Sociocultural and Pragmatic Competences in Higher Education Translator Training

Abstract

This article aims to provide a theoretical justification for the role of sociocultural and pragmatic competences in the professional training system of future translators in higher education institutions, taking into account the principles of the competence-based approach and the Council of Europe's recommendations for modern foreign language and translation education. The research methods include the analysis of regulatory documents from the Council of Europe, content analysis of academic publications by Ukrainian and international scholars, systematization and comparative analysis of approaches to sociocultural and pragmatic translator training, as well as modeling of an integrated educational framework. The findings indicate that sociocultural and pragmatic competences constitute key components of translators’ professional competence and are closely interconnected with linguistic and sociolinguistic training. The article clarifies the content and structure of these competences and defines their functional interaction at intercultural and discourse levels. Sociocultural competence ensures the interpretation of culturally marked elements and social conventions, whereas pragmatic competence is responsible for the accurate realisation of the author’s communicative intention, genre conventions, and pragmatic effect of the source text in the target language. The proposed model of systematic development of translation competence demonstrates the integration of linguistic, sociocultural, and pragmatic components and focuses the educational process on the use of authentic texts, case analysis, role-play and simulation activities, project-based learning, and reflective practices. The conclusions confirm that the systematic inclusion of sociocultural and pragmatic competences ensures communicative and functional adequacy of translation, fosters students’ ability to act as intercultural mediators, and enables them to make well-grounded translation decisions. Future research and practical developments are associated with the design of comprehensive teaching materials and digital platforms aimed at modelling authentic intercultural communicative situations.