The Future of Professional Translator Training: Triangulating Principles, Objectives and Conditions from the Academic, Professional and Service Provider Communities Through the “OPTIMALE” Network

This paper focuses on the outcomes of a project funded by the European Commission that has been running in the past three years and that involved a network of 70 partners from 32 countries, which cooperated with European language service providers and professional language industry associations to enhance the quality and relevance of translator training in higher education across Europe. The OPTIMALE (Optimising professional translator training in a multilingual Europe) network aimed at mapping translator training in Europe, while monitoring market and societal needs as well as professional requirements and standards relevant to translator education and training. The main objectives of the network, which were achieved by crosslinking the needs and conditions of the academic, professional and service provider communities, included the reinforcement of the economic and societal relevance of ongoing or future translator training programmes, and the enhancement of the quality of translator trainer training. The outcomes of the project include a pan-European snapshot of specific competence requirements for graduates seeking employment in the industry and for programme directors seeking to improve the employability of their graduates in the translation professions. This paper is meant to present and analyze the steps that brought all partners involved in the project to reassert the continuing need for high level, professionally-relevant translator training, and to set out the principles, objectives and conditions that are required to ensure that European businesses and institutions can continue to find the high level multilingual professionals they need to promote their interests and their image on the world stage.