An experimental study into the acquisition of cultural competence in translator training: Research design and methodological issues

Abstract

Despite the importance given to culture and cultural competence in Translation Studies, these concepts have only been developed at a theoretical level thus far. The lack of empirical and more specifically experimental studies on cultural competence and its acquisition in translator training is the main reason behind the author’s study. The aim of this article is to present the research design used in an ongoing study on cultural competence and its acquisition in the case of translation students. This study is part of PACTE’s (Process in the Acquisition of Translation Competence and Evaluation) research into translation competence and its acquisition. Since the purpose of this article is to provide an in-depth revision of the experiment’s methodological issues, the conceptual framework, the hypotheses, the population and sample, the variables and the data collection instruments are presented. Finally, the justification of the research design and its limitations are discussed.