Article published In:
TargetVol. 19:1 (2007) ► pp.105–133
Translation curriculum and pedagogy
Views of administrators of translation services
Following an earlier study on professional translators which appears in Target 2000, and another on translation students in Meta 2002, this article reports on an empirical study, based on both quantitative and qualitative data, on how administrators of translation/language services perceive translation training in Hong Kong. It will seek to answer questions such as the usual practice of and major considerations in recruitment of new translators; the major challenges the newly recruited face and methods and strategies they use to cope with them; the difficulties translators have in general as seen through the eyes of administrators, and the methods and strategies they use to cope with them; assistance translation agencies usually provide to help them deal with the challenges and difficulties; changes that need to be made to improve translator training. A comparison is made with my earlier projects on professional translators and translation students and pedagogical implications are also drawn in relation to some of the focal issues in translator training.
Keywords: Social needs, translator training, administrators of translation services, qualitative method, quantitative method, Hong Kong, Chinese
Article outline
- Introduction
- The study
- The design of the study
- The questionnaire survey
- The follow-up interviews
- The design of the study
- Data analysis of the study
- Results of the study
- Recruitment of new staff
- Primary considerations
- Challenges for the new recruits
- Measures of assistance for new recruits
- Recruitment of new staff
- Assessment of local translation programs
- Translators’ strengths
- Translators’ weaknesses
- Aspects to be strengthened
- In-service professional training
- Necessity of in-service translator training
- Aspects to be stressed in in-service translator training
- Current forms of in-service translator training
- Impact of in-service translator training
- Translators’ strengths
- Discussions of the study
- Revisiting the research questions
- Recruitment considerations and translation experience
- Assessment of local translation programs and graduates
- In-service professional training
- Comparison with my earlier studies
- Translation theory
- Language enhancement
- Knowledge base
- Training of translation skills
- Summary and conclusion
- Acknowledgements
- Notes
-
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