Operationalising intercultural competence for translation pedagogy

ABSTRACT

This article discusses intercultural competence in the context of translator training. It looks at the way this competence is incorporated and defined in the overall translation competence models, moving on to introduce two models that focus on intercultural competence in particular and serve to operationalise the concept for pedagogical purposes. Making this competence more explicit in translator training is considered vital: in the light of results gained from a survey into the current pedagogical practice, translator trainers’ and translation students’ understanding of the nature and extent of (inter)cultural training do not match. This calls for re-evaluation of teaching practice, which, in turn, presupposes a detailed, comprehensive account of the various dimensions of intercultural competence a translator is to possess. This article discusses these dimensions and provides exemplary scenarios on how to address them in translator training.

KEYWORDS:

• Intercultural competence
• operationalisation
• translator training
• competence model

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.