What competences make translation teachers happy?

Linguistics University of Nizhny Novgorod, Higher School of Translation and Interpreting, Department of Translation Theory and Practice, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia

^* Corresponding author: artist232@rambler.ru

Abstract

The study is conditioned by the lack of systematic training for translation teachers both in Russia and in foreign countries. To improve the quality of preparing translators, it is necessary to determine the basic principles of training those who teach them, i.e. translation teachers. The study aims at describing a set of competences that a translation teacher should have. To attain this end, the authors used the following methods: a literature overview on the training of translation teachers; the analysis of prominent works containing theoretical provisions that contribute to the development of basic principles for training translation teachers; a questionnaire survey of translation teachers in the Russian universities. The survey has demonstrated that about half of translation teachers have a special degree in translation, while the other half have only a philological degree. Teachers of both categories have not mastered translation didactics. Philology teachers often do not have sufficient translation experience and have a poor command of translation theory. Thus, modern translation teachers do not have a special set of competences that would allow them to effectively train future translators. As a result, a model of the competences of a translation teacher was proposed, including three blocks: professional translation competences, general and special didactic competences. Thus, the scientific novelty of the research lies in the formulation of strict requirements for the training of translation teachers.