Translator and Interpreter Education

Although translation has a long history, its academic instruction is relatively recent. Translation Studies now faces key challenges, especially integrating language proficiency with intercultural and communicative competence. Globalization and AI have increased the importance of translators and interpreters, yet education still struggles to balance theory and practice. Competence-Based Education (CBE) focuses on practical skills, emphasizing linguistic, cultural, textual, subject, and transfer competences. Translation competence goes beyond bilingualism, involving cognitive, cultural, and technological abilities. In generally a descriptive approach this chapter highlights the need for linguistic awareness and communicative competence in training. It reviews all translation competence models like PACTE (2003) and EMT (2022), advocating a shift from grammar-based to process-oriented curricula. However, a significant gap remains in systematically integrating applied linguistics principles such as translanguaging and corpus analysis with modern technological demands. Empirical studies show that pragmatic and intercultural awareness enhances translation quality. This chapter proposes a new, empirically informed framework that combines authentic input, cultural awareness, collaboration, real-world tasks, and digital competence to train competent translators.