Machine translation and post-editing: profiles and competences in translator training programmes

Studies on the professional translation market show that employers increasingly demand translators who master tools related to machine translation. This fact compels translator training centers to consider what the new professional profiles are and what new competences students should acquire. In this article we reflect on these two aspects through a literature survey and an analysis of the web pages of undergraduate and master’s degrees in translation taught at Spanish universities in academic year 2017-2018. Our analysis has focused on the presence of machine translation (MT) and post-editing (PE) in professional profiles, competencies and contents described in academic curricula. Our results indicate that the learning of this technology plays a marginal role in translator training programmes. The article concludes with a proposal of a general framework of competences which integrates both MT and PE.