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Translation Practice in the Field: Current research on socio-cognitive processes
Edited by Hanna Risku, Regina Rogl and Jelena Milosevic
[Benjamins Current Topics 105] 2019
► pp. 123–160

Expertise acquisition through deliberate practice

Gauging perceptions and behaviors of translators and project managers

In his influential 2006 publication, Shreve, in citing Ericsson (1996, 21), outlines a series of fundamental conditions that must be met in order for the translator to acquire expertise. While expertise research on professional translator performance in authentic contexts has only recently started to gain traction in earnest, these conditions for expertise acquisition, while well-suited for academic contexts involving formal translator training, may not be as readily realizable within the language industry. In an attempt to complement recent workplace studies on translation (Risku and Windhager 2013; Ehrensberger-Dow 2014), our questionnaire-based explorative study sets out to gain a better understanding of how expertise in translation is conceptualized and fostered from within the language industry. By gauging how professional translators, as well as the project managers for whom they work, regard expertise from the perspective of the requisite conditions outlined by Shreve, we hope to establish greater clarity as to how expertise is envisioned, practiced, and valued along emic lines.

Keywords: expertise, deliberate practice, TPR, cognitive translatology, professional translators, project managers
Article outline
  • 1.The elusiveness of expertise in translation
  • 2.Indicators of expertise
  • 3.Expertise studies on translation through an ethnographic lens
  • 4.Deliberate practice as a focal point
  • 5.Questionnaires on facets of expertise
    • 5.1Methods
      • 5.1.1Participants and instruments
      • 5.1.2Analytic approach
  • 6.Results and analysis
    • 6.1Perceptions pertaining to expectations
    • 6.2Expertise and its assessment
    • 6.3Deliberate practice
  • 7.Concluding remarks and future directions
  • Note
  • References
Published online: 7 August 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/bct.105.07ang
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