Rethinking translation expertise: a workplace study

Wider research context For several decades, there has been an ongoing discussion in translation studies about what it takes to be a good, competent or professional translator. The notion of translation expertise or competence has been theorized widely, with recent conceptualizations mostly being inspired by expertise studies in cognitive psychology. Empirical research in this area has mainly taken place in experimental settings and has produced findings about the cognitive differences between translators with different levels of experience. However, the question of what translation expertise actually means in authentic workplace settings has so far been under-researched. Research objectives The objective of this research project is to contribute to an understanding of how translation expertise is understood and constructed by working professionals. The project explores the lived translation expertise of working professionals, which is assumed to differ from the established perspectives of translation process research. To do so, the project views experts as social actors who construct expertise in interaction with other social actors and tools. Accordingly, the social, performative and situative aspects of expertise are placed in the foreground. The project investigates how translation expertise is socially constructed and rationalized in the workplace, which notions of expertise emerge and how these manifest themselves in day-to-day working life. This includes questions of possible contradictions between what people say they do and what they actually do, the strategic interests that underlie the expertise discourse and potential conflicts between different constructions of expertise. The empirical insights into the lived expertise of working professionals will offer new perspectives for translation studies and prove fruitful for theoretical reconceptualizations. Approach and methods This research project takes the form of a translation workplace study and approaches the topic from a qualitative, ethnographic perspective. To capture the emic, insider perspective of the participants as closely as possible, the project uses an ethnographically oriented multi-case research design with a deep, multi-faceted analysis of a number of selected translation agencies. To grasp the different dimensions of lived expertise (actual workplace praxis, rationalizations of the social actors involved, normative descriptions), a combination of participant observations, interviews, focus groups and document analysis will be used to collect the data.

What does expertise mean in the modern translation context? This question lay at the heart of the Retrex project. Current research findings show that expertise is not just anchored in the human mind, it arises from the interplay of many factors and is based on context-dependent, interactive processes in which different actors, technologies, work settings and situations all play a role. It is also a matter of perspective: views on what constitutes an expert differ - and are negotiated and assigned in social interactions. To identify these processes empirically, the Retrex team studied professional translation work where it actually takes place, namely at translation workplaces. We obtained access to four translation agencies and departments, where we could interview different translation practitioners and observe them and their work processes. We also arranged a series of focus group discussions. This enabled us to incorporate the perspectives of professionals with different roles and tasks, including in-house and freelance translators, project managers and translation agency CEOs. The analysis of the resulting data revealed a wide variety of perspectives regarding translation expertise in practice: from different expectations and assessments of responsibilities and specialisations through technology and quality assurance concepts to team cultures and the handling of challenges and mistakes - to name but a few. While many of these can only be fully understood in detailed analyses that consider the actual contexts, our cross-contextual analyses nonetheless delivered an overview of cross-sectional aspects. This resulted, among other things, in a model of translation expertise that collates the perspective of the practitioners and describes expertise as an interplay of several dimensions. At the centre lies the work on the text and all that goes with it (such as language skills, target group awareness, terminology management and research). However, since translation involves many people (e.g., co-workers, clients) and does not occur in a vacuum, collaboration, communication, coordination and self-organisation is another key dimension. There is likewise a reflective level, i.e., knowing how you act, recognising what you can (and cannot) do, openness to new things, being (self-)critical and embracing lifelong learning. The outermost layer - ultimately often the decisive aspect in practice - is the dealing with the economic context: positioning yourself strategically, making yourself visible and developing an attractive profile. It is evident that the study participants - despite technological changes such as the increasing use of AI - are predominantly constructive and forward-looking about their work. They see translation expertise as something that continues to develop through the interaction of people, technologies and organisations. Such a dynamic, collective understanding of expertise can be an important resource - especially in times of change - not just for professional practice but also in education and research.