An evaluation of the EMT: Compatibility with the professional translator’s needs

Appeal towards training translators as a sector in translation studies has had a dramatic increase throughout the past decade due to the needs for intercultural communication. Consequently, translator training institutes have multiplied and translation scholars’ concern for providing a sound educational basis is realizable. Having reviewed the several translation competences models proposed by translation scholars, it seems that the EMT (European Master’s in Translation) framework is known as the most successful. However, due to the criticisms of the EMT model encompassing the exclusion of the professional translators’ views and their real-world needs in the market, the present study seeks to report the professional translators’ insights on the compatibility of this framework with their needs. This study adopted a descriptive-survey approach using stratified sampling technique. The instrument for this study included a five-point likert-scale translation competences questionnaire. The participants of this study were selected through a list of the professional translators of Proz.com (the selection criteria was having more than five years of experience). A total number of 700 questionnaires were randomly distributed among which 456 respondents replied through the Limesurvey website. The findings revealed that the “language competence”, “thematic competence” and “intercultural competence” were the three highest ranks in the category followed by the “Translation service provision competence”, “Information mining competence” and “Technological competence”. Focusing on the most compatible competences, the educational systems for translator training can establish a link between educating the future translators and the perceived needs in the translation market. University training should concentrate on training the students who acquire a high level of linguistic competence, knowledge of the subject matter, and the cultural knowledge of both source and target language. Subjects: Continuing Professional Development; Language & Linguistics; Language Teaching & Learning


PUBLIC INTEREST STATEMENT
This piece of research was conducted to improve translator training programs by trying to establish a link between educating the future translators and the perceived needs in the translation market, hoping that the findings would have pedagogical implications for translator trainers and prospective trainees.

Introduction
For the planning of a syllabus and/or the assessment of training programs for translators, it is vital to examine the knowledge or technical skills which are required for translation. These skills and knowledge have been referred to as translation competence by the practitioners of the field and there have been several attempts to describe the translation competence components taking different approaches (Kiraly, 1995;Nord, 2005;PACTE, 2000). Moreover, the development and designing of any comprehensive educational program have to be in accordance with the learners' needs (Richards, 2001). However, learners are not the only stakeholders of curriculum design. Skilbeck (1990) highlights the holistic examination of the situation in which a learner is educated; thus, a learner is only one of the stakeholders in a curricular project. A stakeholder is defined by Connelly and Clandinin (1988) as a person or group of people who have the authority to comment on the curriculum process offered in schools". Nevertheless, in translator training besides the learners other stakeholders include the translation industry, teachers, educational administrators, textbook designers together with those who may be interested in training translators (Kearns, 2006). Focusing on the translation industry, the present study sought to find out about an important component of the translation industry including professional translators. Professional translators' views as the ultimate goal of any training program provide the present study with valuable information on the most compatible competences with their needs. The current challenge for translator training intuitions is to ensure whether they train qualified graduates who can satisfy the needs of the translation market. This implies that translator training programs should take the demands and standards of the market into account and there should be high level of compatibility between graduates' competences and market requirements (2016 European language industry survey: Expectations and concerns of the European language industry, 2016) which highlights the importance of conducting research in this domain.
Based on the review of the literature on the problems that exist in translator training curricula, this study proposed the exploration of the professional translators' views on the compatibility of the EMT competences and sub-competences with the professional translators' needs.

Translation competence
Whereas the term "competence" is largely used in many disciplines and contexts, it is difficult to find a definition that reconciles all different ways in which it is used. Moreover, it is believed that the term is still being developed (Albir, 2007). On the other hand, the interpretations of the term also depend on diverse circumstances such as cultural, linguistic, and national situations. For instance, in some cases, the term is used to describe the training processes of skills, but not axiomatically in professional development and higher cognitive areas (Schneckenberg & Wildt, 2006). Describing competence as an indistinct concept, Van Klink and Boon (2003) admit that competence bridges the gap between education and occupation requirements. It is largely acknowledged that competence is undoubtedly multidimensional and relevant to the requirements advocating professional and personal success in careers. It encompasses personal components (knowledge, cognitive skills, motivation, attitudes, and emotions), socio-cultural components (understanding the contexts), and behaviors (actions, conducts, and initiatives). One of the most comprehensive definitions is expressed by (Lasnier, 2000, p. 24): A competence is a complex know-how to act resulting from integration, mobilization and organization of a combination of capabilities and skills (which can be cognitive, affective, psycho-motor or social) and knowledge (declarative knowledge) used efficiently in situations with common characteristics.
Over the years, several authors have attempted to describe the components of translation competence in various ways (Hansen, 1997(Hansen, , 2006Kiraly, 1995;Nord, 2005;PACTE, 2000;Pym, 2003). Researching Translation Competence is a compendium of PACTE Group's experimental research in Translation Competence since 1997 which provides good perspectives in the field of Translation Competence research. However, it is principally believed that whereas several studies are conducted in applied linguistics to determine communicative competence constituents and its acquisition, there is not a generally accepted definition and model of translation competence. However, it needs to be acknowledged that competences are crucial for the achievement of any educational objectives. Thus, the EMT framework which has formed as a refinement of several previously proposed models is believed to be one of the most comprehensive.

Theoretical background: the EMT framework
The expert group of European Master's in Translation (EMT) tried to provide a coherent framework for translation professionals. They firstly looked at the learning objectives in terms of competences. The competences which were proposed covered six interdependent areas which are both general and specific (Gambier, 2009). Figure 1 presents the proposed competences of EMT.
Being market-driven and practical, the components of the EMT framework also included their constituent list of components. The six competences are:

Translation service provision competence
This is a combination of some competences previously presented in earlier models. It involved the two dimensions of interpersonal and production. The former deals mainly with the social roles translators take and their relationship with clients. This category also embraces elements such as self-evaluation, planning, and management. These same elements were under the category of strategic competence in other models in addition to professional standards observation and teamwork as other elements of these models. The production dimension deals with text translation in accordance with the translation situation and the client's request. Finally, proper metalanguage is essential for the justification of decisions and discussion of issues with the clients.

Language competence
Language competence includes grammatical systems as well as repertoires, terminologies, syntactic and morphological conventions (Neubert, 2000;PACTE, 2003). However, this competence is related to the language competence proposed by the previous models.

Intercultural competence
The intercultural competence has two dimensions. The sociolinguistic dimension covers what is labeled as "intercultural competence" in former models (PACTE, 2003). The textual dimension encompasses, among other elements, identifying and comparing cultural elements, and the ability to analyze the text's macrostructure and coherence to reproduce it according to particular genre conventions and rhetorical standards.

Information mining competence
Information mining competence involves a number of components such as the development of strategies to conduct documentary and terminological research the basis of which is the requirement of working with experts and using technological tools effectively.

Thematic competence
While it is well understood that translators require to conduct searching for information to comprehend themes, they are obliged to advance their knowledge of specialist fields, the related concepts as well as the associated terminologies.

Technological competence
Technological competence as another important element includes the efficient and swift use of software tools which are implemented for documentary search or translation assistance.
Nonetheless, it needs to be mentioned that apart from the components of the EMT model presented in previous models, some components were not mentioned hitherto. They mostly related to the translation service provision competence consisting of the subcomponents such as working under pressure, or the information mining competence which includes for instance evaluating one's sources critically. Furthermore, as an expansion of the previous models, EMT is a more comprehensive model focusing on the technological aspect of competence. The model has also improved concerning the textual dimension for the intercultural competence including such activities like rephrasing, post-editing, or drafting (Gambier, 2009).

Translator training
Although voluminous publications have been worked on concerning various aspects of the field, there is no consensus on "how" and "what" to train translators in. For years, translator training was based on the lecture format as a classical model employed in university education in general. Training was merely product-centered, and the students' translations were evaluated as either right or wrong. Nowadays, the teacher-centered approach is considered as outdated and has chiefly given its place to the learner-centered approach (Kiraly, 2003). However, translator training seems to be an obstacle where training is centered on the problems which translators may encounter in the process of translation. This involves reading the source text, reformulating the source text, and finally revising the target text (Gerding-Salas, 2000). Translator training integrates a series of elements to develop the trainees' translation competence which is one of the first issues in Translation Studies (Colina, 2003;Gouadec, 2007;Kelly, 2005;Nord, 2005;Robinson, 1997;Vienne, 2000). The discussion of translation competence, its constituents, and how to teach it to the translation trainees has a long history in the translator training literature.
Translation is typically a vocational act; therefore, the chronic Translation Studies discussion is whether translation theories should find their way into translator training or not (Kearns, 2006). Another issue is whether trainees should receive an exclusively vocational training or vocational elements should be embodied within a more general and liberal education (Ulrych, 1996); should translation programs be market-oriented or based on classical rationalism or both? While vocational training attempts to familiarize trainees with the real-life work and the reality of competent professional translators; academic approaches concentrate on the description of more translation theories, intercultural transfer, analysis of literary translation, linguistics, etc. (Kearns, 2006).
Nevertheless, several authors highlight the importance of embodying real-world criteria within the translator training curricula (Gabr, 2007;Gouadec, 2003Gouadec, , 2007Kelly, 2005;Li, 2000aLi, , 2001Olvera Lobo et al., 2007;Pym, 1993Pym, , 2003Schäffner, 2012;Ulrych, 1996). Students must be prepared for the working world conditions that they will encounter after graduation (Ulrych, 1996). Trainees should learn how to interactively work in a team with other translators, editors, terminologists, project managers, and clients. Obviously, the translation profession requires skills that far exceed the ability to produce a text in the target language based on the pre-existing text in the source language (Kiraly, 2003). In this regard, Pym (2011) ascertains that trainees do not simply require linguistic knowledge to be a member of the professional communities involved in the provision of translation services.
Consequently, translator training programs must strive to be based on society and market needs (Gabr, 2007) and these needs have to be addressed while planning and developing the curricula. However, this idealistic view has not been implemented as the translation market is laden with graduates rather than competent translators (Pym, 2011). Besides, it is believed that the market needs are not served through university training (Bowker, 2004;Chesterman & Wagner, 2004;Gouadec, 2007) while many professional translators express the fact that translator training programs are "inefficient, misleading, too theoretical, and irremediably out of touch with market developments" (Pym, 2011, p. 6).
Having analyzed the components of the EMT framework it is well believed that as a practiceoriented (Chodkiewicz, 2012) and professional (Schäffner, 2012) framework EMT has been an improvement; however, it is also acknowledged that feedback and input from the translation market and industry are not emphasized and its components are in fact the minimum requirement (Gambier, 2009). Furthermore, the compatibility of these competences with the professional translators' needs is not determined. Thus, based on the review of the literature on the problems that exist in translator training curricula, this study proposed the exploration of the professional translators' views on the compatibility of the EMT competences and sub-competences with the professional translators' needs. It aims to provide an answer to the following research question: Which competences and sub-competences in the EMT framework are compatible with professional translators' needs?

Method
To investigate the compatibility of the competences with the professional translators' needs, a descriptive-survey approach was taken using stratified sampling technique. The following sections will focus on the sample selection, instrumentation, and research procedure.

Participants
The participants were randomly selected from the largest community of translators worldwide, Proz.com. Pym, Orrego-Carmona, and Torres-Simón (2016) believe that although ProZ.com is the largest translators' community in the world, problems such as the presence of nonprofessional translators, paying members ranked above nonpaying members regardless of their expertise, the correlation between the translator's status and his/her profile appearance in the directory need to be addressed (Esfandiar, Rahimi, & Vaezian, 2017). Overall, 300,000 translators and interpreters are registered with proz.com from a combination of 190 countries and languages in the world. Stratified random sampling technique was employed for the present study.
To find the strata for the sampling, the 50 most spoken languages of the world were listed and after eliminating the similar languages on the major pairs of languages in the list of Proz.com, the remaining languages were analyzed and the unofficial languages were eliminated. The major languages to be paired with English according to Proz.com were Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish. On the other hand, the minor language pairs were Bengali, Indian, Korean, Malay, Persian, Polish, Romanian, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, and Vietnamese. Accordingly, a group of 700 professional translators were approached to achieve a higher response rate out of which 456 filled questionnaires returned.

The instrument
The instrument for this study included a likert-scale (including 5 scales of 1 = not compatible at all, 2 = incompatible, 3 = neither compatible nor incompatible, 4 = compatible, 5 = extremely compatible) translation competences questionnaire (See Appendix A for detailed information). The language of the questionnaire was English, and the items were mostly according to the EMT framework as well as Chodkiewicz's 2012 study. A panel of university professionals (including five professors) and professional translators (two translators holding their PhDs in Translation studies) were asked to review the items and comment for amendments. Thirty-five items were sent and finally based on the discussions and comments of the panel 40 items were developed as some items were twofold.

Procedure
After the comments were collected and the modifications carried out, a pilot study was conducted to measure the reliability of the questionnaire which came out with a cronbach alpha of 0.877, which is acceptable. Then, a list of the professional translators of Proz.com (having more than five years of experience) was prepared and 700 questionnaires were randomly distributed. Finally, 456 respondents replied through the limesurvey website, which is well known as a currently popular software used to conduct survey studies (Sappleton, 2013). Moreover, a Confirmatory Factor Analysis was conducted to evaluate the construct validity of the questionnaire.

Analysis
To analyze the data, SPSS version 21 was used. The analyses included numerical ratings based on the respondents' responses. Each item's ratings from 1 to 5 were transferred into SPSS. Descriptive statistics were conducted to answer the research question. Moreover, the ratings' mean scores and standard deviations were calculated for every item. Finally, the most and the least compatible competences based on the professional translators' views were identified. Then, in an ascending order, the competencies and their sub-competencies were tabulated in SPSS to show the least and the most compatible competencies. Additionally, a confirmatory factor analysis was run to examine the relationships among sets of measured variables as well as a smaller set of factors or constructs which may account for them. Confirmatory factor analysis was preferred over exploratory factor analysis since it is a method of confirming that certain structures in the data are correct. The authors aimed to see if the hypothesized model is compatible in order to confirm it.

Descriptive statistics
Subsequent to the frequency analysis, the standard deviation as well as the mean for the 40 items were calculated. As illustrated in Table 1, the maximum mean of the questions belonged to question number 22 that is "Knowledge of the linguistic structures in the source and target languages." (4.67 ± 0.03); on the other hand, the minimum mean related to question 12 that is "Being able to work in a team" (3.57 ± 0.04). It should be noted that all the central measures were calculated by entire observations. Furthermore, the total score of each component was calculated by their sub-competences. Thus, 'language competence' had the maximum score compared to other main competences with a standard error of 0.03 (4.49 ± 0.03). Also, the technological competence received the minimum score (3.92 ± 0.03) compared to the other components (Table 2).
Accordingly, as is demonstrated in Table 3, Language competence received the first rank having the maximum mean. Technological competence had the last rank having the minimum mean.

Confirmatory factor analysis
This section will present the model fit summary and path diagram.

Model fit summary
CMIN: For this CFA model, the chi-square value was 1.46 and p-value equaled 0.16. Moreover, GFI value (0.992) met the criteria (0.95 or larger). Similarly, the RMSEA was 0.032 which was lower than the criterion value. Consequently, it is concluded that the model is fit. The following tables illustrate CMIN (Table 4), GFI (Table 5), and RMSEA (Table 6) indices, respectively.
As is illustrated above, all of the fit model statistics indicated an acceptable fit. So, the Confirmatory Factor analysis had confirmed the factor structure.

Path diagram
The following Figures (Figures 2 and 3) demonstrate the unstandardized and standardized estimates, respectively.  Analyzing the figure, it is revealed that the translation service provision competence, information mining competence, and intercultural competence variables were the best indicators of compatibility. Their standardized regression weights were 0.82, 0.80 and 0.79, respectively. This means that "compatibility" explains about 67% of the variance in translation service provision competence, 64% of the variance in information mining competence and 62% variance in intercultural competence. Language competence was the poorest among the indicators of compatibility, with the R2 of 36% and a standardized regression weight of 0.60.   As it is previously discussed, the fitted values are all accepted (RMSEA<0.08 and GFI>0.90); hence, it is possible to measure the latent variable (compatibility) according to the observed variables (TSPC (0.82), LC (0.60), ITC (0.79), IMC (0.80), THC (0.71), TEC (0.63)). As CFA is conducted to evaluate construct validity, the analysis proves the construct validity of the questionnaire.

Discussion
Having analyzed the questionnaire by running the frequency analysis and calculating the means, the questionnaire items were ranked. The highest rank for the main competences related to "language competence". The sub-competences of the "language competence" had the following ranks: item 22 "Knowledge of the linguistic structures in the source and target languages" (rank 1), item 23 "Being able to reproduce the grammatical and lexical structures in another language" (rank 3), and item 21 "Sensitivity to language changes and developments" rank 8).
Thematic competence was the second rank in the EMT competences framework. The subcompetence which received the highest ranks in this category were both items 36 "Development of knowledge in specialized fields (concepts and terminology)" with a rank of 6, and item 35 "Searching for appropriate information for the thematic aspects of a document" with a rank of 12.
The third rank related to "Intercultural competence" and the sub-competences including item 28 "Recognize elements proper to the cultures of your working languages" with a rank of 10, item 26 "Using appropriate register for a given document" with a rank of 11, item 24 "Recognize function and meaning in language variations" with a rank of 15, item 30 "Compose a document in accordance with the conventions of the genre and rhetorical standards of the source and target languages" with a rank of 17, and item 27 "Understanding of the macrostructure and overall coherence of documents" with the rank of 18.
Translation service provision competence was number four in the ranking. The most compatible sub-competences which were located among the highest 20 sub-competences include: item 9 "Compliance with instructions, deadlines, and standards" with rank 2, item 10 "Compliance with professional ethics" with rank 4, item 5 "Clarifying client's requirements" with rank 5, item 15 "Awareness of the suitability of the translation to be provided" with rank 9, item 4 "Negotiation with clients regarding deadlines and fees" with rank 13, item 3 "Being able to negotiate with potential clients" with rank 14, item 6 "Management of time, stress, and budget" with rank 16, and item 13 "Doing self-evaluation and taking responsibility" with rank 20. The fifth ranking related to Information mining competence and the most compatible subcompetence included "Development of strategies for research into subject-matter and terminology (including expert consultation) (item 32 with a rank of 21) and "Extraction of relevant information for given tasks (documentary, terminological, phraseological information)" (item 33 with a rank of 25). However, it needs to be mentioned that these two were the highest ranks within this category rather than the whole items.
The sixth ranking related to Technological competence and the most compatible subcompetence was "Effective use of a range of computer tools in translation, terminology, and research" (item 40 with a rank of 24). Again, it has to be mentioned that this was not a high rank in the whole group while it was the highest in this category. The other items of this category had low ranks of 34 "Awareness of the possibilities and limitations of machine translation" (item 37), rank 36 "Familiarization with new translation-related tools, especially for the translation of multimedia materials" (item 38), and rank 38 "Producing translations in different formats for different media" for item 39.
Based on the analysis of the data the following table lists the sub-competences according to their ranking of compatibility (Table 7).
As the "language competence", the "thematic competence" and "intercultural competence" were the three highest ranks in the category, the planners for translation training programs may see these results as a guide which is originated from the real context of translating. Thus, the professional translators' views which are derived from their actual experience in the real world may be beneficial in preparing the students for the market. Moreover, the inclusion of the most compatible sub-competences as the results show in the translator training programs may prepare the translation students to be proficient members of professional translators' community.
Language competence as a combination of lexical, grammatical, semantic, phonological, and orthographic competences (Popescu, 2013) is an important component of translation competence (Schäffner, 2012). It is also believed that "the ability to translate is part of human linguistics competence" (Hatim & Munday, 2004) and it is closely connected with linguistic competence. To translate a text from the source to the target language there is a requirement of a sufficient level of linguistic competence. Similarly, Ning and Yifeng (2008) state that a translator's linguistic competence determines if he/she can make a version closer to the version of the source language.
Accordingly, this competence directly deals with success in conducting the task of translation and has its paramount role. Thus, the inclusion of linguistic competence as the core in courses which aim at preparing the students for the translation task is essential. Specifically, there has to be a focus on the sub-competences including teaching the linguistic items of both source and the target language, reproduction of structures of lexis and grammar as well as the understanding of language change or development as the highly ranked sub-competences of linguistic competence. The results of the present study are in line with Chodkiewicz's 2012 study where linguistic competence was selected as the most important competence for translators from the viewpoint of professionals and translation students.
Thematic competence which is the knowledge of the subject matter of the text (Wagner, 2014) is also fundamental in translator training since in today's world of technology, a translator is approached to translate a range of professional texts or materials. In the same way, Sarcevic (2015) defines thematic competence as the knowledge of "knowing how to search for appropriate information to gain a better grasp of the thematic aspects of a document" (p. 229) and Peñalver (2014) emphasizes on building on the thematic competence with respect to subject matter expertise. For that reason, exposing students to a wide array of thematic areas and the use of research sources are indispensable. In the same way, the mostly ranked sub-competence was the "Development of knowledge in specialized fields (concepts and terminology)". As was previously mentioned under the section related to standards required in the translation market, the professionals had mentioned EN15038. It is also interesting to know that the European standard of EN15038 which has been developed for the establishment and definition of the requirements needed for the provision of quality services correspondingly stresses the essentiality of specialized knowledge for translators (Raído, 2014). Thematic competence will help translator trainees in the development of the knowledge of different specialist fields to understand their concepts and terminologies. Greere (2012) also highlights that using the relevant thematic topics will contribute to the future translators' professional development and will increase their chances in the labor market.
However, it needs to be mentioned that thematic competence was ranked as the fourth competence in Chodkiewicz's 2012 study. Explains that this might be an indication that some of the professional translators do not need to explore for the domains in which "they specialize in outside their translation tasks". Thus, they do not consider thematic competence as important as linguistic or intercultural. However, the results of the present study which endeavored to include an array of professional translators from different languages and backgrounds indicate that thematic competence is highly important for success in translation.
Intercultural competence, closely related to the translation by its nature (Davies & Oittinen, 2008), received the third rank based on the professional translators' views is believed to be an important element in translation and a core competence which a translator must possess (Darwish, 2010). In fact, referring to translation as a cultural, social, and economic activity, Alonso (2014) mentions that translation is itself an act of "intercultural communication". However, unlike Chodkiewicz's 2012 study, intercultural competence where intercultural competence was ranked as the most important together with linguistic competence, it may be concluded that this group of professional translators who have been in the market for several years and whose platform is mainly online have already mastered the importance of cultural and intercultural issues and consider them less important than thematic and linguistic competences.
The present study findings can be employed by administrators and translation trainers as well as translator training program designers especially for courses which are based on strategic planning theory with an emphasis on the mega level. Likewise, the findings can be implemented by instructors of translation trainees.
While program designs in universities dealing with translation study courses are seen as models for students to acquire translation competence, having the knowledge of the components of translation competence which are highly important is beneficial. The list of the competences and sub-competences based on the professional translators' views which are currently working actively in the translation market may be a useful source for decision-making and curriculum development. The list can be helpful in two ways. Firstly, it can be used by the translation program designers who want to initiate a program. When there are time constraints and limitations, the list can facilitate the designers by focusing on the highly ranked competences first. Secondly, the list will become advantageous in order to evaluate the current translation curricula to see if there is a mismatch between the highly ranked competences and the competences which are included in their programs. Then, modifications and amendments will take place for more successful programs which prepare the students for the translation market. Similarly, instructors of translation trainees can benefit from the list of major competences and their highly ranked sub-competences.
While linguistic competence was deemed as a prioritized competence and was highly ranked, the inclusion of this competence in courses which aim at preparing the students for the translation task is essential. Specifically, there has to be a focus on teaching the linguistic items of both source and the target language, reproduction of structures of lexis and grammar as well as the understanding of language change or development.
Also, concerning intercultural competence, the identification of a suitable register as well as the elements of culture play an important role in conducting a successful translation. Accordingly, the translator trainees should be advised about the cultural issues while they are taking the translation courses and acquire knowledge on how to find these elements when they perform the task of translation later in the market context.

Conclusion
The present study aimed to report the professional translators' insights on the compatibility of this framework with their needs. The findings revealed that the "language competence", "thematic competence" and "intercultural competence" were the three highest ranks in the category followed by the "Translation service provision competence", "Information mining competence" and "Technological competence". Moreover, this study investigated the sub-competences according to their ranking of compatibility which resulted in a series of ranked sub-competences ranging from "Knowledge of the linguistic structures in the source and target languages" as the highest ranked sub-competence to " Awareness of the translator's social role" as the lowest-ranked one.
Focusing on the most compatible competences and sub-competences, the educational systems for translator training can establish a link between educating the future translators and the perceived needs in the translation market. University training should concentrate on training the students who acquire a high level of linguistic competence, knowledge of the subject matter, and the cultural knowledge of both source and target language. It is also crucial that trainees learn to use technology in the act of translation and develop their competences. Securing clients in a competitive market is very vital for translators. Therefore, they need to develop and improve their business competence and communication skills to be able to negotiate with clients, clarify their requirements, and comply with market demands and standards along with professional ethics. Personal traits are key to success in every human activity including the translation profession as well. Therefore, translator trainees need to have characteristics such as selfconfidence, self-presentation, self-observation, intuition, etc. Furthermore, developing a healthy way of life and establishing work-life balance will help trainees to be prosperous in their professional and personal life.
This study had some limitations. Firstly, it was restricted to elicit data from one group of translation stakeholders, the professional translators. Therefore, it is recommended to replicate the same study having other sample populations such as clients, employers, university professors, and translation agencies. Similarly, other techniques for data collection such as interview can be employed in order to elicit more in-depth information from the different stakeholders of translation market such as clients, employers, university professors and translation agencies.
These competences can be included within the translator training programs in the form of workshops or project-based courses whereby the translator trainees will cooperate with their peers in completing projects and assignments. They will learn the associated communication skills in the simulation of their target context which is the translation market where they may have to work with peers. from ………………………to ………………….