in multilingual and multimedia
communication;

The proposal does not prescribe how, when or where

The competences are not presented in order of

importance
 References
Colina, Sonia (2003) Translation Teaching: From Research To The
Classroom, New York/San Francisco: McGraw Hill.

Consortium for Training Translation Teachers (CTTT) Project Papers,

Available from: http://isg.urv.es/cttt/cttt/research.html

EMT Expert Group (2009) Competences for professional translators, experts

in multilingual and multimedia communication, Available from:
http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/translation/
programmes/emt/key_documents/emt_competences_translators_en.
pdf

Macquarie University Postgraduate Diploma in Translation and

Interpreting Pedagogy,
http://www.ling.mq.edu.au/postgraduate/coursework/tip/pdtip.htm
 References

Kelly, Dorothy (2005) A Handbook for Translator Trainers: A Guide to

Reflective Practice, Manchester: St. Jerome,

Kelly, Dorothy (2008) Training the Trainers: Towards a Description

of Translator Trainer Competence and Training Needs Analysis,
TTR: traduction, terminologie, redaction, 21(1): 99-125. Available
from http://www.erudit.org/revue/ttr/2008/
v21/n1/029688ar.pdf

Gouadec, Daniel (2002) Profession : traducteur, Paris: La Maison du

Dictionnaire.

Gouadec, Daniel (2007) Translation as a profession,

Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company.