Corpora for translator education and translation practice: achievements and challenges

This paper aims to chart some of the ground we have covered in the last decade or so in the area at the interface between corpus linguistics and translator training/translation practice, and to point at some of the challenges (and prospects) lying ahead. Two issues of central importance for the translation professionals of tomorrow will be focussed upon: the current impact (or lack thereof) of corpus-informed pedagogy on the training of translators, and the increasing availability of tools that facilitate the construction of corpora from the web. The further spread of corpus resources in the translation profession is suggested to crucially depend on two main developments taking place: a greater focus on awareness-raising uses of corpora in translator education, and a greater ease of access to and greater integration of corpus tools with CAT technology.