The paper examines the impact of linguistic and cultural competence on the translation quality of students at King Khalid University in Saudi Arabia. The study aims to explore how students' cultural and linguistic competence affects their translation output and to propose pedagogical solutions for improving translation teaching.
The researchers analyzed translation errors made by 136 senior students in the English department during three timed assessments for a Translation 2 course. They adopted a selective analytical method, focusing on the most common and unusual mistakes. The analysis revealed that many errors stemmed from a lack of linguistic and cultural competence rather than just time constraints. Students with stronger linguistic and cultural knowledge produced higher quality translations.
The key findings indicate that cultural incompetence led to mistranslations of culturally-specific terms and concepts, while linguistic incompetence resulted in grammatical errors and poor word choices. The researchers conclude that cultural competence is closely tied to linguistic ability, as students who made linguistic mistakes also tended to struggle with cultural elements.
Based on these insights, the paper recommends enhancing students' translation strategies, dictionary skills, and exposure to varied contexts to build linguistic and cultural competence. Suggestions include incorporating more group discussions, peer reviews, and content-knowledge exercises in translation courses. The authors emphasize the need for clearer admissions criteria, smaller class sizes, and allowing students to specialize in translation earlier in their studies to improve overall program quality.
In conclusion, the study highlights the critical role of both linguistic and cultural competence in producing high-quality translations and provides pedagogical recommendations for developing these skills in translation students.