Technological Innovation and Translation.Training Translators in the EUfor the 21st century

Abstract

Are young translation graduates still leaving university with a high level of translation skills, but lacking the specific, professional competence needed in the workplace, as has often been suggested? The aim of this paper is to approach this question through the results of research on advanced university translator education and training in the European Union, conducted under the framework of the OPTIMALE project (“Optimising Professional Translator Training in a Multilingual Europe”).The paper will briefly present the aims of the project, describe the methodology followed in an extensive survey of translation employer competence requirements and will outline the main results, describing how these were received and discussed in a series of regional joint workshops. Finally, the OPTIMALE map of European translation degree programmes will be used to ask whether universities are indeed trying to bridge the gap between employer expectations and translation graduate competences.