Identifying translation sub-competences in the translation process

Abstract With the ultimate aim of improving university translation training, this qualitative study seeks to identify the translation sub-competences most frequently applied by undergraduates to obtain their degree as sworn, literary, scientific, and technical translators in Argentina. Data was collected through a multi-method approach using individual written translation commentaries, instructor-student interviews, and quality revisions of the final translations. The corpus consisted of 52 translation commentaries produced by students in the last two years of their programme, who were divided into two groups. The first group produced 22 commentaries derived from 22 direct translations of different textual types. The second group produced 30 commentaries derived from 30 direct translations of the same text and legal typology. In both groups, the results showed that thematic and instrumental sub-competences were mostly activated, followed by communicative-textual and interpersonal sub-competences, regardless of the discursive genre. The main distinction lies in the psychophysiological sub-competence due to differences in integrating previously acquired knowledge.