Linguo-cultural competence as a cornerstone of translators’ performance in the domain of intercultural business communication

Acknowledging language as an integral element of a sociocultural community highlights some sensitive areas in the realm of translation studies. Since the translator acts as a mediator between two unique cultures, the efficiency of cross-cultural interaction appears to be largely dependent on the quality of such intermediacy. The present paper aims to examine this culturally determined specificity of translation activity and consider lingua-cultural competence as a cornerstone of translators’ performance. The authors also contemplate the opposition of ‘accuracy’ vs ‘readability’ as a stumbling block for translator’s activity, and draw up a model of the lingua-cultural competence of translators specialising in intercultural business communication. Inferences made in the study rely on the data obtained from a questionnaire distributed among tutors and lecturers employed in higher educational institutions and involved in specialised translation training. The data collected were analysed based on statistical analysis that helped identify the importance of each separate skill incorporated in the lingua-cultural competence for the training of student translators specialising in intercultural business communication. This evidence was further utilised to elaborate on a set of methodological guidelines capable of developing the lingua-cultural competence of student translators specialising in intercultural business communication. © 2018, Slovenska Vzdelavacia Obstaravacia. All rights reserved.