From the Ivory Tower to the Arena: A Sociological Study of Translation Competence

Previous studies on translation competence focus on what translation competence is and how to cultivate it.Only limited studies can be found on how translators implement their translation competence when playing their roles as social agents in the society.This article sets out to investigate key factors that turn a good translator into a successful player in the translation field.Concepts from Bourdieu's field theory are borrowed to shed light on how translators convert their translation competence into field capital and take advantage of other capitals they have access to so as to gain a better position in the field.The article concludes with a proposal to train translators as competitive social agents in the translation arena instead of fine craftsmen in the ivory tower.