Enhancing Saudi Undergraduate Students’ Employability by Integrating Translation Competences and CAT Tools into Translation Training Programmes
No Thumbnail Available
Date
2024
Authors
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