TRAINING FOR THE TRANSLATION PROFESSION: WHAT DO ROMANIAN UNIVERSITY PROGRAMMES HAVE TO OFFER?

Anyone holding a university degree in languages1 can be authorised by the Romanian Ministry of Justice to perform legalised translations. We intend to test the validity of this procedure by inquiring into the competences developed during the undergraduate years by the Departments of Foreign Language and Literature (offering philological training) and the Departments of Applied Modern Languages (offering specific translator training). For this purpose, we will evaluate the curricula of two departments within the Babes-Bolyai University of Cluj- Napoca (namely, the Department of English Language and Literature and the Department of Applied Modern Languages) so as to establish the nature and degree of exposure to the specificity of the translation profession2. We conclude with a word of advice to our graduates: Do not be misled! Authorised translations are not literary translations and literary translations are not authorised translations.