Gys-Walt van Egdom

Futureproofing Translation Service Providers: The Pivotal Role of Research

It stands to reason that the translation industry has undergone sweeping changes in the past decades. The root-cause of these transformations has been the ongoing technologisation and computerisation in the tertiary sector of industry.

Since the turn of the millennium, a number of scholars and professionals has even gone so far as to claim that the technological developments are bringing the translation profession to the brink of extinction. These scholars and professionals urge the institutional policy makers to change their course and to update the curriculum with a view to turning translation students into post-editors, pre-editors, localisers, project managers, transcreators and what not.

Although it remains highly unlikely that the technological developments will be brought to an end any time soon, recent data indicate that the developments do not necessarily foreshadow the end of translation as we know it. In point of fact, software developers appear to have been gearing their latest tools to the needs of the profession (CASMACAT, Matecat).

Despite these comforting words, one should not close one’s eyes to the shift in the competences and skills required on today’s translation market, nor should one downplay the importance of young professionals’ ability to cope with new unforeseen developments, to face new challenges and to reinvent himself/herself. In this contribution, it will be argued that research skills play a pivotal role in securing our graduates’ employability, i.e. in increasing the odds of them landing a job and, then, successfully holding on to it, and, ultimately, evolving professionally.  

Gys-Walt van Egdom holds a doctor’s degree in Linguistics and Literary Studies and a master’s degree in Translation Studies. He is lecturer and researcher at Zuyd University of Applied Sciences (Maastricht School of Translation and Interpreting) and is also affiliated to Vrije Universiteit Brussel. He is researcher at the Centre of Expertise Translation Didactics and Centre of Expertise International Relationship Management and co-chairman of the International Network of Simulated Translation Bureaus. His research topics include translation didactics, translation ethics, translation evaluation and HCI.