Yelena A. Knyazheva

Translation quality evaluation is generally referred to as one the mechanisms for translation industry development and the most important tool in the field of translator training, which determines the relevance of the stated topic. The purpose of this study is to review the problems and approaches to translation quality evaluation highlighting the differences in their treatment. The paper focuses on the study of the cognitive-terminological and system-activity aspects of translation evaluation, with special emphasis on the borderline between the process of quality evaluation and its result. An analysis of the term translation quality as used in meta-translation discourse demonstrated signifi cant diff erences in the conceptualization of this notion. In translation theory, the term is generally used as an evaluative indicator of translation results, although in a broader sense it also refers to one of the main categories of translation studies that requires systematic research and description. In meta-translation discourse, translation quality may refer to a fairly high level of translation per se, but in combination with additional descriptive characteristics the term can also indicate diff erent levels of quality, down to the lowest. To assess the results of translation using classical evaluative terms, namely equivalence and adequacy, it is generally necessary to clarify their conceptual content, which corresponds to a particular scientifi c paradigm. The existence of diff erent and/or opposing points of view on the theory and practice of translation quality evaluation is accounted for by the complex and multidimensional nature of the phenomenon under consideration. The novelty of the conducted research lies in the distinction between translation evaluation as a result and translation evaluation as a process considered as a type of intellectual activity. Finally, we developed a model which reflects the structure of evaluation activities in the fi eld of translation. The main components of this model are: the evaluation sphere, the evaluation actor, the object under evaluation (i.e. translation results), the purpose of evaluation activity, the evaluation method, the criteria and the parameters of evaluation. Following the system-activity approach one can take into account various facets of the problem of translation quality evaluation as well as the complex of motives and individual independent steps that determine the end result.