Barriers vs Creativity in Translator Training

Abstract

This paper discusses translation problems awaiting Turkish students as well as the creative solutions they develop in overcoming them.  It consists of two parts; The first part studies the barriers concerning translation procedures from the perspective of translation theory and Turkish translation history; The second parts analyses the impact of translator training programmes by submitting a case study to disclose in what way they shape and affect creative decisions of trainees in dealing with translation problems. Within this framework, it first discerns linguistic skills from translation skills in consideration for theoretical account of translation competence. Second, it focusses on cultural distances and divergences, and their role in taking translatorial decisions in solving translation problems.  Third, it studies the learning habits of Turkish students and their impact in acquiring translation competence from the point of “logics of languages”. Forth, it discusses the scheduling of translator training programmes of the departments of translation studies in Turkey, and the way they bridge the gap between theory and practice to enhance functionality of translations. Accordingly, it discusses translator training programmes of Turkish universities in terms of international standards of translation and emphasizes network university understanding to reach universally acknowledged standards of translation, which surpasses the past notion of translation as an act of  literal transfer of message from one language to another,  thereby  supporting creativity for the sake of functionality as long as they maintain the message of original text.

Keywords: Translation problems, translator training, logics of languages, cultural barriers.