Curriculum Renewal in Greek Taught Postgraduate Translation Courses: Aligning Student Needs and Translation Market Requirements
Author(s)
Sachinis, Michail
Type
Thesis
Abstract
The present research examines translator training in Greece, with the ultimate aim being
to provide suggestions for revising the translation curriculum in Greece. It goes without
saying that a translation course is usually highly vocational, and an attempt is made to
simulate professional practices in the classroom. Hence, local market requirements
should be pinpointed and incorporated into the translation curriculum, if translation
schools are to produce fully-fledged translators and not churn out dilettantes. That is why
the identification and analysis of the translation market in Greece was one of the primary
objectives of the current research work. For this purpose, a questionnaire survey was
conducted, addressing in-house employees of translation companies in Greece.
Another no less important objective was to explore student needs and expectations. The
current practice on translator training courses suggests that it should be student-centred
and not teacher-centred, as used to be the case in the past. Therefore, if we intend to
contrive an all-round, comprehensive curriculum, learner needs should not be ignored.
On the contrary, they should be carefully investigated, in order to find out what it is that
trainees expect to learn in a translation course and why they decided to study translation
in the first place. Here again, a questionnaire survey was carried out. The respondents
were not only students, but trainers too, as both groups are important stakeholders in the
translation classroom.
The data gleaned from the questionnaire surveys on the translation market and student
needs, combined with a thorough examination of the germane literature on translator
training, ultimately provided useful feedback which served as a springboard to making
concrete suggestions about how the translation curriculum in Greece could be
modernised and about how translation market and student needs could be aligned with
the overall aims of a translation course.
to provide suggestions for revising the translation curriculum in Greece. It goes without
saying that a translation course is usually highly vocational, and an attempt is made to
simulate professional practices in the classroom. Hence, local market requirements
should be pinpointed and incorporated into the translation curriculum, if translation
schools are to produce fully-fledged translators and not churn out dilettantes. That is why
the identification and analysis of the translation market in Greece was one of the primary
objectives of the current research work. For this purpose, a questionnaire survey was
conducted, addressing in-house employees of translation companies in Greece.
Another no less important objective was to explore student needs and expectations. The
current practice on translator training courses suggests that it should be student-centred
and not teacher-centred, as used to be the case in the past. Therefore, if we intend to
contrive an all-round, comprehensive curriculum, learner needs should not be ignored.
On the contrary, they should be carefully investigated, in order to find out what it is that
trainees expect to learn in a translation course and why they decided to study translation
in the first place. Here again, a questionnaire survey was carried out. The respondents
were not only students, but trainers too, as both groups are important stakeholders in the
translation classroom.
The data gleaned from the questionnaire surveys on the translation market and student
needs, combined with a thorough examination of the germane literature on translator
training, ultimately provided useful feedback which served as a springboard to making
concrete suggestions about how the translation curriculum in Greece could be
modernised and about how translation market and student needs could be aligned with
the overall aims of a translation course.
Date Issued
2011
Date Awarded
2012-05
Copyright Statement
Attribution NoDerivatives 4.0 International Licence (CC BY-ND)
Advisor
Diaz-Cintas, Jorge
Shuttleworth, Mark
Publisher Department
Humanities
Publisher Institution
Imperial College London
Qualification Level
Doctoral
Qualification Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)