Translator training in Turkey

Abstract

This article deals with the evolution of translator training in Turkey. It describes how theoretical knowledge transferred from the West and the East has united with translational activity in the past to lay the foundations for academic studies of translation in Turkey. The article is divided into five primary sections. The first discusses the history of translational activity and the state-run institutions in the Ottoman Empire, when they served both as centres of translation and in-service training institutions. The second part explores how translational experience in the past is reflected in the newly-born Turkish Republic, and plays an active role in the formation of a new cultural identity. The third part examines the development of translation pedagogics as a result of the import of linguistic knowledge during the transitional period from c. 1960 to the mid-1980s. The fourth part presents the course of translation pedagogics after the introduction of contemporary translation theory. The last part focuses on how modem theories have been substantiated in academic curricula in Turkey to illustrate the evolution of Translation Studies in Turkey after the internalisation of contemporary theoretical knowledge.