‘The times they are a-changin’

Abstract

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.