Issues of translator training in tertiary translation courses: a Moroccan university case study

ABSTRACT

Translator training has recently received a plethora of research owing to the increasing significance of translation in a globalised world. While professional training in independent institutions is commonly viewed as the key to effecting favourable responses to the demands of the national and international financial business, university courses of translation remain a valuable arsenal in the service of certified education if subjected to effective goal-oriented methodology. Translation of written texts has been a part of international communication for centuries, but courses in how to do it are more recent. This article draws on a case study from the context of a Moroccan university where translation courses (English-Arabic) are taught in semesters three and four. It reports the teachers’ perspectives on the translation course from English into Arabic (semester 4, 2018), along with the results of the students’ translations based on 477 examination answers. The researcher’s class observation and conducting of a short online students’ survey inform most of the reports on students’ and teachers’ approach to translation. The analysis and discussion of the results reveal the shortcomings for the existing training and practice of translation at the tertiary level; they also suggest new ways of customising the course for more efficient learner-fronted preparation of translators who can operate in functional situations, a prerequisite for today’s access to the job market.

KEYWORDS:

• Translator training
• university translation course
• learner’s frontedness
• functionalism
• job market

Acknowledgements

I sincerely thank the anonymous reviewers for their constructive criticisms and careful rereading of my manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).