Model: Translation Problems and Translation Competence

Since 1977, the PACTE1 Group has conducted experimental studies on translation
competence

Named (Identification and Solution of Translation Problems ) .

Research has been conducted using two complementary vantage points:

(1) the translation process: collecting and analyzing data from experimental res
earch on the mental processes involved in translating and the skills and abili
ties needed;
(2) the translation product: collecting and evaluating data from the outcomes o
f the translation process (translated texts).

Translation competency is the fundamental body of knowledge necessary to trans

late, accordig to the PACTE Group.
Our assessment of translation competence includes the following points:
(a) it is a field of expert knowledge since not all bilinguals possess it;
(b) it primarily consists of procedural knowledge;
(c) it consists of various interrelated subcompetences; and
(d) it includes a strategic component that is particularly significant.

Translation competence comprises five sub-competences as well as psycho-

physiological elements:
 - Bilingual sub-competence:

Communication in two languages requires a lot of procedural knowledge.

It includes textual, grammatical, sociolinguistic, pragmatic, and lexical knowledge.

- Extra-linguistic sub-competence

Declarative knowledge predominates. It consists of encyclopedic information, do

main-specific knowledge, bicultural knowledge, and general knowledge of the wor
ld.

- Knowledge about translation.

knowledge of translation and related parts of the professionalism that is primarily

declarative.
Both understanding of how translation works and understanding of training for pr
ofessional
translation are included.

- Instrumental sub-competence.

knowledge that is primarily procedural and applied to the use of documentation r

esources and information and communication technologies (dictionaries of all
kinds, encyclopaedias, grammars, style books, parallel texts, electronic corpora,
search engines, etc.).

- Strategic sub-competence.

procedural expertise to ensure the effectiveness of the translation process

and addressissues that may arise.
This sub-competence controls how the translation is done.
Its duties include organizing the project's execution (by choosing the best m
ethod), assessing the project's progress and the preliminary results in light
of the overall goal, utilizing the various sub-competences to make up for an
y shortfalls, and identifying issues with translation and putting appropriate s
olutions in place.

-Psycho-physiological components.

Psychomotor mechanisms come in many forms, including cognitive ones like mem
ory, perception, attention, and emotion; attitudinal ones like intellectual curiosity
perseverance, rigor, the capacity for critical thought, etc.; and abilities like

creativity, logical reasoning, analysis, and synthesis, among others.

We feel that the subcompetences of strategic competence, instrumental

competence, and knowledge of translation are those that are unique to translatio
n competence because all bilinguals have knowledge of two languages as well as v
arying degrees of extra-linguistic knowledge.
Because it interacts with all other subcompetencies during the translation process
and is used to make decisions and solve problems, strategic competence is the m
ost crucial of the three competences that our research focuses
on.
Because it interacts with all other subcompetencies during the translation process
and is used to make decisions and solve problems, strategic competence is the m
ost crucial of the three competences that our research focuses
on.

Identification and Solution of Translation Problems :

Wilss asserts that neither a suitable, trustworthy conceptual framework nor a

common understanding of what constitutes a translation problem exist in the
field of translation studies (Wilss 1996: 47).
Lörscher points out that the discussion of translation issues has mostly been
speculative and that very little actual research has been done (Lörscher 1991:12).

- Translation problems :

A linguistic perspective was virtually always taken into consideration while solving
translation problems up to the 1980s (Vinay and Darbelnet 1958, Mounin 1963,

Catford 1965, Váquez Ayora 1977, Scavée and Intravaia 1979, Hönig and Kussmaul
1982, etc.). Since then, several scholars have broadened their perspectives and
recognized a variety of issues, including textual, pragmatic, cultural, and linguistic
issues (Nord 1991); Textual pragmatic and semiotic (Presas 1996); text-linguistic,
extralinguistic, pragmatic, instrumental (Hurtado 2001), etc.

He contends that during the translation process, people give implicit or overt
indications of a problem through pauses, the use of tactics, omissions, corrections
, etc.
Krings makes a distinction between two categories of indicators:

Primary explicit reference made by the subject; recourse to dictionaries;

omissions in translation)

and secondary (tentative translations; corrections; notes made on the source

text)

He proposes,that there are three categories of translation issues: issues with

reception, issues with production, and issues with reception,production (in which
both types of problems are combined).

Bell (1998) further points out that translation issues are related to non-automatic
procedures and are a part of the text transfer process (reception,
production):
A translation problem is an element of the transfer process that prevents analysis
or synthesis from being done automatically, whether it comes from receiving the
source text or creating the target text (Bell 1998: 188).
In his subsequent definition of the role of strategies in resolving translation issues,
Bell (1998: 188) quotes Lörscher as saying, "On the basis of this definition, a transl
ation strategy is a potentially conscious procedure for resolving a problem faced
in translating a text, or any segment of it."
According to Kiraly (1995: 99–105), a translator's thinking does
not clearly distinguish between controlled and uncontrolled activities.
As a result, according to his model of the cognitive processes involved in translati
on, translators have both an intuitive, less conscious, and a somewhat controlled
processing center (strategic, more conscious).

Bell and Kiraly both link translation issues to non-automatic procedures.

When automatic processing fails to create preliminary translation elements, transl
ation issues arise from the intuitive workspace.
In the controlled processing center, these issues are taken into account, and a
plan is chosen and put into action in an effort to address them (1995: 105).

The question of whether all issues that translators encounter while

translating may be classified as translation problems is a topic of discussion
in translation studies. Nord makes a distinction between issues and
challenges with translating. Accordingly, a translation problem is "an
objective problem that every translator (regardless of his level of expertise
and of the technical conditions of his work) has to address throughout a
specific translation task" (1991: 151). Translation challenges are "subjective
and relate to the translator himself and his particular working
circumstances" (1991: 151).
 - Translation problems in PACTE’s research on translation competence :

Like all expert knowledge, we think that one of the key traits of translating
competence is the capacity to resolve issues. Different cognitive operations are
used in the translation process to solve translation challenges, and the translator
must make decisions on the go.

This capacity for problem-solving is closely related to the strategic sub-

competence in PACTE's comprehensive model of translation competence. Of all
the sub-competences, strategic competence is the most crucial since it affects
decision-making and serves to regulate the translation process. The following
factors were chosen in order to gather information on how strategic competency
functions in our investigation of the translation process: Decision-making, the
process' effectiveness. ‘Translation Project’ and ‘Identification and Solution of
Translation Problems’. (PACTE 2008, 2010)

- Prototypical translation problems :

In our opinion, being competent in a profession entail being able to

successfully do the activities necessary for that profession and, as a result,
of being able to resolve the kinds of issues that are typically faced
throughout one's professional activity.
 Therefore, an effort was made to discover texts that presented the kinds of
translation issues that professional translators typically run into when
choosing the texts to employ in our experiment. As already stated, The
choice was taken to concentrate data collection and analysis on particular
source-text segments—those we refer to as Rich Points—that featured this
kind of translation issues.

Therefore, distinct sets of actions (strategies) were discovered to be used

to handle translation difficulties in our investigation of the variable
"Decision-making"
(PACTE 2005b, 2009):

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