Specialised Translation in Apulia: Training and Employability

My article reports on the tentative results of a wider investigation aimed at exploring the state of affairs of the market of specialised translation services in Apulia. More specifically, the project’s idea intends to match the needs of the local labour market for specialised translation on the one hand and academic education and training on the other hand, in order to foster a multimodal methodology that combines linguistic competence and technological skills. In the first part of my article, I will illustrate the results of a survey of the local market for specialised translation. The survey takes into account the type of clients, the most in-demand languages and linguistic domains, and the use of the CAT tools. In the second part, instead, I will focus on the data of two needs analysis questionnaires addressed to the first-year students of the Master’s Degree in “Specialised Translation” at the University of Bari “Aldo Moro”. The questionnaires collect data about the respondents’ personal information, skills, motivation, usage of technology applied to translation and expectations, thus providing a way to map the needs of the future specialised translators. Finally, I will relate the results of the market survey and the data of the needs analysis questionnaires to match market demands, formative needs and European standards for translation services.