Enhancing Saudi Undergraduate Students’ Employability by Integrating Translation Competences and CAT Tools into Translation Training Programmes

No Thumbnail Available

Date

2024

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Queen’s University Belfast

Abstract

This thesis addresses the issue of the gap between translation training programmes at Saudi universities and the needs of the national translation market for highly skilled translators, and the implications of this gap, especially on the employability of translation programs’ students. The thesis aims to provide a fresh perspective on that issue and propose feasible and viable solutions for the problems created by the gap. The perspective of this thesis affirms the necessity of responding adequately to the market needs and demands but at the same time insisting on a comprehensive curriculum that includes all the recognized aspects of translation and one that is continuously updated to accommodate new insights and findings in translation research. The proposed solution emphasizes the inclusion in the curriculum of all the translation competencies, as well as the theoretical and historical aspects of translation, and integrating translation competences with Computer Assisted Translation (CAT). This integration should be stated as the core and the basis of translation study and all the translation activities in the program. The researcher used a mixed-method analysis which combined quantitative and qualitative methodologies in collecting and analysing the relevant data. The researcher used a (quantitative) questionnaire and a (qualitative) interview, and the joint input from the two methods allowed coverage of the stakeholders in the field being examined: students, instructors, heads of departments and deans of colleges in three Saudi universities—King Saud University, Imam Mohamed Ibn Saud Islamic University, and Princess Noura University. The questionnaire was administered to 217 students of translation in the three universities. The interviews were conducted with deans, heads of departments and instructors, each of whom had at least three years’ experience of teaching translation and some of whom also had administrative experience related to translation programmes. The findings of the research effort indicate that there is minimal, if any, real effort in the contexts where the research was conducted to bridge the gap between university study of translation and the translation market. The two essential aspects of translation, translation competence and translation technology, whose possession and mastery make up the qualifications currently required in the translation market, are not studied and practiced exhaustively in the translation programs: only linguistic competence is dealt with, and that is largely to improve the students’ English, with one or two translation technology courses being offered in English programmes. Insufficient and inadequate instruction and training in translation competencies and in translation technology, especially CAT, and the total absence of integration of competence and CAT in Saudi translation programs, have been identified as the main causes of the gap between university translation programmes and the translation market’s needs, and a major contributory factor to the unemployability of translation graduates. To bring this problematic situation to an end, translation programmes should make the integration of translation competence and CAT tools mandatory in all aspects of the translation programme and must stress to learners and trainers that the current and future status of the study and practice of translation will be based on this integration. Without this integration, translation curricula will be outdated and irrelevant to the needs of society and the translation market. Institutions must make sure that they have highly qualified instructors in translation and translation technology, as well as appropriate and adequate equipment for instruction and training in translation technology. It is essential that this equipment can be used effectively in the integration of translation competence and translation technology.

Description

Keywords

Computer Assisted Translation (CAT), translation training programmes at Saudi universities, translation competence

Citation

Endorsement

Review

Supplemented By

Referenced By

Copyright owned by the Saudi Digital Library (SDL) © 2025