Beliefs on translation speed among students. A case study

Abstract Novice translation graduates are often found to be slow translators. The fact that this deficiency is usually rectified through professional experience implies that initial performance issues are the outcome of a complex interplay of factors, which do not involve intrinsic abilities. Based on insights from cognitively oriented research on students’ beliefs about language learning and the impact these beliefs have on students’ performance, the present study posits that the beliefs students have towards the question of translation speed represent one of the factors that fashion their productivity. Targeting graduates from the English Language and Translation programme at a private university in an Arab Gulf State, a mixed method approach, including a survey and a semi-structured interview, was adopted to explore the beliefs students have towards the question of speed and to identify the sources of these beliefs in their training programme. Analysis reveals that productivity awareness among the investigated population is almost non-existent and points at the predominantly product-oriented approach that characterises their learning experience as the main source of this condition. This article argues that improving students’ awareness of productivity requirements is not just a case of integrating timed activities, but calls for the adoption of multi-layered process-oriented training principles and practices at the level of delivery, feedback, and assessment criteria.