Critical Spirit as a Translation Sub-competence

Today, in academic context, training translators is seen as an absolute necessity. A translator is no longer simply a bilingual who can speak a language in addition to her/his mother tongue. At many universities, including in Iran and abroad, it is clear that being a translator is much more than bilingualism. For instance, in its model of translation competence, PACTE group (Process in the Acquisition of Translation Competence and Evaluation) (2003) knows bilingualism as a sub-competence which is necessary for would-be translators but far from being sufficient. According to PACTE (2003), along with this sub-competence, there are four more groups of competences, such as biculturalism, as requirements for the acquisition of translation competence. One of the significant components of translation competence is to possess a critical spirit as a translator. After a brief review of PACTE s holistic model for translation competence (2003), the present study focuses on creating/reinforcing a critical spirit in translator trainers as one of the components of the fifth and last sub-competence which is called psycho-physiological. Farahzad s CDA (Critical Discourse Analysis) approach (2009) is adopted as the framework and the researcher explains its application in the translation of written texts from English to Persian. Some examples are provided to further clarify its application. Finally, some reasons are stated for taking a critical approach by translators and the author suggest useful strategies to teach/reinforce this sub-competence in translator training courses.

Keywords:

translator training , intercultural competence , PACTE , Critical spirit , CDA