The complex nature of translation and competences assessment and its reflection in a syllabus of translation: some suggestions

Translation is a specific complex process requiring a complex realization of different professional skills and competences that are prescribed by the Federal State Educational Standard of Higher Professional Education and must be included in a syllabus of translation. The operations associated to a particular stage of translation (i.e. pre-translational analysis and preparing for translation, reformulation per se, post-translational analysis) do not necessarily follow one another in a neat linear succession but generally demonstrate interaction and interpenetration. Professional translational skills and competences cannot be assessed isolatedly, separately, because they clearly interact with one another at every stage of translation. Competences assessment can only be made through translation of a text and not separate phrases. Poor performance of one and the same operation and/or one and the same mistake (non respect of requirements for translation) can be explained by student’s insufficient control of different separate skills and competences as well as by his misuse of several interacting skills and competences at once. An attempt to assess the skills and competences separately can bring down the quality of professional training. Thus it makes sense to point out in a syllabus of translation the complex nature of competences assessment.