Language Teaching in Translator Training

Babel. 2001. Vol. 47 (4). P. 343-354.In recent years there has been an increasing interest among translation scholars and practitioners alike in promoting translation professionalism and hence winning recogni- tion for translation studies as an independent discipline. Many have convincingly and justly argued for the existence of a hardcore subject-matter knowledge for translation studies and have stressed the importance of this knowledge in the development of the students’ translational competence. Unfortunately, in this attempt, the importance of language competence and thus language training is unduly played down.
This article examines this issue by looking at translator training in Hong Kong. It argues that the assumption of students L1 and L2 competence being adequate to study translation immediately upon entering translation programs is unfounded and might be at least partially responsible for students’ slow improvement in their translational compe- tence throughout the program. Key issues for strengthening language training for transla- tion students are also highlighted in this paper.