Many tracks lead to the goal

The knowledge and expertise of professional translators is frequently observed in translation process research and their patterns of behaviour are compared with those of students. It seems to be a common assumption that students are still developing their translation skills whereas professionals have already acquired them and, thus, know how to translate. For this reason, we believe that we can adopt useful methods and strategies employed by these translators for translator training. As part of a long-term study at the Copenhagen Business School, I examined the translation processes of students in 1997 and carried out the same tests again with the same participants in 2007, who were now professionals. Some of the results are presented in this article. The parameters I focus on here include the participants’ attention, their use of reflection and their decision-making.