Abstract

This study reviews concepts of bilingualism, summarizes various models of translation competency, and quantifies the difference of translation competency among students and graduates of Brigham Young University. By means of a survey about language history and a translation test from Spanish to English, data from 57 participants was collected and analyzed to measure the effect of formal language education and translation training. Despite numerous proposed models of translation competency (Wilss 1976, 1989; Koller, 1979; Krings, 1986; Lörscher, 1991; Toury, 1991; Pym, 1991, 1992, 2003, 2013; Kiraly, 1995; Fraser, 1996; Neubert, 2000; Kelly, 2005; Hague et al., 2011; Pietrzrak, 2015), few have attempted to quantify differences in translation competency. Those that have measured translation competency have either focused on younger speakers (Malakoff & Hakuta, 1991; Valdés, 2003), untrained heritage speakers (Gasca Jiménez, 2019), or established language professionals (PACTE, 2017). This study sought to quantify differences in translation competency of university students; the results show considerable differences according to specific variables such as progress in the Spanish Translation program, the number of Spanish classes taken, and native language when comparing number of errors, number of critical errors, mistranslation errors, and grammar and spelling errors. By identifying the strengths and needs of different groups of bilingual English and Spanish speakers, this study hopes to improve translation training programs and inform language industry practices.

Degree

College and Department

Humanities; Spanish and Portuguese

Rights

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