Translation and technology

Abstract

Translation technology includes a broad array of tools. Over the past decades, the translation profession has become highly technologized, necessitating the inclusion of translation technology teaching in undergraduate and postgraduate translation programmes. Translator competence models have also evolved over this period such that ‘technology-based’ competence is one of five core competences now listed in the EMT competence model. Much of the research into the didactics of translation technology focus on attitudes to technology among students. In particular, attitudes to the ever-increasing usage of machine translation have received attention of late. In terms of objectives and learning outcomes, there appears to be some consensus that only teaching tool functionality is insufficient; a socio-critical approach is called for so students will understand why tools are used, what their benefits and drawbacks are, and when tools should or should not be used. The didactic approach tends towards socio-constructivism in general and, more recently, there is evidence of project and team-based learning. Getting the balance right between ‘lecture’ format and ‘lab’ format is challenging. Human resourcing for teaching translation technology presents an additional challenge not only because high levels of technical skills are required, but also because the technology evolves rapidly.