The Translator As Entrepreneur: Training Challenges And Professional Implications

Résumé En

As translation studies have evolved throughout history, several – sometimes conflicting – points have been raised as to the actual role(s) of translators. They have been regarded as interlinguistic mediators (Ladmiral, 1994), or described as communicators (Hatim & Mason, 1999). But few have investigated the role and functions of translators as business people. In spite of some efforts made at the broader levels – including the EN 15038 pan-European standard or EMT reference framework for competences applied in translation – scholars seem to have paid little attention to new profiles that emerged within the changing world of linguists and challenges related to training " fit-for-market " translators. This is particularly true with globalisation, internationalisation, localisation and translation (GILT, see Munday, 2008). The proposed paper is aimed at reviewing what it takes to (really) incorporate a culture of entrepreneurship in today's translator training: how to design more efficient curricula, provide trainers with updated refresher courses, bridge theory and practice, or establish newer practice-based theories and models (with an emphasis on language technologies, business models, the psychology of negotiation, etc.). We shall also investigate what entrepreneurial models (if any) are used by language professionals and what digital resources and skillsets are needed to run language businesses, better contributing to a translation industry that is estimated to be worth US$45-billion by 2020 (GALA, 2018).