Emotional intelligence and translation:a new bridge

This paper presents a case for the study of non-cognitive psychological processes in Translation Studies (TS). More specifically, it aims to highlight the value of studying the emotional intelligence (EI) of translators and interpreters. Firstly, the concept of EI is defined and a review of trait EI profiling is undertaken, with a focus on two recent studies that have relevance for TS. Secondly, recent research within TS and related disciplines that provides evidence of the value of studying the affective and emotional traits of translators and interpreters is discussed. The final section of this paper provides some recommendations for the study of EI in TS research to benefit the translation and interpreting community. It will be argued that investigating emotional intelligence is both necessary and desirable to gain a deeper understanding of translation and interpreting processes.

Trans-language, trans-culture, trans-translation?

The growth of the discipline of translation studies has been accompanied by are newed reflection on the object of research and our metalanguage. These developments have also been necessitated by the diversification of professions within the language industry. The very label translation is often avoided in favour of alternative terms, such as localisation (of software), trans creation (of advertising), trans editing (of information from press agencies). The competences framework developed for the European Master’s in Translation network speaks of experts in multilingual and multimedia communication to account for the complexity of translation competence. This paper addresses the following related questions: (i) How can translation competence in such awide sense be developed in training programmes? (ii) Do some competences required in the industry go beyond translation competence? and (iii) What challenges do labels such as trans creation pose?