The Implications of Teaching Translation as a Linguistic Skill in the Light of News Headlines

Just like everyone can paint, whether it was bad or good, every bilingual can translate. However, not every translation (or painting) has the same quality. One of the reasons behind student translators having different levels of product quality is training/ teaching. Student translator training/teaching is not only about training/teaching them how to translate but how to produce high quality translation. It is based on the belief that untrained/untaught student translators generally produce lower quality translations compared to trained/taught student translators. Translation skills encompass not only linguistic skill (the linguistic expertise), including lexical, syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic skills, but also a professional skill (the expertise in other areas), including cultural, communicative, research, cross-cultural communication, project management, using various CAT programs, openness to others and flexibility, and familiarity with the subject domain skills, that reflect the multifaceted nature of the translation process and it its impact on producing a high quality translation. This study examines the implications of relying solely on training/teaching student translators only linguistically, suggesting that this issue may generally lead to lower quality translations, especially in terms of translating news headlines. However, translation departments around the world often make the significant mistake of focusing exclusively on linguistic skill, neglecting the broader professional skill that is equally essential. This study is grounded in Van Doorslaer's assumption (2010) that student translators should prioritize not only linguistic skill, but also professional skill to produce high quality translation. It aims to assess whether current translation skills are sufficient to meet the demands of society and the translation market. The findings indicate that while communication methods and technologies advancements, and societal needs have changed, student translators' skills have not kept pace with these changes in translation studies departments around the world, including Iraq. Therefore, a re-evaluation of student translators' skills is necessary to respond to these changes effectively, especially in the light of the creative techniques used in translating news headlines.