Repensando o desenvolvimento da competência tradutória e suas implicações para a formação do tradutor

Abstract

In Translation Studies, the efficiency of a translator and the quality of his work have been investigated under the translation competence label (eg Schaffner and Adab 2000; PACTE 2003; Pagano, Magalhães and Alves 2005; Alves and Gonçalves 2007). However, there are still relatively few initiatives aiming at applying the findings and conceptual developments of this branch of translation studies to translators’ training. This represents a gap that has proved increasingly problematic, since there is an increasing demand for translations and a number of new undergraduate programs being created in recent years. This paper builds on some theoretical underpinnings by Gonçalves’s (2008), as regards the concept of competence and translation competence. Thereafter, it discusses and reformulates the definitions of the components of translation competence proposed by Gonçalves and Machado (2006), applying them to data collected from translation undergraduate curricular matrices in Brazil in two recent periods – in 2009 and 2014. The main objective is to verify to what extent there is consistency between the curricular proposals and theoretical principles on the subject. Data was collected from institutional information available on the internet. Results point to a changing trend in the general profile of translators’ training curricula in Brazil in recent years. One also concludes that it is necessary to deepen the dialogue, cooperation and coordination among the various agents involved with translation (translators, lecturers, researchers, educational managers) in order to consolidate and improve a proposal for setting up a core of knowledge, abilities and skills required for professional translators’ training in Brazil.