La disqualification de l’expert : Le cas de l’expert traducteur

Abstract

Abstract The aim of this article is to problematise the underestimation of the expert translator's competence due to the crisis of meta-narratives of legitimisation that affects experts in general and translators in particular. In the postmodern society, scientific knowledge and technical competence of experts are increasingly depreciated while the ordinary knowledge of non-specialists is experiencing an unprecedented valorisation. Given the exponential growth of the artificial intelligence techniques and the reduction of the translator's competence to the mastery of digital tools, these phenomena are amplifying and aggravating the crisis of meta-narratives, especially as regards translators. The result is imbalance in the discursive space of expertise which highlights the need to define expert competence, and – in particular – the translator's singular competence which is not exclusively linguistic. The author proposes an exhaustive analysis of the causes of the disqualification of the expert translator and suggests some ways to build a meta-narrative that would give the translator legitimacy both in terms of cognitive competence and in terms of social recognition.