The Importance of Higher Education in the Success of the Translator: The Case of Iranian Educated and Uneducated Translators

Abstract

The present study investigated the important role higher education plays in the success of the translator in his/her profession. To end this, the researcher prepared a translation test consisting of 12 short literary texts for data collection from both educated and uneducated translators who were equally divided into two groups. The 20 judges were invited to judge the level of communicative function of the translations made by both groups of translators on the basis of a five-point scale on a continuum from "Uncommunicative" to "Communicative" that was designed according to Nord’s (2018) functionalist approach. As the results indicated, the educated translators produced the highest communicative translations that put into Nord’s instrumental translation category. By contrast, the uneducated translators made the translations with the average level of communication that led their translation to be placed into documentary translation category. In conclusion, the educated translators, who held a master’s degree in Translation Studies, were more successful in producing communicative translations because of their profound knowledge of translation theories and mastery over translation strategies. This gives the indication of the utmost importance of higher education in the achievement of the translators in their career.