Introduction Over the last few decades, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of pub lications on interpreting and translation. Whereas in the past most were ‘philosophi cal’ and dealt with notions such as translatability, questions of fidelity and the role of translation in literature and culture, an increasing proportion of texts on interpreting and translation (Translation with a capital T) are becoming technical and specific and focus on linguistic, psycholinguistic, terminological and professional issues. One very central topic in writings about Translation is training. It is increasingly recognized that formal training in Translation schools is the most practical way to teach and test abilities to provide the market with reliable professionals, and the number of translator and interpreter training programmes has been increasing sharply over the past two to three decades in many parts of the world. Caminade and Pym (1995) list more than 250 university programmes in more than 60 countries, but since the 1990s, many more programmes were set up, in particular in China where the government has recently decided to set up MTIs, Masters in Translation and Interpreting. Research on the nature and components of Translation competence and on its acquisition has also been developing, and research on training methods is starting to gain momentum as well. And yet, the diversity of situations, needs and relevant vari ables and parameters is huge, meaning that it may take a long time before empirical research findings can claim to be able to discriminate between excellent, good and sub-optimal methods on a solid basis. This is why at this point the training of profes sional translators and interpreters is still based essentially on professional experience, introspection, intuition and negotiations between trainers on methods and modalities rather than on research. Such a situation does not preclude conceptual, theoretical or philosophical grounding for Translator training, especially in programmes training professionals (as opposed to language departments where translation is essentially part of language instruction). In fact, communication-based approaches such as functionalist theories or Interpretive Theory have been a strong conceptual basis for training methods in major programmes in Europe and beyond for several decades. The concepts and models presented here were developed initially to meet a per sonal need. Like other colleagues, having had the good fortune of learning a couple of languages early in life, I started my career as a self-taught translator. About ten years later, I had the opportunity to undergo formal training in conference interpreting and became fascinated by the debates around Translation which Translation practice gen erated. Some answers were suggested at classroom sessions during initial training, and others in a doctoral programme which I attended in the late 1970s. My search for answers to fundamental questions in the literature began in 1978. I started developing personal training principles and methods in 1979, when I was entrusted with a course in scientific and technical translation from Japanese into French, and then with interpreting courses as well. As time went by, a set of basic concepts, models and methods gradually crystallized. My doctoral dissertation on the training of interpreters and translators between Japanese and French (Gile 1984a) already included many of the ideas presented here – in various states of development. Since then, I have gained more experience and conducted classroom experiments, held more discussions on training practices with colleagues in various parts of the world, read more texts in Translation Studies and related subjects, attended more conferences and seminars. As a result, I have continued to develop and improve my conceptual framework. In 1989, I wrote a short monograph on basic concepts and models for interpreter training which I distributed to colleagues, asking for com ments and criticism. There were many requests for copies of the monograph, includ ing several requests for permission to use it as a textbook for Translation courses. This suggested that, imperfect as the work was, its approach apparently met a need, and it could possibly be turned into a useful publication. The present book is the much expanded and (it is hoped) significantly improved product that evolved from the initial 1989 monograph. The concepts and models presented here are the result of much research, includ ing naturalistic studies (the systematic observation of phenomena as they occur in the field), experimental studies (the study of controlled situations generated by the researcher), and theoretical studies, both from Translation Studies and from other dis ciplines, in particular cognitive psychology and psycho linguistics.
