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Introducing New Hypertexts on Interpreting (Studies): A tribute to Franz Pöchhacker
Edited by Cornelia Zwischenberger, Karin Reithofer and Sylvi Rennert
[Benjamins Translation Library 160] 2023
► pp. 196–213

‘The times they are a-changin’

Competency-based conference interpreter training and the role of situational intelligence and adaptive expertise

| University of Mainz , Germany
Today’s interpreter training methods have largely been developed towards the end of the 20th century, and we must ask ourselves whether they still meet the requirements of today’s markets and how we can constantly adapt our training to meet new challenges and circumstances. To this end, the intensive linkage of research, training and practice is of fundamental importance in order to guarantee the type of professional training which enables students to learn the specific competencies required for professional practice. This paper first discusses competencies in general before turning to interpreting competencies in particular. It then focusses on one example, the competency of preparation, which might become ever more important in the future and thus warrants more attention in interpreter training.
The scientific starting point is the general competency model of Kouwenhoven (2009). It serves as the basis for the Interpreting Studies view of preparation competency which will be examined from the perspective of situational intelligence (Jonnaert et al. 2007: 196). Although preparation is a topic of discussion in Interpreting Studies publications, it is argued here that it needs to be more intensively integrated into regular conference interpreter training courses than has been the case in the past. After all, it plays an essential role in situational intelligence, which constitutes an important factor in competency-based interpreter training. Using two special training formats, the “Freitagskonferenz” at the Department of Translation, Language and Cultural Studies in Germersheim, and “SIMinar” at the Center for Translation Studies in Vienna, which was introduced there by Franz Pöchhacker, it will be shown how useful these special training formats are in terms of improving this important competency and how significant they are in promoting situational intelligence and thereby facilitating the shift from routine expertise to adaptive expertise, which in our changing times has become more necessary than ever before.
Keywords: interpreter training, situational intelligence, adaptive expertise, routine expertise, preparation, competence-based training, problem-based learning, knowledge
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Competence/competency and problem-based education
  • Real-life teaching: The usefulness of mock conferences
    • Freitagskonferenz
    • SIMinar
  • The role of preparation in Interpreting Studies
  • The role of mock conferences in the acquisition of situational intelligence and adaptive expertise
  • Preparation: A key component of interpreter training
  • Conclusion
  • References
Published online: 14 April 2023
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/btl.160.10and
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